goal

(noun)

A desired result that one works to achieve.

Related Terms

Examples of goal in the following topics:

  • Setting Goals

    • Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T. ) goals.
    • Goals can increase our effort.
    • By choice, we mean that goals narrow attention and direct efforts to goal-relevant activities, and away from perceived undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.
    • Goal setting and feedback go hand in hand, for without feedback, goal setting is unlikely to work.
    • He concluded that 90% of laboratory and field studies involving specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than did easy goals or no goals at all.

  • Strain Theory: How Social Values Produce Deviance

    • In this case, Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two criteria: (1) a person's motivations or his adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person's belief in how to attain his goals.
    • Conformity involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those goals.
    • Innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals.
    • Ritualism involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the means for achieving the goals.
    • Retreatism involves the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means of achieving those goals.

  • Stages in Social Movements

    • In fact, one of the difficulties in studying social movements is that movement success is often ill-defined because movement goals can change.
    • In this instance, the movement may or may not have attained its original goal - encouraging the censure of Clinton and moving on to more pressing issues - but the goals of the SMO have changed.

  • Primary and Secondary Groups

    • The goal of primary groups is actually the relationships themselves rather than achieving some other purpose.
    • Secondary groups are large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal-oriented.
    • Rather than having as the goal the maintenance and development of the relationships themselves, these groups generally come together to accomplish a specific purpose.

  • The Role of Socialization

    • Arnett outlined his interpretation of the three primary goals of socialization.
    • This first goal is accomplished naturally: as people grow up within a particular society, they pick up on the expectations of those around them and internalize these expectations to moderate their impulses and develop a conscience.
    • Describe the three goals of socialization and why each is important

  • Secondary Groups

    • Secondary groups are large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal oriented; their relationships are temporary.
    • Unlike first groups, secondary groups are large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal oriented.
    • In contrast to primary groups, secondary groups don't have the goal of maintaining and developing the relationships themselves.

  • Introduction

    • The goal of this chapter is to introduce the methods employed by sociologists in their study of social life.

  • Theories of Deviance

    • In this case, Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two criteria: (1) a person's motivations or her adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person's belief in how to attain her goals.
    • conformity involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those goals (e.g., a banker)
    • innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals (e.g., a member of the Mafia or street gang values wealth but employs alternative means of attaining her wealth)
    • ritualism involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the means for achieving the goals (e.g., a disillusioned bureaucrat - like Milton in the movie Office Space, who goes to work everyday because it is what he does, but does not share the goal of the company of making lots of money)
    • retreatism involves the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means of achieving those goals (e.g., a homeless person who is homeless more by choice than by force or circumstance or a commune established separately from dominant social norms)

  • Terrorism

    • Terrorism is an act of violence intended to create fear, which is then leveraged in order to achieve goals.
    • For example, the ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) has evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country.
    • These acts are perpetrated for a religious, political, or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).
    • Therefore, the power of terrorism comes from its ability to leverage human fear to help achieve these goals.

  • Ideology

    • Ideology is a coherent system of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions.
    • An ideology is a set of ideas that constitute one's goals, expectations, and actions.