Editing Goal setting (section)

==History==
Goal setting theory has been developed through both in the field and laboratory settings. [[Cecil Alec Mace]] carried out the first empirical studies in 1935.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carson |first1=Paula Phillips |last2=Carson |first2=Kerry D. |last3=Heady |first3=Ronald B. |title=Cecil Alec Mace: the man who discovered goal-setting |journal=International Journal of Public Administration |date=1994 |volume=17 |issue=9 |doi=10.1080/01900699408524960 |pages=1679–1708}}</ref>

[[Edwin A. Locke]] began to examine goal setting in the mid-1960s and continued researching goal setting for more than 30 years.<ref name="Locke and Latham 2006"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Locke |first=Edwin A. |author-link=Edwin A. Locke |date=Spring 1996 |title=Motivation through conscious goal setting |journal=Applied and Preventive Psychology |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=117–124 |doi=10.1016/S0962-1849(96)80005-9 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222720003}}</ref><ref name="Locke 2001">{{cite book |last=Locke |first=Edwin A. |author-link=Edwin A. Locke |year=2001 |chapter=Motivation by goal setting |editor-last=Golembiewski |editor-first=Robert T. |title=Handbook of organizational behavior |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=Marcel Dekker |pages=43–56 |isbn=978-0-8247-0393-6 |oclc=44681839 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5pD9ciNvA0C&pg=PA43}}</ref> He found that individuals who set specific, difficult goals performed better than those who set general, easy goals.<ref name="Locke and Latham 2002" /> Locke derived the idea for goal-setting from [[Aristotle]]'s [[Hylomorphism|form]] of [[Four causes#Final cause|final causality]]. Aristotle speculated that purpose can cause action; thus, Locke began researching the impact goals have on human activity. Locke developed and refined his goal-setting theory in the 1960s, publishing his first article on the subject, "Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives", in 1968.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Locke |first=Edwin A. |author-link=Edwin A. Locke |date=May 1968 |title=Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives |journal=Organizational Behavior and Human Performance |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=157–189 |doi=10.1016/0030-5073(68)90004-4}}</ref> This article established the positive relationship between clearly identified goals and performance.