goal, goals The end-results towards which an individual or collective action is directed. The term is commonplace in sociology, although its logical and explanatory status varies greatly, according to context and authorship. Numerous typologies exist, so that it is possible to distinguish between (for example) the informal goals of individuals, and the explicitly stated objectives of formal organizations; between personal and superordinate goals (the former pertaining to individuals and the latter to a common aim which cannot be attained without a co-operative effort between individuals or groups); or between permissive and prescriptive goals (a distinction employed by Talcott Parsons). Most schools of thought in sociology assume that social action is (to a greater or lesser degree) goal-directed, although the terminology of goals is most frequently encountered in normative functionalist writings, where it is generally argued that the ends (goals) of social action are largely set by the institutionalized value-systems of societies (which define the roles and statuses that comprise the social system). This same literature developed the related concepts of goal differentiation (distinctions between the specific goals that are morally approved for different individuals); goal generalization (the tendency for social systems to define expectations attached to roles in such a way that, whatever the wide variety of particular goals held by individuals within a role, these are channelled into a single kind of role-specific activity); and goal displacement (the process by which the particular means selected to achieve a goal become ends in themselves, as for example in the case of bureaucracies, where adherence to set procedures becomes a primary objective of officials rather than a means by which they can accomplish whatever tasks the organization has been set). See also ACTION THEORY; EXCHANGE THEORY; TELEOLOGY.

goal / gōl/ • n. 1. (in football, soccer, rugby, hockey, and some other games) a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and often with a net attached behind it, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score. ∎  an instance of sending the ball into or over this space, esp. as a unit of scoring in a game: the decisive opening goal we won by three goals to two. ∎  a cage or basket used similarly in other sports.2. the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result: going to law school has become the most important goal in his life. ∎  the destination of a journey: the aircraft bumped toward our goal some 400 miles to the west. ∎ poetic/lit. a point marking the end of a race.PHRASES: in goal in the position of goalkeeper.DERIVATIVES: goal·less adj.

goal (gohl) n. a statement of what the nursing intervention is intended to achieve, usually expressed in terms of the patient's expected behaviour. See behavioural objective, expected outcome.

goal score an own goal do something which has the unintended effect of harming one's own interests; an own goal is a goal scored by mistake against the scorer's own side.

See also golden goal.

goal The state that is presumed to exist within the brain of an animal and which corresponds to a state of affairs the animal seeks to achieve. It is inferred from observation of the stimuli that terminate a behaviour.