Investigating the Mediating Role of Achievement Goals in the Relationship between Need for Cognition and CognitiveEngagement: The Effect of Procrastination Context o

The aim of the present study was investig-ating the mediating role of achievement goals in the relationship between need for cognition and cognitive engagement based on students’ academic procrastination. 268 third grade high-school students (161 female & 107 male) from high-schools in Shiraz city were selected through multistage cluster sampling and answered to a set of self-report questionnaire consisted of Need for Cognition Scale (NCS)، Achievement Goals Scale (AGS)، Cognitive Engagement Scale (MSLQ)، and Academic Procrastination Scale (PASS). The research method was descriptive and correlation research design to study the relationship between variables in causal model of path analysis framework. The results generally showed that in an academic procrastination context، need for cognition had significant positive indirect effect on deep cognitive strategies through the mediation of achievement goals; however، this effect on shallow cognitive strategies was significant، but negative and indirect. The findings demonstrated that the direct effect of need for cognition on mastery and goals was significantly positive; but this effect on performance-approach and performance-avoidant goals were significantly negative. The effect of each of the achievement goals on shallow and deep cognitive strategies were different.