Previous research has presented avoidance goals as bad for performance, especially in achievement settings. The dominant model asserts that avoidance goals impair performance because they tend to induce problematic cognitive processes (e.g., anxiety, negative outcome focus) that interfere with goal pursuits. The present research examined two variables (level of aspiration and boundary for success) that have been neglected in previous research and might further illuminate the nature of avoidance goals. The results of Study 1 showed that, counter to expectations, avoidance goals resulted in higher task performance when compared to approach goals, regardless of boundary for success. Study 2 investigated a possible explanation for this finding, examining the role of social comparison in approach and avoidance goals and showed that participants with avoidance goals set higher levels of aspiration than participants with approach goals but only when the task lacked a social comparison focus; when the task had a social comparison focus, the typical approach goal advantage was found.