The Joint Effects of Target and Purpose Goals on Intrinsic Motivation: A Mediational Analysis

Abstract

To test Harackiewicz and Sansone's prediction that task-specific target goals would enhance intrinsic motivation when they were congruent with higher order purpose goals, we varied performance and mastery-oriented target goals in neutral and performance-oriented purpose goal contexts and included a no-goals control group. Results provided strong support across three measures of intrinsic motivation, indicating that performance target goals undermined interest relative to mastery target goals in a neutral context but that performance target goals enhanced intrinsic motivation relative to mastery target goals in performance purpose goal contexts. Process analyses revealed that competence valuation and task involvement mediated these effects.