Achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: Their relation and their role in adaptive motivation

Abstract

In this article, the relation between research emerging from the goals approach to motivation and research emerging from the intrinsic motivation approach is examined. A review of relevant research suggests that factors promoting learning goals (emphasizing the development of competencies) are associated with enhanced intrinsic motivation, and that factors promoting performance goals (emphasizing the evaluation of competence) are associated with diminished intrinsic motivation. It is also suggested that important aspects of the goals approach are often incorporated into conceptions and measures of intrinsic motivation. Finally, a framework is presented in which adaptive motivation is described in terms of the coordination of achievement goals and intrinsic motivation. © 1992 Plenum Publishing Corporation.