Effect of Achievement Motivation and Social Environment on Performance of a Motor Task

Abstract

The effect of achievement motivation and social environment on a motor task was investigated. 50 achieve-success Ss and 50 avoid-failure Ss (selected by the French Test of Insight and the Test Anxiety Questionnaire) practiced a modified shuffleboard task from which empirical probabilities of success for task performance were found for each S. In the performance phase Ss were randomly placed into one of 5 treatments - neutral, presence of others, interpersonal competition, interpersonal cooperation, interpersonal competition and intergroup competition. Ss were made aware of the scoring system and given 20 free-choice trials. Achieve-success Ss performed significantly better than avoid-failure Ss in the practice phase. No differences were found for achievement motivation in the performance phase. Social environment did not affect performance or interact with achievement level of Ss.