Uncertainty Orientation, Achievement-Related Motivation, and Task Diagnosticity as Determinants of Task Performance

Abstract

Trope (1982) has argued that the greater the diagnostic value of a task is, the better one's performance will be. Recent research suggests, however, that this may be qualified by an interaction with individual differences in uncertainty orientation and achievement-related motives (Sorrentino & Hewitt, 1984; Sorrentino, Short, & Raynor, 1984). To test this, a performance task that was suggested to be either high or low in diagnosticity (as done by Trope, 1982) was completed by 231 subjects. When subjects who did not believe in the task's diagnostics were controlled for, the hypothesis was supported (p < .01). Characteristic differences in performance due to achievement-related motives were greatest when the task was perceived as diagnostic. This occurred, however, only if subjects were uncertainty-oriented. For certainty-oriented subjects, these differences were greatest when the task was perceived as nondiagnostic. Implications for self-assessment theories of achievement motivation versus cognitive-affect...