This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Vansteenkiste, M. Articles by Lens, W. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

`What is the usefulness of your schoolwork?'

The differential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal framing on optimal learning

Ghent University, Belgium, Maarten.Vansteenkiste{at}ugent.be

Bart Soenens

Ghent University, Belgium

Joke Verstuyf

Ghent University, Belgium

Willy Lens

University of Leuven, Belgium

Various motivational frameworks converge to suggest that highlighting the relevance of a learning activity yields benefits for students' learning and performance. Herein, we review a set of studies grounded in self-determination theory's distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic goals, which show that the beneficial effect of a learning activity's utility value should be nuanced. Specifically, this effect depends on the particular goal that activity is thought to serve, such that intrinsic goal framing enhances learning and performance, whereas extrinsic goal framing does not. Such effects emerge regardless of students' personal goal preferences. Overall, this research suggests that teachers might do well to consider the content of the promoted goal when highlighting the utility value of a learning activity.

Key Words: intrinsic and extrinsic goals • learning • self-determination theory • utility value

References

• Assor, A., Kaplan, H. and Roth, G. (2002) `Choice is good, but relevance is excellent: Autonomy-enhancing and suppressing teacher behaviours predicting students' engagement in schoolwork', British Journal of Educational Psychology 72: 261-78.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Eccles, J.S. and Wigfield, A. (2002) `Motivational beliefs, values, and goals', Annual Review of Psychology 53: 109-32.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Fromm, E. (1955) The Sane Society. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
• Husman, J. and Lens, W. (1999) `The role of the future in student motivation', Educational Psychologist 34: 113-25.[CrossRef]
• Kasser, T. (2002) The High Price of Materialism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Kasser, T. and Ryan, R.M. (1993) `A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65: 410-22.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Kasser, T. and Ryan, R.M. (1996) `Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals', Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 22: 280-7.[Abstract]
• Lens, W. (2006) `Etudiez bien à l'école, c'est important pour votre avenir: conséquences motivationnelles de la perception de l'utilité', Revue Québécoise de Psychologie 27(1): 117-23.
• Richins, M.L. and Dawson, S. (1992) `A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation', Journal of Consumer Research 19: 303-16.[CrossRef]
• Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. (2000) `Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being', American Psychologist 55: 68-78.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Sagiv, L. and Schwartz, S.H. (2000) `Value priorities and subjective well-being: Direct relations and congruity effects', European Journal of Social Psychology 30:177-98.[CrossRef]
• Schwartz, S. (1992) `Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries', Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 25: 1-65.[CrossRef]
• Sheldon, K.M., Arndt, J. and Houser-Marko, L. (2003) `In search of the organismic valuing process: The human tendency to move towards beneficial goal choices', Journal of Personality 71: 835-86.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Simons, J., Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W. and Lacante, M. (2004) `Placing motivation and future time perspective theory in a temporal perspective', Educational Psychology Review 16: 121-39.[CrossRef]
• Stice, E. and Shaw, H.E. (1994) `Adverse effects of the media portrayed thin-ideal on women and linkages to bulimic symptomatology', Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 13: 288-308.
• Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W. and Deci, E.L. (2006) `Intrinsic versus extrinsic goal contents in self-determination theory: Another look at the quality of academic motivation', Educational Psychologist 41: 19-31.[CrossRef]
• Vansteenkiste, M., Matos, L., Lens, W. and Soenens, B. (2007) `Understanding the impact of intrinsic versus extrinsic goal framing on exercise performance: The conflicting role of task and ego involvement', Psychology of Sport and Exercise 8: 771-94.[CrossRef]
• Vansteenkiste, M., Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. (2008a) `Self-determination theory and the explanatory role of psychological needs in human well-being', in L. Bruni, F. Comim and M. Pugno (eds), Capabilities and Happiness, pp. 187-223. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Vansteenkiste, M., Simons, J., Lens, W., Sheldon, K.M. and Deci, E.L. (2004a) `Motivating learning, performance, and persistence: The synergistic effects of intrinsic goal contents and autonomy-supportive contexts', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87: 246-60.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Vansteenkiste, M., Simons, J., Lens, W., Soenens, B. and Matos, $L. (2005) `Examining the motivational impact of intrinsic versus extrinsic goal framing and autonomy-supportive versus internally controlling communication style on early adolescents' academic achievement', Child Development 76: 483-501.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Vansteenkiste, M., Simons, J., Lens, W., Soenens, B., Matos, L. and Lacante, M. (2004b) `Less is sometimes more: Goal content matters', Journal of Educational Psychology 96: 755-64.[CrossRef]
• Vansteenkiste, M., Simons, J., Soenens, B. and Lens, W. (2004c) `How to become a persevering exerciser? Providing a clear, future intrinsic goal in an autonomy-supportive way', Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 26: 232-49.
• Vansteenkiste, M., Soenens, B. and Duriez, B. (2008b) `Presenting a positive alternative to materialistic strivings and the thin-ideal: Understanding the effects of extrinsic relative to intrinsic goal pursuits', in Lopez, S. J. (ed.), Positive Psychology: Exploring the Best in People, Vol. 4, pp. 57-86. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.
• Vansteenkiste, M., Timmermans, T., Lens, W., Soenens, B. and Van den Broeck, A. (2008c) `Does extrinsic goal framing enhance extrinsic goal-oriented individuals' learning and performance? An experimental test of the match perspective vs. self-determination theory', Journal of Educational Psychology 100: 387-97.[CrossRef]

Theory and Research in Education, Vol. 7, No. 2, 155-163 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1477878509104320


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Vansteenkiste, M. Articles by Lens, W. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?