Task interest and actual performance: The moderating effects of assigned and adopted purpose goals

This research examined whether and which purpose goals moderate the relationship between task interest and actual performance and whether assigned goals have different effects (Study 1) than adopted goals (Study 2). Two studies were conducted using a full 2 2 design of the performance–mastery and approach–avoidance distinctions, plus control conditions. In the control conditions, that is, in a neutral purpose goal context, the expected positive relationship between initial task interest and actual perfor-mance was found. In a purpose goal context, this link held only for a congruent mastery–approach goal (either assigned or adopted). The gain in task interest found in a neutral purpose context was observed in the purpose goal conditions only when participants attained their purpose goals. It was concluded that having an incongruent purpose goal may undermine the positive effect of prior task interest on actual performance as well as on subsequent task interest. The complexity of predicting actual task performance is clear when one considers the great number of factors that determine actual performance (Ford, 1992), including characteristics internal to the individual (such as needs, values, and abilities) and various contextual characteristics (such as quality of instruction, externa