Achievement Motivation

Achievement motivation links personality with the degree of competitiveness shown by an individual.

the extent to which an individual is motivated to attain success

(Murray 1938) - natural for one individual to strive to surpass another

(Bandura 1977) - competitive drive was a product of learning

(Atkinson and McCelland 1976) - achievement motiation is generated through a combination of personality and situational factors

Achievement motivation as a personality trait which is activated by a situation. situation comprises the probablity of success and the incentive vakue of success

• proablity of success - how likely success is
• incentive value of success - intrinsic value experienced after success

Drawback is achievement can be interpreted differently as some performers see success as victory over others and have ego goal orientation. they believe ability and comparison against others are the criteria for success

other performers judge on personal improvement and are task orientated. these value internal goals and believe effort and comparison with self are criteria for success.

achievement motivation is a general term and used to cover achievement in all areas leading to sport psychologists to focus onto sport specific achievmeent motivation.

Gill and Deeter 1988 using the Sport Orientation Questionnaire (SOQ) and found athletes to be more competitive then non athletes

athletes favour task orientated goals and non athletes favour ego orientated goals

the type of goal set by the teacher/coach to measure success has an influence on the adoption and sustention of an active, balance and healthy lifestyle.