FUTURE ORIENTATION AND MOTIVATION OF IMMEDIATE ACTIVITY - AN ELABORATION OF THEORY OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

Finds the current theory of achievement motivation limited in that it does not distinguish between effects attributable to anticipation of future goals and the immediate consequences of an activity. An elaboration based on a more general expectancy-value theory of motivation is proposed to overcome this limitation. Implications of the new proposals are derived for situations in which achievement-oriented activity is conceived by an individual as the immediate next step in a path to some distant future goal. Supportive empirical evidence and an experimental paradigm for future research are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.