Expectancy determinants of intrinsically motivated behavior

Conducted an experiment to contrast and reconcile 2 cognitive theories of motivation and to investigate the expectancy determinants of intrinsically motivated behavior. 60 undergraduates were presented with 7 challenging tasks which varied in their level of difficulty. Ss were asked to select their most preferred task to work on and then to rank order the remaining tasks on their preferences for working on them. Ss were either told or not told that they would receive $2.50 for successfully accomplishing the task. Ss who could earn money for a successful completion of the task chose relatively easy tasks (though not the easiest), while Ss who could get no money for performing the task chose rather difficult tasks. Results indicate that when a salient monetary reward was available, Ss behaved largely (though not solely) as predicted by an extrinsically oriented expectancy-valence theory such as V. H. Vroom's (1964), whereas when no external reward was available, Ss' choices and preferences could be most accurately accounted for by an expectancy-valence theory utilizing an intrinsic valence function that relates in a positively accelerated manner to task difficulty. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).