1. Achievement Motivation
A2 Physical Education
Achievement Motivation

3. Participation motives
List the reasons why you enjoy participating in sport and physical activity.
Put them in rank order of personal importance.

4. Youth sport participation Adult exercise participation
Major motives
Youth sport participation
Improving skills
Having fun
Being with friends
Experiencing thrills
Achieving success
Fitness
Adult exercise participation
Health factors
Weight loss
Fitness
Self challenge and excitement
Feeling better
Socialising
Weinburg & Gould, 1999

5. Motivation
“The internal mechanisms and external stimuli which arouse and direct our behaviour.” (Sage, 1974)
Our inner drives towards achieving a goal
External pressures and rewards that we perceive in our environment
The intensity (arousal) and the direction of our behaviour.

6. Motivation has 5 components:
Direction
Intensity
Persistence
Continuity
Performance

7. Motivation Positive & Negative Primary & Secondary
Motivation is not a ‘unitary concept’. There are different types of motivation:
Positive & Negative
Primary & Secondary
Extrinsic & Intrinsic

8. Intrinsic Motivation Linked to cognitive theorists
Used to explain how/why performers strive inwardly, being self-determined in trying to develop competence or excellence of performance.
Take part in the activity for its own sake, for the pure love of sport.

9. Intrinsic Motivation Said to be involved in the ‘flow experience’:
When intrinsic motivation is at its greatest, performers feel competent and self determining in dealing with their environment.
Said to be involved in the ‘flow experience’:
Complete absorption in the activity
Subconscious feeling of self control
No extrinsic motivation (goals, rewards etc..)
‘Self actualisation
Positive mental attitude
Relaxed, controlling anxiety, & enjoying optimum arousal
Physical readiness
Focussing on appropriate specific aspects of performance

10. Extrinsic Motivation
Stems from other people, through positive and negative reinforcement, and from tangible and intangible rewards.

11. Motivation Extrinsic rewards Intrinsic sources Tangible Intangible
Satisfaction
Achievement
Feeling good
Competence
Mastery
Tangible
Trophies
Medals
Badges
Certificates
Money
Intangible
Social reinforcers
Praise
Fame
Winning/Glory
Social Status
Approval

12. Extrinsic rewards
Extrinsic rewards can have a positive or negative effect on motivation depending on how the performer perceives them in relation to:
Pace
Play
Control
Competence

13. “Why did I say I’d take it ? ”
(G. Southgate,1996)

14. Achievement Motivation
‘An individual’s motivation to
strive for success’
Murray (1938) indicated that it was ‘natural for one individual to strive to surpass another’
Trait view that competitive motivation is a product of nature
Bandura believed that competitive orientation was a product of learning
Interactionist view of Atkinson & McClelland (1976) that competitive motivation was generated by a combination of personality and situational factors

15. Atkinson & McClelland
Proposed a theory of achievement motivation which took into account of both individual personality and the situation and specified how the two were related.
It is an interaction model – and according to this model behaviour is determined by the person’s interaction with their environment.

16. Nach & Naf The need to achieve (Nach) The need to avoid failure (Naf)
Atkinson suggests that there are two personality factors that contribute to achievement motivation.
The need to achieve (Nach)
The need to avoid failure (Naf)
We all have both characteristics, but those with a high need to achieve tend to have a low need to avoid failure & vice versa.

17. Personality factors that determine competitiveness (Atkinson & McClelland 1976)
High Nach
TAS: people with
the tendency to
approach success
Low Naf
High Naf
TAF: people with the
tendency to avoid
failure
Low Nach

18. Need to achieve (Nach)
People with a high motive to achieve success display the following characteristics (approach behaviours).
Look for challenges
Are concerned about standards of excellence & show high levels of performance.
Persist for longer
Value/welcome feedback from others
Enjoy performing in situations in which they can be evaluated
Are not afraid of failure
Attribute their performance to internal factors.

19. Need to avoid failure (Naf)
People showing a strong motive to avoid failure tend to:
Be preoccupied about failure
Avoid challenging tasks: prefer to play against very easy or very difficult opposition
Dislike situations in which there is a chance for success and in which others can evaluate them.
Perform worse when they can be evaluated
Attribute their performance to external factors

20. Situational factors The probability of success
Incentive value of success
The extent to which success is likely;
for example; success is more likely if the
task is found by the performer to be easy
The intrinsic value experienced by the individual
after success has been achieved; for example,
the harder the task the greater will be the incentive
value because the probability of success is reduced

21. Probability of success
High
Incentive value
of success
Low
High
Probability of success