Task and Ego Orientation and Intrinsic Motivation in Sport

The focus of this paper is on the theoretical and empirical interdependencies between goal perspectives, or ways of judging one's competence and subjectively defining success, and intrinsic motivation in the sport domain. First, the conceptual links between goal perspective theory (Nicholls, 1989) and Deci and Ryan's cognitive evaluation theory (1985) are outlined. Drawing from both of these frameworks, it is presumed that a task-involved goal perspective should foster intrinsic motivation while an ego-involved goal perspective is more likely to lead to decreased intrinsic motivation. Second, recent investigations which have examined the relationship of situationally-induced task and/or ego involvement and intrinsic motivation in the classroom and, in particular, sport are reviewed. Finally, research across two samples is presented which determined the association between dispositional goal perspectives (as measured by the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire) and indices of intrinsic motivation (as measured by the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory). The results were consistent with theoretical predictions and provide converging evidence for the construct validity of the TEOSQ. The paper concludes with future directions for work on goal perspectives and intrinsic motivation in sport.