title: Exerted effort and performance in climbing among boys: the influence of achievement goals, perceived ability, and task difficulty.
abstract: In achievement contexts such as sport, achievement goal theory assumes that an individual's major concern is to demonstrate competence. However, competence may be expressed in two ways: as task and ego involvement (Nicholls, 1989). Seventy-eight boys (M age = 13.6 years) performed five climbing courses, and the influence of achievement goals, perceived ability, and task difficulty on effort and performance was studied. According to the achievement goal theory: (a) task-involved boys exerted more effort and performed better than ego-involved boys; and (b) exerted effort was determined by an interaction of one's achievement goal, perceived ability (PA), and task difficulty. Ego-high PA boys and task-low PA boys exerted the most effort on the moderate course; ego-low PA boys exerted least effort on the moderate and very difficult courses. Finally, task-high PA boys exerted more effort on the most difficult courses. The motivational processes underlying these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Grenoble, France. philippe.sarrazin@ujf-grenoble.fr
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarrazin
authors.forename: Glyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cury
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Biddle
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Famose
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004532:Ego; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009051:Mountaineering / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis