Aiming to avoid failing hurt motivation, but aiming to do well did not.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   The paper does not give how many people took part or their ages. Two studies were of children, three were run in school classes, and most were run in labs.

2. 02

   What they did

   Each study gave people a task with one of two goals. In one, people aimed to do well compared with others, or to avoid doing badly. In the other, people aimed to learn and get better at the task. Motivation was measured by how long people kept going when free to stop, and by questionnaires about interest and enjoyment.

3. 03

   What happened

   Overall, aiming to learn beat aiming to do well or avoid doing badly for keeping going and enjoyment. The effects were small to moderate, and they differed a lot between studies. Avoiding doing badly had the biggest effects, while aiming to do well made no clear difference.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Aiming to learn kept people at a task longer than aiming to show ability did, once free to stop.

   • Action: Aim to learn, not to impresstested

   Pooled analysis of 23 studies · vs people who aimed to show ability · behaviour was recorded

2. Helped

   Aiming to learn made people say they enjoyed a task a little more than aiming to show ability did.

   • Action: Aim to learn, not to impresstested

   Pooled analysis of 26 studies · vs people who aimed to show ability · they rated themselves

3. Helped

   Aiming to learn made people say they enjoyed a task more than aiming to avoid doing badly did.

   • Action: Aim to learn, not to impresstested

   Pooled analysis of 8 studies · vs people who aimed to avoid doing badly · they rated themselves

4. No difference

   Aiming to do well compared with others made no clear difference to how much people enjoyed a task.

   • Action: Aim to learn, not to impressused

   Pooled analysis of 18 studies · vs people who aimed to learn · they rated themselves

Source