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Although the importance of high motivation to engage in deliberate practice has been acknowledged, no research has directly tested this hypothesis. Therefore, the present study examined this relation in adolescent elite chess players by means of a questionnaire. In addition, to provide an explanation for dropout among promising chess players, differences in motivation between persistent and dropout chess players were analyzed. Competitiveness and the will to excel proved to be predictors of investments in deliberate practice. Moreover, achievement motivation and chess-specific motivation differed to a certain extent between persisters and dropouts. Our results suggest that motivation to engage in deliberate practice not only contains elements of the will to improve performance, but also of the will to attain exceptional levels of performance.

To investigate the reliability of the Achievement Motivation in Physical Education Test (AMPET) and reexamine its factor structure, 10,055 elementary, junior high, and high school students in Japan were tested. The AMPET has seven 8-item subscales consisting of learning strategy (LS), overcoming obstacles (OO), diligence and seriousness (DS), competence of motor ability (CMA), value of learning (VL), anxiety about stress-causing situations (ASCS), and failure anxiety (FA), respectively. The ASCS and FA subscales are associated with negative aspects of the AMPET, while the other five sub-scales are related to positive aspects. The AMPET also contains an 8-item lie scale. The subjects were asked to respond along 5-point Likert rating scales. Item-subscale correlations of the AMPET were sufficiently high. Alpha reliabilities ranged from .797 to .950, and test-retest reliabilities after 5 weeks were .651 to .883. Elementary school pupils showed significantly higher mean scores on the positive aspects of the AMPET than junior high and high school students. The means of female students on the negative aspects of the AMPET were significantly higher than those of male students. Seven factors were extracted from the principal components factor analysis with normal vari-max rotation. Each factor was composed of the seven different subscales of the AMPET.

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of goal proximity and achievement motivation on basketball shooting performance in a regular physical education class setting. Data were collected on 79 male Grade 10 students. One week prior to the beginning of a 4-week basketball unit, students were categorized as high achievers and low achievers based on their achievement score on the Howe Sport Behavior Assessment Scale. Within each achievement group, subjects were randomly assigned to either a weekly short-term goal group, a long-term goal group, or a short-term-plus-longterm goal group. Subjects completed the Speed Spot Shooting Test once every week to measure their performance in relation to their assigned goals. No significant differences among the variables were revealed. A postexperimental questionnaire revealed that a majority of students from all goal conditions were setting their own short-term goals. Results are discussed in terms of Bandura’s self-efficacy theory of motivation and the use of goals in motor skill tasks in physical education.

To augment the minimal sport psychology research examining alternative cultures, the purpose of this study was to examine the nature of individual differences and social contextual factors related to achievement motivation among Anglo-American and Hawaiian male physical activity participants. Semistructured interviews were conducted with Hawaiians (n = 5) and Anglo-Americans who resided in the mainland United States (n = 5) and in Hawaii (n = 5). Results of content analyses revealed that all respondents defined positive and negative experiences in physical activity through task and ego goal orientations and an interdependent perspective of the self. Participants perceived the weight room environment through competitive, individualistic, and cooperative goal/reward structures. Cultural differences were also detected as Hawaiians defined positive activity experiences based on the demonstration of pride and perceived the weight room as a setting in which to express pride and an interdependent perspective. These findings suggest the need for more cross-cultural research in sport psychology to validate theoretical constructs.

Drawing from contemporary goal perspective theories of achievement motivation, this investigation had as its primary purpose to determine the relationship of perceived motivational climate to intrinsic motivation and attributional beliefs in a sport setting. This study also examined the degree to which the dependent variables of interest are a function of situational goal structure, dispositional goal orientations, or both. Subjects, 105 male basketball players from nine varsity high school teams, were requested to complete the four instruments. Results indicated that the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire was comprised of two valid and reliable subscales, the Mastery and Performance Climate scales. Perceptions of a mastery-oriented climate positively related to reported enjoyment and the belief that effort leads to achievement. Perceptions of a performance-oriented climate were associated with the view that superior ability causes success. In general, indices of intrinsic motivation and attributional beliefs were best predicted by dispositional goal orientation.

This study investigated the relationships among four distinct types of social goals, effort, and disruptive behavior in urban physical education. Social responsibility, affiliation, recognition, status goals, along with effort and disruptive behavior in physical education were reported by high school physical education students (N = 314) from three urban schools. Findings from correlation and structural equation modeling analyses revealed that social responsibility goals had a positive relationship with effort and an inverse relationship with disruptive behavior. Social status goals demonstrated a positive relationship with disruptive behavior and no relationship with effort. Social recognition goal results were mixed, as they had positive relationships to both effort and disruptive behavior while social affiliation goals were unrelated to effort or disruptive behavior. Application of these results suggests that physical educators who are able to identify the diverse social motives that underlie students’ goals can maximize learning opportunities by increasing student effort and minimizing disruptive behavior.

Using self-determination theory as a framework, the purpose of this study was to test a structural model of hypothesized relationships among perceived need support from physical education teachers (autonomy support, competence support, and relatedness support), psychological need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), intrinsic motivation, and physical activity. Participants were 286 middle school students in the southeastern U.S. They completed previously validated questionnaires assessing their perceived need support from teachers, need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and physical activity. The hypothesized model demonstrated a good fit with the data (RMSEA = .08; CFI = .97; NFI = .96; GFI = .96). Need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation mediated the relationship between need support and physical activity. The constructs of perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness represent the nutriments that facilitate students’ intrinsic motivation and ultimately positively predict students’ physical activity. The findings supported the theoretical tenets of self-determination theory.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between shot valence, avoidance behavior, and performance in soccer penalty shootouts. Video analyses were conducted with all penalty shootouts ever held in the World Cup, the European Championships, and the UEFA Champions League (n = 36 shootouts, 359 kicks). Shot valence was assessed from the potential consequences of a shot outcome as follows: Shots where a goal instantly leads to victory were classified as positive valence shots and shots where a miss instantly leads to loss as negative valence shots. Avoidance behavior was defined as looking away from the goalkeeper or preparing the shot quickly (thus speeding up the wait). The results showed that avoidance behavior occurred more with negative valence shots than with positive shots and that players with negative valence shots performed worse than those with positive shots. Thus, avoidance motivation may help explain why professional athletes occasionally choke under pressure.

This study evaluated the relationship of perfectionism and self-perceptions with burnout and life satisfaction in aesthetic performers (N = 254) recruited in Sweden. Cluster analysis revealed four groups: perfectionistic with maladaptive self-perceptions, perfectionistic (parent-driven) with maladaptive self-perceptions, achievement-oriented with adaptive self-perceptions, and nonperfectionistic with adaptive self-perceptions. Performers in both maladaptive clusters reported characteristics suggesting they were perfectionistic compared to their peers. They also reported relatively high contingent self-worth and low basic self-esteem. In contrast, those in the nonperfectionistic with adaptive self-perceptions cluster scored relatively low on perfectionism and reported relatively high basic self-esteem and low contingent self-worth. The performers in the achievement-oriented with adaptive self-perceptions cluster reported average scores across most variables, moderately high personal standards, and higher basic self-esteem compared with contingent self-worth. Overall, performers in both maladaptive clusters reported the highest burnout and lowest life satisfaction. Study findings underscore the importance of perfectionism and self-perceptions when considering burnout and life satisfaction.