The effect of manipulating performance expectancies on achievement motivation and task performance

This study investigated the effect of manipulating performance expectancies on achievement motivation and task performance. Sixty participants, drawn from two post secondary institutions, completed the NachNaff (Lindgren, 1976) test of achievement motivation, followed by an anagram task. They were then told that their performance was either above, below or almost exactly average for the anagram that they had chosen. Participants again completed the NachNaff scale and a different set of anagrams. It was hypothesized that high expectancies would cause an increase in both achievement motivation and subsequent performance, and low expectancies would cause a decrease in both achievement motivation and subsequent performance, as compared to initial testing. Results revealed that achievement motivation was altered in the directions predicted, whereas no significance differences was found performance.