ABSTRACT
A provocative theory claiming to revise and extend achievement goal theory (AGT) has emerged from work on the hierarchical model of achievement motivation. An individual will approach a task or activity with certain goals of action reflecting their personal perceptions and beliefs about the form of ability they wish to demonstrate. When individuals are predisposed to act in an ego- or task-involved manner, these predispositions are called achievement goal orientations. One of the most powerful aspects of AGT is that it incorporates only the individual difference variables of task and ego orientations, or growth and entity orientations, but also the situational determinants of task and ego involvement. A performance climate is created when the criteria of success and failure are other-referenced and ego-involving, and the individual perceives that the demonstration of normative ability is valued. The pre-match intensity of ego involvement was predicted by ego orientation combined with perceptions of significant others and match value.
