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The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of feedback for achievement of a goal on intrinsic motivation. Analysis showed that positive feed back enhanced perceptions of competence while negative feedback lowered these. Neither condition, however, influenced intrinsic motivation.

To examine the effect of goal-setting on reaction time 40 physical education students were tested on a reaction-time test and were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: personal goals, difficult assigned goals, easy assigned goals, and no goals. Analysis showed that goal-setting enhanced performance, and participants in the difficult assigned goals condition showed the biggest improvement.

A laboratory experiment was conducted (N = 40 subjects) to examine whether goal setting would be associated with reduced heart rate on an endurance task. Participants performed an endurance task on an ergometer bicycle. One week later when participants performed the task again half of them set a specific personal goal for an increase in performance. Analysis indicated that subjects who set a goal showed significant improvement in comparison with the control group. Moreover, subjects in the goal group had a significantly lower mean heart rate during the test and had a higher mean heart rate at the end of the test than on the first trial. Results are discussed in terms of combining cognitive and physiological explanations for the beneficial effects of goal setting on performance.

Ryan & Connell (1989) have demonstrated that different types of behavioural regulation can be located on a continuum of perceived autonomy or perceived locus of causality. The present study applied their formulation in the context of school physical education (PE) and examined the relationships of perceived autonomy, perceived competence and goal orientations with intrinsic interest across two PE activities. School students aged 12-14 years (N = 85) completed an adapted version of the Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Ryan & Connell, 1989) and measures of perceived competence and intrinsic interest separately for two PE activities. They also completed the British version of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (Duda, Fox, Biddle & Armstrong, 1992). Students appeared to be differentially motivated for the two activities due to different perceptions of autonomy. Structural equation modelling analysis showed that perceived autonomy and task orientation had direct effects on intrinsic interest for both the activities. Perceived competence, however, was positively associated with intrinsic interest only for one of the activities. The implications of the results for the practice of physical education are discussed.