Understanding Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Age Differences and Links to Children’s Beliefs and Goals

We examined the relationships among intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations, achievement goals, and intelligence beliefs for 202 3rdthrough 8th-grade children from K-8 schools. Analyses of age differences revealed substantial declines in intrinsic – but not extrinsic – motivation with increasing grade level. Intrinsic motivation was associated with mastery goals but unrelated to performance goals for both elementary (3rd-5th) and adolescent (6th-8th) subgroups. The extrinsic desire for easy work was associated with performance-avoid goals and entity beliefs for the elementary subgroup, and school performance goals for both age groups. The extrinsic desire to please others was associated with performance-approach goals, ability-validation goals, and entity beliefs for the elementary subgroup, but only school performance goals for the adolescent subgroup. Overall, the elementary subgroup appeared extrinsically motivated in order to protect or prove competence, whereas the adolescent subgroup appeared extrinsically motivated in order to successfully navigate a performance-oriented environment.