Over 10,000 West Point Military Academy cadets participated in a study in which researchers assessed the strength of their internal/intrinsic goals and their external goals. They found that having strong motives of both kinds was related to worse performance, relative to having only strong internal/intrinsic motives. This suggests that:
A) internal motives can weaken the power of external motives.
B) different types of motives "add up."
C) external motives can weaken the power of internal motives.
D) having as many different types of motives as possible is best for performance.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The study found that having strong external motives in addition to strong internal/intrinsic motives was related to worse performance. This suggests that external motives can weaken the power of internal motives, supporting choice C. Choice A is incorrect because the study does not suggest that internal motives weaken the power of external motives. Choice B is incorrect because the study did not test the idea of different types of motives "adding up." Choice D is incorrect because the study found that having multiple types of motives was not beneficial for performance.

Over 10,000 West Point Military Academy Cadets Participated in a Study