Examining the Why and How of Goal Pursuit: Cybernetic Processes Underlying Self-Determined Motivation’s Effects on Goal Progress

Self-determination theory has long held that the reasons why an individual chooses to pursue a goal influence whether the goal is achieved. Generally, more internalized motivation (i.e., intrinsic and identified motivation) are theorized to facilitate goal attainment. In the current study we sought to determine how internalized motivation facilitates goal achievement. We did this by simultaneously testing several hypothesized mediators derived from past studies. Using ecological momentary assessment, we measured these motivational and self-regulatory processes in a sample of 58 college students as they pursued a total of 228 goals at 670 distinct moments in time. This allowed us to determine how variations in motivation at both the goal and state-level of analysis influence goal progress. Our results suggest that identified motivation (or believing a goal is personally-important) facilitates goal progress by facilitating planning and self-control-related processes (at both levels of analysis). Intrinsic motivation (or enjoyment of a goal) did not influence progress at the goal-level, but it did impact goal achievement at the state-level by motivating self-control. These results outline the self-regulatory processes that more internalized forms of motivation facilitate, and they illustrate the importance of examining motivation at multiple levels of analysis.