Effects of Explicit and Implicit Achievement Standards on Performance

Abstract

This study investigated effects of achievement standards—self-selected, explicitly imposed, and implicitly imposed—on performance in conditions where no tangible rewards were present. Subjects who had no standards performed significantly less than subjects who had standards. When subjects selected standards they performed significantly more than when experimenters explicitly imposed standards; no significant difference was found between subjects who selected standards and subjects who had standards implicitly imposed by experimenters.