Effect of Ego and Task Instructions on Cognitive Performance

Abstract

To evaluate whether motivation is influenced by the way a task is presented, 80 college students were randomly assigned to receiving either ego or task instructions for an anagram and a coding task. Attributional beliefs were assessed. Scores on the anagram task were related to instructions and attributional beliefs. Persons receiving task instructions and persons with beliefs indicating ability to control academic outcomes had higher scores. Performance on the coding task was not related to beliefs and instructions. Finally, persons receiving task instructions rated themselves as performing better, enjoying the tasks more, and being more willing to participate in similar research again. It was concluded that performance in a difficult verbal task can be supported by the use of task-oriented instructions.

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