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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
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Motivational Factors Affecting Performance

The Impact of Perceived Locus of Causality

Michael H. Kernis

University of Texas at Arlington

Miron Zuckerman

University of Rochester

Elice McVay

University of Miami

The research reported here was designed to examine the impact of perceived locus of causality on subsequent performance. Two studies were conducted in which subjects were led to attribute success on a two-person maze task either to their own actions (internal-locus) or to the actions of their partner (external-locus). Subsequently, they worked either on another maze or on a completely different task. Performance on these tasks served as the primary dependent measure. Level of self-awareness was manipulated by having half of the subjects work on the test task while facing a mirror. Results revealed a significant interaction involving locus of causality and test task. Relative to external-success subjects, internal-success subjects performed better when tested on the maze task, but worse when tested on a novel task. The self-awareness manipulation did not reliably affect performance. Several findings from subjects' self-reports were also of interest. Theoretical implications regarding the role of motivational factors affecting performance are discussed.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 3, 524-535 (1988)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167288143011
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