THE EFFECTS OF TASK IMPORTANCE AND PUBLICNESS ON THE RELATION BETWEENGOAL DIFFICULTY AND PERFORMANCE

In a laboratory study using undergraduate students (N = 200), perceive d task importance was found to moderate the relationship between goal level and performance. Moreover, participants performed better when bo th the goal and performance were public rather than anonymous. These f indings suggest that by manipulating task importance and publicness of performance, it is possible to influence the impact that the difficul ty of specific goals have on performance. The results are consistent w ith our hypotheses that the motivation to preserve one's self-image an d the motivation to preserve one's public-image are two factors that d etermine effort and persistence devoted to assigned goals.