Bridging the Research Traditions of Task/Ego Involvement and Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation: Comment on Butler (1987)

In an experiment on the effects of different feedback conditions on motivationally relevant variables, Butler (1987) tested the hypothesis that the effects of feedback on intrinsic motivation would depend on whether that feedback promotes a task-involving or ego-involving orientation. She interpreted the findings as they relate to Nicholls's theory of task/ego involvement and our cognitive evaluation theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Although the data were very interesting, Butler failed to review a series of highly relevant studies, she misportrayed cognitive evaluation theory, and she drew conclusions that were not necessarily warranted given her experimental manipulations and data. This article provides a commentary on that research and presents a discussion of the relation between the two theories that Butler claimed to have tested.