Achievement Motivation: What We Know and Where We Are Going

Abstract

We review work on the development of children's and adolescents’ achievement motivation, focusing on recent advances in the empirical work in the field and commenting on the status of current theories prominent in the literature. We first focus on the main theories guiding the field and the development of motivational beliefs, values, and goals; intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; identity and motivation; and motivation and emotion. We provide our views on future directions for theory development and what we believe are the critical next steps in developmental research. We then discuss the burgeoning intervention work designed to enhance different aspects of children's motivation: their competence beliefs and mindsets, intrinsic motivation, valuing of achievement, and growth mindsets. We also provide suggestions for next steps in this area in order to guide the field forward. We close with a brief consideration of neuroscience approaches to motivation. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, Volume 3 is December 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.