Chapter 5: Culture and Motivation to Learn: Exploring the Generalizability of Achievement Goal Theory

The current study attempts to extend our understanding of how cultural factors relate to basic motivational processes, specifically achievement goals. Analyses were guided by the following two questions: First, are there meanlevel differences in goal endorsement? And second, do the patterns of relations between the goals vary across ethnic and cultural lines? Data on culturally diverse samples are presented, including Asian Americans, Nigerian, and Anglo American students. In general, the findings of both correlational and factor analyses suggest that the theoretical distinction between mastery (i.e., intrinsic) and performance (i.e., extrinsic) goals may not be as precise as theory would suggest, particularly for those students from interdependent cultures.