Two motives predict behavior: implicit and explicit. Implicit motives are instinctual, spontaneous impulses to act. Explicit motives are deliberate choices caused by outside situations. These two work together to define behavior. According to the RIT, "Individuals with strong implicit needs to achieve goals set higher internal standards, whereas others tend to adhere to the societal norms."
A new model for achievement motivation combines the two most prominent theories: the achievement motive approach and the achievement goal approach. Achievement motives are the need to achieve and the fear of failure; these direct us toward positive or negative behaviors.
The three types of achievement goals are performance-approach goals, performance-avoidance goals and mastery goals. The performance-approach goal is when a person improves to be better at something than others are. Performance avoidance is improving to not look inept in front of others. A mastery goal is when a person improves simply for the sake of getting better regardless of outside social influences.
Achievement goals affect achievement-related behaviors. Two types of achievement-related attitudes are task involvement and ego involvement. Task involvement is when the main goal is to learn skills or understanding. People with ego involvement want to demonstrate superior abilities.
According to RIT, "Studies confirm that task-involvement activity more often results in challenging attributions and increasing effort than in an ego-involvement activity." Self-motivation (intrinsic) is more prominent in task-involved activities. Ego-involved individuals consider success as outperforming others. Society tends to label these people as "high achievers" because their achievements are for public view.
According to RIT, "Self-worth theory states that in certain situations students stand to gain by not trying and deliberately withholding effort." This usually happens after a person fails. Poor performance threatens self-esteem, so instead the person may choose to not try. Withdrawing effort places failure on not trying rather than low ability, which is easier on a person's self-esteem.
Achievement goal theorists label both performance and mastery goals as "approach" motivation. More recently, however, they have proposed an integrated approach that includes modern performance and mastery theories along with standard approach and avoidance. The performance goal has three parts: a mastery goal (focused on developing the skill), a performance approach goal (focused on gaining acclaim and approval from others) and performance avoidance (focused on avoiding criticism from others). These three motivations together define a person's behavior.