abilities of mentors are internalized by the learner. Horgan’s (1992) research
with chess-playing children fits this theory quite well, in that children ex-
pected to be in the advanced stages of this motivation model are highly accu-
rate calibrators of what they know, what needs to be worked on, and how
practice time should be allotted to strengthen weaknesses.
Goal setting is another important factor related to motivation and self-
regulation. Classic research by Locke (1968) demonstrated that individuals
with difficult goals perform better than those with easy or unspecified goals.
He suggested that when an individual sets a clear goal, he is motivated to
achieve that goal and must exert more effort when the bar is set high. Camp-
bell and Ilgen (1976) refined Locke’s explanation by theorizing that setting
higher goals early on in skill acquisition may reflect more than an effect of in-
trinsic motivation. They argued that performance may improve more be-
cause task skills themselves are enhanced. Thus, better performance could
just as likely result from learning as from internalized motivation. They sub-
stantiated their hypothesis by manipulating task difficulty (three levels) and
goal setting (three levels) in a set of chess problems for undergraduate chess
players. Results revealed that individuals who worked on more complex
problems from the beginning gained skills to deal with harder situations later
on, and individuals who worked toward higher goals put forth more effort to
achieve higher levels of intended performance. This research shows that elite
chess players may perform better not only because of an inherent intrinsic
motivation to achieve, but because they attained task skills early on to deal
with more difficult situations by setting goals higher.
Horgan (1992) studied skill attributions of child chess players (ages 6.5–
16) covering a wide range of skill, from beginner to advanced levels. Using
hypothetical situations, players were asked to predict future wins in nonchess
tasks after a series of wins and losses. Results revealed that higher skilled
players became less overconfident after wins, but maintained overconfidence
after losses, suggesting a mindset that is excellent for maintaining motivation.
This implies that chess not only improves problem solving, but competition
in chess may help form this highly functional motivational pattern. Future
studies will need to assess whether this pattern of motivation carries over into
other real-life domains and try to tease apart the directionality of causation
between motivation and competition in chess.
Personality and Chess
Much literature exists regarding the hypothesis that personality plays a cen-
tral role in guiding choices in vocation and leisure, due to the reasoning that
people are drawn to and become involved in activities that allow for natural
personal expression (e.g., Holland, 1966). Thus, the degree of pleasure and
enjoyment an individual experiences is theorized to be a function of the fit be-
304 CHARNESS, TUFFIASH, JASTRZEMBSKI