Attentional involvement and intrinsic motivation

The current study used the Experience Sampling Method to examine attentional involvement-the degree to which one's attention is devoted to moment-to-moment activity-as a potential mediator of two previously identified relationships within the field of intrinsic motivation: (1) the positive relationship between a balance of challenges and skills and enjoyment, and (2) the positive relationship between competence valuation and enjoyment. Multilevel, within-person analyses indicated attentional involvement fully mediated both relationships. Implications of the findings for intrinsic motivation processes are discussed. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.