%0 Journal Article
%T Being Eager to Prove Oneself: U-Shaped Relationship between Competence Frustration and Intrinsic Motivation in Another Activity.
%A Fang H
%A He B
%A Fu H
%A Meng L
%J Front Psychol
%V 8
%N 0
%D 2017
%M 29312025
%F 4.232
%R 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02123
%X Competence frustration has been consistently found to undermine one's intrinsic motivation in the same activity. However, the relationship between competence frustration in a preceding activity and one's intrinsic motivation in a subsequent one remains unclear. In order to explore this relationship, self-reported data were collected from 617 undergraduate students of a large comprehensive university in southern China, who took varied courses immediately before taking a less-demanding one. Results suggested a U-shaped relationship between students' competence frustration in a preceding course and intrinsic motivation in a subsequent one. To be specific, for students whose competence frustration reached the inflection point, a restoration process would be activated if the current course would help restore their competence. Importantly, these students' competence frustration in a preceding course was found to positively predict their intrinsic motivation level in a subsequent course. As far as we are concerned, this is the first study to reveal a potential positive effect of need frustration outside of its primary thwarting context, which complements and extends existing literatures on the dynamics between need frustration and intrinsic motivation.