This is one of those studies where your first thought is: yes, we already know that. And yet, it is worth taking a moment to read more slowly. Guixia Wang and her colleagues analysed PISA data from more than 400,000 students in 53 countries. Their question was simple: how does achievement motivation relate to school-related anxiety? The answer is simple, too.

In 49 of the 53 countries, the higher the achievement motivation, the higher the anxiety. This is no small effect in a single context, but a pattern that repeats itself almost worldwide. PISA data does not establish causality, but this is striking.

It clashes a bit with how we sometimes talk about motivation in education. We want to increase it, stoke it, strengthen it. Ambition is good. Setting goals is good. Getting the best out of yourself is good, because you know: high expectations. But this study shows that this reasoning tells only part of the story.

What makes it more interesting is that the relationship is not equally strong everywhere. In more collectivist contexts—where expectations from family or the group carry more weight—the link between motivation and fear is clearly stronger. In more individualistic contexts, it is weaker. The explanation is obvious. If performing is not just your responsibility, but also “us”’s, then failure becomes harder. The effort remains the same, but the pressure increases.

So much for the study. But this is where it gets really interesting. Because if you look through the lens of self-determination theory, there is something amiss with how “motivation” is used here. What are Wang and colleagues actually measuring? Items such as “I want to be the best” and “I want to achieve top results.” That is not a neutral form of motivation. That is motivation that relies heavily on comparison, competition, and performance.

In other words, this is closer to controlled or ego-driven motivation than to autonomous motivation. And then the outcome suddenly becomes less surprising. If motivation is fueled by pressure—from yourself, from others, from expectations—then it is not illogical that fear rises along with it. Not because motivation itself is problematic, but because its form can be.

That is also where the study moves a bit too fast for me. It convincingly demonstrates that there is a relationship between achievement motivation and anxiety, and that culture influences that relationship. However, it makes a less sharp distinction between different types of motivation. Yet that is precisely where an important part of the explanation lies.