it held among participants with strong but not weak commitment to the identity goal (Study 3).
That suggests to me that “strong commitment to the identity goal” is the sign of extrinsic motivation (I don’t actually want to become a lawyer, but I say I do), whereas “weak commitment to the identity goal” is the sign of intrinsic motivation (I actually enjoy the law, and so should probably become a lawyer). The first group is doing it mostly for signalling- and so once they have confirmation that their signals have been received, they feel less need to send them.
That suggests to me that “strong commitment to the identity goal” is the sign of extrinsic motivation (I don’t actually want to become a lawyer, but I say I do), whereas “weak commitment to the identity goal” is the sign of intrinsic motivation (I actually enjoy the law, and so should probably become a lawyer). The first group is doing it mostly for signalling- and so once they have confirmation that their signals have been received, they feel less need to send them.