I don’t think this is the same distinction. Instrumental vs. terminal is not specific to humans, but this seems to be about how different types of motivation affect human psychology. Goals seem to correspond to far mode motivation, abstractly causing something to be planned for in the long term, while rewards are near-mode; they are explicitly caused by certain actions and motivate immediate action. Rewards also seem to be the kind of thing that behavioral psychology describes, and that can be harnessed using the techniques in http://lesswrong.com/lw/2dg/applying_behavioral_psychology_on_myself/ .
I don’t think this is the same distinction. Instrumental vs. terminal is not specific to humans, but this seems to be about how different types of motivation affect human psychology. Goals seem to correspond to far mode motivation, abstractly causing something to be planned for in the long term, while rewards are near-mode; they are explicitly caused by certain actions and motivate immediate action. Rewards also seem to be the kind of thing that behavioral psychology describes, and that can be harnessed using the techniques in http://lesswrong.com/lw/2dg/applying_behavioral_psychology_on_myself/ .