The object of this investigation was to establish the relationship between the thinking styles of students and the type of motivation that they apply to the learning process: goals setting, tasks planning, efficiency. These factors explain either directly or indirectly how the students process and solve issues by being efficient and making their effort worthwhile. 331 students enrolled in the first course of Obligatory Secondary Education (ESO) from four public high schools in the South-East area of Madrid were studied. The Questionnaire of Self-Efficiency and Academic Motivation (Zimmerman, Bandura and Martínez-Pons 1992) and the Questionnaire of Thinking Styles (Grigorenko and Sternberg, 1997; Sternberg, 1990, 1999) were given. The results obtained point to a favourable relationship between the motivational variables--concretely the goals of learning--and the judicial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)