How do you relate to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

1. What personality “type” are you? How has your environment and genetic background influenced your personality and character traits? (Due Wednesday 150 Words)

2. How do you relate to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? (Due Thursday 150 words)

3. Select an article or chapter from this weeks reading material. Summarize the article/chapter in about 75+ words and then describe your opinion and/or realizations from the article/chapter in 75+ words. (Due Friday)

4.In your weekly summary for this third wo

P A R T T H R E E

Psychological Properties of Motivation

Can two individuals be both the same and different in what motivates them? Do people with different needs, traits, and concerns know they are motivated by different things? The themes of this section are population thinking, differences between motives and traits, awareness of what is motivating, and self-concept as a motivational system. Population thinking emphasizes the notion that every person is different. Chapter 8 (Drives, Needs, and Awareness) shows people differ in the intensity of their psychological needs. Individuals with stronger psychological needs or motives are pushed harder toward satisfaction. Chapter 9 (Personality and Self in Motivation) stresses population thinking by emphasizing differences in personality traits. Trait differences explain why people are attracted or repelled by different incentives.

What is the motivational distinction between psychological motives and personality traits? One distinction is that motives like drives and psychological needs push behavior, whereas traits do not. Drives are created through incentive deprivation. For example, food deprivation creates a hunger drive, which pushes or motivates a person to seek, attain, and eat food. Psychological needs are persistent deficits that push an individual toward activi- ties or incentives that provide satisfaction. If left unsatisfied, needs produce psychological ill health. Thus, people are motivated from within to satisfy their needs and attain psycho- logical health. The need to belong or affiliate, for example, pushes people to join clubs, organizations, fraternities, and sororities in order to satisfy this need. Personality traits, however, determine whether incentives are valued positively or negatively. To illustrate, for the trait of extraversion, extraverts positively value and are pulled to attend large, noisy parties. Introverts, in contrast, negatively value those parties and decline to attend.

Are people aware that they are motivated by their psychological needs and personal- ity traits? Although needs and traits affect the motivation of behavior, people may not be aware of the source of that motivation. They seem to act automatically but with limited in- sight as to why. This lack of awareness may result from the fact that needs and traits are con- sidered stable and unchanging. Stable needs and traits cannot explain why the same person behaves differently at different times. However, people differ in needs and traits, and this can account for differences in their behavior.

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Does how you view yourself in the present and in the future motivate your behavior? A person’s view of him- or herself defines self-concept, which is an organized system of knowledge about the self. Envisioned future selves may serve as positive or negative in- centives. A positive future self motivates approach behavior toward that end while a nega- tive future self motivates avoidance behavior, which is designed to prevent a negative self from happening. Self-esteem, however, refers to the outcome of an evaluation about the self. Self-esteem depends on the outcome of evaluations that occur in critical domains. Positive evaluations in important domains boost self-esteem and negative evaluations lower self-esteem.

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Drives, Needs, and Awareness

By annihilating desires you annihilate the mind. Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.

—Claude Adrien Helvetius, 1715–1771

Body cannot determine mind to think, neither can mind determine body to motion or rest or any state different from these, if such there be.

—Benedict de Spinoza, 1677

■ The focus of this chapter is on motives—that is, the internal source of motivation. Keep that idea in mind as you consider the following questions, which introduce the contents of this chapter:

1. What are the differences among physiological needs, drives, and psychological needs?

2. What is the relationship between psychological needs and incentives?

3. Can needs be categorized and ranked for their potential to motivate behavior?

4. What are some of the major psychological needs that motivate behavior?

5. Is awareness of a need or incentive necessary before it can motivate behavior?

Drives and Needs as Internal Sources of Motivation How does one become a world renowned actor, a popular musician, a Nobel-prize winning scientist, or a gold medal-winning athlete? To reach this level of achievement, it is proba- bly necessary to be a genius, such as an acting, musical, scientific, or athletic genius. With this provision in place, one source of motivation for these achievements is the value placed on financial rewards, fame, winning, or the adoration received from others. The philoso- pher Schopenhauer (1851/1970), however, suggests that these incentives are not enough. The money may not be worth it and fame is too uncertain. In addition, the possibility that these incentives will be the result of one’s actions is vague, uncertain, and far in the future. Schopenhauer instead suggests that there are processes inside these individuals that will explain their motivation. He reasons that these individuals possess some inner force or drive that compels them toward their achievements. Schopenhauer likens this inner drive to an innate instinctual process that compels these individuals into action toward their goals as if they had no choice in the matter. This inner force is today labeled drive because it refers to

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TABLE 8.1 Internal and External Motivation and Likelihood of Behavior

Strength of Internal Motive

Strength of External Incentive Weak Strong

Weak Behavior not likely Behavior likely

Strong Behavior likely Behavior very likely

Note: The combined effects of internal and external sources of motivation must be strong enough to exceed the threshold in order for behavior to occur. For example, eating depends on the palatability of food (external) and the degree of hunger (internal).

that internal push, urge, or force that moves a person into action. It could also refer to psy- chological needs such as a very high need for achievement, competence, or autonomy. What internal drives and psychological needs do humans possess that motivate their behavior?

The purpose of this section is to contrast internal with external sources of motivation, with a major emphasis on internal sources such as drives and physiological and psycholog- ical needs. The section will conclude with a description of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and an evaluation of that hierarchy.

Interaction of Push and Pull Motivation As emphasized in Chapter 1, motivation comes from internal sources that push and from external sources that pull an individual. Internal motivation refers to drives and physiolog- ical and psychological needs, while external motivation concerns incentives and goals. The combined push and pull effects of internal and external sources must exceed some thresh- old for behavior to occur, as described in Table 8.1. When above the threshold, behavior oc- curs; when below, it does not (Kimble, 1990). Behavior can result from little external motivation, provided that there is a lot of internal motivation. For example, the food may not be very tasty but a hungry person will eat it. Or behavior can occur with little internal motivation, provided there is a lot of external motivation. For example, even though a per- son may not be very hungry, he will still eat a bowl of delicious ice cream. Internal moti- vation is the disposition to perform a particular action. It can be created through depriving an organism of an incentive such as food, water, or visual stimulation. In other instances, the disposition to respond is dormant, and a situational stimulus will arouse it. For instance, a psychological need such as the need for power could be activated by being a member of the police force, which allows for the legitimate exercise of power.

Physiological Needs and Psychological Drives There is a very important difference between physiological and psychological needs that is anchored in the distinction between materialism and mentalism. Physiological needs refer to deficits that exist in the material body or brain. Psychological needs, however, do not have any material existence and are mental or psychological in nature. There is reference to a deficit of some psychological entity; a discrepancy between a desired level and a current amount. In some cases, psychological needs are assumed to emerge into consciousness

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from physiological needs. Murray (1938), for instance, assumed that psychological needs emerged from processes that occurred in the brain. However, the possible physiological ori- gin of psychological needs is usually ignored.

Need as the Physiological Basis for Motivation. Homeostasis (see Chapter 5) describes the maintenance of constant conditions within the body. Motivation theorists who emphasize internal events, such as Clark Hull (1943, 1951, 1952) and Judson Brown (1961), accepted the idea that a set of ideal internal conditions was necessary for survival. Deviation from these conditions defines physiological need and is responsible for pushing an organism into action. The need for food can correspond to a low amount of glucose in the blood. The need for putting on a sweater corresponds to a drop in body temperature below 98.6°F. The need for iron exists when the amount in the body is so low so that the blood’s capacity to carry oxygen is reduced. This condition results in feeling tired and weak and being unable to per- form manual work without extensive feelings of fatigue (Sizer & Whitney, 1997). Thus, a physiological need implies that it is possible to specify a deficit in a physiological state that is detrimental to a person’s physical well-being. Another category of need refers to sensory stimulation that exceeds a certain intensity thereby causing pain or harm. Excessive sensory stimulation occurs when french fries are too hot, the volume on the stereo is too loud, or the light in one’s eyes is too bright. Sensations of pain or discomfort are warnings of possible tis- sue damage and prompt the need to escape and avoid such stimulation.

Hull’s Drive Theory. Related to physiological need is psychological drive, which is a mo- tivational construct that results when an animal is deprived of a needed substance (Hull, 1943, 1951, 1952). Drive is the persistent internal stimulus or pushing action of a physio- logical need. Drive has several properties or characteristics (Hull, 1943, 1951, 1952). First, it energizes behavior by intensifying all responses in a particular situation. The more intense the drive, the more intense the behavior (Hull, 1943, 1952). This point is illustrated in an experiment by Hillman and associates (1953), who deprived two groups of rats of water for either 2 or 22 hours and then measured how long it took them to run a 10-unit T maze for a water reward. After 10 trials, one-half of each group remained at the original deprivation level, while the other half switched to the other deprivation level. For example, group 2-2 and group 22-22 remained at 2 and 22 hours of water deprivation, respectively, throughout the experiment. Group 2-22 switched from 2 to 22 hours of water deprivation after the first 10 trials, while group 22-2 switched from 22 to 2 hours of water deprivation. According to Hull’s theory, 22 hours of water deprivation corresponds to high thirst drive, while 2 hours of water deprivation corresponds to low drive. High drive should multiply or intensify instrumental behavior much more than low drive. As shown in Figure 8.1, the rats took less time to run the maze under high drive than under low drive. The interpretation based on drive theory is that high drive is a more intense source of internal motivation than low drive.

A second characteristic is that each drive has its own unique internal sensations that serve as internal stimuli for guiding behavior. For example, hunger and thirst feel different and provide the basis for knowing when to eat and when to drink. Leeper (1935) used thirst and hunger drives as cues for rats to choose the correct goal box when water or food de- prived. In his experimental apparatus, rats had to make a choice between an alley leading to food and another alley leading to water. The rats learned to choose the alley leading to

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Trial

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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Group 2-2 Group 22-22 Group 22-2 Group 2-22

Rats speed up (group 2-22)

Rats slow down (group 22-2)

FIGURE 8.1 Intensity of Drive and Running Behavior. Effects of deprivation time on mean log time to run a 10-unit T maze for a water reward by water-deprived rats. Note the increase in running time immediately after the 22-2 hour shift and the decrease in running time after the 2-22 hour shift.

Source: From “The Effect of Drive Level on the Maze Performance of the White Rat” by B. Hillman et al., 1953, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 46, figure 1. Copyright 1953 by American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.

food on food-deprived days and to choose the alley leading to water on water-deprived days. Thus, hunger drive stimuli became associated with the location of food, and thirst drive stimuli became associated with the location of water. A third characteristic of drive is that it motivates the individual to behave in order to reduce its intensity. Hull considered drive to be unpleasant. In fact, he felt that “Bentham’s concept of pain is equated substantially to our own [Hull’s] concept of need” (Hull, 1952, p. 341). Recall from Chapter 2 that Bentham (1789/1970) is the utilitarian philosopher who claimed that people are under the governance of two masters: pain and pleasure. Humans are motivated to reduce drive—that is, to get rid of any painful or unpleasant feeling. Since drive is characterized as being painful, then the behavior that reduces it will be more likely to occur. Eating reduces an unpleasant hunger drive, and drinking reduces an unpleasant thirst drive. The importance of Hull’s drive con- cept is that drive motivates the voluntary behavior that restores homeostasis. Drive moti- vates an individual to reduce feelings of hunger, thirst, or internal temperature deviation, thus maximizing the conditions necessary for well-being and life.

Characteristics of Psychological Needs The definition of psychological needs parallels that of physiological needs since both center on the notion of a deficit. In the case of a psychological need, there is a deficit between a per- son’s desired or set point level and the current level of the matching incentive or behavior.

Chronic or Temporary Psychological Needs. Psychological needs are chronic if a per- son desires some incentive or behavior of which she is habitually deprived. For example, if

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a person has a large appetite for social inclusion then she might be chronically unsatisfied if the current social environment does not provide enough social inclusion. A person might have an enduring need for cognition if she is consistently deprived of her daily opportunity to solve Sudoku or crossword puzzles. However, psychological needs can also be temporary and are aroused occasionally. In this case, it is as if psychological needs are preexisting but remain dormant until aroused by the appropriate stimulus situation. When aroused, the psy- chological need serves as a motive that reminds a person of the discrepancy between his current situation and a final desired state (McClelland et al., 1953). Redintegration describes the process by which a need is activated or restored (Murray, 1938). For example, a safety need is aroused or redintegrated when an unlighted parking lot late at night is discrepant from a person’s ideal level of lighting. The aroused safety need produces a hurried pace to reach one’s car and drive away. The need to achieve is activated or redintegrated by the sight of a textbook, reminding a student of the discrepancy between his current knowledge and the amount necessary to succeed on an exam. The resulting need state or achievement motive leads to studying a textbook to reduce the discrepancy. Stimuli activate, redinte- grate, or restore psychological needs because they have been associated with the arousal characteristics of needs in the past (McClelland et al., 1953). To illustrate, the presence of people arouses the need for affiliation, and textbooks arouse the need to achieve, because in the past these stimuli have been associated with feelings of affiliation and achievement.

Using Needs to Explain Behavior. A final consideration involves demonstrating the relationship between need intensity and need-satisfying behavior. Do people differ in their intensities of psychological needs? How is a person’s level of need intensity measured? These questions cannot be answered by measuring behavior that is instrumental in satis- fying the need, since this behavior could have resulted from other factors. For example, if a person’s residence hall room is neat and tidy, does that mean she has a high need for or- der (Murray, 1938)? Or could it be she is just expecting company or likes being able to find things easily? If the concept of need is used to explain behavior, then two steps are neces- sary: measuring need intensity and showing its relationship with behavior satisfying the need. First, psychologists measure need level with a valid scale or questionnaire. Just as the number on the bathroom scale reflects the amount a person weighs, the score on a need scale reflects the intensity of a need. Second, need scale scores must correlate with be- havior instrumental in satisfying the need. Thus, when need is high, there must be a greater amount of need-satisfying behavior than when need is low. For example, the greater a per- son’s measured need for affiliation, the more friends he visits and telephones (Lansing & Heyns, 1959). In the next few sections, we will examine how various psychological needs are measured and the relationship between specific needs and behavior.

Maslow’s Theory of Needs Are all needs equally important or are some more potent than others? One view is that there are categories of needs that differ in their potency to motivate behavior.

Abraham Maslow (1970) constructed a hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. These needs are organized into five tiers whereby the lower tier of needs is more likely to be acted on first, followed by needs at higher tiers (see Figure 8.2). Notice that in ascending the hierarchy, needs have been

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FIGURE 8.2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Physiological needs are most readily satisfied, and self-actualization needs are least easily satisfied. A person works to satisfy these needs in a hier- archical fashion, with the most time spent on the most potent need, which is lowest on the hierar- chy, then working up the hierarchy to the next potent need.

satisfied less and less. Physiological needs are based on homeostasis and include food, water, and a generally balanced internal state. Maslow also includes sexual, sleep, and activity needs in this category. Once physiological needs are addressed, then safety needs begin to emerge. Safety needs refer to the absence of fear, anxiety, and chaos and the presence of security, stability, dependency, and law and order. With the satisfaction of safety needs, next on the hierarchy are the belonging needs. In order to satisfy these needs, humans seek to establish social relationships with friends, lovers, and family members. Without these relationships the individual feels rejected and lonely. Next on the hierarchy are esteem needs, which concern the respect of self and the respect of oth- ers. These needs involve achievement, adequacy, mastery, and competence plus the pres- tige, fame, and glory derived from the recognition of others. Finally, at the top of the hierarchy is the most elusive of all needs, the need for self-actualization. This refers to the need to fulfill and utilize one’s abilities and talents to the fullest in whatever area one chooses.

The Need Satisfaction Inventory (Lester, 1990) in Table 8.2 provides a possible means for testing whether needs are indeed arranged in this hierarchy. The inventory measures the degree to which a person has satisfied each need category. The inventory has face validity, which means that its items appear to measure what they are supposed to (i.e., “on the face of it”). Thus, question 36, regarding the amount of exercise, would help determine the sat- isfaction of your physiological needs, while question 10, regarding whether life has mean- ing, is valid for determining satisfaction of your self-actualization needs. If Maslow’s (1970) theory is correct, then Lester’s inventory should show a decreasing amount of need satisfaction going up the hierarchy. In other words, a person’s physiological and safety needs should be satisfied more than her esteem and self-actualization needs.

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TABLE 8.2 Need Satisfaction Inventory

For the 50 statements listed below, use the scale to indicate the extent you agree with each statement. Read each statement carefully and answer with your first impulse.

�3 � Strongly disagree �2 � Disagree �1 � Slightly disagree 0 � Neither disagree nor agree

�1 � Slightly agree �2 � Agree �3 � Strongly agree

Physiological Needs 1. I never have trouble getting to sleep at night. 6. I have an income that is adequate to satisfy my needs.

11. I get an adequate amount of rest. 16. I have a satisfactory sex life. 21. In general, my health is good. 26. In winter, I always feel too cold. (R) 31. I eat enough to satisfy my physiological needs. 36. I get an adequate amount of exercise. 41. There’s usually some part of my body that is giving me trouble. (R) 46. The summers are too hot for me ever to feel comfortable. (R)

Safety and Security 2. I think the world is a pretty safe place these days. 7. I would not walk alone in my neighborhood at night. (R)

12. My anxiety level is high. (R) 17. I feel secure about the amount of money I have and earn. 22. I feel safe and secure. 27. I am afraid to stay in my house/apartment alone at night. (R) 32. My life is orderly and well-defined. 37. I can depend on others to help me when I am in need. 42. I am often worried about my physical health. (R) 47. My life has a nice routine to it.

Belonging 3. I know my family will support me and be on my side no matter what. 8. I am involved in a significant love relationship with another.

13. I feel rootless. (R) 18. I have a group of friends with whom I do things. 23. I feel somewhat socially isolated. (R) 28. I have a few intimate friends on whom I can rely. 33. I feel close to my relatives. 38. I am interested in my ethnic roots and feel a kinship with others in my ethnic group. 43. I am religious and consider myself to be a member of a religious group. 48. I am able to confide my innermost thoughts and feelings to at least one close and intimate

friend.

Esteem 4. I feel dissatisfied with myself much of the time. (R) 9. I feel respected by my peers.

continued

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TABLE 8.2 (Continued )

14. I seldom have fears that my actions will cause my friends to have a low opinion of me. 19. I can stand on my own two feet. 24. I feel confident in my present field of endeavor. 29. I would describe myself as a self-confident person. 34. I have earned the respect of others. 39. I do not spend much time worrying about what people think of me. 44. I feel that I am a worthy person. 49. In groups, I usually feel that my opinions are inferior to those of other people. (R)

Self-Actualization 5. I have a good idea of what I want to do with my life.

10. My life has meaning. 15. I am uncertain about my goals in life. (R) 20. I feel I am living up to my potential. 25. I am seeking maturity. 30. I find my work challenging. 35. I know what my capabilities are and what I cannot do. 40. I feel I am doing the best I am capable of. 45. I feel that I am growing as a person. 50. My educational achievements are appropriate given my ability.

Note: To score, first reverse your answer for the items followed by an (R). For example, change a �2 to a �2 and change a �1 to a �1. Sum your score in each category. A higher score means a greater amount of need satisfaction for that category.

Section Recap The body requires an ideal set of internal conditions for its well-being, and any deviation from these conditions produces a physiological need. Whenever an organism is deprived of a needed substance, a psychological drive results. This hypothetical construct is felt as un- pleasant and thus motivates and guides the organism to search for the appropriate incentive that reduces the drive. A psychological need is an internal motive to achieve a desired end- state. Needs exist permanently because the environment does not provide the means for sat- isfaction. Or needs lie dormant until activated by the appropriate stimulus situation through a process known as redintegration. There are two requirements for using psychological needs to explain behavior. One is to measure the intensity of a psychological need; the second is to show that this intensity correlates with the magnitude of need-satisfying behavior. A very in- fluential need theory is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which includes physiological, safety, belongingness, self-esteem, and self-actualization needs. Needs must be satisfied from the lower tier on up. For example, physiological and safety needs must be satisfied to some extent before a person can begin satisfying needs higher up in the hierarchy.

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Some Important Psychological Needs As described in Chapter 2, from Georges Le Roy in 1764 to Henry Murray in 1938, stu- dents of human motivation have speculated on the existence of a wide variety of needs. Of these needs, seven have become important for the motivation of behavior: achievement, power, cognition, esteem, autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This last need has also been labeled the need to affiliate or to belong. The purpose of this section is to describe these needs in more detail.

Achievement Motivation The motive or need to achieve has been a theme in popular literature. In a long series of books described as “rags to riches stories,” the 19th-century author Horatio Alger, Jr., implied that the road to success is by way of persistence and hard work. The main theme of all of Alger’s stories is the motive to achieve or need to achieve (Tebel, 1963). Beginning with Murray (1938), the need to achieve has also been a popular theme with researchers and has proba- bly received more attention from psychologists than any other psychological need.

Need to Achieve and Need to Avoid Failure. The need to achieve or motive to achieve success (Ms) is a disposition to engage in task-oriented behavior or achievement behavior. It is characterized by doing things better than before or surpassing a high external or inter- nal standard of excellence. The standards can be defined on the job, in sports, or in school and are based on the performance of others or on the person’s own standards. The achieve- ment motive is assumed to be dormant until activated by an associated achievement cue (McClelland et al., 1953), such as the sight of textbooks, instruments, or tools.

Do all individuals concentrate on achievement, or do some simply want to avoid failure? In addition to the motive to achieve success (Ms), people also vary in their moti- vation to avoid failure. The motive to avoid failure is the opposite of the need to achieve and inhibits a person from attempting achievement tasks (Atkinson, 1957/1983). Motive to avoid failure (Maf) is characterized by anxiety and fear about failing a task. The strength of Ms and Maf combine to determine the tendency to attempt an achievement task (Atkinson, 1974). On the one hand, Ms motivates an individual to engage in the task, while on the other, Maf motivates the individual to avoid tackling the task. Individuals in whom Ms is greater than Maf (Ms > Maf) are more likely to pursue achievement tasks, while individuals in whom Maf is greater than Ms (Maf > Ms) are more likely to avoid them (Atkinson, 1958/1983). Thus, individuals are attracted to and repelled from achieving a task to a degree consistent with the strength of these two motives. For example, in selecting a major or a final career goal, students are driven toward their choices by their Ms but at the same time are inhibited from pursuing those choices by their Maf. For instance, if a student has a career goal to become a marriage and family counselor, then her Ms pushes her toward that goal while at the same time her Maf pushes her away from it.

Measuring the Need to Achieve and Need to Avoid Failure. Claims about the rela- tionship between Ms and Maf and achievement behavior are based on the measurement of each construct. How does a psychologist determine the extent of an individual’s Ms and Maf? This section examines various procedures that are used to measure each construct.

If the need to achieve is dormant, then the test used to measure it must also activate it. This is one of the reasons different projective tests have been employed to measure the

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FIGURE 8.3 Picture Resembling One from Thematic Apperception Test. The picture shows two women in lab coats and resembles one of the actual TAT pictures. Need to achieve is measured by evaluating respondents’ answers to questions about this and other pictures in the test.

Source: Photo © The Stock Market Agency/William Taufic.

need to achieve (Fineman, 1977). In a projective test a person verbally responds to an unstructured stimulus, such as an inkblot, in a manner that is presumably consistent with her activated motives. McClelland and associates (1953) adapted a projective test procedure pioneered by Murray (1938) known as the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT con- sists of a series of pictures of people in ambiguous but potential achievement settings. The respondent is instructed to tell a story, which the picture may hint at but does not contain. Figure 8.3 resembles the TAT picture of two women in lab coats (McClelland, 1975, p. 387). To a series of such pictures, participants are asked the following questions:

1. “What is happening? Who are the persons?” 2. “What has led up to this situation? That is, what has happened in the past?” 3. “What is being thought? What is wanted? By whom?” 4. “What will happen? What will be done?” (McClelland et al., 1953, p. 98)

What determines whether a person tells a story with an achievement theme? The analyses provided in Table 8.1 provide the basis for the answer. Whether a story is indica- tive of achievement motivation depends on the strength of a person’s dormant achievement motive and the instigating force of the TAT card (Tuerlinckx et al., 2002). If either motive strength or TAT card force increases, then the likelihood of an achievement story increases. An individual with a strong need to achieve, however, is more likely to respond with achieve- ment imagery regardless of the force of the TAT card. Answers to the TAT-relevant questions

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are scored for achievement motivation based on references to competition with a standard of excellence, a unique accomplishment, or long-term involvement. For example, a protocol might state that the two women in lab coats have been working for many years (long-term involvement) developing a vaccine that has no negative side effects (high standard of excel- lence), which no one has ever accomplished before (unique accomplishment).

The TAT as a measure of the achievement motive has not escaped criticism. Entwisle (1972) challenged the reliability of the TAT pictures used to measure the need to achieve. The TAT has low reliability, which means that each picture is not measuring the need to achieve consistently. However, this is to be expected, since not every picture is equally forceful in evoking achievement imagery (Tuerlinckx et al., 2002). Also, test-retest relia- bility of the pictures is low, which means that from one week to the next, for example, individuals’ need-to-achieve scores seem to fluctuate. This is an important point because the need to achieve is assumed to be a stable motive. Additional criticism comes from Klinger (1966), who questioned the validity of TAT measures. He found many studies show- ing no relationship between TAT measures and achievement-relevant behavior such as school grades. However, more recent analyses by Spangler (1992) indicate that a large number of studies found a positive correlation between TAT measures of achievement mo- tivation and achievement behavior. Furthermore, many psychologists researching the area maintain that the TAT is a valid measure not only of the need to achieve but also of the need for affiliation and the need for power (Smith, 1992).

One solution to the problems of reliability and validity inherent in projective tests is to construct questionnaires that are structured and less open to interpretation. Objective tests serve that purpose. The Achievement Motives Scale is a short questionnaire, revised by Lang and Fries (2006), that was designed to measure both the motive to achieve success and the motive to avoid failure. For example, to what extent do you agree with the statements: “I am attracted to tasks, in which I can test my abilities” and “If I do not understand a prob- lem immediately, I start to feel anxious” (p. 221)? The first statement measures the motive to achieve success while the second statement measures the motive to avoid failure. Several studies verified that the Achievement Motives Scale was a valid measure of the motive for success (Ms) and the fear of failure (Maf).

Factors That Affect Achievement Motivation Individuals high in Ms or Maf show their differences in three important aspects of achieve- ment behavior: difficulty of a task, probability of achieving a task, and persistence in trying to achieve a task.

Probability and Incentive Value of Task Success. Whether a person pursues an achievement task also depends on estimates of the probability of successfully achieving the task and on the incentive value of that success. In other words: “What are the chances I can do it, and what is the value of doing it?” The probability and incentive value of success can be portrayed as opposite sides of the same coin. Atkinson (1957/1983, 1974) assumed that the incentive value of a task is inversely related to how difficult it is to achieve. The greater the difficulty of succeeding at a task, the higher its incentive value. The difficulty of a task is based on a person’s subjective estimate of the probability of suc- cessfully achieving it. To illustrate, imagine a course that has a reputation of being very easy; almost everyone earns an A. A student might rate the probability of earning an A to be very high, and so the incentive value of earning an A is quite low. Imagine a differentIS

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course that has the reputation of being tough; very few students earn an A. A student might rate the subjective probability of earning an A to be very low, and so the incentive value of earning an A is quite high. Thus, in general as the subjective probability of success (Ps) decreases, the incentive value of success (Is) increases according to the formula:

Is� 1� Ps

The incentive value of failure, however, is just the opposite. Imagine that you do not earn an A in a course where just about everyone else does. The negative incentive to avoid this outcome is quite high. However, it is not so bad if a student did not earn an A in the course where most other students also did not earn an A. The negative incentive to avoid this out- come is not so high. Thus, as the subjective probability of failure (Pf) increases, the nega- tive incentive value failure (�If) decreases according to the formula:

�If� Pf (The minus [�] sign means that failure [f] has negative incentive value.)

Consequently, whether an individual approaches or avoids an achievement task is based on both the probability and incentive value of either success or failure. Furthermore, Ms > Maf and Maf > Ms individuals are affected differently by these factors such that they act in op- posite ways.

The outcomes of various research investigations show that tasks having a medium probability of success (around p � 0.50) are preferred by individuals for whom Ms > Maf but avoided by individuals for whom Maf > Ms. Atkinson and Litwin (1960) had male stu- dents stand any distance from the peg in a ring-toss game. It was assumed that intermedi- ate distances should approximate a probability of 0.50 for successfully making a ring toss. The results indicated that Ms > Maf students selected the intermediate distances more than Maf > Ms students did. In another relevant investigation, Karabenick and Youseff (1968) examined learning performance in participants who were both low and high in Ms and Maf. Participants for whom Ms > Maf performed better on a learning task of intermediate diffi- culty (P � 0.50) than did participants for whom Maf > Ms. The Ms > Maf and Maf > Ms students, however, did not differ in their learning of a task that was either very easy or very difficult. Vocational choice or aspiration is also governed by the variables in achievement motivation theory. Mahone (1960) found that Ms > Maf students were more realistic in their vocational choices when they were based on their interests and abilities. Students with Maf > Ms, however, were more likely to make unrealistic choices. Morris (1966) examined the preferences for easy and difficult occupations of high school seniors as a function of the strength of their Ms and Maf. Seniors with high-achievement motivation preferred occupa- tions at an intermediate probability of success; those with low-achievement motivation, however, preferred occupations that had either a low or high probability of success.

In validating the Achievement Motives Scale, Lang and Fries (2006) found that higher achievement motive scores were associated with setting high but realistic goals—that is, ones that were still achievable.

Achievement Motivation and Behavioral Persistence. Success at a task, project, or job depends on how long an individual persists. Individuals high in achievement motivation

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are expected to be more persistent, which is more likely to lead to success. In an early investigation of the need to achieve, Lowell (1952) found that high-Ms participants solved more anagrams during a 20-minute period than did low-Ms participants. When using addi- tion problems, Lowell (1952) again found that high-Ms participants solved more problems than low-Ms participants. Sherwood (1966) had male and female students take the TAT for achievement motivation early in the semester and then participate in achievement tasks near the end of the semester. The achievement tasks required solving anagrams and addition problems. The results for both the male and female students showed that their output of solutions increased with their need to achieve. In another study, Atkinson and Litwin (1960) timed how long students spent taking their final exam in a psychology course. Students for whom Ms > Maf spent more time working on their final exams and earned higher scores than did students for whom Maf > Ms.

Lang and Fries (2006), using the Achievement Motives Scale, also showed that motive for success scores correlated positively with goal performance, digit substitution, and reasoning-task performances, and most importantly with persistence. Fear of failure, how- ever, correlated negatively with goal setting and reasoning-task performance. In addition, as expected, high fear of failure was associated with anxiety and worry.

An Achievement Goal Framework Further research on the need to achieve (Ms) and to avoid failure (Maf) has led to the dis- covery that each need can be divided into different facets (Elliot & McGregor, 2001). The first facet concerns valence or value. Success has positive valence and its anticipation motivates approach behavior. For example, a student enrolls in a course with the expecta- tion of passing—a positive outcome. By contrast, failure has a negative valence and its anticipation motivates avoidance behavior. A student may hesitate to enroll in a course in which failure or a low grade is anticipated—a negative outcome.

The second facet concerns goal achievement as representing a person’s competence, which is based on absolute and personal standards, on the one hand, and relative standards, on the other. Absolute standards refer to whether a person has successfully achieved a task, such as passed a course or earned a driver’s license. Personal standards refer to whether a person improved her performance on a task. As Elliot and McGregor (2001) note, personal standards may refer to acquiring new knowledge or skills, such as learning a computer application. Relative standards base success on comparing one’s performance with others, as in the case of percentile ranks or one’s position at the end of a contest, such as first, second, or third place. Mastery goals are ones that involve absolute or personal standards—that is, they involve the accomplishment, improvement, or greater understanding of a task. Performance goals are based on relative standards, which involve a comparison with others—that is, the level of goal achievement depends on surpassing or outperforming others.

Positive and negative valence combined with performance and mastery goals result in four separate goal categories: performance-approach, performance-avoidance, mastery- approach, and mastery-avoidance. The Achievement Goal Questionnaire in Table 8.3 provides a way of measuring each goal category (Elliott & McGregor, 2001). The questions indicate the meaning of each goal and the rating scale defines the measurement procedure. As the scale in- dicates, performance-approach goals imply a need to outperform other students while per- formance-avoidance goals imply a fear of doing worse than others. Mastery-approach goals indicate a desire for self-improvement by learning the course material while mastery-avoidance

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TABLE 8.3 Achievement Goal Questionnaire

Indicate the extent each item is true of you on the scale below:

Not at all true of me � 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 � Very true of me

Performance-Approach 1. It is important for me to do better than other students. 2. It is important for me to do well compared to others in this class. 3. My goal in this class is to get a better grade than most of the other students.

Mastery-Avoidance 4. I worry that I may not learn all that I possibly could in this class. 5. Sometimes I’m afraid that I may not understand the content of this class as thoroughly as I’d like. 6. I am often concerned that I may not learn all that there is to learn in this class.

Mastery-Approach 7. I want to learn as much as possible from this class. 8. It is important for me to understand the content of this course as thoroughly as possible. 9. I desire to completely master the material presented in this class.

Performance-Avoidance 10. I just want to avoid doing poorly in this class. 11. My goal in this class is to avoid performing poorly. 12. My fear of performing poorly in this class is often what motivates me.

Note: To score yourself, find the mean of each of the three items under each category. To see how you scored, compare your scores against the following norms based on 190 students who filled out the scale. Performance- Approach mean � 4.82, Mastery-Avoidance mean � 3.89, Mastery-Approach mean � 5.52, Performance- Avoidance mean � 4.49 (table 2, p. 504).

Source: Copyright © 2001 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted with permission. The official citation that should be used in referencing this material is Elliot, J., & McGregor, H. A. (2001). A 2 × 2 achieve- ment goal frame work. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, p. 504.

goals indicate fear of being incapable of learning the course material. The importance of both mastery and performance goals were associated with academic achievement: higher mastery- approach or performance-approach goals were associated with higher course grades and exam scores while higher performance-avoidance goals were associated with lower course grades and exam scores. Mastery-avoidance goals were not associated with academic performance (Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Finney et al., 2004).

Need for Power Why would anyone want to be president of the United States, of your university, or of a uni- versity club? Is it for the money, the fame, or to satisfy some inner drive or need? Consider the following “get ahead or get along scenario”: A worker is offered a promotion to man- ager that will require supervising former coworkers who are friends. By declining the pro- motion, she can remain in a situation that provides the opportunity for being with her friends. By accepting the promotion, however, she gains the opportunity to exercise au- thority. Would a person with a strong need for power accept this promotion?

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Measuring Need for Power. To exert influence over other people, to be in charge, to be noticed, and to have “high” status are all characteristics of the power motive (Winter, 1988, 1992). Look again at the picture of the two women in lab coats (see Figure 8.3). A story written in response to this resemblance of a TAT picture is scored for the power motive if the response contains phrases related to power, giving unsolicited help, or trying to influ- ence or impress people. Another power motive characteristic is a reference that the person’s actions produce a strong emotional response in others. A character in the story might per- form an action that produces gratitude on the part of the helped individual. Finally, a power motive involves a concern with reputation or image. For example, the women in the TAT picture might be described as having graduated from a top medical school and are now working for a well-known drug company (Veroff, 1992; Winter, 1992).

Characteristics of Need for Power. There are various ways people satisfy their need for power (Winter, 1988, 1992). One way is to place themselves in legitimate positions of power. Both men and women with a high need for power are more likely to be office hold- ers or be in positions to make decisions affecting others. As students, they are more likely to be residence hall counselors or student government officers. A high power motive is as- sociated with entering power-related careers, such as being teachers, business executives, mental health workers, psychologists, and journalists. The power motive is satisfied in these occupations because the person has the legitimate right and duty to direct the behavior of the people she is in contact with. Individuals with a moderate to high power motive are more likely to succeed as managers and executives of large corporations, especially when this motive is coupled with a low affiliation motive (McClelland & Boyatzis, 1982). Since power means being visible to others, individuals with a high need for power strive to do so. Students with a high power need are more likely to write letters to the editor of the school newspaper and to put their names on their residences. Another demonstration of a high power motive is owning trappings of power, such as high-tech stereo equipment, expensive wines, elite credit cards, fancy cars, or valuable pictures or wall hangings. Power-motivated women, more than men, are interested in using clothing as a show of power (Winter, 1988, 1992). Finally, men and women with a high need for power place greater importance on sta- tus and wealth than do those with a low need for power (Parker & Chusmir, 1991).

Individuals high in power motivation are also more likely to have autobiographical memories of peak experiences that involve power themes (McAdams, 1982). They like to take extreme risks, provided this occurs in situations where they can draw attention to them- selves (McClelland & Watson, 1973). People with a high power motive are more likely to exploit members of the opposite sex and to drink, gamble, and use drugs (Winter, 1988). College-educated men with a high power motivation, compared to men with a low power motivation, have wives who are less likely to have professional careers of their own (Winter et al., 1977).

Expressing Need for Power. Psychological needs may be interpreted as categories of in- centives. Thus, a person who seemingly has a need for power is really one who prefers power- related incentives. If this is the case, then individuals with a need for power should enter and remain in situations that provide those incentives. Jenkins (1994) investigated this possibil- ity in a longitudinal study tracking the career development of women who varied in need for power. Power motive scores were collected on these women when they were college seniors

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and then correlated with various aspects of their professional careers at age 35. Several of Jenkins’s findings showed that women with a high need for power were sensitive to situa- tions that allowed for expression of their power motives. First, they were more likely to have entered and remained in power-relevant careers (teacher, psychotherapist, business execu- tive, journalist) than women with a low need for power. Second, their degree of job satisfac- tion was related to the opportunity to exercise interpersonal power. Third, they were more likely to progress professionally provided they were in power-relevant jobs. When in non- power-relevant jobs, however, professional progress seemed absent. A conclusion of this study is that people with various needs are sensitive to the incentives that satisfy those needs. Consequently, we should not be surprised that they enter situations or professions that sat- isfy their needs. In the “get ahead or get along” scenario, a person with a high need for power probably would accept the promotion to manager.

Need for Cognition A more recently postulated need resembling Murray’s (1938) need for understanding is the need for cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982; Cohen et al., 1955). This has been defined as “a need to structure relevant situations in meaningful, integrated ways. It is a need to un- derstand and make reasonable the experiential world” (Cohen et al., 1955, p. 291). In an early demonstration of the validity of this need, Cohen and associates (1955) measured the need for cognition in students and then had them read either a structured or ambiguous story about a person’s interview with a potential employer. Students then rated the story for inter- est, liking, and understanding in addition to their effort in trying to understand it. Those with a high need for cognition rated the ambiguous story as less interesting and enjoyable than the structured story. Students with a medium or low need for cognition, however, did not dif- fer in their ratings of the stories (Cohen et al., 1955). Using this research as a foundation, Cacioppo and Petty (1982) felt that a more precise measure of the need for cognition was necessary. Thus, they developed the Need for Cognition Scale, which contains statements measuring a person’s enjoyment in thinking and solving complex problems (Cacioppo et al., 1996). For example, to what extent does a person enjoy thinking abstractly, coming up with new solutions to problems, putting forth mental effort, or watching educational programs?

A high need for cognition describes individuals who are disposed to engage in and enjoy analytical thinking. Thus, these individuals should pay closer attention to attitude change messages. To illustrate, imagine a situation in which you are asked to read and eval- uate the proposal that “seniors be required to pass a comprehensive exam in their major as a requirement for graduation” (Cacioppo et al., 1983, p. 807). This proposal was presented to students as an editorial written by a journalism student. One version presented a weak set of arguments, and the other version a strong set of arguments. Students either low or high in the need for cognition read either the weak or strong editorial version and evaluated it for effectiveness, liking, and convincingness. The students also rated themselves for how much cognitive effort they put into evaluating the editorial and were asked to recall as many arguments as they could remember. The results showed that students with a high need for cognition were affected more by the strength of the editorial than those with a low need for cognition. They evaluated the strong argument more positively and the weak argument more negatively. They also reported expending more effort thinking about the editorial and recalled more messages than did students with a low need for cognition.

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Need for cognition is also associated with attitude polarization, which means that as a result of thinking, favorable attitudes become more favorable and unfavorable attitudes become more unfavorable (Tesser, 1978). For example, if you are mildly in favor of com- prehensive exams, then thinking about them makes you even more favorable toward them. However, if you have a mildly unfavorable attitude toward comprehensive exams, then thinking about them will make your attitude even more so. Leone (1994) reasoned that peo- ple low in the need for cognition would be more subject to attitude polarization, since they do not especially enjoy thinking. They are less likely to consider both the pros and cons of an issue. Instead they follow the easiest path and think only about information that is al- ready consistent with their initial attitude, thereby strengthening their beliefs. For example, they might only think about the con side of comprehensive exams and develop an even more negative attitude toward them. However, people high in the need for cognition, because they enjoy thinking about an issue, would more likely weigh additional pros and cons about an issue. These considerations are more likely to lead to a balancing out, whereby they would not change their initial attitude on this subject. Leone gave participants the Need for Cognition Scale and then divided them into two groups: one low and the other high in the need for cognition. Next, participants rated the extent they agreed or disagreed with a series of issues. Afterward they were asked to think about those issues on which they had only mildly agreed or disagreed. As predicted, polarization was greater for participants low in need for cognition than for those high in the need for cognition.

Feelings of boredom also vary with need for cognition. Watt and Blanchard (1994) have shown that participants low in need for cognition are more susceptible to boredom than those high in need for cognition. The reason is that people high in need for cognition enjoy thinking. They are more likely to rely on their own internal stimulation and therefore are less likely to become bored.

➣ The Need for Cognition Scale is available at http://fp.dl.kent.edu/fcubed/modules/ modules/learningstyles/need%20for%20cognition.html

Self-Esteem, Relatedness, Autonomy, and Competence As described previously, psychological needs do not have identifiable body or brain corre- lates. The validity of psychological needs is based on the mental impressions they make on individuals. In an attempt to determine the validity of ten postulated psychological needs, Sheldon and coresearchers (2001) instructed their participants to “bring to mind the single most personally satisfying event that you experienced” (p. 327). Their hypothesis was that gratifying an important psychological need is very satisfying, just like eating a delicious meal when hungry is very satisfying. Participants rated their satisfying events on need- relevant dimensions with a scale that ranged from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). For instance, if hunger were a psychological need, then some statements about eating that a participant might rate are:

1. During this event [eating] I felt that my body was getting just what it needed. 2. During this event [eating] I felt intense physical pleasure and enjoyment.

The strength by which a statement is endorsed reflects the strength of the psychological need. Participants also compared all psychological needs with one another in order to determine

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TABLE 8.4 Psychological Needs and Their Associated Feelings

Psychological Need Characteristic Feeling of Each Psychological Need

Self-esteem You are a worthy person who is as good as anyone else rather than feeling like a “loser.”

Relatedness You have regular intimate contact with people who care about you rather than feeling lonely and uncared for.

Autonomy You are the cause of your own actions rather than feeling that external forces or pressures are the cause of your actions.

Competence You are very capable and effective in your actions rather than feeling incompetent or ineffective.

Source: Adapted from “What Is Satisfying about Satisfying Events? Testing 10 Candidate Psychological Needs” by K. M. Sheldon et al., 2001, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, appendix, p. 339.

the strength of each need. The outcome of these comparisons indicated that the four strongest psychological needs were self-esteem, relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Table 8.4 provides a definition of each need, based on the feelings each produces (Sheldon et al., 2001).

These four psychological needs have several implications for motivation. First, they are a main source of internal motivation. Second, the amount of pleasure and satisfaction attained from fulfilling a need depends on need intensity. More intense needs provide more fulfillment and satisfaction than less intense needs. Thus, satisfying their esteem, relatedness, autonomy, and competence needs should provide people a great amount of satisfaction. Third, each psy- chological need provides its own unique feeling of satisfaction when it is fulfilled, much like eating provides a unique pleasurable experience (see Table 8.4). Fourth, the need-relevant experiences were salient and easy for individuals to bring to mind. This finding implies that these needs are also prominent in people’s lives. Fifth, the opportunity to fulfill a psycholog- ical need is related to feelings of positive affect. Positive mood is one consequence of consis- tently being able to satisfy psychological needs.

Need for Affiliation and Intimacy The work by Sheldon and coresearchers (2001) and Reis and coresearchers (2000) verified that the need for relatedness is one of the top psychological needs. This need has also been referred to as the need for affiliation and belonging and has received extensive attention from psychologists beginning with Murray (1938, see Table 2.2) and Maslow (1970, see Table 8.2). The need for affiliation is also captured in the “get ahead or get along” scenario described previously. In this case, would a person who has a strong need for affiliation accept or decline the promotion?

Measurement and Characteristics of Need for Affiliation. Imagine writing stories in response to several TAT pictures. Your story is scored according to its indication of having a social relationship, desiring a relationship, or feeling bad following the termination of a social relationship. Such imagery reflects a need for affiliation, which refers to the motive

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to establish, maintain, or restore positive social relationships with other individuals or groups (McClelland & Koestner, 1992). Like other psychological needs, the need for affil- iation is latent until relevant environmental conditions arouse it, such as the presence or availability of other individuals. Shipley and Veroff (1952) aroused the affiliation motive in college fraternity members by having each member stand up in a group gathering and then be rated by his fellow members on various personality characteristics. A control group was questioned about food preferences, which was assumed not to arouse the affiliation motive. Stories written in response to TAT pictures depicting people in various poses contained a greater number of affiliation statements from fraternity members in whom the affiliation motive had been aroused compared to the control group. Affiliation statements contained references to loneliness, separation, rejection, or ways of preserving social relationships.

People with a need for affiliation do what the need suggests: they affiliate in order to satisfy that need. Students with a high need for affiliation work harder and receive higher grades in classes taught by teachers who call students by their names and take a personal interest in them (McKeachie et al., 1966). Presumably such students will then strive harder to earn good grades to please and affiliate with the teacher and with other students. Those with a high need for affiliation are better able to recognize photographs of faces that have been presented below the recognition threshold (Atkinson & Walker, 1956). They also tend to make more personal telephone calls and write more letters to friends and relatives com- pared to individuals with a low need for affiliation (Lansing & Heyns, 1959). In addition, people with a high need for affiliation prefer to work on a task with incompetent friends over competent strangers (French, 1956). In the “get ahead or get along” scenario, a person with a need for affiliation would probably turn down the promotion so as to remain with friends.

Intimacy Motive. The affiliation motive may reflect a fear of rejection rather than a striv- ing to attain positive social interactions (McClelland, 1985). For instance, individuals high in the affiliation motive fear disapproval and are anxious about their social relationships. Consequently, they seek others for continual reassurance, which reduces their popularity (McClelland, 1985). Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of affiliation or fear of rejection, McAdams (1992a) postulated an intimacy motive to emphasize the positive feel- ings that exist between the individuals in a social relationship. This motive refers to a “readi- ness for experiences of warm, close, and communicative interactions with other persons” (McAdams, 1992a, p. 224). McAdams (1980) presented TAT pictures of actual intimate sit- uations, such as a celebration initiating new members into fraternities or sororities, people at a large dance party, or couples who reported being in love. Participants’ stories about the TAT pictures were scored for the intimacy motive if they included themes about positive relationships or dialogue between individuals. The intimacy motive might concern two peo- ple sharing an encounter that involved feelings of love, friendship, happiness, or peace or tender behavior. In their dialogue, the individuals may sit and talk, confide in one another, or have a friendly argument (McAdams, 1992b).

Differences in the intimacy motive among individuals show up in terms of differences in their social behavior. McAdams and Constantian (1983) contacted students seven times a day for a week using a beeper. Each time the students recorded what they were thinking and doing. They also rated their degree of affect in connection with other people, such as being alert, carefree, content, friendly, happy, and sociable. Students with a high intimacy motive thought more about other people, had a greater number of conversations, and were more likely to be writing letters. As shown in Figure 8.4, students with a high intimacy motive experiencedIS

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Low intimacy motive

M ea

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o si

ti ve

A ff

ec t

Type of Interaction

Not interacting Interacting

High intimacy motive

FIGURE 8.4 Intimacy Motive and Social Interaction. During a social interaction, positive af- fect ratings were higher for students with a high intimacy motive compared to students with a low intimacy motive. There were no differences in mean affect scores during nonsocial interactions.

Source: Adapted from “Intimacy and Affiliation Motives in Daily Living” by D. P. McAdams and C. A. Constantian, 1983, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, table 1, p. 857.

greater positive affect during their social interactions compared to those with a low intimacy motive. It is important to notice also that when not interacting with others, low and high intimacy motive students did not differ in their affective feelings. Apparently, people with a high intimacy motive enjoy their social interactions more than people with a low intimacy motive. In a second study, McAdams and associates (1984) had university students describe recent 15- to 20-minute-long interactions with friends. Their findings showed that higher intimacy motivation was associated with a greater frequency of interactions with friends, greater levels of self-disclosure, and higher levels of listening during conversations.

Self-Determination Theory As described earlier, physiological needs imply a deficit between a fixed set point for a sub- stance and the actual amount, such as a need for vitamin C or iron. Similarly, psychologi- cal needs are also indicative of a lack or deficit in the opportunity to reach a psychological set point. However, for psychological needs the set point may not be static but is marked by growth and development, especially for needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Furthermore, if unsatisfied, these needs produce conditions akin to diseases, such as im- paired well-being and stunted psychological growth (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

In order to account for these suppositions, psychological need theories view the motivation for behavior as coming from within, as if an individual is the source, cause, or origin of his or her own behavior. This view is the claim of self-determination theory, which holds that psychological needs are innate, universal, and serve as the basis for a variety of experiential activities (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The motivation for these activities is autonomous, freely chosen, and does not stem from external demands. In other words, they are self-determined. Self-determination theory is not concerned with varying amounts of each need nor in the relationship between the amount of need deficit and the corresponding

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motivational strength. However, the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs are necessary for good psychological health.

➣ A website devoted to self-determination theory is at http://www.psych.rochester.edu/ SDT/index.html. Click on questionnaires to access the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS), which measures the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Consequences of Unfulfilled Needs. What is the evidence that unfulfilled needs are associated with impaired psychological health? Reis and coresearchers (2000) examined whether increased satisfaction of the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness during daily activities was associated with increased daily well-being. Satisfaction of the need for autonomy was analyzed from ratings that concerned whether an activity was done out of free choice or was imposed on the individual by external factors. Satisfaction of the need for competence was based on how capable a person felt in doing an activity. Fulfillment of the need for relatedness came from analyzing social interactions during the day. The extent a person felt “close and connected” to others during social interactions in- dexed the degree of need satisfaction. How do these measures of need satisfaction relate to well-being? To answer this question, students were asked to rate their positive affect (happy, fun), negative affect (depressed, worried), and vitality (feel alive, energized). They also filled out a symptom checklist about ailments like a runny nose, breathing difficulties, and soreness. In general, the results supported the hypothesis that as need satisfaction increased, indicators of well-being also increased. Favorable changes in the satisfaction of autonomy and competence needs were accompanied by favorable changes in well-being. Increases in the satisfaction of the relatedness need were associated with increases in positive affect and vitality but unassociated with changes in negative affect and symptoms.

Balanced Psychological Needs. Nutritional advice is often in the form of “eat a balanced diet.” Too much of one nutrient will not compensate for too little of another. The same idea applies to the satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Does a balance among the satisfaction of psychological needs result in greater well-being beyond that provided by the average level of satisfaction? This question refers to the balance hypothesis, which was examined in several studies by Sheldon and Niemiec (2006). In one investigation (study 2), participants were evaluated several times during the semester to the extent their basic needs were satisfied. Balance was based on calculating the difference between pairs of needs and summing the absolute values. Higher scores indicated a greater imbalance in satisfaction among the three needs. Participants’ well-being was measured at the end of the semester with two scales. One was the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Chapter 13), which measures two types of affect. Positive affect refers to the extent a person feels active, enthusiastic, and strong while negative affect refers to the extent a person feels afraid, irritable, or upset. The second scale was the Satisfaction with Life Scale, which involves such questions as “I am satisfied with my life.” The scores from both scales were combined to form an overall well-being score.

➣ The Satisfaction with Life Scale is available at http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~ediener

The results showed that increases in overall well-being were associated with increases in the satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Furthermore, as

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the degree of balance in need satisfaction increased, subjective well-being also increased. This finding supported the balance hypothesis. The association between greater balance and subjective well-being encourages varied experiences. It is better to seek satisfaction in all domains of autonomy, competence, and relatedness rather than concentrating on one need while ignoring others.

Section Recap This section described seven psychological needs or motives: achievement, power, cogni- tion, esteem, autonomy, competence, and relatedness (affiliation, belonging). Achievement motivation is guided by two internal sources of motivation: the need to achieve, or motive for success, and the motive to avoid failure. The need to achieve is characterized by want- ing to do things well, being persistent, and having a high standard of excellence. In contrast, the motive to avoid failure is characterized by fear and anxiety about failing at a task. Achievement motivation theory has been expanded to include additional determinants of achievement behavior, such as the probability of success and failure and the incentive value of success and failure.

Achievement motivation theory has been elaborated into a framework that postulates two aspects of goals: valence and achievement. Positive valence refers to anticipated success, which is a good outcome, while negative valence refers to anticipated failure, which is a bad outcome. People are motivated to achieve success and to avoid failure. Achievement moti- vation involves mastery goals, which refer to absolute standards of accomplishment or improvement, and performance goals, which refer to comparing one’s achievements to those of others. The combination of valence and achievement results in four categories of goals: performance-approach, performance-avoidance, mastery-approach, and mastery-avoidance.

To show that psychological needs motivate behavior, it is first necessary to inde- pendently measure the existence and intensity of a need. Next, it is necessary to show that the measured intensity of the need correlates with behavior motivated to satisfy that need. Both projective and objective tests exist for this purpose. In projective tests a person ver- bally responds to an unstructured stimulus in a manner that is presumably consistent with her psychological needs. One type of projective test is the TAT, which consists of a series of pictures of people in ambiguous settings. Stories written in response to these tests have been scored for the need to achieve as well as the need for affiliation (belonging) and power. An example of an objective test is the Achievement Motives Scale which was designed to measure the motive for success and the motive to avoid failure.

The power motive is the wish to influence the lives of other individuals, to be in com- mand, to have high status, and to be noticed. People with a power motive are more likely to be successful in occupations that allow for the legitimate exercise of power. The need for cognition refers to a desire to understand one’s experiences and things in the world through thinking. The need for cognition has an effect on attitude polarization, which means that a person’s attitudes become more extreme after he has thought about them. People with a high need for cognition show less attitude polarization, because in thinking about an issue they are more likely to consider both the positive and negative aspects of a proposal.

Four important sources of internal motivation are the psychological needs of self- esteem (self-worth), autonomy (self-determination), competence (capability and effective- ness), and relatedness (affiliation, belonging). Each need provides its own unique feeling of satisfaction. Their fulfillment is linked to positive affect and well-being. Relatedness, or

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the need for affiliation, is the desire to initiate, maintain, and restore a positive social rela- tionship with another person or group. A specific aspect of affiliation involves the intimacy motive, which emphasizes the shared positive feelings between two individuals.

Self-determination theory views individuals as the source, cause, or origin of their own freely chosen behavior, which is necessary for the satisfaction of autonomy, compe- tence, and relatedness needs. The satisfaction of these three needs is necessary for good psychological health. According to the balance hypothesis, greater equality in the level of satisfaction among these three needs is associated with better psychological health.

Motivation without Awareness Are people aware that psychological needs motivate their behavior? Can psychological needs be activated without an individual being aware of it? According to Freud’s theory about the workings of the unconscious, this is indeed possible (see Chapter 2). For exam- ple, people can laugh at jokes about sex or aggression without being aware that they are satisfying associated instinctual impulses.

The purpose of this section is to describe the role of awareness in motivation and a current elaboration of how this may be possible according to the idea of reflexology and the auto-motive hypothesis.

Reflexology According to the ancient Roman poet Ovid (43 B.C.–A.D. 17), “The cause is hidden but the effect is known.” This statement could be interpreted to mean that humans may not be aware of some of the events that motivate their behavior. For instance, in not being aware of the motivational source, a person may consider thoughts or intentions to be responsible for her behavior. According to the Russian physiologist Ivan Sechenov (1863/1965), this would be an error. Sechenov reasoned that stimulation from an external stimulus may produce thought and behavior simultaneously or may produce thought with behavior being inhib- ited. These joint occurrences lead to the belief that thought and behavior are two separate entities and that one causes the other, especially when the source of stimulation is unknown. Sechenov’s view is called reflexology and assumes that all human action, both involuntary and voluntary, is reflexive in nature—that is, in response to external stimulation and not in response to thought or intention. Although humans are consciously aware of the link be- tween thought and behavior, they may be unaware of the original stimulus that triggered thought. Thus, the motive available in consciousness is given as the reason for behavior, while in actuality it may be an external event that was responsible (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977).

Auto-Motive Hypothesis It is possible that individuals may not always be aware that a particular need has been acti- vated or that they have been sensitized to a certain class of incentives. It may be as Freud believed, namely that an individual is unaware of the psychological need that evoked his be- havior (Uleman 1987; Vollmer, 1993). When an individual is asked the reason for his behavior, he might reply, “I am not certain why I did that.” Furthermore, in addition to not being aware of the stimulus that activates a motive, a person may also be unaware that his behavior is an attempt to satisfy that motive. Bargh (1990) considers these possibilities in

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his auto-motive hypothesis, which describes the nonconscious activation of motives and intentions by environmental stimuli and the subsequent effect of those motives and inten- tions on behavior. First, environmental stimuli activate mental representations of motives and goals. This activation is possible because the stimuli and their mental representations have been frequently associated together in the past. Second, these motives and goals reside in the preconscious, and the person is not aware of them, since they have not yet captured the attention of the conscious. Third, when activated these motives and goals arouse behav- ioral strategies or plans designed to satisfy them. Finally, in the appropriate context these strategies or plans then manifest themselves as behavior in an environment that allows for the satisfaction of a motive or the achievement of a goal.

Priming Achievement Behavior. Research on nonconscious motivation involves activat- ing a motive, without a person’s awareness, to determine if that motive affects behavior. In one demonstration, Bargh and coresearchers (2001) primed participants without their aware- ness for a high-performance goal—that is, a goal or motive to do well on a puzzle task. To prime this goal, participants worked on a word-search puzzle that required finding words embedded in a 10 × 10 matrix of letters. Words designed to prime a high-performance goal included win, compete, succeed, strive, attain, achieve, and master. When participants found these words, it was assumed that this would prime a high-performance motive. In the neutral prime control condition, participants solved a word-search puzzle that contained words such as ranch, carpet, river, shampoo, robin, hat, and window. A high-performance motive was assumed not to be activated in this condition. After completing one of these initial puzzles, participants were instructed to work on three additional puzzles that contained words related to foods, bugs, and colors. Performance on these puzzles during a 10-minute period served to measure the different effects produced by the prior high-performance versus neutral prim- ing procedures. The results showed that participants primed for a high-performance goal dis- covered significantly more solution words than did the neutrally primed participants. Furthermore, in a postexperimental debriefing, no participant reported being aware of the relationship between the priming nature of the first puzzle and performance on the second set of puzzles. These results imply that a nonconsciously primed high-performance goal elevates achievement performance, at least in the case of puzzle-solving behavior.

Priming an Action. Further evidence for Bargh’s (1990) auto-motive hypothesis comes from experimental procedures that nonconsciously activate motives that are relevant for social behavior (Bargh et al., 1996). In their first experiment, Bargh and associates (1996) primed participants to be either rude, polite, or neither in a social setting. Priming of the motive was accomplished by asking participants to construct a grammatically correct sen- tence from a list of five randomly presented words. To prime the rude motive, synonyms and words implying rudeness were employed. To prime the polite motive, synonyms for politeness were used. Although participants were aware of creating the sentences, they were not aware that this was priming a motive to be either rude or polite. The participants were told that when finished with the sentence task, they were to walk to another room to find the experimenter so that they could complete another experiment. Now, suppose you are the participant and you find the experimenter engaged in conversation with another person. How long will you wait before interrupting so that you can receive instructions about what to do next? Will how soon you interrupt depend on whether you have been primed with the

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P er

ce n

ta g

e W

h o

In te

rr u

p te

Trait Priming Condition

Polite Neutral Rude

FIGURE 8.5 Priming the Motive and Behavior. Percentage of participants who interrupted the experimenter within the 10-minute period was highest among students primed with the rude motive condition.

Source: From “Automaticity of Social Behavior” by J. A. Bargh et al., 1996, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, experiment 1, figure 1, p. 235. Copyright 1996 by American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.

rude or polite motive? Figure 8.5 shows that participants who had a motive for rudeness activated were most likely to interrupt, while participants who had a motive for politeness activated were least likely to interrupt. Furthermore, of those who interrupted, rude partic- ipants were more likely to interrupt sooner, while polite participants waited longer.

In a second experiment, Bargh and associates (1996) primed a stereotype of the eld- erly and assumed that participants would act in accordance with characteristics of that stereotype. The scrambled sentence task primed an elderly stereotype by using such words as worried, Florida, old, lonely, and gray. A control group was primed with a set of neutral words. Following the task, participants were debriefed, thanked for their participation, and monitored for how fast they walked away. The hypothesis was that participants with the activated stereotype of the elderly would walk away more slowly than participants in the control group, since presumably slow walking is a trait of the elderly. The results supported the hypothesis. Participants primed for the elderly stereotype took longer to walk down a corridor than participants in the neutral primed condition. In other words, participants acted in accordance with the stereotypic trait that had been activated without their awareness.

Imperceptive Effects of Mimicry. Psychologists have long been aware of people’s moti- vation to associate with others as formulated in the need for affiliation, relatedness, and the intimacy motive. James (1890/1950) postulated a love instinct, Murray (1938) postulated a need for affiliation, and Maslow (1970) did the same for the need to belong. A way to satisfy those needs and be liked by others may be to mimic the individuals with whom one is inter- acting. Is a person aware of being mimicked? And does mimicry actually lead to greater lik- ing and to smoother and more pleasant social interactions? To test this possibility, Chartrand and Bargh (1999) matched people’s behavior, with the use of mimicry, to determine if it increased liking and the feeling that their interaction went smoothly. In their experiment two

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participants (one was actually a confederate of the experimenters) described what they saw in a series of photographs. The alleged purpose of this task was to evaluate the photographs for their possible use in a Thematic Apperception Test. During the mimic condition, the confed- erate mimicked the participant’s mannerisms, while in the control condition, the confederate acted in a neutral fashion with regard to the participant. After the photograph evaluation task, participants were asked how likeable was the other participant (the confederate) and how smooth was their interaction with him. Mimicked participants liked the confederate more than control participants. Mimicked participants also rated the interaction as going more smoothly than did control participants. Were participants aware that being mimicked led to higher rat- ings about the confederate? The answer to this question seems to be “no.” When questioned, participants reported not being aware of being mimicked by the confederate. Thus, being mimicked without awareness increased participants’ liking of the confederate and increased the apparent smoothness of social interaction.

Section Recap Reflexology is the idea that external stimulation is responsible for all motivated action, both involuntary and voluntary, regardless of whether individuals are aware of the source of mo- tivation. Current research on the awareness of motivation has led to the formulation of the auto-motive hypothesis. Accordingly, environmental stimuli can activate motives and goals, accompanying strategies, and subsequent behaviors to satisfy them. This all happens without the person’s awareness. Research has shown that when a motive is activated in this manner, participants behave in a manner consistent with that motive. The nonconscious activation of motives has been shown to affect the behavior of achieving a high- performance goal, of social interactions, and mimicry.

A C T I V I T I E S

1. Hierarchy of Needs. Fill out Lester’s Need Satisfaction Inventory in Table 8.2 of this chap- ter. Was your level of satisfaction in agreement with Maslow’s theory—that is, highest satisfac- tion for physiological needs and lowest satis- faction for self-actualization needs? Do you think your results would be affected by any of the following:

a. You are on a tight budget so you cannot meet some of your physiological needs easily.

b. The campus is a place to make new friends and lifelong partners, thereby easily satisfy- ing your need for belonging. (So far, during my teaching career three couples met in my classes and married.)

c. The four years you spend at the university are filled with feedback about progress to- ward your goals, thereby contributing to

meeting your need for self-esteem and self- actualization.

Do you think your other-sex counterpart has the same level of satisfaction of the need for safety as you?

2. Achievement Motivation. In our society we of- ten emphasize intelligence over achievement motivation as a predictor for success. For exam- ple, to apply to the university you must take the SAT; to apply to graduate school, the GRE; and law, business, and medical schools also have their aptitude tests. Yet you probably know peo- ple who are smart but not motivated and people who are not smart but very motivated. Do you think it would be worth the effort to construct a test like the SAT that would measure achieve- ment motivation, which could then be used to

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predict success in college? Would it even be possible? Do you think your high school grades partly reflect your achievement motivation?

3. Affiliation or Relatedness Motive versus Power Motive. The phrase “get ahead or get along” pits the need for power (get ahead) against the need for affiliation or intimacy (get along). Do you think to be successful at your profession you will have to exercise your need for power at the expense of your need for

affiliation or intimacy? Or can you satisfy those needs in different domains of your life?

4. Need for Cognition. Are some people thinkers and others doers? Do thinkers go on to the uni- versity, while doers go to vocational schools or apprentice on the job? Are thinkers philosophy and art majors and doers accounting and phys- ical education majors? How would you clas- sify yourself?

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rkshop week, describe some realizations you have had about Motivation and Personality and how they have influence you personally or those you know.

Below is this weeks readings

How do you relate to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

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