Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Psychological Needs as Motivators343Extraordinary Achievement MotivationRegional winners of the Siemens Competitionin Math, Science, and Technology displaytheir awards. More than a thousandhigh school science and math studentscompete every year to earn scholarships inthe annual competition, which attractstalented students from across the country.Hundreds of hours of hard work go intothese student projects, which are evaluatedin terms of originality, scientificimportance, and clarity of presentation.(White, 1959). Competence motivation provides much of the motivational “push”to prove to yourself that you can successfully tackle new challenges, such as strivingto do well in this class.A step beyond competence motivation is achievement motivation—the drive toexcel, succeed, or outperform others at some task. In the chapter Prologue, Richardclearly displayed a high level of achievement motivation. Running for student bodypresident, competing as a diver at the national level of collegiate competition, andstriving to maintain a straight-A average are all examples of Richard’s drive to achieve.In the 1930s, Henry Murray identified 20 fundamental human needs ormotives, including achievement motivation. Murray (1938) defined the “need toachieve” as the tendency “to overcome obstacles, to exercise power, [and] to striveto do something difficult as well and as quickly as possible.” Also in the 1930s, ChristianaMorgan and Henry Murray (1935) developed a test to measure human motivescalled the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT consists of a series of ambiguouspictures. The person being tested is asked to make up a story about each picture,and the story is then coded for different motivational themes, includingachievement. In Chapter 10, on personality, we’ll look at the TAT in more detail.In the 1950s, David McClelland, John Atkinson, and their colleagues (1953) developeda specific TAT scoring system to measure the need for achievement,often abbreviated nAch. Other researchers developed questionnaire measures ofachievement motivation (Spangler, 1992). Over the next four decades, McClellandand his associates investigated many different aspects of achievement motivation, especiallyits application in work settings. In cross-cultural studies, McClelland exploredhow differences in achievement motivation at the national level have influenced economicdevelopment (McClelland, 1961, 1976; McClelland & Winter, 1971). He alsostudied organizational leadership and power motivation—the urge to control or influencethe behavior of other people or groups (McClelland, 1975, 1989).Hundreds of studies have shown that measures of achievement motivation generallycorrelate well with various areas of success, such as school grades, job performance,and worker output (Senko & others, 2008). This is understandable, sincepeople who score high in achievement motivation expend their greatest effortswhen faced with moderately challenging tasks. In striving to achieve the task, theyoften choose to work long hours and have the capacity to delay gratification andfocus on the goal. They also tend to display original thinking, seek expert advice,and value feedback about their performance (McClelland, 1985b).Although people high in achievement motivation prefer to work independently,the most successful people also have the ability to work well with others (McClelland,1985a, 1987). And in assessing their own performance, high achievers tend to attributetheir successes to their own abilities and efforts, and to explain their failures asbeing due to external factors or bad luck (Weiner, 1985).competence motivationThe desire to direct your behavior towarddemonstrating competence and exercisingcontrol in a situation.achievement motivationThe desire to direct your behavior towardexcelling, succeeding, or outperformingothers at some task.Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)A projective test developed by Henry Murrayand his colleagues that involves creatingstories about ambiguous scenes that can beinterpreted in a variety of ways.