Disparity theory and achievement motivation.

This study tested hypotheses derived from Peak's disparity theory of motivation. Achievement motivation and disparity indices were obtained from 40 VA domiciliary members. The data supported the hypothesis that achievement motivation varies directly with the life goal-present status disparity when low and moderate disparity levels are considered. The hypothesis that motivational decline ensues when the disparity exceeds a certain magnitude could not be adequately tested in this study. The finding that the variability of the achievement-motivation scores increased significantly and the informal observation that the achievement motivation tended to decrease as the disparity exceeded a certain magnitude, however, suggested the motivational decline hypothesis as a fruitful prediction to be tested in future research. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Varieties of achievement motivation.

Criticizes the analysis of J. G. Nicholls (see record 1984-28719-001) in which he has distinguished between 2 types of achievement-related goals, each of which is said to have different behavioral consequences. It is contended that (1) the definitions of the newly distinguished achievement motives are themselves ambiguous, (2) the behavioral consequences predicted by Nicholls do not follow from the explicit assumptions of his theory, and (3) Nicholls's account of the relation between his theory and other achievement theories is factually incorrect. An alternative conception is briefly described, according to which there are at least 4 achievement motives, each with distinctive behavioral consequences. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The graying of achievement motivation.

The increasing preponderance of older persons in American society has prompted psychologists to consider developmental processes from a life-span perspective. While research and theory related to achievement motivation are inherently associated with earlier stages of development, the study of achievement-related motives and patterns in the later years is necessary for a more complete understanding of their place in human development. Additionally, such a study should prove profitable in stimulating new approaches to a general understanding of motivation and achievement. It is suggested that recent cross-cultural work on achievement motivation can provide an appropriate analog as well as specific procedures for cross-age studies. The study of older persons may eventuate in a redefinition of achievement motivation. Specifically considered is the possibility that more extrinsic, competitive patterns of achievement give way with age to more intrinsic, task-oriented patterns and that, with an aging population, this shift may be reflected in the culture as a whole. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural study of achievement motivation.

The CPI has shown promise in American studies of scholastic achievement, contrasting with typical findings in predicting achievement from personality appraisals. A theoretical issue concerns choice of concepts, whether these should reflect states of distress and disturbance or differential components of interpersonal adequacy. In the latter vein, the CPI emphasizes positive variables of presumably universal relevance. A study of academic achievement in Italy was undertaken, testing 204 males and 137 females from 4 high schools in 3 cities. The achievement motive scales of the CPI (Ac and Ai) correlated +.32 and +.35 with grades for males and +.33 and +.29 for females. A multiple regression equation including Ac, Ai, and Fx gave predictive validities of +.43 and +.45. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A questionnaire measure of achievement motivation.

Conducted 3 studies with 125, 67, and 118 male undergraduates to investigate the possibility of constructing a new questionnaire to measure the achievement motive. Study I started with an initial item pool whose content ranged over 10 aspects thought to be characteristic of an individual who is highly motivated to achieve. Items embodying all except 1 aspect were included in the scale resulting from an item analysis. Study II investigated correlations between need achievement (n Ach) and performance in a neutral and an achievement-oriented condition. Only in the latter were significant correlations found. In Study III, 2 educational programs were compared with regard to their motivational implications. In an unstructured program, a high correlation was found between n Ach and performance, while there was no significant correlation in a structured program. The importance of a theoretical approach stressing relevant situational cues is discussed. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of experimentally aroused achievement motivation to academic achievement anxiety.

180 Ss, balanced for sex, were administered the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) under experimental conditions producing either minimal or high arousal of achievement motivation. Regression of scholastic aptitude and AAT scores on grade-point average (GPA) showed both AAT scales accounting for the same variance in GPA. Analyses of variance of AAT scores showed no sex differences, but highly significant main effects for experimental condition and level of scholastic aptitude. It was concluded that test anxiety is a unidimensional construct, and that the AAT is a measure of anxiety aroused by stress cues present during test taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschool measures of self-esteem and achievement motivation as predictors of third-grade achievement.

Longitudinal data on 404 children from predominantly low-income areas in 3 regionally distinct sites were used to determine (a) the relation of preschool, kindergarten, and 1st-grade measures of self-esteem and achievement motivation (the Brown IDS Self-Concept Referents Test and Gumpgookies, respectively) to reading, mathematics, and problem-solving (Raven Colored Progressive Matrices) performance in the 3rd grade; and (b) whether such measures can improve on predictions made solely from an early achievement measure (Caldwell's Preschool Inventory). Although the early self-esteem scores had a strong negative skew, they contributed significantly to predictions of 3rd-grade performance. However, the predictive variation in the scores may have represented differences in task understanding and attentiveness rather than differences in self-esteem. Achievement motivation scores, especially in the year prior to entrance into 1st grade, contributed significantly to predictions of later achievement. Results varied somewhat by sex, socioeconomic status, and geographical site. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport.

Both sport and academic work play large roles in school life, yet there is little comparative evidence on the nature or generality of achievement motivation across these domains. In this study, beliefs about the causes of success in school and sport of 207 high school students were found to be related in a logical fashion to their personal goals. The ego-involved goal of superiority was associated with the belief that success requires high ability, whereas task orientation (the goal of gaining knowledge) was associated with beliefs that success requires interest, effort, and collaboration with peers. These goal–belief dimensions, or theories about success, cut across sport and schoolwork. However, little cross-domain generality was found for perceptions of ability and intrinsic satisfaction. Intrinsic satisfaction in sport primarily related to perceived ability in that setting. Task orientation, not perceived ability, was the major predictor of satisfaction in schoolwork. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement.

This study tested a framework in which goals are proposed to be central determinants of achievement patterns. Learning goals, in which individuals seek to increase their competence, were predicted to promote challenge-seeking and a mastery-oriented response to failure regardless of perceived ability. Performance goals, in which individuals seek to gain favorable judgments of their competence or avoid negative judgments, were predicted to produce challenge-avoidance and learned helplessness when perceived ability was low and to promote certain forms of risk-avoidance even when perceived ability was high. Manipulations of relative goal value (learning vs. performance) and perceived ability (high vs. low) resulted in the predicted differences on measures of task choice, performance during difficulty, and spontaneous verbalizations during difficulty. Particularly striking was the way in which the performance goal-low perceived ability condition produced the same pattern of strategy deterioration, failure attribution, and negative affect found in naturally occurring learned helplessness. Implications for theories of motivation and achievement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A computer-based measure of resultant achievement motivation.

Three experiments were conducted to develop a computer-based measure of individual differences in resultant achievement motivation (RAM) on the basis of level-of-aspiration, achievement motivation, and dynamics-of-action theories. In Experiment 1, the number of atypical shifts and greater responsiveness to incentives on 21 trials with choices among easy, intermediate, and difficult levels of an achievement-oriented game were positively correlated and were found to differentiate the 62 subjects (31 men, 31 women) on the amount of time they spent at a nonachievement task (watching a color design) 1 week later. In Experiment 2, test–retest reliability was established with the use of 67 subjects (15 men, 52 women). Point and no-point trials were offered in blocks, with point trials first for half the subjects and no-point trials first for the other half. In Experiment 3, computer anxiety was manipulated by creating a simulated computer breakdown in the experimental condition. Fifty-nine subjects (13 men, 46 women) were randomly assigned to the experimental condition or to one of two control conditions (an interruption condition and a no-interruption condition). Subjects with low RAM, as demonstrated by a low number of typical shifts, took longer to choose the achievement-oriented task, as predicted by the dynamics-of-action theory. The difference was evident in all conditions and most striking in the computer-breakdown condition. A change of focus from atypical to typical shifts is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct versus projective measurement of achievement motivation.

Tested the predictive validity of 3 techniques for measuring need for achievement (n Ach): (1) TAT projection (scored in 2 ways), (2) Ss' self-reports on a rating scale, and (3) 2 self-peer ranking measures. Ss were 72 male undergraduates. In the self-peer ranking measures, each S listed 10 of his friends and then rated himself in relation to each friend. The criterion measures were class grades and 2 short laboratory tasks. Neither the scores derived from the TAT protocols nor the rating scale self-reports were related to any criterion measure. Both of the self-peer ranking scores were significantly correlated with grades. It was concluded that n Ach was conscious and subject to direct self-report if the means of responding is made specific. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of chronic achievement motivation and achievement primes on the activation of achievement and fun goals.

This research examined the hypothesis that situational achievement cues can elicit achievement or fun goals depending on chronic differences in achievement motivation. In 4 studies, chronic differences in achievement motivation were measured, and achievement-denoting words were used to influence behavior. The effects of these variables were assessed on self-report inventories, task performance, task resumption following an interruption, and the pursuit of means relevant to achieving or having fun. Findings indicated that achievement priming (vs. control priming) activated a goal to achieve and inhibited a goal to have fun in individuals with chronically high-achievement motivation but activated a goal to have fun and inhibited a goal to achieve in individuals with chronically low-achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation.

A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation was proposed and tested in a college classroom with 178 undergraduates. Mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals were assessed and their antecedents and consequences examined. Results indicated that mastery goals were grounded in achievement motivation and high competence expectancies; performance-avoidance goals, in fear of failure and low competence expectancies; and performance-approach goals, in achievement motivation, fear of failure, and high competence expectancies. Mastery goals facilitated intrinsic motivation, performance-approach goals enhanced graded performance, and performance-avoidance goals proved inimical to both intrinsic motivation and graded performance. The proposed model represents an integration of classic and contemporary approaches to the study of achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social-cognitive model of achievement motivation and the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework.

Two studies examined hypotheses drawn from a proposed modification of the social-cognitive model of achievement motivation that centered on the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework. Implicit theories of ability were shown to be direct predictors of performance attainment and intrinsic motivation, and the goals of the 2 × 2 framework were shown to account for these direct relations. Perceived competence was shown to be a direct predictor of achievement goals, not a moderator of relations implicit theory or achievement goal effects. The results highlight the utility of attending to the approach-avoidance distinction in conceptual models of achievement motivation and are fully in line with the hierarchical model of achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of achievement motivation in job design.

Examined the effects of job scope and need for achievement (n Ach) on organizational commitment and performance among a sample of 115 managers in various departments of a major midwest manufacturing firm. Measures of perceived job scope, n Ach (Manifest Needs Questionnaire), and commitment were obtained from the sample, whereas independent performance ratings were obtained from their superiors. Using both moderated regression and subgroup analysis, it was found that high-scope jobs (i.e., jobs characterized by greater amounts of variety, autonomy, task identity and feedback) were directly related to managerial commitment to the organization; n Ach did not moderate the relationship. Furthermore, it was found that the effect of high job scope on performance was moderated by n Ach. This latter finding is consistent with earlier research on need for achievement and suggests that the n Ach construct offers considerable utility for future research on job design. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental arousal of achievement motivation in adolescent girls.

2 groups of female high school students (40 achievers and 40 underachievers, matched for IQ) were exposed to 2 experimental conditions (Neutral and Achievement Oriented) and 2 types of pictures (those depicting males and those depicting females). The overall effect of the experimental achievement arsousal conditions for all girls was nonsignificant. However, a highly significant 2nd-order interaction effect was obtained: the achievement motivation scores of achievers increased significantly in response to Achievement Oriented conditions when they produced stories to pictures of females but did not increase in response to pictures of males; by contrast, the achievement motivation scores of underachievers increased significantly in response to Achievement Oriented conditions when they produced stories to pictures of males but did not increase in response to pictures of females. (43 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of achievement motivation to problem-solving effectiveness.

"When a problem is related to achievement goals… . Subjects with high achievement motivation were more likely to reach a solution than those with low motivation… the actual solution time for those who solved was not different for the two motivation groups… . Other findings… are discussed and tentative interpretations are offered." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concepts, motivation, and academic achievement of Black adolescents.

Investigated the unique and common contributions made by global self-concept, academic self-concept, and need for academic competence to the variance in academic achievement of inner city Black adolescents. Data on these variables were collected from 328 8th-grade students attending a New York City public junior high school. Results of commonality procedures indicate that academic self-concept and need for academic competence each accounted for significant proportions of criterion variance, whereas global self-concept did not. Explanations of variance in academic achievement were better for males than for females after the possible confounding effects of verbal ability had been partialled out. Directions for intervention strategies aimed at enhancing academic achievement are suggested for the 2 sexes. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)