Conceptualization and Measurement of Interpersonal Communication Motives

The goal of this study was to develop and validate an instrument that could be used to ascertain motives individuals have for interpersonal communication. A 28-item scale is presented along with initial information about the scale's construct validity. Results indicated there were six prominent motives: pleasure, affection, inclusion, escape, relaxation, and control. Low communicative appre-hensives used interpersonal communication for pleasure, affection, and control while high apprehensives were more aligned with the inclusion motive. The motives of pleasure, affection, and relaxation were more closely related to communication satisfaction. In fact, communication satisfaction was best predicted by low communication apprehension, gender, and the pleasure, affection, relaxation, and escape communication motives.     

大学生学业成就与人际关系成败归因的特点研究

Weiner的研究表明,人们对成功和失败有不同的归因倾向,成功时更多地归因于能力、努力等内部原因,失败时更多地归因于任务难度、运气等外部原因。继Weiner之后,西方学者在成就范围内对成败归因进行广泛探索,研究表明,学生不仅对成功和失败有不同的归因倾向,而且成败归因在不同年级、不同性别上也存在差异。我国大学生的成败归因特点与西方是否一致?国内的相关研究较少。而且,归因理论的研究大量集中于成就归因范围,人际交往范围内的归因研究就更少。为此,本研究采用MMCS归因量表,对我国大学生学业成就和人际关系成败归因的特点进行探讨。     

The Prevention of Learning and Interpersonal Problems

The costs of human ineffectiveness are extremely high in both fiscal and human terms, and yet mental health practitioners emphasize remedial efforts unlikely ever to resolve such problems. The positive approach of providing services that will enhance competence and effectiveness, especially in schools, is outlined as an alternative to the current overemphasis on remedial approaches. Consideration is given to the issue of who can do it and how if can be done.     

Achievement and Power Motives, Performance Feedback, and Creativity

Undergraduate students in engineering and science completed the Thematic Apperception Test, which was scored for achievement motivation and also for power motivation. They later participated in an experiment in which they first provided a solution to an engineering problem. The experimenter then gave them preprogrammed, written feedback on how well they performed in two conditions of the experiment (positive or negative feedback) and no feedback in a third condition. Feedback was couched in the language of both achievement and power imagery. Last, students rendered solutions to a second engineering problem—the water-for-Tonya problem. Two students who had completed a course in the psychology of creativity performed ratings of each solution on dimensions designated as creativity and complexity. Ratings for the two dimensions moderately correlated with one another (r = .62) and therefore were combined and summed across the two evaluators to form a single overall Creativity score. Achievement motivation correlated positively with Creativity score in the positive- and negative-feedback conditions (rs = .43 and .38) but not significantly in the no-feedback condition (r = .10). Power motivation correlated positively with Creativity in the positive-feedback condition (r = .32), and negatively in the negative-feedback condition (r = −.25), but not significantly in the no-feedback condition (r = .17). Multiple regression/correlation analysis lent further support to these findings. A major conclusion that these data suggest is a differential response to negative feedback. Achievement-motivated people appear to benefit from it, whereas power-motivated people do not.     

Task Enjoyment: A Mediator Between Achievement Motives and Performance

Task enjoyment is an important component in social cognitive theories of achievement motivation and intrinsic motivation. Combining these theories with the classic achievement-motivation theory we predicted that task enjoyment and its facilitating behavioral manifestations are associated with an approach-oriented achievement motive and only when individuals anticipate forthcoming competence feedback. In the present study we regarded task enjoyment as a mediator between the achievement motive and performance. First, a two-way ANOVA design was adopted. Success-motivated individuals performed better in a reaction task than failure-motivated individuals, and they reported more task enjoyment during performance. This relationship was not dependent on whether competence information had been announced or not. Second, path analyses showed as expected that the relationship between achievement motivation and performance was mediated by task enjoyment. This mediation was observed only under the condition that individuals expected competence feedback. These results were discussed considering current theories of achievement motivation and intrinsic motivation. It is shown that the findings enrich the related nomological networks in some important ways.     

The Study of Interpersonal Problems: A Leary Legacy

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) is an instrument based on Leary's original theory that has been used to identify dysfunctional patterns in a person's interpersonal interactions. Interpersonal problems can be organized. in 2 dimensions, and the 2-dimensional space can be divided into 8 equal sector's (octants). Subscale of the IIP describe problems in each of these octants. The instrument has been used to identify interpersonal problems that are discussed most often in a brief dynamic psychotherapy and problems that are treated most easily. The results show that problems in the exploitable octant improve most frequently, whereas problems in the dominating, vindictive, and cold octants do not improve as readily. We have also examined people's attachment styles in adulthood (following a model proposed by Bowlby) ,and found that different attachment styles correspond to different types of interpersonal problems.     

A Two-Factor Model of Defensive Pessimism and Its Relations With Achievement Motives

The author first examined the underlying factor structure of the defensive pessimism construct and its relations with achievement motives. The author used a sample of 542 Singaporean undergraduate students and found that defensive pessimism is a 2-factor construct that comprises (a) negative expectation, in which individuals worry about possible pitfalls, and (b) reflectivity, in which individuals put forth efforts to prevent possible pitfalls. Then, the author used a sample of 160 Singaporean undergraduate students for Study 2, which supported the proposed model in which mastery predicted the reflectivity factor of defensive pessimism, competition predicted the negative-expectation factor of defensive pessimism indirectly through the mediation of fear of shame, and negative-expectation factor predicted the reflectivity factor of defensive pessimism because, for the defensive pessimists, the act of worrying helps them to respond to their anxiety by initiating the planning process to direct efforts to prevent potential disasters.     

The Pathoplastic Relationship Between Interpersonal Problems and Fear of Failure

ABSTRACT This study advances the understanding of fear of failure (FF), a dispositional avoidance-oriented achievement motive, by employing interpersonal classification techniques to groups of individuals who fear failure in order to examine the pathoplastic relations between FF and interpersonal problems. Shame-based FF is thought to be related to the self-regulation strategies of appeasement and aggression, and these strategies are hypothesized to be associated with the interpersonal problems of Nonassertiveness and Vindictiveness, respectively. Using 2 independent samples ( n s=60 and 38) reporting high FF, interpersonal profiles were examined for the groups in their entirety and for cluster solutions within the larger samples. Results demonstrated that individuals high in FF exhibited 1 of 2 prototypical interpersonal profiles associated with Domineering/Vindictive or Nonassertive/Exploitable problems that correspond with the hypothesized aggression and appeasement regulation strategies. Consistent with the concept of pathoplasticity, these differences were not better accounted for by demographic, affective, motivational, personality, or attachment style characteristics of the samples.     

中小学生人际信任、成就动机及其与合作倾向的关系研究

目的：旨在揭示中小学儿童的人际信任、成就动机水平及其与合作倾向之间的关系。方法：运用马基量表、人际信任量表、成就动机量表和合作倾向评价表对553名3-8年级学生进行测查。结果：1,初中男女生在人际信任水平上出现明显分化。2,男生追求成功的动机和避免失败的动机随年龄增长出现下降趋势,女生追求成功的动机下降,避免失败的动机上升。3,追求成功的动机与合作倾向有显著正相关。结论：与人际信任水平相比,成就动机在儿童合作倾向的评价中发挥了更大的作用。     

Daughter-to-Father Attachment Style and Emerging Adult Daughter's Psychological Well-Being: Mediating Role of Interpersonal Communication Motives

Journal of Adult Development - This study investigated insecure attachment of emerging adult daughters with their fathers and how it affects daughter's psychological well-being, with...     

The Role of Attachment Styles and Interpersonal Problems in Suicide‐Related Behaviors

The relationships among adult attachment styles, interpersonal problems, and categories of suicide‐related behaviors (i.e., self‐harm, suicide attempts, and their co‐occurrence) were examined in a predominantly psychiatric sample (N = 406). Both anxious and avoidant attachment styles were associated with interpersonal problems. In turn, specific interpersonal problems differentially mediated the relations between attachment style and type of suicide‐related behaviors. These findings suggest the importance of distinguishing between these groups of behaviors in terms of etiological pathways, maintenance processes, and treatment interventions.     

Interpersonal Problems Among Perpetrators and Targets of Workplace Bullying

This representative study among 2,539 Norwegian employees examines interpersonal problems among targets and perpetrators of workplace bullying. Both targets and perpetrators portrayed elevated levels of interpersonal problems. Yet, the results question the role of a general target personality in explaining exposure to workplace bullying. Although interpersonal problems were reported among 50% of the targets, interpersonal problems were also prevalent in a large proportion of the non-exposed employees. Accordingly, level of interpersonal problems does not easily differentiate targets from non-targets and calls for a broader frame of reference in order to understand the bullying process.     

Interpersonal Relationships and Sex Differences in the Development of Conduct Problems

This article investigates the role of interpersonal relationships in shaping sex differences in the manifestation, etiology, and developmental course of conduct problems and their treatment needs. The review examines whether: (1) Girls conduct problems are more likely than boys to manifest as a function of disrupted relationships with caretakers and peers; (2) For girls more than for boys, the outcomes of conduct problems in adolescence and adulthood, and related treatment needs, are more likely to be a consequence of the quality of interpersonal relationships with others, particularly opposite-sex peers and partners. Evidence reviewed suggests that boys and girls share many similarities in their expression of conduct problems, but that a relational perspective does unify important differences. There is fair evidence that girls with conduct problems are more likely to come to the attention of authorities because of chaotic, unstable family relationships, and to express antisocial behavior in the context of close relationships; there is stronger evidence that the course and outcomes of conduct problems in females versus males pertain to interpersonal relationship impairments. Those sex differences map onto specific differences in treatment needs. Further empirical testing of the proposed relational model is indicated.     

The Hormonal Correlates of Implicit Motives

Implicit motives represent nonconsciously represented dispositions to seek specific classes of incentives and to avoid corresponding classes of disincentives. Growing evidence suggests that the implicit power motive is associated with basal levels and reactivity of the gonadal steroid hormones testosterone in men and estradiol in women. It is also associated with increased release of stress hormones (cortisol, norepinephrine) in response to dominance challenges and social defeat. The implicit affiliation motive is linked to the release of progesterone: increases in progesterone are followed by increases in affiliation motivation, and arousal of affiliation motivation is associated with concurrent or subsequent progesterone increases. There is limited evidence for a role of vasopressin in achievement motivation. These findings point to a key role of the hypothalamus for implicit motives, a role that is consistent with the existence of function‐specific nuclei within this brain area.     

Construction of Circumplex Scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems

We constructed a set of circumplex scales for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; Horowitz, Rosenberg, Baer, Ureno, & Villasenor, 1988). Initial scale construction used all 127 items from this instrument in two samples of university undergraduates (n = 197; n = 273). Cross-sample stability of item locations plotted against the first two principal components was high. A final set of eight 8-item circumplex scales was derived from the combined sample (n = 470) and cross-validated in a third university sample (n = 974). Finally, we examined the structural convergence of the IIP circumplex scales with an established measure of interpersonal dispositions, the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS-R; Wiggins, Trapnell, & Phillips, 1988). Although both circumplex instruments were derived independently, they shared a common Circular space. Implications of these results are discussed with reference to current research methods for the study of interpersonal behavior.     

The Fear of Happiness Anthropological Motives

Anthropologies are different – but Man has seldom been defined as a creature of happiness. Especially in German philosophy there has been a deep scepticism against happiness, most famously in Schopenhauer's pessimistic world view, but also in the desperate visions and in the heroic cynicism following from them in Nietzsche's philosophy. Although Kant and Hegel – influenced by liberal (English) thoughts – have not under estimated the happiness of the single individual, the majority of philosophers – particularly the representatives of Philosophical Anthropology in the 20th century (Scheler, Plessner and Gehlen) – remained (as will be examined in this essay in more detail) sceptical about happiness as fulfilment. In this topos there is also an evident emotion against mass society and a cultural-critical aversion to the eudaimonia of consumerism. In this way, from the point of view of the educated elites, happiness in modern times can only be found in social and intellectual distance, e.g. in the security of contemplation (especially after fascism with its promises of an activism bringing happiness). The dominant element seems to be a philosophical fear of happiness, of decadence and of happy nivellement. Even Goethe had seen Dr. Faustus losing his life and eternal salvation when he was thinking of the moment as so beautiful that it should remain so forever. But in spite of all these attitudes and modes of sceptical thinking, it may be neither naïve nor uncritical to concur with Blaise Pascal: That pleasure is good and suffering bad does not need further evidence. The heart feels it.     

Psychological Masculinity amid Femininity: Relationship to Striving and Self-Concept in the Achievement and Interpersonal Domains

The relative influences of gender and individual differences in psychological masculinity and femininity on the achievement and interpersonal strivings, abilities, and self-concepts of 176 male and female college students were investigated. The results indicate that psychological masculinity and femininity are better predictors of strivings and self-concepts in the achievement and interpersonal domains than gender. Only with respect to subjects' expected and ideal financial responsibilities, an area which is governed by strong societal sex role norms, does the influence of gender surpass that of psychological masculinity and femininity. The results are discussed in terms of the personality strengths and social competencies that derive from masculine and feminine personality traits.