Wishes, Motives, Goals, and Personal Memories: Relations of Measures of Human Motivation

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to compare measures of explicit and implicit motives. One hundred and one participants completed six measures of motivation, including Thematic Apperceptive stories, autobiographical memories, three wishes, personal striving lists, the Personality Research Form, and self-ratings. Stories, memories, wishes, and strivings were content-analyzed using Winter's (1989) system. Although overall correlations did emerge among explicit measures within the same motive, there were numerous correlations among methodologically similar measures of different motives. In general, explicit measures did not correlate with thematic measures of the same motives. Although correlations among measures were similar for men and women, explicit measures of power converged with thematic measures of power only for men. Exploratory factor analysis identified three factors: explicit achievement, explicit affiliation, and power. Implicit achievement motivation loaded negatively on the affiliation factor. Implications for research on implicit and self-attributed motivation are discussed.     

Different Games for Different Motives: Comment on Haesevoets,Folmer, and Van Hiel (2015)

Recently, Haesevoets, Folmer, and Van Hiel (2015) strongly questioned the comparability and equivalence of different mixed‐motive situations as modelled in economic games. Particularly, the authors found that different games correlated only weakly on average and loaded on two separate factors. In turn, personality traits failed to consistently account for behavioural tendencies across games. Contrary to the conclusions of Haesevoets et al., these findings are actually perfectly in line with the game‐theoretic understanding of the different economic games. If one considers the variety of specific motives underlying decisions in different games, Haesevoets et al.'s findings actually support the validity of different games rather than questioning it. This, in turn, emphasizes the necessity for the plethora of different games that have been developed over decades in economics and psychology. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Motives and Values to Achieve: Different Constructs With Different Effects

ABSTRACT Motives to achieve and values associated with achievement were conceptualized as distinct and independent personality constructs, one nonconscious, the other conscious, each predictive of a different type of achievement-related behavior It was hypothesized that (a) motive and value measures would be uncorrelated, (b) motives would predict “operant” or spontaneous behaviors while values would predict “respondent” or stimulus-driven behaviors, and (c) motives and values would interact such that subjects with high values relating to achievement would perform better than those with low values, but only when their motives were also high Hypotheses (a) and (b) were strongly supported m two studies, and Hypothesis (c) was supported in Study 2 In that study, the motive for achievement was a particularly strong predictor of operant math performance among those subjects who valued achievement as opposed to affiliation The findings suggest that nonconscious (motive) and conscious (value) measures are both useful in different cases–the former for predicting “real” (doing) activity, the latter for predicting self-report (thinking) responses Questions concerning how motives and values might combine to predict different kinds of behavior are addressed     

拥挤的动机：公益投资中的公共服务动机与外部激励

现代公共管理日益重视公共服务动机,但如何激励公共服务动机,却悬而未决。针对已有研究的局限,采用公益投资博弈的实验范式,考察了激励类型、性别和PSM水平对动机-绩效关系的影响。发现：1）PSM能显著预测公益投资绩效;2）金钱激励撤销后对所有被试均造成了不良后果（动机挤出）;4）荣誉激励能显著提升男性被试的公益投资绩效,且不造成消极后果;但会给女性带来PSM的挤出。未来研究还应考察PSM是否存在内隐层面,并应当考虑文化适合性。     

Antecedent Influences on Children's Extrinsic Motivation to Go Online

From a social psychological process framework, this study examines how children's self-esteem influences whether their friends motivate them to go online. Children (ages 8–14; n  = 293) completed an online questionnaire. Locus of control orientation is included as mediating the relationship between self-esteem and motivation. Hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model. Results reveal that children with healthy self-esteem perceive themselves as having control of their environments. This positively influences peer-related motivation to go online. Children with lower self-esteem see the world as controlled by others or as the result of luck. This external locus also positively influences peer-related motivation to go online. Girls maintained higher self-esteem, and boys were influenced by external factors.     

不同动机和材料因素对学习判断影响的实验研究

本研究主要考察不同动机和材料因素对学习判断的影响。采用标准R-J-R实验程序,运用有意义与无意义词对对120名被试进行实验。结果发现：（1）成就目标、记忆自我效能、材料因素对JOL有显著影响,材料因素对JOL影响最大,记忆自我效能次之,成就目标最小;（2）成就目标与记忆自我效能存在交互作用对JOL有显著影响;（3）成就目标以记忆自我效能为中介影响JOL;（4）JOL准确性与回忆成绩存在显著正相关。     

School Context and Genetic Influences on Aggression in Adolescence

Genetic and environmental contributions to variation in aggression were examined using adolescents' self-reports of aggressive behavior. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health provided a sample of 1,515 pairs of adolescents in five genetically informative groups (i.e., monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, full siblings, half siblings, and unrelated siblings reared together). The analysis, a DeFries-Fulker regression within a hierarchical linear model, yielded findings on individual-level heritability (h2), shared environmental effects (c2), school-level effects, and school-level moderation of h2 and c2. The estimate of h2 for aggression in the full sample was .32, and c2 was .05. In the moderating effect, h2 increased and c2 decreased with greater school-level family warmth. Two effects on school means were found: Those schools with greater ethnic-racial heterogeneity had higher mean levels of aggression, and schools where students perceived greater family warmth had lower mean levels of aggression.     

The Motivational Atmosphere in Youth Sport: Coach,Parent, and Peer Influences on Motivation in Specializing Sport Participants

This study qualitatively examined the motivationally relevant behaviors of key social agents in specializing sport participants. Seventy-nine participants (9–18 years old) from 26 sports participated in semi-structured focus groups investigating how coaches, parents, and peers may influence motivation. Using a critical-realist perspective, an inductive content analysis indicated that specializing athletes perceived a multitude of motivationally relevant social cues. Coaches’ and parents’ influences were related to their specific roles: instruction/assessment for coaches, support-and-facilitation for parents. Peers influenced motivation through competitive behaviors, collaborative behaviors, evaluative communications, and through their social relationships. The results help to delineate different roles for social agents in influencing athletes’ motivation.     

Innovation Motivation: The Need to Be Different

All choice points mandate a dichotomous initial decision: whether to attempt to replicate a response previously used in similar situations or to essay a different approach. Individuals are hypothesized to differ in the direction and degree of their relative preference for consistent vs. innovative approaches. According to social learning theory, innovation motivation should be determined by (a) the generalized expectancy that innovation produces reinforcing outcomes and (b) the need value of the opportunity to engage in "different" behaviors. In a series of studies (cumulative N = 397), an inventory measuring the self-attributed value of behavioral variation (the value set on being different, hence, the vDiffer scale) displays adequate internal consistency (mean a =. 79) and independence of social desirability and psychological health-distress. The vDiffer scale correlates strongly (mean r =. 46) with sensation seeking, modestly (r =. 23) with imaginative involvement, and very strongly (r =. 66) with Openness to Experience; predicts divergent production of ideas (r =. 36) on a changes in society test; and correlates quite strongly (mean rs =. 62) with peer nominations.     

The Employment Interview Context: Social and Situational Influences on Interviewer Decisions1

The employment interview context is broad and multifaceted, and it includes a number of social, situational, and affective influences which generate from the interviewee, interviewer, nature of the job in question, and interactions among these factors. The employment interview is proposed to be influenced by nonverbal and self-promotion behaviors of the applicant, interviewer training, and the requirements of the job. These variables then influence the intermediate variables of applicant similarity to the interviewer, perceived competence of the applicant, and interviewer affect toward the applicant. The intermediate variables then influence the perceived job suitability of the applicant. The present study tested and found support for modeling the employment interview context and how it affects interviewer decisions. The contributions and limitations of the present study are discussed, in addition to directions for future research.     

Motivation to Lead: Research on the Motives for Undertaking Leadership Roles in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Sustained flight operations are likely to produce fatigue and performance decrement in aviators. We assessed changes in cognitive performance using a workhest schedule modeled on successive long-range attack missions. Twelve subjects performed several subtests of the Unified Tri-Service Cognitive Performance Assessment Battery and the Walter Reed Performance Assess- ment Battery 18 times during a simulated sustained operation. The scenario consisted of a 9-hr planning session followed by a 4-hr rest period and a 14-hr daytime mission. After 6 hr of rest, subjects repeated this schedule with a nighttime mission. For two spatial tests, subjects showed linear increases in response rate and one of its components, error rate. Subjects appeared to change strategy as the study progressed, possibly exchanging a higher failure rate for a savings in time. Any tendency to take chances when fatigued may have serious implications for aircrew in sustained operations.     

Social Influence on consumer decisions: Motives,modes, and consequences

Research on consumer decision making has long recognized the influence of others. In this comment on Simpson, Griskevicius, and Rothman (this issue), we agree with them that consumer decisions are best understood in the social contexts in which these decisions are made. We explain how research on consumer social influence incorporates social motives, and we trace the effects of these motives on consumers’ information processing and their purchase and consumption decisions.     

前瞻记忆类型差异及动机与任务序列对前瞻记忆的影响*

本文采用“模拟星期”范式通过3个实验分别考察了前瞻记忆任务类型的差异以及动机与任务序列对前瞻记忆的影响。结果表明：(1)规律性前瞻记忆任务的正确率显著高于非规律性的,即使本研究条件下对非规律性前瞻记忆任务进行奖励与惩罚,仍没有消除两者间的差异。(2)不论是惩罚还是奖励都可以显著提高非规律性前瞻记忆的成绩,而且动机促进作用会蔓延至非直接强化的前瞻记忆任务。(3)固定序列前瞻记忆成绩显著优于随机序列的,且在实验过程中固定序列前瞻记忆的成绩呈上升趋势,而随机序列的基本不变,固定序列在一定程度上反映了行为习惯的建立过程。(4)不论前瞻记忆任务规律与否,惩罚或奖励,任务序列如何,基于时间的前瞻记忆成绩均优于基于事件的前瞻记忆的成绩。(5)时间确认任务中,被试翻看时钟的次数与其正确率间呈显著正相关,且越临近规定时间翻看次数越多,呈J型分布。     

Self-Evaluation Processes: Motives, Information Use, and Self-Esteem

ABSTRACT At least three motives guide self-evaluation: accuracy, self-enhancement, and self-improvement. To satisfy these motives, self-evaluation may utilize different information sources. Self-esteem may also moderate self-evaluation strategies. Participants evaluated the frequency and usefulness of eight types of information for meeting the three motives in two life domains: academics and social life. Personal standards information was reported to be used more frequently than objective or social comparison information and also perceived as most useful for meeting all three motives. Individuals low in self-esteem reported using more social comparison information than those high in self-esteem, especially upward social comparison information. Individuals with high self-esteem reported using personal standards information more often than they used social comparison information, while individuals with low self-esteem relied equally often on these two types of information. Discussion focuses on the role social comparison information may have for those with unstable self-concepts.