The Higher Your Implicit Affiliation‐Intimacy Motive,the More Loneliness Can Turn You Into a Social Cynic: A Cross‐Cultural Study

Research has shown that the strength of the implicit affiliation‐intimacy motive moderates the effects of satisfaction and frustration of the need for affiliation‐intimacy: Low relatedness was more closely related to envy for people high in the implicit affiliation‐intimacy motive. The present study tests a moderating effect of the strength of the implicit affiliation‐intimacy motive on the association between low relatedness and social cynicism in samples of elderly people from Germany, the Czech Republic, and Cameroon. A total of 616 participants provided information on their implicit affiliation‐intimacy motive, relatedness, and social cynicism. As hypothesized, a moderation effect of the strength of the implicit affiliation‐intimacy motive was found that held true regardless of participants’ culture of origin: For people high in the implicit affiliation‐intimacy motive, a lack of relatedness was associated with higher levels of social cynicism. Our findings complement other theories stating that positive relationships with others are a significant part of successful aging.     

The spontaneous use of a group typology as an organizing principle in memory

Five studies investigated the spontaneous use of group typology in encoding information about various social groups. Participants saw faces or behaviors along with a label indicating the group membership of the face or the behavior. Labels corresponded to 2 groups each of 3 group types (i.e., 2 intimacy groups, 2 task-oriented groups, and 2 social categories). Recognition results showed more within-group-type errors than between-group-types errors. A free-recall task replicated these results, as the sequence of remembering items showed that memory organization reflected the group typology. A final study investigated the effects of group typology on the speed and accuracy of category membership verification. Results demonstrate the spontaneous use of an implicit group typology and its influence on the cognitive organization of information about groups.     

Motivation, affect, and hemispheric asymmetry: power versus affiliation

In 4 experiments, the authors examined to what extent information related to different social needs (i.e., power vs. affiliation) is associated with hemispheric laterality. Response latencies to a lateralized dot-probe task following lateralized pictures or verbal labels that were associated with positive or negative episodes related to power, affiliation, or achievement revealed clear-cut laterality effects. These effects were a function of need content rather than of valence: Power-related stimuli were associated with right visual field (left hemisphere) superiority, whereas affiliation-related stimuli were associated with left visual field (right hemisphere) superiority. Additional results demonstrated that in contrast to power, affiliation primes were associated with better discrimination between coherent word triads (e.g., goat, pass, and green, all related to mountain) and noncoherent triads, a remote associate task known to activate areas of the right hemisphere.     

Perceived Functions of Family and Friends During Childhood,Adolescence, and Youth: Developmental Theories of Two Turkish Groups

The present study compared Turkish University students' and middle-aged adults' developmental theories about the perceived importance of needs related to different life tasks and functionality of relationships with parents, same-sex siblings, and friends for need satisfaction during childhood, adolescence, and youth. A retrospective method was used. The following results emerged: (1) the importance of needs related to a search for identity and intimacy increased and the importance of those related to dependency decreased from childhood to adolescence; (2) needs related to intimacy maintained a high level of importance during youth whereas importance of the need for self-understanding/development decreased from adolescence to youth; (3) increases in the perceived importance of friends occurred between childhood and adolescence, especially with respect to needs related to identity and intimacy issues; (4) decreases in the perceived importance of parents were reported between adolescence and youth, especially with respect to needs related to identity, intimacy, and dependency; (5) developmental theories of groups and sexes did not differ; (6) group and sex differences with respect to importance ratings of some needs emerged.     

In search of the true group animal: the effects of affiliation orientation and social comparison orientation upon group satisfaction

A study among 653 undergraduate students examined the effects upon group satisfaction of social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) and affiliation orientation, i.e. the preference for doing things together and in groups versus a preference for doing things alone. Affiliation orientation correlated positively with extraversion and agreeableness, and social comparison orientation correlated negatively with emotional stability and openness to experience. A multi‐level analysis showed that individual level variance in group satisfaction was explained by an interaction effect of affiliation orientation and social comparison orientation: a high level of affiliation orientation was associated with high group satisfaction of individual group members, but only among those low in social comparison orientation. Among those high in social comparison orientation, a high level of affiliation orientation was even associated, though not very strongly, with low group satisfaction. These effects were upheld when simultaneously controlling for all ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions. It was concluded that the typical ‘group animal’ is someone who has a strong preference for affiliation, combined with a low tendency to compare him‐ or herself with others. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internet minimal group paradigm.

Over many years, social psychologists have sought to understand what causes individuals to form themselves into groups. Initially, it was believed that groups were formed when people bonded around a common goal. Later, it was found that, when individuals were divided into groups on a random basis, this in itself was sufficient for them to feel part of a group and show a preference for their own group over others. Since the environment in cyberspace is different from that of the offline world, for example, there is no physical proximity between participants; it may be assumed that it would be difficult to achieve feelings of affiliation among potential or actual group members. This pioneer study seeks to discover which components are requisite to the creation of a group identity among individuals surfing the Internet. For this experiment, 24 people were divided into two Internet chat groups according to their intuitive preference in a decision-making task. It was found that group members perceived their own group performance as superior on a cognitive task as compared with that of the other group. These results demonstrate that for surfers, the Internet experience is very real and even a trivial allocation of people to a group is likely to create a situation of ingroup favoritism.     

Psychological needs associated with MMPI-2 scales in a nonclinical sample

The psychological needs derived from the Adjective Check List (ACL; Gough & Heilbrun, 1983b) that are associated with MMPI-2 scales were studied among 198 nonclinical participants. Both the Depression (D) and Psychasthenia (Pt) scales were negatively correlated with needs for achievement and dominance and positively correlated with needs for abasement and succorance (dependence). The Schizophrenia (Sc) scale was negatively associated with need for affiliation and positively associated with need for abasement. The Social Introversion (Si) scale was associated negatively with needs for achievement, dominance, affiliation, heterosexuality, exhibition, and autonomy and associated positively with needs for succorance, abasement, and deference, reflecting good construct validity for Scale Si. MMPI-2 Masculinity-Femininity (Mf) did not correlate with the ACL Masculinity and Femininity scales, suggesting poor concurrent validity for Mf.     

Social Values, Conformity, and Dress

This study examined the influence of social values on the importance of various clothing features. A model is hypothesized in which social values lead to differing needs for group identification, affiliation, and conformity, which influence clothing feature importance. In general, social values are associated with a high need for affiliation and group identification, conformity, and a greater emphasis on both the utilitarian and the display aspects of clothing (style and brand name).     

Congruence between social values and implicit motives: effects on life satisfaction across three cultures

This study examines the relationship between implicit motives for intimacy‐affiliation and power, explicit value orientations, and life satisfaction. The Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Schwartz Value Survey, and a bias‐free TAT‐type picture‐story‐test were administered to 319 adult participants in Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Germany. The stories were coded for motive imagery reflecting needs for intimacy‐affiliation and power. Based on motives associated with the domain intimacy‐affiliation, the results revealed that an alignment of implicit motives and self‐attributed values is associated with an enhanced life satisfaction across cultures. In contrast, no such relationship could be found for motives and values associated with the domain of power. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Themes of Agency and Communion In Significant Autobiographical Scenes

ABSTRACT In three studies employing over 350 community adults and college students, participants wrote or told narratives of personally important scenes in their lives. The autobiographical accounts were coded for themes of agency and communion, the two general content dimensions in lives and life stories that have been identified by many theorists and researchers. The four agentic themes of self-mastery, status, achievement/responsibility, and empowerment were positively associated with Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) measures of achievement and power motivation, self-report scales of dominance and achievement, and personal strivings concerning being successful and feeling strong. Similarly, the four communal themes of love/friendship, dialogue, care/help, and community were positively associated with intimacy motivation, needs for affiliation and nurturance, and personal strivings concerned with warm and close relationships. The results suggest a thematic coherence in personality across the arenas of key autobiographical memories, social motives, and daily goals.     

Motive congruence and interpersonal identity status

This article examines the relationship between interpersonal ego identity formation and congruence of self-attributed and implicit affiliation motives. A TAT-type picture-story test, the Personality Research Form, and the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status were administered to 177 participants to assess data on affiliation motivation and interpersonal identity formation. According to a scoring system developed by Winter, the picture stories were coded for need for Affiliation. Analyses revealed that motive congruence is significantly associated with participants' level of identity achievement and identity foreclosure in the interpersonal domain. Such a relationship could not be identified for identity diffusion and moratorium.     

Extending hierarchical achievement motivation models: The role of motivational needs for achievement goals and academic performance

In the current study, we investigated the role of three basic motivational needs (need for power, affiliation, achievement) as antecedents of goals within the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework, and examined their combined predictive validity with regard to academic performance in a sample of 120 university students. Structural equation modeling analysis largely supported our postulated model, linking motivational needs indirectly to course grades through goals. Achievement goals were formed by a combination of different motives: need for achievement was a positive predictor of all four achievement goals, and need for affiliation was negatively related to performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Additionally, need for power was a positive predictor of performance-avoidance goals. Performance-approach goals had a direct (positive) effect on performance outcomes. In sum, our results integrate basic motivational needs with the achievement goals literature and extend therefore hierarchical achievement motivation models, by showing how basic human motives of achievement, affiliation, and power are related to goal striving motivation and performance outcomes in an academic setting.     

A Test of Subordinates' Achievement and Affiliation Needs as Moderators of Leader Path-Goal Relationships

The path-goal theory of leadership proposes that situational and subordinates' characteristics moderate the effectiveness of various leader behaviors. A great deal of research has been devoted to the examination of situational moderators. This study tested the moderating influences of subordinates' needs for achievement and affiliation on the relationships between instrumental and supportive leadership and subordinates' satisfaction. Using a sample of 298 Army and Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, need for achievement, but not need for affiliation, was found to moderate the influences of both leader behaviors on subordinate satisfaction. Individuals with high need for achievement were demonstrated to prefer instrumental leadership, whereas individuals' with low need for achievement preferred supportive leader behaviors. Implications of these results, and the need for future research concerning the moderating properties of subordinates' characteristics on path-goal relationships, are discussed.     

Social rank and affiliation in social anxiety disorder

The present study examined the interpersonal lives of individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). According to evolutionary and interpersonal theories, we construed the interpersonal world using the social rank and the affiliation psychological systems. Two studies assessed measures of social rank, affiliation, social anxiety and depression among a population of treatment-seeking individuals with SAD. In study 1, individuals with SAD without major depressive disorder (MDD; n=42) were compared to healthy controls (n=47). In study 2, individuals with SAD and MDD (n=45) were compared to individuals with other anxiety disorders and MDD (n=31). Results indicated that SAD was related to perceiving oneself as having low social rank, being inferior, and behaving submissively, as well as to low perceived intimacy and closeness among peer relations, friendships and romantic relations. SAD was distinctly associated with these perceptions above and beyond the symptomatic (study 1) and the syndrome-level (study 2) effects of depression. These findings were further supported by a path analysis of the SAD participants from both studies. Our findings highlight the need to address both social rank and affiliation issues in the assessment and treatment of SAD.     

Rethinking the gender identity crossover hypothesis: A test of a new model

Both self-report and projective assessment techniques were used to examine whether there exists a gender identity crossover at midlife such that men develop a communal or affiliative orientation and women become more interested in agency and power. A sample of 150 predominantly Caucasian men and women ages 24–84 were divided into three age groups for comparison: (1) young (ages 20–39); (2) middle-aged (ages 40–65); and (3) old (ages 66–84). Measures included six pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test, which were coded for achievement, power, intimacy, and affiliation needs, and the Goldberg 50-Bipolar, from which items were selected to derive agency and communion scales. Middle-aged men were lower in the need for power and higher in the need for affiliation than were younger men; there were no age differences in self attributions of agency and communion. Results are discussed in terms of the traditionality of the men and the nontraditionality of the women with respect to work and family roles.This research was supported in part by grants to Margie Lachman from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and the National Institute on Aging (AG06038).     

Effects of achievement motivation, social identity, and peer group norms on academic conformity

This study investigated whether academic achievement motivation and social identity explain variation in children’s conformity to positive academic behaviors (n = 455 children in grades three through five). Structural equation modeling suggested that academic value and peer group academic norms were positively related to academic conformity. Specifically, children who enjoyed academic pursuits and who belonged to academically-inclined peer groups were more likely to conform to novel academic behaviors than children who did not. Additionally, academic value moderated the relationship between peer group norms and conformity, implying that, for students who do not value academics, belonging to a peer group with high academic norms will lead to more conformity to academic behaviors than belonging to a peer group with low academic norms. In contrast, analyses suggested that some aspects of achievement motivation and social identity are unrelated to academic conformity. Implications for encouraging positive academic behaviors in middle childhood are discussed.     

Distancing oneself from negative attributes and the personal/group discrimination discrepancy

The personal/group discrimination discrepancy (PGDD) refers to greater reporting of discrimination at the group than personal level. We examined whether the PGDD is one example of people's general tendency to distance themselves from negative attributes related to the social categories to which they belong, and whether this tendency varies as a function of ingroup identification. Female undergraduates (n=87) rated the extent to which positive and negative attributes, including being discriminated against, characterized themselves personally and women as a social category. As expected, negative attributes, including discrimination, were more strongly associated with the category than with the self, whereas positive attributes were more strongly associated with the self than with the category. Women who were lower in group identification were especially likely to show these discrepancy effects. The implications for personal and social identity are discussed.     

Dual identity,in‐group projection,and out‐group feelings among ethnic minority groups

This study extends research on dual identity and in‐group projection by considering category prototypicality and indispensability, and by focusing on ethnic minority members and their attitudes towards the native majority and minority out‐groups. Among a sample of 491 participants of the three largest immigrant‐origin groups in the Netherlands, it was found that the minority in‐group was seen as relatively more prototypical and relatively more indispensable for the national category in comparison with minority out‐groups, but not in comparison with the native majority. In support of the in‐group projection model, stronger dual identity was associated with higher relative in‐group prototypicality and relative in‐group indispensability in comparison with the majority and, via both these relative perceptions, to a less positive attitude towards the native Dutch. In addition and in support of the common in‐group identity model, dual identity was associated with more positive minority out‐group feelings via higher minority out‐group prototypicality and indispensability. It is concluded that dual identity can have both positive and negative consequences for intergroup relations depending on perceived (relative) prototypicality and indispensability, and depending on whether the out‐group is the majority or other minorities.     

Participation,influence, and satisfaction in group decision making

The hypothesis that attitudinal effects of participation depend on individual differences in motivation was tested in a laboratory experiment with 56 three-man groups (leader and two members). Measures of the attractiveness of power and social acceptance were obtained prior to a group decision task, after which members described their perceived participation, influence, and satisfaction. Results showed that: (a) influence was more strongly related to satisfaction for members with strong, as opposed to weak, power motives; (b) for members with strong affiliation motives, participation was more strongly related to satisfaction than was influence. Relationships varied across satisfaction aspects. It was concluded that participation may be associated with favorable role attitudes through different motive-attainment mechanisms in the group decision-making process.     

Varieties of groups and the perception of group entitativity

Three studies examined perceptions of the entitativity of groups. In Study 1 (U.S.) and Study 2 (Poland), participants rated a sample of 40 groups on 8 properties of groups (e.g., size, duration, group member similarity) and perceived entitativity. Participants also completed a sorting task in which they sorted the groups according to their subjective perceptions of group similarity. Correlational and regression analyses were used to determine the group properties most strongly related to entitativity. Clustering and multidimensional scaling analyses in both studies identified 4 general types of groups (intimacy groups, task groups, social categories, and loose associations). In Study 3, participants rated the properties of groups to which they personally belonged. Study 3 replicated the results of Studies 1 and 2 and demonstrated that participants most strongly valued membership in groups that were perceived as high in entitativity.