A Motivational Analysis of Russian Presidents, 1994–2018

This article analyzes the motivations of the three presidents of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union: Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and Dmitry Medvedev. Imagery for the achievement, affiliation, and power motives was scored from the texts of annual presidential addresses to the Federal Assembly from 1994 through 2018. Although there were fluctuations from president to president, and from year to year within each term, the Russian presidents overall tended to be higher in achievement than power. This contrasts with many political leaders from other countries and suggests modification in previous conclusions about the problems of high achievement motivation in politics. The scores of each president are related to the events and policies of that president's term of office. The third term of Vladimir Putin is particularly interesting, because his achievement scores were lower, and power and affiliation scores higher, than in his previous terms. These changes seem to fit with his changes in foreign and domestic policies from his earlier terms.     

中国大学生成就动机变迁的横断历史研究:1999~2014

本研究对1999~2014年间88项采用成就动机量表测量中国大学生（共涉及40801名被试）成就动机水平的研究报告进行横断历史元分析,以考察大学生成就动机水平随年代的变化趋势。研究结果表明：（1）追求成功因子与年代的相关不显著,避免失败因子与年代呈显著正相关,而成就动机总分与年代呈显著负相关。这说明,我国大学生成就动机总体水平在这16年间显著降低。（2）男生和女生的成就动机总分与年代均呈显著负相关,追求成功和避免失败因子均与年代没有显著相关,并且在成就动机总分及各因子得分上没有显著性别差异。     

Mapping moral motives: Approach, avoidance, and political orientation

Recent critiques of moral psychology and the contemporary culture wars highlight the need for a better understanding of diverse moral perspectives. A model of moral motives is proposed. The fundamental approach–avoidance distinction in motivation is crossed with self-other focus to create four moral motives: Self-Restraint (avoidance-self), Social Order (avoidance-other), Self-Reliance (approach-self), and Social Justice (approach-other). Three studies explored these motives in the context of political orientation. Overall, political conservatism was associated with avoidance motives and liberalism with approach motives. Approach–avoidance motives were also associated with distinct patterns of results regarding authoritarianism, social dominance, and positions on contemporary social issues. Responses of campus political groups demonstrated the utility of the moral motives in providing a more nuanced view of politics that also takes into account the model’s second dimension, for an emphasis on Self focus (personality responsibility) versus Other focus (social responsibility) further distinguished between conservative groups. Moral and political implications are discussed.     

Do they know how hard I work? Investigating how implicit/explicit achievement orientation,reputation, and political skill affect occupational status

Researchers have yet to precisely test the Socioanalytic proposition that social skill moderates the personality identity–personality reputation relationship. Further, although research has found personality to have both explicit and implicit aspects, scholars have not examined these differences with respect to the Socioanalytic perspective on personality. The present study investigates how explicit and implicit achievement orientation identities relate to one’s reputation for that trait in the workplace and to career success, as measured by occupational status. We propose that explicit and implicit achievement orientation, political skill and their interplay positively relate to reputation of achievement orientation at work, which, in turn, is positively related to occupational status. We found that (1) both explicit and implicit achievement orientation were positively associated with its reputation, as rated by co-workers; (2) reputation mediated both relations between implicit/explicit achievement orientation and occupational status and (3) heightened political skill strengthened the relationship between explicit achievement orientation and its reputation, as well as its indirect effect on occupational status via reputation (first stage moderated mediation). Our research provides a potential explanation for why observer ratings of personality are more strongly associated with outcomes than self-ratings: Observers perceive both implicit and explicit personality behaviours.     

免费师范生的成就动机与职业兴趣相关研究

该研究以陕西师范大学的1349名大学生为样本,将成就动机的三个因素和职业兴趣六个因素综合起来加以考察,以揭示免费师范生的成就动机与职业兴趣之间的内在关系。结果表明：（1）免费师范生的成就动机水平低于大学生平均水平。非免费师范生的避免动机水平依次高于免费师范生和非师范生。（2）免费师范生的成就动机存在专业差异,职业兴趣存在性别和专业显著。（3）免费师范生的追求成功动机与职业兴趣的六个类型呈正相关,避免失败的动机与探索型、社会型和管理型星负相关。回归分析发现,追求成功和合成动机能够正向的预测社会型的职业兴趣。     

Gender, sexuality, and the authoritarian personality

The political correlates of the authoritarian personality have been well established by researchers, but important linkages to other major constructs in psychology need fuller elaboration. We present new data and review old data from our laboratories that show the myriad ways in which authoritarianism is implicated in the important domain of gender roles. We show that women and men high in authoritarianism live in rigidly gendered worlds where male and female roles are narrowly defined, attractiveness is based on traditional conceptions of masculinity and femininity, and conventional sexual mores are prescribed. As a construct, authoritarianism is not just relevant for understanding people's politics, but it also affects the most personal of domains--romantic partnerships, lifestyle goals, and basic attitudes about male and female relationships.     

Authoritarianism and Political Impoverishment: Deficits in Knowledge and Civic Disinterest

Past research shows that authoritarian individuals hold strong opinions about a variety of political and social issues, such as race relations and military conflict. What has not been established, though, is the amount of general political knowledge that authoritarians possess. In this study, three groups of college students were administered Altemeyer's Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scale; most of them also received items assessing general political knowledge and specific knowledge about the 2000 presidential election, as well as items assessing interest in politics. Relative to students with low RWA scores, those with high scores possessed less political knowledge; moreover, they expressed less interest in learning about politics. In general, authoritarianism was unrelated to how individuals got their political information or how credible they found their sources. The implication that authoritarians hold strong attitudinal beliefs with weak political knowledge is discussed.     

基于自我决定视角的动机结构与主观幸福感的关系*

从自我决定的视角,探讨了内隐和外显成就动机的不一致性对主观幸福感产生影响的可能机制。分别以成就动机量表和内隐联想测验作为成就动机的外显和内隐测量方式,同时采用自我决定量表和总体幸福感指数量表对303名大学生进行了施测。结果表明:（1）大学生内隐成就动机和外显成就动机没有显著相关;（2）外显成就动机与主观幸福感呈显著正相关,内隐成就动机调节了外显成就动机与主观幸福感的关系;（3）不一致性成就动机结构对主观幸福感有显著的负向预测,自我决定在不一致性成就动机结构对主观幸福感的预测效应中起着部分中介作用。     

Intellectual ability, learning style, personality, achievement motivation and academic success of psychology students in higher education

This study is directed towards an integration of intellectual ability, learning style, personality and achievement motivation as predictors of academic success in higher education. Correlational analyses partly confirmed and partly disconfirmed our expectations in a sample of 409 first-year psychology students. Consistent with the literature, intellectual ability and achievement motivation were associated positively with academic success. For the meaning directed, reproduction directed and application directed learning style, no positive association with academic success could be detected. The undirected learning style, however, appeared to be a consistent negative predictor. For the Big Five personality factors (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), a consistent, positive association for conscientiousness with academic success was found. The very first examination at the university came out as the most important predictor for academic success, even after two and three years of study. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the literature and the policy of the Dutch Ministry of Education.     

Interest and Expertise Moderate the Relationship between Right‐Wing Attitudes,Ideological Self‐Placement and Voting

Previous research has suggested that the association between right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) is moderated by political interest and involvement. It is here hypothesized that interest also strengthens the association of authoritarianism with political self‐placement and that higher levels of interest in politics shape voting choices that are more strongly associated with authoritarianism. Authoritarianism was defined as a second‐order factor reflecting onto SDO and RWA in a structural equation modelling approach. In Study 1 (two samples, total N = 873), interest was found to moderate the impact of authoritarianism, as hypothesized. In Study 2 (N = 721), a higher order interaction involving interest and political expertise was detected. These results were obtained with different measures and in different electoral campaigns. The motivational and cognitive underpinnings of the moderating effects are discussed. Copyright © 2012 European Association of Personality Psychology.     

The Aggregated Consequences of Motivated Reasoning and the Dynamics of Partisan Presidential Approval

Research in political psychology has shown the importance of motivated reasoning as a prism through which individuals view the political world. From this we develop the hypothesis that, with strong positive beliefs firmly in place, partisan groups ignore or discount information about the performance of political figures they like. We then speculate about how this tendency should manifest itself in presidential approval ratings and test our hypotheses using monthly presidential approval data disaggregated by party identification for the 1955–2005 period. Our results show that partisan groups generally do reward and punish presidents for economic performance, but only those presidents of the opposite party. We also develop a model of presidential approval for self-identified Independents and, finally, a model of the partisan gap , the difference in approval between Democrat and Republican identifiers.     

Goal pursuit is grounded: The link between forward movement and achievement

We tested whether forward movement is cognitively associated with the achievement goal. We exposed participants to simple visual cues of forward movement, or not, and then measured their achievement motivation. The findings show that incidental exposure to forward movement cues nonconsciously activated an achievement goal. In Experiment 1, those primed with forward movement versus control cues showed significantly greater implicit positivity toward the concept of achievement. In Experiment 2, those primed with forward movement versus control cues performed significantly better on word puzzles. There was no effect on participants' conscious achievement motivation. We discuss the implications of the results for the perspective of goal pursuit as grounded cognition.     

Is Self‐Determined Functioning a Universal Prerequisite for Motive–Goal Congruence? Examining the Domain of Achievement in Three Cultures

ABSTRACT Research has shown that capacity for accessing implicit motives promotes congruence between the implicit and the explicit motivational system: Individuals able to test a conscious goal for its fit with their implicit motivation commit themselves more fully to self‐congruent goals. However, it has not yet been shown whether this is a universal phenomenon or limited to Euro‐American cultures in which individual needs are less strictly constrained by the social environment than in other cultural contexts. Thus, the present study examined whether self‐determination interacts with the implicit achievement motive to predict how much importance individuals from Cameroon, Germany, and Hong Kong ascribe to achievement goals. Moreover, the importance ascribed to goals should indirectly predict life satisfaction via success in goal realization. Results showed that the associations described above are valid in all three cultural groups and are discussed in terms of their implications for the universal processes characterizing motivation.     

Need for achievement and women's careers over 14 years: evidence for occupational structure effects

Previous research has demonstrated that achievement-motivated people perform better under working conditions of challenge, autonomy, and rapid feedback. These achievement-congenial conditions characterize entrepreneurial business and, among those occupations traditionally filled by women, teaching. Achievement motivation was measured in 117 women as college seniors and again 14 years later. Senior-year achievement motivation predicted later employment in teaching (including college). Career-involved women who had been highly achievement-motivated in college valued status mobility and working with people and reported job satisfaction from competition with a standard of excellence; however, women in different career situations differed in the relations between their achievement motivation in college and their later work values, job perceptions, and sources of satisfaction. Women highly achievement-motivated in adulthood valued achievement-congenial working conditions and status mobility and described job satisfaction from competition with a standard of excellence, especially if they were supervisors. Professors and businesswomen showed larger increases in achievement motivation over 14 years than did women otherwise employed. Thus, achievement motivation predicts women's career outcomes when their values and work situations, along with sex-differentiated occupational structures, are considered. Occupational structure effects on motives over time are discussed.     

Business owners' action planning and its relationship to business success in three African countries

A model of business success was developed with motivational resources (locus of control, self-efficacy, achievement motivation, and self-reported personal initiative) and cognitive resources (cognitive ability and human capital) as independent variables, business owners' elaborate and proactive planning as a mediator, and business size and growth as dependent variables. Three studies with a total of 408 African micro and small-scale business owners were conducted in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Structural equation analyses partially supported the hypotheses on the importance of psychological planning by the business owners. Elaborate and proactive planning was substantially related to business size and to an external evaluation of business success and was a (partial) mediator for the relationship between cognitive resources and business success. The model carries important implications for selection, training, and coaching of business owners.     

Achievement motivation for males and females as a determinant of attributions for success and failure

Male and female college students, divided according to levels of achievement motivation, were asked to do an anagram task at which their success or failure was determined by experimental manipulation of the problems they were given. Their ratings of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as possible causes for success or failure indicated that those with high achievement motivation of both sexes made relatively higher ratings for ability and lower ratings for task difficulty. Females tended to employ higher ratings for luck, and females with high achievement motivation made maximal use of effort as a causal factor. Theoretical implications and potential applications of these data are discussed.     

Working memory moderates the effect of the integrative process of implicit and explicit autonomous motivation on academic achievement

In previous research, autonomous motivation (AM) has been found to be associated with school achievement, but the relation has been largely heterogeneous across studies. AM has typically been assessed with explicit measures such as self‐report questionnaires. Recent self‐determination theory (SDT) research has suggested that converging implicit and explicit measures can be taken to characterize the integrative process in SDT. Drawing from dual‐process theories, we contended that explicit AM is likely to promote school achievement when it is part of an integrated cognitive system that combines easily accessible mental representations (i.e., implicit AM) and efficient executive functioning. A sample of 272 university students completed a questionnaire and a lexical decision task to assess their explicit and implicit AM, respectively, and they also completed working memory capacity measures. Grades were obtained at the end of the semester to examine the short‐term prospective effect of implicit and explicit AM, working memory, and their interaction. Results of moderation analyses have provided support for a synergistic interaction in which the association between explicit AM and academic achievement was positive and significant only for individuals with high level of implicit AM. Moreover, working memory was moderating the synergistic effect of explicit and implicit AM. Explicit AM was positively associated with academic achievement for students with average‐to‐high levels of working memory capacity, but only if their motivation operated synergistically with high implicit AM. The integrative process thus seems to hold better proprieties for achievement than the sole effect of explicit AM. Implications for SDT are outlined.     

A mediational model of power, affiliation and achievement motives and product involvement

A model based on McClelland's theory of human motivation was proposed in which motive incentives mediated the relationship between motive level (n Power, n Affiliation and n Achievement) and product involvement. This hypothesis was tested with 142 college students. Results indicate that power motive incentives successfully mediated the relationship between power motive level and product involvement for the expensive car and interview clothing conditions. Affiliation motive incentives mediated the relationship between affiliation motive level and involvement for greeting cards but not gifts. The two achievement products (scientific calculator and computer manual) failed to meet most of the criteria for mediation.Laura Schmidt is a psychology doctoral student and Irene Frieze is a professor of psychology and business administration at the University of Pittsburgh. This paper was based on the Master's thesis of the first author.We would like to thank S. Golin and Audrey Murrell for their helpful suggestions on this project.     

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.     

无惧失败预测幸福:成就动机对心理幸福感的预测作用

前人研究发现成就动机影响个体的主观幸福感,而对心理幸福感的研究较少。本研究利用成就动机量表和心理幸福感量表,采用随机抽样的方法对214名大学生进行问卷调查。研究发现,成就动机与心理幸福感及其各维度呈显著正相关;成就动机的两个维度(追求成功的动机和避免失败的动机)对心理幸福感具有显著预测作用,且避免失败的维度相对贡献更大。结果提示,成就动机可以较好的正向预测心理幸福感,且避免失败的预测作用更强。