ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OF WOMEN: EFFECTS OF ACHIEVEMENT AND AFFILIATION AROUSAL

Alternative propositions to female achievement motivation theory were investigated in this study. The subjects were 139 Brazilian women selected from a pool of 619 female college students previously classified by levels of achievement (Ach) and affiliative (Aff) needs. The subjects were assigned to three experimental conditions-neutral, affiliation arousal, and achievement arousal—and wrote stories that were analyzed by a projective measure (MPAM). A significant Achievement Level × Treatment Interaction revealed that achievement arousal increased the Ach scores of High Ach subjects but did not affect the scores of Low Ach subjects. Level of affiliative tendencies did not affect these results. Contrary to some of the speculations, achievement arousal did not inhibit the scores of High Ach-High Aff women. Overall, affiliation arousal did not produce the expected effects. However, within the affiliation-arousal condition, High Aff subjects obtained significantly higher scores than Low Aff subjects.