Success Avoidant Motivation and Behavior: Its Developmental Correlates and Situational Determinants, 1972

The purpose of this study was to develop an empirically derived scoring system of success avoidant motivation and to validate it by observing its behavioral correlates and situational determinants. The approach for deriving such a scoring system is to arouse the motive in question in one group of subjects with the proper experimental manipulations and then to compare the TAT stories they write under arousal with those written by a comparable but non-aroused group of subjects. The sample consisted of 277 subjects, 142 males and 135 females, recruited through the Department of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire. The subjects were given a set of TAT verbal cues and a performance task (Lowell Scrambled Word Test) in a neutral condition as well as a Test of Perception of Traits in Others and a basic questionnaire. The sample was then roughly divided into thirds, each group assigned to either an Aroused, Non-Aroused or Cooperative Condition for Time II. At Time II, 106 males and 105 females returned. The Aroused Condition subjects were paired in male/female groups with comparable verbal skills. They were told they would be competing with their partners on Arithmetic Problems. The problems were "scored," and each female in the pair was told she won. Subjects were then given a second set of TATs in this aroused condition. Other tests administered at this time were the Hand Test, the Generation Anagram, and a general information questionnaire about the subject's partner. The Non-Aroused Condition subjects were not paired or given performance feedback but were given the same instruments as the Aroused subjects. The Cooperative Condition subjects were given similar measures under verbal instructions written to induce cooperation. The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study [raw data (TATs for most males are missing), computer data for 59 of the 79 Aroused and Non-Aroused female subjects, a codebook, and some of the investigator's scoring sheets, answer keys, and notes)]. If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data.