Transcript Slide 1

Chapter 5: Needs and Motives
Theories of Personality
February 7, 2003
Class #3
Henry Murray
(1893-1988)
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He coined the term
personology to refer to
the effort to understand
the whole person rather
than breaking a
personality into parts
We mentioned in class 1
that he believed in the
idiographic approach
centering on the
uniqueness of each
individual
Murray’s Background
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As a child, he had a very poor relationship with his
mother
He was the middle child of three
As a child, he had a stuttering problem and was crosseyed
Undergraduate studies at Harvard where he
concentrated in history and graduated in 1915
He admits that he really wasn’t focused on academics
and his most passionate interests were rowing and
romance
Not until he entered medical school at Columbia did
Murray become serious about his studies, graduating
first in his class
Following medical school, he earned a Master's in
biology at Columbia and did a surgical internship at
Presbyterian Hospital
Murray’s Background
Following his internship, Murray spent four years
studying chicken embryos at the Rockefeller Institute,
then continued his research at Cambridge University,
where he earned a PhD in biochemistry in 1927
 Murray became interested in psychology through reading
Carl Jung's Psychological types in 1923 and meeting
Jung for three weeks in Switzerland in 1925
 His interest was spurred on by his “acquaintance” with
Christiana Morgan, an artist who shared his fascination
with Jung, the unconscious and the writings of Herman
Melville
 Eventually, he went on to teach at Harvard
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Interesting note…
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You can see Murray received his bachelor’s
degree at the age of 22, then went on to
earn his MD at the age of 26
– Additionally, he earned his Master’s in biology
and Ph.D. in biochemistry by the age of 34
– And then became famous in psychology
– Not bad…
Murray’s Background
Murray had married Josephine Rantoul in 1916,
but then fell in love with Morgan, and somehow,
during the forty-six years of his first marriage,
managed to balance his loyalties to both his wife
and mistress
 After those women died in the 1960s, Murray
married Nina Fish, with whom he lived until his
death
 The brightest spot in Murray's later years was no
doubt his relationship with Nina
 Murray told a friend, "If you get into your late
seventies and you're debating whether you
should get married again--do it!"
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Another interesting note…
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While at Harvard he was part of
stimulating environment that included
Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell
– At that time, Ted Kaczynski, the serial
bomber was a participant in one of Murray’s
psychological experiments
– The study had to do with identifying
men who would not break under
pressure
Murray’s Personological System
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Focus is on the process of personality rather
than relying on the static concepts such as:
– Enduring structures of the mind
System-dynamic influences with feedback
 Emphasis on integrated, dynamic nature of
individual as complex organism responding to
specific environment
 Importance of needs and motivations
 Felt that motivational processes and the
pressures that these processes placed on
individuals basically made up much of our
disposition…thus influencing our behavior
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Basic Theoretical Elements
Needs
 Motives
 Environmental Press
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Basic Theoretical Elements
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Needs
– An internal state that’s less than
satisfactory
– It lacks something necessary for a
person’s well-being
Needs
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Murray (1962)
– Needs are internal (but can be provoked by
environmental press)
– Necessitate taking action in social
environment
– Readiness to respond in a certain way under
given circumstances
Types of Needs
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Viscerogenic needs
– These are our primary needs which are biological in
nature
– Food, water, sex, avoidance of pain, etc. – helps us to
achieve homeostasis
– Homeostasis is the motivational phenomenon for
primary drives that preserves our internal equilibrium
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Psychogenic needs
– These are our secondary needs
– These needs are basically psychological in nature
– Secondary needs that are not crucial to a person's life
Motives
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McClelland (1984)
– Motives are clusters of cognition with
affective overtones, organized around
preferred experiences and goals
Motives
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Motives are based on needs:
– There are states of tension within a person,
and as need is satisfied, tension is reduced
– Motives propel people to perceive, think, and
act in ways that serve to satisfy a need
– Motivational psychologists stress the
importance of internal psychological needs
and urges that propel people to think,
perceive, and act in predictable ways
– Some motives are thought to operate outside
awareness
– Reliance on projective techniques
Measuring Motives
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Manifest needs
– Can be openly observed
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Latent needs
– Are not openly displayed
Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
Measures latent needs (needs that can not
be openly observed)
– Apperception is the process of projecting
imagery onto an outside stimulus, such as a
picture. The theory suggests the stories you
describe reflect your latent motivations
(dispositional needs)
– It assesses your motives by telling or writing
a story about ambiguous pictures
 Late in life Murray admitted that Christina
Morgan was the true author of the TAT
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Environmental Press
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Basically, an external condition that creates an inner
desire to obtain or avoid something
Can be thought of as a push of the situation or from
other people or events in the environment
– Get out of rain, get enough to eat, deal with rejection
or competition
– Where concept of “Peer Pressure” arises
Emphasis of social roles and situational determinants
– E.g.: Need to excel leads to cheating
Combination of internal motivations & external demands
Murray’s Approach
His interactionist approach combines:
– Unconscious motivation of Freud, Jung &
Adler
– Environmental pressures of Lewin
– Trait concept of Allport
 His definition of personality
– Branch of psychology which concerns itself
with the study of human lives and factors
which influence their life course and which
investigates individual differences
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Murray’s Approach
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System of Needs
– Individuals have either high or low needs for
the following…
 Achievement
 Power
 Affiliation
 Intimacy
 Exhibition
Need for Achievement
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Murray(1938)
– He defined achievement motivation as:
 A desire for significant accomplishment, for
mastering skills or ideas, for control over
things or people, and for rapidly attaining a
high standard of excellence
 The desire to do things well and feel
pleasure in overcoming obstacles
–E.g., sports, science, business, etc.
Need for Achievement
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People with a high need achievement
are motivated to master tasks and take
great pride in doing so
– In contrast, people with low achievement
needs seem to enjoy success because they
have avoided failure
Characteristics of High Need Achievers
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Easy, Hard, or Moderate Goals?
– People with a high need to achieve set challenging but
realistic goals that have clear outcomes
 They like these intermediate tasks because it
provides the most information about their ability
 If they do well on an easy task – who cares
 If you fail at a hard task – well, no one does well on
those
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Same thing applies to their risk-taking
tendencies…
– Moderate risk-takers
Characteristics of High Need Achievers
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Feedback or not?
– They like feedback from competent critics (ASAP, please)
– Concrete feedback is best
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Stay or move on to easier things?
– Stay and persevere – “never give up”
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Concern or no concern for measurements
of success?
– Very concerned
– Bonuses, incentives, etc. are very important
 This is closely related to feedback
Characteristics of High Need Achievers
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Social problems?
– Unfortunately, often this is the case
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Strong need to be able to anticipate
and make long term plans
– Not really into surprises
– Need to have things mapped out
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They use information well in their
planning
– This helps them to avoid those surprises
mentioned above
Characteristics of High Need Achievers
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Very energetic approach
– To all things but especially to work
– They like to work
– They are especially invigorated by creative
tasks
Resultant Achievement Motivation
Several researchers combined participants’
scores obtained on TAT and on test anxiety
measures to determine a “RAM” score
 This is looking at achievement motivation at a
slightly different angle…
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– Might be more to this than the early
researchers suggested…
– Do many of us have a simultaneous desire
to do both???
Resultant Achievement Motivation
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Motive to succeed may actually be a
combination of wanting to achieve
something, but also wanting just as badly
(maybe even more so) to avoid failing in an
achievement-related situation
– Hence you avoid failing if you don't try
– However, you can also avoid failing if you succeed
Resultant Achievement Motivation
People high in RAM have a high motive to
approach success and a low motive to avoid
failure
 People low in RAM have a low motive to
approach success and a high motive to avoid
failure
 If this is true, it would appear that there are two
distinct motivations occurring in these
individuals…
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But maybe, they aren’t really
that different?
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Or can we say the 11 year old who feigns
a sickness on the day of the big spelling
contest has a similar need for
achievement as a friend who shows up
with a tremendous desire and confidence
to win???
Implications to these different motivations…
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Elliott and Sheldon (1997)
– Reported findings that suggest that people
who spend their time and effort trying to
avoid failure report poorer well-being and less
satisfaction with their performances than do
people who are trying to approach success
Need for Power
The need to have influence over others, to
have prestige, to feel strong, compared to
others
 Found in those with a tendency to acquire
high status possessions and to surround
oneself with symbols of power
 Seek positions and offices which are
controlling over others
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Can be expressed in a couple of ways…
A high need for power may be expressed
as:
 “personalized power”
or
 "socialized power"
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Personalized Power
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People with high personalized power may have little
inhibition or self control, and they exercise power
impulsively
Correlated with this are tendencies to be rude, excessive
use of alcohol, sexual harassment, and collecting
symbols of power
– For example: big offices, desks, fancy cars, etc.
When they give advice or support, it is with strategic
intent to further bolster their own status
In business these individuals demand loyalty to their
leadership rather than to the organization
When they leave the organization there is likely disorder
and breakdown of team morale and direction
Socialized Power
Is often associated with effective leadership
 These leaders direct their power in socially
positive ways that benefit others and the
organization rather than only contributing to the
leader's status and gain
 They seek power because it is through power
that tasks are accomplished
 They are more hesitant to use power in a
manipulative manner
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Need for Affiliation
The motive to spend time with others, to be in
social relationships
 Need to draw near to & win affection of others
 Motivation to have lots of friends
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Need for Affiliation
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These individuals want to be thought of
as:
– Agreeable
– They go along with group pressure
– Want to be accepted and liked by other
people
– Nervous if they think people are judging their
interpersonal skills
Low nAFF vs. High nAFF
A person low in affiliation tends to be a loner
who is uncomfortable socializing with others
except for a few close friends or family
(introversion?)
 They may lack motivation or energy to maintain
high social contacts in networking, group
presentations, public relations, and building
close personal relations with peers and
subordinates
 Those with high nAFF are reluctant to let work
interfere with harmonious relationships
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Need for Intimacy (I)
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A desire to experience warm, close and
communicative exchanges with another person
To feel close to another person
– High I: More one to one exchanges with other
people than those lower in I
– Men with higher intimacy motivation at age 30
have greater marital and job satisfaction at 47
than those with less I
Helgeson and Sharpsteen (1987)
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the suggestion that strong
intimacy needs may threaten men's
sense of masculinity
Need for Exhibition
Need for emotional communication
 Need to show self before others and
amuse, entertain, excite or even shock
others
 Colorful, spellbinding, noticeable, dramatic
& showy
 Expressive style is the clue to this need
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David McClelland
(1917-1998)
He received his B.A. degree in
1938 from Wesleyan University
and his M.A. in 1939 from the
University of Missouri. His received
his Ph.D. in experimental
psychology from Yale University in
1941
 He taught at the Connecticut
College for Women in New
London, Connecticut and
Wesleyan University prior to
accepting a position at Harvard
University in 1956. After 30 years
at Harvard, he moved to Boston
University in 1987, where he was
a Distinguished Research
Professor of Psychology until his
death in March 1998 at the age of
80
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McClelland’s Biography
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Along with John Atkinson, he developed the scoring
system for the Thematic Apperception Test
Later, he became interested in the relationship between
achievement motivation and economic development
Before his death, he conducted research on physiological
influences on achievement motivation
McClelland received numerous awards for his research,
including the American Psychological Association Award
for Distinguished Scientific Contribution in 1987
Patterned Needs:
Inhibited Power Motivation
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McClelland (1979)
– Some people have a low need for affiliation
and a high need for power
– Makes for a good leader?
– How about for a good professor?
 Just kidding…
McAdams (1995)
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Narrative Approach
– Studying motivations of individuals through
biographies (one’s life story)
– Story of one’s life becomes one’s identity
– At each stage of life, internal inclinations
lead us to seek out and respond to certain
situations which in turn help to further
shape our inclinations and identity
We want to continue to play our
favorite character…
Personality can be conceptualized at the level of
identity
 Identity, or the life narrative, is the relatively
coherent story or set of stories that people use
to bring coherence and unity to their lives
 We are motivated to be consistent – when we
aren’t sure what to do we look back in history –
and thus are motivated to do what best fits our
identity
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Assessment
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Self-Reports and TAT: Low Correlation
– Why???
Power and Alcohol Abuse
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McClelland and his colleagues (1972,
1975): suggest that the need for power
can lead to problem drinking…
– Drinking alcohol leads to feelings of
power?
– They’re unaware of this?
A power motive?
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McClelland (1975)
– Argues that the alcohol-aggression
relationship is conditional upon individual
power needs
– Substance abuse and woman abuse may
share common origins in a need to achieve
personal power and control
– Small quantities of a substance tend to
increase a social user's sense of altruistic
power, or the power to help others
McClelland (1975)
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A large quantity of a substance for social
users, or any quantity of a substance for
substance abusers, tends to increase the
user's sense of personal power and
domination over others rather than their
altruistic power
A gender difference?
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Graham (1980)
– This power-using relationship seems to be specific
to men and is reinforced by many cultures
Major criticisms of motive theories…
Murray developed his list of needs from
his own intuition – much of scientific
method was lacking
 Can’t understand the dynamics of
personality by studying one motive at a
time
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