Picture Identification Test Achievement Need Discussion
Picture Identification Test Achievement Need Discussion
New - an
essay discussing basic problems of world cultures: "The
Combative Dominance Syndrome"In this section, there are explanations of how the achievement need functions in each of three major human motivation dimensions and in the human motivation system as a whole. Understanding how a need functions in a particular person is best obtained from the results and interpretation provided by the Picture Identification Test (PIT) but if PIT results are not available, some insight into the functioning of the need for people in general may be obtained from this discussion. References to the PIT Motivation System Target Model, the Combative Dimension, the Personal-Social Dimension, and the Competitive Dimension can further assist in understanding how this need functions in the human motivation system.
Two terms used throughout the need discussions are defined below:
Need Conflicts: Within a particular dimension some needs conflict with each other because they evoke incompatible behavior if they are expressed synchronically (simultaneously). For example, the aggression and nurturance needs evoke incompatible behavior in all three dimensions. Needs that conflict in a particular dimension are located in opposite areas of that dimension (see Target Model) indicating that they are not normally activated synchronically in that dimension.
Mal Adaptive Need Fusion: Needs that normally produce conflicting behavior when synchronically evoked in a particular dimension are sometimes combined or fused despite resulting conflicts. Mal adaptive fusion creates frustrations and problems. For example, in the combative dimension, when the aggression and succorance needs are synchronically activated, the fused behavioral expression may take the form of whining and complaining that does not effectively express either the aggression need or the succorance need.
The Achievement Need
(The need to work hard to attain goals)
There are three needs that provide motivation for obtaining the things we want or desire. The three needs are: the achievement need, the aggression need and the succorance need. Aggression motivates us to use force or power to take what we want. Succorance motivates us to ask others to give us what we want. Achievement motivates us to work to produce and create the things we want.
In many cases, achievement efforts are aimed initially toward mediating goals. Mediating goals are goals that do not have intrinsic value but are symbols or tokens that can be traded for desired objects or experiences. Money is the most familiar example of a mediating goal in our culture. A dollar bill is not worth much in itself (hardly worth the paper it's written on) but as a mediator it can be traded for objects or experiences that do have direct and intrinsic value.
All cultures promote the achievement need as an alternative to the aggression and succorance acquisition modes. Cultures vary considerably, however, in the emphasis placed on achievement. For example, the United States is considered to have a strong work ethic, attributed partly to religious beliefs that productivity is a means to or a sign of salvation. Science, technology, and high material standards of living have generally developed more rapidly in societies with a strong emphasis on the achievement need.
Our concept of time, particularly with regard to the future, is closely tied to the achievement need. Achievement is future oriented. It motivates us to do things and expend energy to obtain future rewards (pay checks come at the end rather than the beginning of a work period). Thus, words such as "purposeful", "goal-directed", and "planning" are closely associated with the achievement need. In contrast to the play need, the achievement need requires delay of gratification. For the play need, satisfaction is derived immediately and directly from the activity involved, whereas, for the achievement need, activity is a means to future satisfaction.
Some things can only be acquired through the achievement need. Knowledge and skill, for example, must be obtained through one's own achievement efforts. We cannot "take" knowledge and skill by force or power (via the aggression need) and no one can give us knowledge and skill (via the succorance need). We can, however, use aggression to create learning opportunities and we can express the succorance need to ask for assistance from others to help us learn.
The Function of the Achievement Need
The achievement need motivates us to prepare for future events and to invent new things and create new events. Achievement behavior can be observed in lower animals (birds build nests, beavers make dams). But animal achievement is, to a large extent, predetermined and genetically transmitted. Such "instinctive" behavior helps the animal adapt to cyclical or recurring events in nature (e.g., summer and winter). However, when the achievement need is combined with human symbolic capability, great new achievement possibilities emerge. The use of symbols to set goals and make plans to project into the future makes it possible to direct and create future events (music can be written for a future performance; a space ship can be launched for a distant rendezvous in space and time). These unique capacities to substitute symbols for things and events combined with the human achievement need have made possible the development of civilization and the arts and sciences.
Problems Related to the Achievement Need
Perhaps the most common problem related to the achievement need is a failure to create goals that are felt to be worthwhile. This problem may develop in some people because others have always dictated goals for them. Such a background tends to cultivate an unconscious belief that goals just "happen" or that they will always be provided by others. It is also difficult to create motivating goals when one's value and belief systems are confused and conflicted. For example, a person who desires authority but dislikes responsibility may find it difficult to set realistic goals that would satisfy such conflicting values.
Difficulty in setting up achievement goals is sometimes related to difficulty in anticipating or projecting into the future. A person who lives in the past or who lives on a day-to-day basis has little experience with all but the simplest achievement goals.
People who find it difficult to set goals might benefit by first defining their general values, using the Murray need system as a frame-of-reference (see Need and Cluster Definitions). For example, some people find that their most positive values have to do with the nurturance need and this would direct them toward goals that involve service to others. Another person's highest values might center around the dominance need and so they should create goals that would provide them with status and power. A helpful question to gain perspective on this problem is: "At the end of my life, what experiences do I want to look back on and what needs and goals should I cultivate to gain those experiences?"
Good achievers tend to break large projects up into sub-goals but the question of their order of accomplishment can cause confusion, procrastination, or a paralysis of will. The relative importance or urgency of the goals should usually be the major determiner of priority but it is also desirable to give tasks priority in terms of their difficulty and disagreeableness. For example, a person may have a number of packages to deliver that differ in size and weight. If a schedule can be arranged to deliver the heaviest packages first, the load gets lighter more quickly. At the end of the deliveries the person would have accomplished as much as if the packages had been delivered in the reverse order. Delivering the heavy ones first relieved the overall burden (moral: get the worst over first). This principle is even more applicable to tasks with varying psychological stress. Getting the stressful or disagreeable tasks out of the way early makes the work get progressively more rewarding.
Another major problem associated with the achievement need is compulsive striving. This type of behavior is usually motivated by unrealistic beliefs that failure is always catastrophic and inevitably results in harsh punishment and disapproval. Compulsive strivers are thus ego oriented rather than task oriented. They are more negatively concerned with avoiding blame than positively oriented toward accomplishment.
Perfectionism is another major problem related to the achievement need. The perfectionist and the compulsive striver are alike in that they are more negatively motivated by fear of blame and failure than positively motivated to achieve and accomplish. Perfectionists differ from compulsive strivers, however, in that they tend to procrastinate and put off work rather than compulsively grind away at it. Perfectionists fear that they will be blamed for poor quality of work whereas the compulsive striver fears blame for not doing enough work. Since we usually can not do well on our first attempts to accomplish something, perfectionists often put off getting started so they can avoid the problems that go with getting started. The strategy of successive approximation (gradual improvement through practice) is a good antidote for perfectionist procrastination.
Perfectionists often wait until they are forced by an externally imposed deadline before they start to work on a project. If a perfectionist is capable and intelligent (which they frequently are), their last minute crisis driven efforts sometimes turn out well which, unfortunately, tends to reinforce their procrastinating behavior. As achievement goals become more demanding and complex, however, the perfectionist's procrastination strategy tends to break down since there is no time allowed for complicated corrections or improvements. Some procrastinators also hold a belief (usually developed as a result of indulgence as a child) that they will be relieved of responsibility for a task if they wait long enough and that the task will "go away" or be forgotten by others.
Dimension Locations of the Achievement Need (see Picture Identification Test Target Model)
The achievement need is normally located in the non combative area of the combative dimension. This location reflects a belief that work is incompatible with combativeness. When we choose the non combative rather than the combative mode in a conflict situation, the achievement need motivates us to work toward a rational solution to the problem rather than attempt to combatively impose a solution by force and power.
The achievement need is normally located toward the boundary of the impersonal area of the personal-social dimension. This reflects a belief that work activity is highly inappropriate in personal-social situations where our interests are in bonding and relating to people rather than striving to accomplish achievement goals.
The achievement need is normally located in the competitive area of the competitive dimension. This reflects a belief that competence, skill, and knowledge are acquired through work and achievement rather than taken by force or given to us by others.
Achievement Dislocated in the Combative Area of the Combative Dimension
It is unusual for a person to locate the achievement need in the combative area of the combative dimension. This location may indicate conflicts over whether to use force and power to attain a goal or whether to work to achieve the goal. It may also reflect a mal adaptive fusion between the achievement need and combativeness so that one "works" at being antagonistic. Such a fusion impairs our effectiveness when we need to be combative since the working mode requires constructive positive action whereas combativeness requires negative destructive action.
Achievement Located Too Low in the Combative Dimension
The achievement need is normally located in the mid non combative area of the combative dimension. In this location it provides a way of working to resolve conflicts when taking a non combative stand. An extreme peripheral location of the achievement need in the non combative area is rare. Such a location tends to separate the achievement need from the order and understanding needs and these three needs work best of achievement when they are closely associated and thus mutually supportive. When achievement is too low in the non combative area, it becomes too strongly opposed to combative assertiveness and this strong opposition makes it difficult to express assertiveness effectively when the achievement need is at all active.
Achievement Dislocated in the Personal Area of the Personal Dimension
Location of the achievement need in the personal area of the personal dimension is an unusual departure from the norm. Such a location suggests that personal relationships are viewed as work goals to be measured in terms of success and failure rather than affection, trust, and pleasure. In addition to this tendency to view people as potential success "targets", the achievement need could mal adaptively fuse with personal needs and produce compulsive striving to be friendly and sociable. The removal of the achievement need from the impersonal area to the personal area also means that it is not available to help resolve conflicts in interpersonal relationships by a rational, impersonal "work out the problem" approach.
Achievement Located Too Low in the Impersonal Area
The achievement need is normally one of the most peripheral needs in the impersonal area of the personal dimension. If it is located even further toward the periphery with no other needs close by, it is apt to be less effective in helping resolve conflicts because of a lack of close support from the order and understanding needs. The order and understanding needs combine with the achievement need to promote the rational resolution of personal conflicts and to control combativeness in impersonal transactions. Another possible consequence of this achievement need location is that activation of the achievement need could cause extreme distancing from personal interactions with people so that the person is "too busy" to be socially aware of others.
Achievement Located Too High in the Competitive Dimension
The achievement need is normally located in the middle part of the competitive area in the competitive dimension. A location further toward the periphery of the competitive area may reflect a belief that work is the ultimate goal of competitive striving. Most people see achievement as a means to the ends of gaining recognition and approval (exhibition need), leadership and status (dominance need), or knowledge and skill (understanding need). Extra emphasis on achievement (as indicated by a peripheral competitive area location), suggests a compulsive "work for work's sake" mental set. Work and achievement are normally most active in the initial learning stages of competitive striving with less emphasis as the learner becomes more competent and shifts attention to performance and leadership. Of course, a strong competitor such as a professional athlete or musician, continues to work and practice to maintain skills and improve performance, but they reserve this maintenance activity for special times when they are not called on for professional performance.
Achievement Dislocated in the Noncompetitive Area of the Competitive Dimension
When achievement is moved from its normal location in the competitive area
to the noncompetitive area of the competitive dimension, it is moved closer
to inhibitive needs such as blame, harm, and inferiority avoidance, deference,
succorance, and abasement. These unusual associations may reflect a conflict
between desires to achieve and fears of accepting competitive challenges.
They may also reflect a mal adaptive fusion between achievement and inhibition
so that the person "works" at avoiding competitive challenges.
The
Picture Identification Test (PIT) is a psychological
instrument based on the Murray need system. The PIT uses multidimensional scaling
to provide an analysis of needs (motives). It indicates needs that are being
met or expressed ineffectively. The PIT can be administered to subjects ages
twelve and older.
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For further information about
the Picture Identification Test contact
Jay L. Chambers, PhD: ibis@kalexres.kendal.org
160 Kendal Drive Apartment #205
Lexington, Virginia 24450
Phone: 540.462.3874
The Motivation Analysis web site has three sections:
Motivation Analysis: General
Systems Point of View | Combative Dimension
| Personal Social Dimension |
Competitve Dimension | PIT
Scores | PIT Publications |
PIT Dissertations | Motivation
System Target Model | Target Model
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& Cluster Definitions | Links
Essays: Combative
Dominance Syndrome (new) | Political
Motivation | Mental Sets |
Symbolic Thinking, Values, Motivation & Religion |
Needs, Values, Philosophy & Religion
Needs (Motives): Abasement
| Achievement |
Affiliation | Aggression | Autonomy
| Blame Avoidance | Counteraction
| Defendance | Deference
| Dominance | Exhibition
| Gratitude | Harm
Avoidance | Inferiority Avoidance
| Nurturance | Order
| Play | Rejection
| Sentience | Sex
| Succorance | Understanding
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