Achievement:

9 The achievement motive

DAVID c. MCCLELLAND AND

R I C H A R D KOESTNER

This chapter is intended to tell how and why a thematic apperceptive

measure of achievement motivation was developed and to explain the sig-
nificance of the measure for current theory and research. Because space
does not permit a systematic review of the hundreds of studies on this topic
or an explication of the increasingly complex and technical theoretical
developments, we have provided a list of major books dealing with achieve-
ment motivation at the end of this chapter.

DERIVATION OF A FANTASY MEASURE

The development of a measure of the need for achievement, labeled n

Achievement or n Ach, using Murray's (1938) nomenclature, began with
attempts to arouse achievement motivation by telling young men that per-
formance tests they were taking would yield information about their general
intelligence and leadership abilities, and then giving them feedback on how
well or poorly they had done (McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell,
1953). The unique effects of this type of arousal were examined in brief
imaginative stories the men wrote afterward because previous research on
hunger had demonstrated that such stories sensitively reflect varying degrees
of motive arousal (Atkinson & McClelland, 1948).
To arrive at an empirically justified system of content analysis, a scoring
system was developed based on the differences between stories written
under achievement arousal versus neutral testing conditions. Unlike pre-
vious scoring systems, which rated stories for psychogenic motives based on
dictionary definitions (Murray, 1938), no characteristics were included in the
scoring scheme, regardless of how theoretically justified they might be,
unless they appeared more often in the stories of subjects exposed to motive
arousal than in stories written under neutral testing conditions.
The characteristics that appeared more often following achievement
arousal took the form of "thoughts about performing some task well, of
sometimes being blocked, of trying various means of achieving, and of
143
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 144 CONTENT ANALYSIS SYSTEMS
experiencing joy or sadness contingent upon the outcome of the effort.
Together, the sum total of these different kinds of imaginative response in
the set of stories written by a particular person constitute that person's n
Achievement score, presumably an indicator of the strength of achievement
motivation in the person at the time" (Atkinson, 1977, p. 30). Achievement
motivation can be defined as a concern with "doing things better, with
surpassing standards of excellence" (McClelland, 1985b, p. 190).
It was reasoned further that individuals who scored high according to this
system under neutral testing conditions could be considered to be in a state
of chronic achievement arousal. That is, they would have a need or dis-
position to think in achievement-related terms even when there were no
cues in the situation calling for achievement. Consequently, valid measures
of individual differences in n Achievement can only be obtained under
neutral testing conditions. Both French (1955) and Smith (1966) have shown
that n Achievement scores obtained under different conditions have dif-
ferent properties, and Lundy (1988) has reviewed a large number of studies
employing the n Achievement measure and has found that significant results
were obtained in about two-thirds of the reports, and that in many of
the cases where significant results were not obtained, there was reason to
believe the stories had not been written under neutral conditions.
Achievement arousal has been reported to have the same effects on
imaginative thought in Germany (Heckhausen, 1963), Poland (Krol, 1981),
and Brazil (Angelini, 1959), as well as in non-Western cultures such as
in Japan (Hayashi & Habu, 1962), India (Mehta, 1969), and among the
Navaho (McClelland et al., 1953). From the theoretical point of view,
successful cross-cultural replications are of crucial importance, because they
demonstrate that the effects of arousing the achievement motive on associa-
tive thought are the same regardless of social, cultural, or linguistic defini-
tions of what constitutes success or achievement. These definitions of what
constitutes achievement do differ by age, sex, and culture as many have
pointed out (e.g., Maehr, 1974), but what is constant across these groupings
is the notion of doing something better (whatever it may be). This has led
McClelland (1985b, p. 249) to suggest that the motive might better have
been called the efficiency motive (since that implies d^ing something better)
rather than the achievement motive (which refers to the content of what is
achieved, which varies by cultural grouping).
Despite the initial impression that the empirical derivation of the imagery
categories was demonstrable only for males (McClelland et al., 1953),
successful replications of the effect of achievement arousal on fantasy
have also been obtained with female subjects (Schroth, 1988; Stewart &
Chester, 1982). Furthermore, the behavioral correlates of individual dif-
ferences in n Achievement among women are similar to those found for men
(McClelland, 1985b; Stewart & Chester, 1982). Consequently, the scoring
system presented in chapter 10 is used for both males and females, though it

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 Achievement motive 145
may be advisable to elicit stories by means of different pictures or verbal
cues for males and females (see chapters 6 and 37). As Horner's (1974)
work suggests, however, the strength of achievement-related avoidance
motives may be different for women and men and may need to be con-
sidered in accounting for the achievement-related behavior of women, at
least under certain conditions (see chapter 11 by Fleming and Horner).

Measurement issues

The scoring system for n Achievement is presented in chapter 10, and

practice materials for learning to use the system are included in appendix I.
Instructions and pictures or other cues used to elicit stories have varied
somewhat depending on the age, sex, and cultural background of the sub-
jects. Information on cues and test administration may be found in chapter
37. In chapter 6, Veroff describes the use of the fantasy measure of motiva-
tion in survey research.
Research has shown that the scoring criteria are sufficiently objective
to yield interscorer agreement in the 85% to 95% range after training
(Atkinson, 1977; Feld & Smith, 1958). Chapter 8 summarizes information
on the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the n Achievement
measure, and in chapter 2 Atkinson presents a theoretical conception of the
determinants of thematic apperceptive imagery that casts a new light on
issues of reliability and validity.
As to validity, the fantasy measure qualifies as a measure of motivation be-
cause, like hunger, achievement motivation has been shown to energize the
organism (Miicher & Heckhausen, 1962; Raphelson, 1957; Wendt, 1955), to
orient attention to related stimuli (McClelland & Liberman, 1949), and
to select behavior or promote learning of moderately difficult activities
(Clark & McClelland, 1956; Karabenick & Yousseff, 1968; Raynor & Entin,
1982b). As noted in the sections that follow, validity studies have shown the
achievement motive to be related as theoretically expected to measures of
perception, memory, instrumental behavior, level of performance or effort,
choice, future orientation, and long-term accomplishment.

Relationship of fantasy n Achievement to other measures of

achievement motivation

The expected positive relationships have been found between the thematic
apperceptive n Achievement score and other measures of achievement
motivation in expressive behavior, namely, the French Test of Insight
(French, 1958a), and graphic expression (Aronson, 1958), but fantasy n
Achievement has not been related consistently to a wide variety of self-

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 I46 CONTENT ANALYSIS SYSTEMS
report measures of one's own achievement motivation (McClelland, 1980).
Chapter 3 in this volume presents a review and explanation of these
findings.

THEORETICALLY RELEVANT CORRELATES OF

U ACHIEVEMENT

Preference for intermediate difficulty

The definition of n Achievement implies that people who are high on this
dimension will be drawn to activities that are moderately difficult. That is, if
the incentive is "to do better," or the anticipated satisfaction is to be gained
from doing better, neither a very easy nor a very difficult task would provide
much opportunity for gratification. Numerous studies (Weinstein, 1969)
indicate that people high in n Achievement (especially when also low in fear
of failure) prefer moderately difficult tasks defined in various ways, such as
choosing to throw a ring at moderate distances from a peg (Atkinson &
Litwin, i960; McClelland, 1958b), choosing moderately difficult puzzles
(Raynor & Smith, 1966; Smith, 1963, 1969b), choosing moderately difficult
college majors (Isaacson, 1964), or aspiring to moderately difficult vocations
(Mahone, i960; Morris, 1966).
Atkinson (1957) proposed a theoretical model to explain the relation of n
Achievement to risk preferences. He suggested that the strength of pre-
ference for various activities is a joint function of the motive to achieve
success (Ms), the expectancy or subjective probability of success (Ps), and
the incentive value of success (Is), where incentive value is defined as one
minus the probability of success (1 — Ps). In other words, it is assumed that
the value of success is directly proportional to the difficulty of attaining it.
According to this formula, if probability of success is moderate (e.g., Ps =
.50), the product of Ps (.50) x Is (1 — Ps or .50) is maximal, explaining why
moderately difficult tasks offer the largest weighted positive incentive value.
Atkinson further assumes that motivation to avoid failure is also aroused
whenever motivation to achieve is aroused. In the model, motivation to
avoid failure is a function of the motive to avoid failure (Maf) x Pf x If.
Choice depends on the relative strength of these approach and avoid-
ance motives. If Ms > Maf, then tasks of intermediate difficulty elicit the
strongest resultant approach tendencies; if Maf > Ms, tasks of intermediate
difficulty elicit the strongest resultant avoidance tendencies.
Kuhl (1978) has emphasized the importance of considering subjective
standards of difficulty in the elaboration of this risk-taking model. Such
emphasis seems warranted given the fact that studies have found that
individuals with high n Achievement initially estimate tasks as easier than
people with low n Achievement (McClelland et al., 1953; Reeve, Olson,

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 Achievement motive 147
& Cole, 1987). In addition, research suggests that the relationship of
achievement-related motives to goal setting is affected by the age of the
subjects (Smith, 1969b), the nature of the task (skill or chance), and the
arousal conditions under which goal setting is assessed (Raynor & Smith,
1966; Smith, 1963).

Persistence
In an early study, Atkinson (1953) found that individuals high in n Achieve-
ment recalled more uncompleted than completed tasks under achievement-
oriented conditions, presumably because they were more persistent than
those low in n Achievement in trying to complete a task or do it well.
Deriving hypotheses from Atkinson's risk-taking model, Feather (1961)
showed that persistence in working at a task characteristic of persons rela-
tively high in n Achievement (Ms > Maf) as compared with those relatively
low in n Achievement (Maf > Ms) depended on the perceived probability of
success at the task. Thus, individuals with Ms > Maf persisted longer when
unable to solve an "easy" task than when unable to solve a "difficult" task,
whereas individuals with Maf > Ms showed the opposite pattern.
The explanation in terms of the Atkinson model lies in the fact that for a
task initially perceived as easy (Ps > .50), failure moves the probability of
success toward intermediate difficulty (Ps = .50), thereby arousing more
approach motivation (and more persistence) in those with Ms > Maf and
more avoidance motivation (and less persistence) in those with Maf > Ms.
For a task that is perceived as difficult to begin with (Ps < .50), lack of
success will move the subjective probability of success further away from the
moderate difficulty level, thereby decreasing the approach motivation and
persistence of subjects relatively high in n Achievement and decreasing the
avoidance motivation and increasing the persistence of subjects relatively
low in n Achievement. Subsequent studies elaborating on the relationship
of achievement-related motives to persistence were carried out by Brown
(1974), Smith (1964), and Weiner (1965).
Atkinson's early conception of the determinants of achievement-related
behavior is now embedded in a full-scale theory of motivation and action
(Atkinson, 1983; Atkinson & Birch, 1970, 1978) in which turning from
persistence at one activity to the initiation of a new activity becomes a
central problem for the theory of motivation.

Personal responsibility and knowledge of results

Besides optimal challenge, several other factors have been found to affect
the relation of n Achievement to task preferences, performance, and
persistence - namely, personal responsibility for the performance outcome

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 I48 CONTENT ANALYSIS SYSTEMS
and knowledge of results or of how well one is doing. Only if people with
high n Achievement feel personally responsible for a performance out-
come under conditions that emphasize individual problem solving are they
likely to derive any satisfaction from doing something better (McClelland,
1961; Short & Sorrentino, 1986). Thus, they do not perform better when
pressured externally to do better (Atkinson & Reitman, 1956; McClelland,
Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989; Schroth, 1988; Smith, 1966; Wendt, 1955),
or when performance outcomes are due to chance, as in gambling (Hancock
& Teevan, 1964; Littig, 1963).
People high in n Achievement also do better as compared with people low
in n Achievement if they can get performance feedback on how well they
are doing (French, 1958b). This would explain their tendency to perform
better on teaching machines (Bartmann, 1965) and their preference for
occupations like selling (McClelland, 1961) or hobbies like carpentry or
model building (Kagan & Moss, 1962) that give immediate feedback on how
well they are doing. It may also explain the curious fact that while monetary
rewards do not operate as an incentive for persons high in n Achievement,
they do value money more than others for the information it gives on
how well they are doing (McClelland, 1985b). Interest in how well one is
doing may also explain the preference of those high in n Achievement for
surrounding themselves with experts (French, 1956).

Future orientation
McClelland (1961) and Raynor and Entin (1982a) have reviewed the extent
to which people with a strong achievement motive are more future-time-
oriented. In particular the extent to which succeeding on a task is important
for moving on to attain future goals affects how hard and efficiently people
high in n Achievement work (Raynor, 1974). For example, students with a
strong achievement motive will get better grades in a course than those with
a weak achievement motive if they perceive the course as a necessary means
to achieving a future goal (Raynor & Entin, 1982a). If they see the course as
irrelevant to future goals, they do not get better grades than those low in n
Achievement. In more general terms, n Achievement facilitates perform-
ance along contingent paths to goals.

Achievement motivation and work

Men high in n Achievement are more interested and involved in their
occupations than others (Veroff, 1982), are more upwardly mobile
(Andrews, 1967; Crockett, 1962; McClelland & Boyatzis, 1982), and often
make more money at work (Cummin, 1967; McClelland & Franz, in press).

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 Achievement motive 149
Such relationships appear for women if they are career-oriented (Elder &
Maclnnis, 1983; Jenkins, 1987).
Because the job requirements of entrepreneurship appear to match the
interest that those high in n Achievement have in challenging tasks, per-
sonal responsibility, and performance feedback, it was theorized and con-
firmed empirically that people high in n Achievement should be drawn
to entrepreneurial occupations and should perform better in them
(McClelland, 1961, 1987b; McClelland & Winter, 1971; Tessler, O'Barr,
& Spain, 1973). Following this line of thought, McClelland (1985b) has
summarized evidence that training courses in achievement motivation can
improve the performance of small business entrepreneurs. High n Achieve-
ment has also been shown to relate to more enterprising activity in farming
(Ray & Singh, 1980; Rogers & Neill, 1966; Rogers & Svenning, 1969; Sinha
& Mehta, 1972), in taking college courses (Andrews, 1966), and in searching
for work among the unemployed (Sheppard & Belitsky, 1966).

School achievement
The relation of n Achievement to school performance has been the object of
considerable study and debate (Entwisle, 1972; Klinger, 1966). No con-
sistent relation has been found (McClelland, 1985b). However, on theor-
etical grounds, one would expect a relationship only when conditions in a
school setting are "achievement motive congenial" (Heckhausen & Krug,
1982) - that is, when they provide optimal challenge and permit personal
responsibility or self-determination. For example, O'Connor, Atkinson, and
Horner (1966) showed that children high in n Achievement performed
better in classes in which challenge was optimal because the children were
all of about the same ability level, but they did not do better in heteroge-
neous classes in which the challenge was too high or too low because of
wide discrepancies in ability level. And McKeachie (1961) showed that
students high in n Achievement performed less well in classes emphasizing
high standards and competition among students, presumably because the
"achievement motive congenial" requirement of self-determination was
violated by external achievement pressure. So the presumption is that
the achievement motive will predict school success only when the school
environment provides optimally challenging activities, performance feed-
back, and the opportunity for self-determination in working on tasks.

Self-concept and acceptance by others

Highly achievement-motivated people also appear to be recognized for
their ability to get along with others (Feld, 1967; Lifshitz, 1974; Teevan,

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 150 CONTENT ANALYSIS SYSTEMS
Diffenderfer, & Greenfeld, 1986). Furthermore, they have a more positive
and stable self-concept (Hamm, 1977; Srivastava, 1979) and show signs of
maintaining better health over time (Koestner, Ramey, Kelner, Meenan, &
McClelland, 1989; McClelland, 1979).

Development of achievement motivation

Much effort has gone into studying the origins and development of achieve-
ment motivation (McClelland, 1985b; Smith, 1969a). In general there are
two schools of thought: One conceives of achievement motivation as devel-
oping out of early socialization experiences surrounding a natural incentive
centering in the pleasure derived from mastering a challenging task. Thus,
parental stress on mastering a feeding schedule in infancy or toileting in
early childhood has been found to be associated with adult achievement
motivation levels (McClelland & Pilon, 1983). The resulting achievement
motive may also be partly dependent on innate differences in ability to
experience such pleasure (see Cortes & Gatti, 1972) and may be acquired
prelinguistically, so that it is not explicitly represented in the developing
self-image. In this view, what develops is the expanding experience of what
constitutes a challenging task. This line of thought is developed more fully in
chapter 3.
Another view is more cognitive in its focus and suggests that the achieve-
ment motive develops along with children's ability to understand and con-
ceptualize their successes and failures (Heckhausen, 1967; Veroff, 1969).

Collective levels of achievement motivation

The n Achievement scoring system has been used to code popular literature
such as children's stories, popular fiction, public speeches, folktales, and
hymns in an effort to estimate collective levels of motivation (McClelland,
1961; D. G. Winter, 1987b). Generally, higher levels of n Achievement in
popular literature have preceded increases in rate of economic growth and
lower levels of n Achievement have preceded economic decline. This was
found to be true in ancient Greece, in Spain in the Middle Ages, in England
from the 16th to 18th century, and cross-nationally roughly from 1925 to
1958 (McClelland, 1961). The explanation presumably lies in the presump-
tion that high collective achievement motivation levels reflect a higher level
of entrepreneurial activity in the culture, which translates in time into more
rapid rates of economic growth. D. G. Winter (1991) has developed a
system for scoring n Achievement and other motives in preexisting verbal
material (running text).

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 Achievement motive 151
CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF ACHIEVEMENT
MOTIVATION

Since the publication of The Achievement Motive (McClelland et al.,

1953), research has led to major changes in the original theory (e.g., the
discrepancy-from-adaptation-level theory has long been abandoned) and in
the understanding of the conditions under which motives are expressed
in thought and behavior. Criticisms (e.g., Klinger, 1966) and alternative
perspectives (e.g., Weiner, 1980) have stimulated improvements in measure-
ment procedures (see chapters 6, 8, and 37) and a greater appreciation of
the role of other motives and dispositions that come into play along with
the achievement motive (see chapter 5 on motivational configurations).
Methodological and theoretical issues have been discussed in an extensive
review by McClelland (1985b).
One contemporary framework for understanding the measurement of the
achievement motive as well as other motives and their effects on behavior is
provided by the theory of the dynamics of action (Atkinson & Birch, 1970,
1978). In that approach, the functional significance of fear of failure is also
spelled out. For another view, also including consideration of fear of success
in women (Horner, 1974), discussion of how the overall intensity of motiva-
tion affects the efficiency of performance, and analysis of how the different
effects of motivation on persistence (how long) and efficiency (how well)
account for so-called over- and underachievement in tests and academic
achievement, see Atkinson and Raynor (1974). Other contemporary collec-
tions of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence concerning achievement
motivation are to be found in Atkinson (1983), D. R. Brown and Veroff
(1986), and Kuhl and Atkinson (1986). The research of Blankenship on
substitution, the consummatory value of success, and the use of computer
simulation in motivational research may also be found in these volumes and
in Blankenship (1982).

BOOKS DEALING EXTENSIVELY WITH ACHIEVEMENT

MOTIVATION
Atkinson, J. W. (Ed.). (1958). Motives in fantasy, action and society. Princeton, NJ:
Van Nostrand.
Atkinson, J. W. (1964). An introduction to motivation. Princeton, NJ: Van
Nostrand.
Atkinson, J. W. (1983). Personality, motivation, and action. New York: Praeger.
Atkinson, J. W., & Birch, D. (1978). An introduction to motivation: Second edition.
New York: Van Nostrand.
Atkinson, J. W., & Feather, N. T. (Eds.). (1966). A theory of achievement motiva-
tion. New York: Wiley.
Atkinson, J. W., & Raynor, J. O. (Eds.). (1974). Motivation and achievement.
Washington, DC: Winston (Halsted Press/Wiley).

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 152 CONTENT ANALYSIS SYSTEMS
Brown, D. R., & Veroff, J. (Eds.). (1986). Frontiers of motivational psychology.
New York: Springer-Verlag.
Fyans, L. J., Jr. (Ed.). (1980). Achievement motivation: Recent trends in theory and
research. New York: Plenum.
Heckhausen, H. (1967). The anatomy of achievement motivation. New York:
Academic Press. (Original work published in 1965)
Heckhausen, H., Schmalt, H.-D., & Schneider, K. (1985). Achievement motivation
in perspective. New York: Academic Press.
Kuhl, J., & Atkinson, J. W. (1986a). Motivation, thought and action. New York:
Praeger.
McClelland, D. C. (1961/76). The achieving society. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
(Paperback edition, 1967, New York: Free Press. Reissued with a new preface,
1976, New York: Irvington)
McClelland, D. C , Atkinson, J. W., Clark, R. A., & Lowell, E. L. (1953/1976).
The achievement motive. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. (Reissued with a
new preface by J. W. Atkinson, 1976, New York: Irvington)
McClelland, D. C , & Winter, D. G. (1969/1971). Motivating economic achievement.
New York: Free Press. (Paperback edition with afterword, 1971)
Rosen, B. C , Crockett, H., & Nunn, C. Z. (1969). Achievement in American
society. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.
Smith, C. P. (Ed.). (1969). Achievement-related motives in children. New York:
Russell Sage Foundation.
Veroff, J., & Feld, S. (1970). Marriage and work in America. New York: Van
Nostrand - Reinhold.
Veroff, J., & Veroff, J. B. (1980). Social incentives: A life span developmental
approach. New York: Academic Press.

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