Achievement Motivation

 The need for achievement is the best-

researched psychosocial motive.

 Achievement motivation or the need for

achievement the psychological drive to excel, a
social form of motivation to perform at a high
level of competence.

 abbreviated to N Ach or nAch.

 The term need for achievement was first

introduced by Henry Murray in 1938 in his book
"Explorations of Personality" where he used it in
the sense of overcoming obstacles or being
regularly willing to take on difficult tasks. The
 term achievement motivation has been the
preferred term more recently.

 Active researchers in the area include David

McClelland

 Hunger, aggression-these are motives we share

with many other forms of life.

 There are some motives, however, that appear to

be unique to our own species.
 Achievement motivation (often termed as need for
motivation) is the desire to accomplish difficult
tasks and to excel.

 Individuals differ greatly in the desire for achievement

is obvious. For some persons, accomplishing difficult
tasks and meeting high standards of excellence are
extremely important; whereas for others, just getting
by is quite enough.
 Difference between high motivated and low
motivated persons:

 Persons high in achievement differ from persons low

in this motive in other respects too. Persons high in
achievement motivation tend to prefer tasks that are
moderately difficult and challenging. The reason
why they tend to avoid very easy tasks is that such
tasks don’t pose enough challenge to the persons with
high in achievement motivation. These persons prefer
difficult tasks because chance of failing on extremely
difficult tasks is too high, and such persons want
success above everything else. (Atkinson, 1977;
Slade & Rush, 1991)

 Another characteristic of persons high in achievement

motivation is that they have a stronger than average
desire for feedback on their performance. They want
to know how well they are doing so they can adjust
their goals to make these challenging but not
impossible.

 Because of this desire fore feedback, persons high in

achievement motivation tend to prefer jobs in which
rewards are closely related to individual
performance-merit based pay system.

 They generally don’t like working in situations where

everyone receives the same-across the – board raises
 regardless of their performance. They tend to excel
under conditions in which their achievement motive is
activated.

 Situations in which they are challenged to do their

best, are confronted with difficult goals, or in which
they complete against others are “grist for the mill” of
high- achievement persons, and they generally rise to
the occasion in terms of excellent performance.

 In one classic study, participants played a ring-

toss game and were free to choose their own
distance from the target (Atkinson & Litwin,
1960). Those who scored high in achievement
motivation selected distances that were
challenging but not impossible.

 In contrast, participants who scored low in

achievement motivation and had a high fear of
failure stood either very close to the target or
impossibly far, positions that guaranteed either
success or a good excuse for failing.

How do experimental findings such as these

translate into everyday behaviors?
 People with a high need for achievement tend to
work more persistently than others to achieve a
goal, and they take more pride in their
accomplishments when they succeed (Atkinson,
1977). Not surprisingly, they are consequently
more likely to succeed.

 They also tend to attribute their past successes

to  their abilities and their past failures to
forces beyond their control, which increases
confidence and persistence in the face of adverse
feedback (Dweck, 1975; Weiner, 1974).

 Students with high achievement motivation are

likely to select a major that suits their abilities,
commit to a study schedule that is rigorous but
not impossible, and work hard to succeed within
those limits. The consequences of achievement
motivation extend far beyond the classroom.