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THE EFFECT OF ACHIEVEMENT
MOTIVATION TRAINING ON
WOMEN PRISONERS

LLOYD E. ROOTES, Jr.

Iowa State Reformatory
Anamosa, Iowa

t is presumed that one learns to be motivated to achieve.

Apparently, the motivation for achievement is related to
social class membership (Cofer and Appley, 1964) and may be
related to child-rearing practices (Winterbottom, 1953). In this
connection, Hollingshead (1949) noted that the goals and values
of middle-class children appear to differ from the goals and
values of lower-class children. McClelland (1961) as well as
Rosen and D'Andrade (1959) assume that the attitudes and
values of middle-class parents produce internalization of high
achievement motives in their children, whereas parents of
lower-class children stress different values in their child-rearing
practices with the result that their children have a lower
achievement motive.
McClelland et al. (1953) proposed that motives are affec-
tively toned associative networks which are learned. In their

Author's Note: The author wishes to thank the staff of the Iowa Women's
Reformatory for their assistancein conducting the study.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 1, No. 2, June 1974
©1974 American Association of Correctional Psychologists

[131]
[132] CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

view, even biological discomforts do not become urges or drives

until they are linked with cues that signify their presence or
absence. Motives are seen as varying in importance for any given
individual. The strength of a motive is dependent on the
number of cues or associations belonging to that motive as
compared with other motives. According to McClelland and
Winter (1969), increasing the achievement motive in an indi-
vidual's hierarchy of motives is accomplished by adding
associations to the network.
Investigators have been skeptical of efforts to increase
motivation to achieve in adults (McClelland and Winter, 1969)
and have assumed that the motivational level of the individual is
set prior to adulthood and is not amenable to change. There is
evidence that the crucial period in the development of
motivation to achieve is to be found in middle childhood, at
approximately six to ten years of age.
On the other hand, training programs have been shown to
increase the achievement motivation of adults drawn from
cultures traditionally expected to be low in motivation to
achieve (McClelland and Winter, 1969), with underachieving
high school boys (Kolb, 1965) and with college students
(Burris, 1958).
The present study was designed to assess the effectiveness of
training in achievement motivation of women prisoners. It is
expected that increased motivation to achieve and to compete
successfully would improve the probability of rehabilitation of
prisoners. Gains in achievement motivation have relevance for
institutional management as well, since it is assumed that such
increases would be manifest in improved work performance and
in acceptance of the opportunities for educational and voca-
tional programs offered by penal institutions. The measures
employed in this study include tests presumed to estimate the
motivation to achieve and measures of change in work
performance as assessed by supervisor-judges.
First, it was hypothesized that the scores on a standardized
measure of achievement motivation will be greater after than
prior to training in achievement motivation. Second, it was
 Rootes / ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION TRAINING [ 133]

hypothesized that, on a measure of achievement motivation, the

scores of subjects (Ss) who receive training will be greater
following training than the scores of individuals not trained in
achievement motivation. Third, it was hypothesized that super-'
visors will judge the work performance of trained Ss to be
greater following training than prior to training. Fourth, it was
hypothesized that supervisors of trained Ss will rate their work
performance higher than supervisors of untrained Ss. Fifth, it
was hypothesized that the correlation between two test-defined
measures of achievement motivation, one specifically designed
for use with females and one for use with either sex, will be
high and positive.

METHOD

Subjects: Fifty-two residents of the Iowa Women's Reforma-

tory, Rockwell City, Iowa, participated in this study. Ss were
relieved of normal duty assignments during the period of
training. Ss in the experimental (E) and the control (C) groups
did not differ significantly with respect to age, IQ, education, or
length of incarceration (see Table 1).

Procedure. Thirty Ss were randomly assigned to E group and

22 to C group. However, later, 5 Ss were dropped from the C
group and 5 from the E group either because they were unable

TABLE 1
PRE-TREATMENT COMPARISONS OF MEAN SCORES OF THE
CONTROL AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS ON
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
Experimental Control Group
Variables Group (n=25) (n=17) t

IQ (Otis) 96.39 92.70 1.07

Age 26.28 29.35 1.13
Time served (months) 7.32 9.00 .66
Education 11.18 10.29 1.41
[ 134] CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

to attend training sessions or were unavailable for post-testing.

Training for E group consisted of 24 hours of discussions, films,
and games selected to emphasize 12 factors presumed to be
effective in the training of achievement motivation (McClelland
and Winter, 1969). Particular emphasis was placed on teaching
participants the behaviors engaged in by people with a high
achievement motive. Briefly, these behaviors are: to set mod-
erate goals for themselves; to prefer work situations where they
take personal responsibility for the achievement of a goal; to
like to get concrete feedback; and to show initiative and look
for opportunities in their environment. Training for Ss in the C
group consisted of 19 hours of discussions, films, and games
which did not emphasize the 12 variables considered important
in training of achievement motivation.

Measures: The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (Ed-

wards, 1959) was administered to each S on each of 2
occasions: approximately one week prior to training and
approximately one week after training. For each S, the raw
score on the Achievement Scale defined the level of motivation
on each of the 2 occasions. The Mehrabian Achievement Scale
for Women (Mehrabian, 1969) was administered to each S only
after training. For each S, the raw score defined the level of
achievement motivation.
The Work Performance Report (WPR) was administered to
each S on each of 8 occasions: each week for 4 weeks prior to
training and each week for 4 weeks after training. On each
occasion, S was rated by his supervisor on a 9-point scale
ranging from I (very poor) to 9 (very good) with respect to the
quality of his work, the quantity of his work, his dependability,
his cooperation with fellow workers, and the initiative he had
demonstrated. For each S, there were 8 WPR scores: 4 before
and 4 after training. Each score consisted of the sum of the
ratings received on the 5 rated variables for each of 8 weeks,
thus the maximum score was 45. The pre-training score
consisted of the mean of the 4 weekly scores obtained prior to
training. Similarly, the post-training score consisted of the mean
of the 4 weekly scores obtained after training.
 Rootes I ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION TRAINING [135]

RESULTS

The first hypothesis led to a prediction that the score

obtained on the Achievement Scale of the Edwards Personal
Preference Schedule (EPPS) would be significantly greater after
training than before training. The difference between the mean
scores obtained prior to and following training was calculated
separately for the E and C groups. The value of the obtained t
was significant for neither the E nor C groups. Subjects in E
group obtained a pre-training mean score of 13.28 and a
post-training mean score of 14.60 (t = 1.19, p > .05). Subjects
in C group obtained a pre-training mean score of 12.00 and a
post-training mean score of 10.94 (t = .76, p > .05).
Second, it was predicted that, after training, the score
obtained on the EPPS Achievement Scale would be significantly
higher for the E group than for the C group. Prior to training,
the difference between the mean scores of the E and C groups
on the EPPS Achievement Scale was not significant. However,
after training, the difference between the mean scores of the
two groups was significant (p < .01), the mean score of the
trained group exceeding that of the control group by 3.5 raw
score points (14.6 and 10.9, respectively; see Table 2).
The third hypothesis was not supported. Thus, the prediction
that the mean scores of Ss in the E group on the WPR would be
greater after training than prior to training was not demon-
strated.

TABLE 2
POST-TREATMENT COMPARISONS OF THE CONTROL AND
EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS ON MEASURES OF ACHIEVEMENT
MOTIVATION
Experimental Control Group
Variables Group (n=25) (n=17) t
EPPS achievement score 14.60 10.94 2.83 a
Work performance report (four-
week average) 30.65 29.60 .48

a. p <.01.
[1361 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

The tests of the fourth hypothesis involved a prediction that

the mean of the four WPR's obtained after training would be
greater for the E group than for the C group. The difference
between the E and C groups was not significant either before or
after training (see Table 2).
A supplemental analysis of the fourth hypothesis was
performed on the post-training WPR scores. For this purpose,
an individual trend analysis was employed, since this method
takes into account the change in an individual's performance
over time. The analysis was performed by obtaining an index of
the slope of the best-fitting straight line for the four weekly
scores for each S. Only those Ss whose complete data were
available were included in this analysis (17 Ss in the E group
and 10 in the C group). The resulting values of each S were
averaged and a t-test comparison between group means yielded
a significant difference between the E and C groups (p < .05).
Thus, it is inferred that, after training, there is a trend for
ratings of performance on the job to increase over the
four-week period.
The fifth hypothesis predicted that EPPS and MASW scores
would be highly correlated, since both instruments are based on
achievement motivation theory and are presumed to measure
the same personality variable. A product moment correlation
coefficient was calculated to estimate the relationship between
scores on the two scales. The observed correlation was low (R =
0.34) and does not support the hypothesis that the scales
estimate the same variable. This low correlation accounts for
less than 12% of the common variable.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study do not strongly support the

usefulness of achievement motivation training with women
prisoners. Following training, the scores of Ss in the E and C
groups differed significantly on the EPPS Achievement Scale.
This finding supports the contention that training programs can
 Rootes / ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION TRAINING [1371

alter the achievement motive of participants. However, the

after-training EPPS achievement scores of Ss in the E group did
not differ significantly from the pre-training scores of Ss in that
group.
It was also proposed that Ss in E group would obtain higher
work ratings following training than Ss in C group, and that the
post-training WPR scores would be higher than pre-training
scores for Ss in E group. The findings were mixed. The
post-training WPR scores of Ss in E group were higher than the
pre-training scores, but not significantly so. The post-training
comparison of mean WPR scores between the E and C groups
was in the predicted direction, but again the difference was not
significant. The individual trend analysis did reflect a significant
difference in the trends of the WPR's over the four-week
post-testing period, with the E group showing increasingly
higher ratings, while ratings of Ss in the C group remained
essentially the same.
Conclusions regarding the ability of such programs to alter
the achievement motive of incarcerated women should be
deferred. The number of Ss at the Iowa Women's Reformatory
was modest to begin with, but the number was further reduced
by paroles and other factors over which the present investigator
had no control. This study used 24 hours for the training.
Whether additional time invested would result in stronger
support for the efficacy of such training is an interesting and
independent question.
Finally, one can question the adequacy and reliability of the
WPR's as a behavioral measure of change in achievement
motivation. McClelland (1961: 226) stated that persons with a
high achievement motive "do not work harder at routine tasks,
but only those tasks which appear to require some degree of
'mental manipulation', originality, or a new angle of approach
for successful solutions." For the most part, the work details at
the institution involved routine tasks and required little
ingenuity or skill. Perhaps a behavioral measure more consistent
with achievement motivation theory would have resulted in
more conclusive findings.
11381 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

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