PSYC 4520 1st Edition Lecture 14Outline of Last Lecture I. Assessment: Self-Report InventoriesA. What are self-report inventories?B. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality InventoryII. Problems with Self-Report InventoriesA. FakingB. Carelessness and sabotageC. Response tendenciesIII. Strengths and Criticisms of the Trait ApproachA. StrengthsB. Criticisms Outline of Current Lecture I. Achievement MotivationA. The need for achievement B. High achievement motivation characteristicsC. Predicting achievement behaviorD. Gender, culture, and achievementE. AttributionsThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.F. Achievement goalsII. Type A, Hostility, and HealthA. Type A and Type B peopleB. Type A as a personality variableC. Hostility and healthIII. Social AnxietyA. Social anxiety B. Characteristics of socially anxious peopleC. Explaining social anxietyIV. EmotionsA. Emotion as a personality characteristicB. Emotional affectivityC. Affect intensityD. Emotional expressivenessV. Optimism and PessimismA. Optimism vs. pessimismB. Optimism and cultureC. Dealing with adversityD. Optimism and healthE. Defensive pessimismCurrent LectureI. Achievement MotivationA. The need for achievementi. Henry Murray identified the “need for achievement.” He described it as the desire “to accomplish something difficult…to overcome obstacles and attain a high standard; to excel oneself.”ii. Research has shown two kinds of achievement motivation: an implicit motive that we are not aware of and a self-attributed (explicit) motive that we can describe. Implicit achievement motivation may account for spontaneous actions (e.g. how we respond to a challenge at a party), while self-attributed motives come into play when we have time to ponder achievement options and decisions.B. High achievement motivation characteristicsi. High need achievers are moderate risk takers. They want to succeed but are also highly motivated to avoid failure. So, they take some risks, such as fairly secure business ventures with a moderate chance of failure; however, they avoid highly speculative investments despite potentially large rewards. They are optimistic about their decisions and success, but they do not ignore the possibility of failure.ii. High need achievers work energetically, enthusiastic for tasks with a potential for personal achievement. They enjoy creative jobs that provide an opportunity to demonstrate their skills. Also, they prefer jobs that give them personal responsibility for outcomes: they want credit for success but will also accept blame for failures. They specifically want concrete feedback about their performance—they want to know how good they are/how they compare to others. This feedback need is complemented bytheir desire to anticipate the future and make long-range plans.C. Predicting achievement behaviori. Parents can foster high achievement behavior in their kids by providing support/encouragement long enough to enable the child to develop a sense of personal competence, but not so long that the child is robbed of independence and initiative. Parents should find the fine line between too much involvement and not enough.ii. High need achievers are more likely to find economic prosperity, but this level of achievement motivation can also prevent effective performance. Success in executive positions often depends on the manager’s ability to delegate authority and motivate others, but someone concerned about his or her own accomplishments may find it difficult to relinquish control and rely on subordinates. They have problems delegating.D. Gender, culture, and achievementi. Most early work on achievement need was done only with males and began in the 1950s—then, few women entered the business world and even fewer had opportunities for advancement. But as opportunities for women changed, research has found the same results as with men: a highneed for achievement in females predicts success in business.ii. Men and women differ on the kinds of achievement they value and where achievement in business falls among their goals. For example, a businesswoman may value achievement, but may put other concerns (herfamily, her customers’ welfare, etc.) ahead of her accomplishments. Research finds that men and women sometimes differ in how they define success. Men see success in terms of external standards (e.g. gaining prestige or recognition), while women rely on internal definitions of success (e.g. whether they accomplish what they set out to do).iii. Achievement behavior differs among cultures. In individualistic countries like the U.S., achievement involves personal accomplishments; individual effort is rewarded and people singled out for their successes. Workers in these cultures often see themselves in competition with their coworkers and thus work harder. In collectivist cultures, success is defined in terms of cooperation/group accomplishments. Individual recognition is neither sought nor needed. Workers in these cultures help coworkers succeed. E. Attributionsi. Many psychologists are interested in the explanations people have for why they do well/poorly in achievement situations (e.g. why you fail a test). We often ask ourselves why we have failed/succeeded, and the answer to this question (our attribution) determines how we feel about the performance and how we perform in future situations.ii. Researchers use 3 dimensions to analyze the attributions people give for their successes/failures. The first is “stability”: we can explain our performance by pointing to stable causes (e.g. intelligence, good coordination, poor attitude) or to unstable causes (e.g. luck, illness). The second dimension is “locus”: an attribution may be internal to us (e.g. amount of effort put forth, poor skills) or external (e.g. a difficult test, difficult competition). The third dimension is “control”: whether we can or cannot control the cause of success or failure. Controllable attributions include high motivation or not enough practice, while uncontrollable onesinclude being from a wealthy family or a weak national economy. iii. By studying attributions along these dimensions, researchers can predict how people respond to successes/failures. For example, winning a game of softball should enhance your sense of well-being, but only if you believe the reason for success is internal. If