Assessing Achievement, Affiliation, and Power Motives All at Once: The Multi-Motive Grid (MMG)

Abstract

In this article, we introduce the Multi-Motive Grid (MMG), a new diagnostic tool to measure motives with respect to their hope and fear components. The MMG combines features of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with features of self-report questionnaires. Similar to the TAT, a set of 14 pictures representing a balanced set of achievement-arousing, affiliation-arousing, and power-arousing situations is presented together with a set of statements representing important motivational states. Six motive scores can be calculated: hope of success (HS) and fear of failure (FF) for the achievement motive, hope of affiliation (HA) and fear of rejection (FR) for the affiliation motive, and hope of power (HP) and fear of power (FP) for the power motive. Results of factor analyses suggest a 3-factor solution, with a general fear factor (FF, FR, FP), a factor combining the hope components of achievement and power (HS and HP), and a third factor representing HA, but the 6 a priori factors also reflect a sound structural model. Reliability data show that the internal consistency and retest reliability of the MMG scales satisfy traditional standards. External validity of the MMG has been established in all 3 motive domains. Three separate studies document that (a) individuals high in resultant achievement motivation perform better and report more flow experience, (b) individuals high in resultant power motivation profit more from a leadership training program, and (c) individuals high in resultant affiliation motivation recollect more highly memorable affiliative themes.

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