Achievement and Affiliation Motivation and their Correlates

Abstract

The NachNaff scale is a 30-item questionnaire that requires examinees to choose between self-descriptions consistent with either need for achievement (n Ach) or need for affiliation (n Aff). This scale, which is scored in the n Ach direction, was administered to a sample of 108 female and 56 male undergraduates. Women's n Ach scores were found to be correlated with scores on Srong Vocational Interest Blank scales and on the California Psychological Inventory scales in ways that were generally consistent with n Ach theory. Statistically significant correlations for men were fewer and were less in magnitude than were those for women. The NachNaff scores were positively correlated with GPA for both sexes.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Gough, H. G. California Psychological Inventory. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychology Press, 1969.

Lindgren, H. C. Measuring need to achieve by NachNaff scale—a forced-choice questionnaire . Psychological Reports, 1976, 39, 907-910.

Lindgren, H. C. , Figone, J. , Korhonen, R. , Alvarez, W. , and Yu, R. Measuring the need to achieve: A new, brief questionnaire approach. Unpublished paper read at Western Psychological Association convention, Los Angeles, April, 1976.

McClelland, D. C. , Atkinson, J. W. , Clark, R. A. , and Lowell, E. L. (Eds.). The achievement motive. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1953.

Mehrabian, A. Male and female scales of the tendency to achieve . EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT, 1968, 28, 108-114.

Mehrabian, A. Measures of achieving tendency . EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT, 1969, 28, 493-502.

Schneider, F. W. and Green, J. E. Need for affiliation and sex as moderators of the relationship between need for achievement and academic performance. Journal of School Psychology, 1977, 15, 269-277.

Sid, A. K. W. and Lindgren, H. C. Sex differences in achievement and affiliation motivation among undergraduates majoring in different academic fields. Psychological Reports, 1981, 48, 539-542.

Smither, R. Achievement motivation and participation in intercollegiate sports. Unpublished master's thesis, San Francisco State University, 1978.

10.

Smither, R. and Lindgren, H. C. Achievement need, salary grade, age, and sex among bank employees. Psychological Reports, 1978, 42, 334.

11.

Strong, E. K., Jr. and Campbell, D. P. Srong Vocational Interest Blank for Women. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1969.

12.

Strong, E. K., Jr. , Campbell, D. P. , Berdie, R. F. , and Clark, K. E. , Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Men, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1969.