McClelland (1985) hypothesized that motives and emotions are linked in specific ways, with each primary emotion relevant to only one motive. Two studies were generally supportive of the specific links hypothesized by McClelland. In Study 1, participants visualized success at satisfying each of three motives (achievement, affiliation-intimacy, and power); after each visualization, they reported their emotional state. As predicted, levels of interest and surprise were high after the achievement visualization but levels of excitement and focus were also high. Happiness and love were high after the affiliation-intimacy visualization (as predicted) but happiness was also high after the achievement visualization. Levels of anger, disgust, and confusion were highest after the power visualization. In Study 2, participants recalled instances of happiness, sadness, anger, and feeling challenged. Anger stories were most likely to be about power, sadness stories about affiliation-intimacy, and challenge stories about achievement. The most frequent happiness stories were about either affiliation-intimacy or achievement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Averill, J. R. (1968). Grief: Its nature and significance. Psychological Bulletin, 70, 721-748.
2.
Averill, J. R. (1982). Anger and aggression: An essay on emotion. New York: Springer-Verlag.
3.
Berridge, K. C. , & Robinson, T. E. (1995). The mind of an addicted brain: Neural sensitization of wanting versus liking. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4(3), 71-76.
4.
Brunstein, J. C. , Schultheiss, O. C., & Grässmann, R. (1998). Personal goals and emotional well-being: The moderating role of motive dispositions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 494-508.
5.
Clark, M. S. , Pataki, S. P., & Carver, V. H. (1996). Some thought and findings on self-presentation of emotions in relationships. In G. J. O. Fletcher & J. Fitness (Eds.), Knowledge structures in close relationships: A social psychological approach (pp. 247-274). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
6.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Collins.
7.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
8.
Ekman, P. (1972). Universal and cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. In J. K. Cole (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: 1971. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
9.
Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1940)
10.
Heyns, R. W. , Veroff, J., & Atkinson, J. W. (1958). A scoring manual for the affiliation motive. In J. W. Atkinson (Ed.), Motives in fantasy, action, and society (pp. 205-218). Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
11.
Izard, C. E. (1979). Emotions as motivations: An evolutionary-developmental perspective. In H. E. Howe, Jr. (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: 1978 (pp. 163-200). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
12.
Johnson-Laird, P. N. , & Oatley, K. (1992). Basic emotions, rationality, and folk theory. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 201-223.
13.
Ketelaar, T. V. (1994). The role of positive and negative affect in cost/benefit perception: An evolutionary-psychological interpretation of prospect theory. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
14.
McAdams, D. P. (1980). A thematic coding system for the intimacy motive. Journal of Research in Personality, 14, 413-432.
15.
McAdams, D. P. (1982). Experiences of intimacy and power: Relationships between social motives and autobiographical memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 292-302.
16.
McAdams, D. P. , & Bryant, F. B. (1987). Intimacy motivation and subjective mental health in a nationwide sample. Journal of Personality, 55, 395-413.
17.
McAdams, D. P. , Jackson, R. J., & Kirshnit, C. (1984). Looking, laughing, and smiling in dyads as a function of intimacy motivation and reciprocity. Journal of Personality, 52, 261-273.
18.
McClelland, D. C. (1982). The need for power, sympathetic activation, and illness. Motivation and Emotion, 6, 31-41.
19.
McClelland, D. C. (1985). Human motivation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
20.
McClelland, D. C. , Atkinson, J. W., Clark, R. A., & Lowell, E. L. (1953). The achievement motive. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
21.
McClelland, D. C. , & Koestner, R. (1992). The achievement motive. In C. P. Smith (Ed.), Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis (pp. 143-152). New York: Cambridge University Press.
22.
McClelland, D. C. , Koestner, R., & Weinberger, J. (1989). How do self-attributed and implicit motives differ?Psychological Review, 96, 690-702.
23.
McClelland, D. C. , Maddocks, J. A., & McAdams, D. P. (1985). The need for power, brain norepinephrine turnover, and memory. Motivation and Emotion, 9, 1-10.
24.
McClelland, D. C. , Ross, G., & Patel, V. (1985). The effect of an academic examination on salivary norepinephrine and immunoglobulin levels. Journal of Human Stress, 11, 52-59.
25.
Morgan, C. D. , & Murray, H. A. (1935). A method for examining fantasies: The Thematic Apperception Test. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 34, 289-306.
26.
Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in personality. New York: Oxford University Press.
27.
Ortony, A. , & Turner, T. J. (1990). What’s basic about basic emotions?Psychological Review, 97, 315-331.
28.
Rusting, C. L. , & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1998). Regulating responses to anger: Effects of rumination and distraction on angry mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 790-803.
29.
Scherer, K. R. , Wallbott, H. G., & Summerfield, A. B. (Eds.). (1986). Experiencing emotion: A cross-cultural study. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
30.
Schiefele, U. , Krapp, A., & Winteler, A. (1992). Interest as a predictor of academic achievement: A meta-analysis of research. In K. A. Renninger, S. Hidi, & A. Krapp (Eds.), The role of interest in learning and development (pp. 183-212). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
31.
Shaver, P. , Schwartz, J., Kirson, D., & O’Connor, C. (1987). Emotion knowledge: Further exploration of a prototype approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1061-1086.
32.
Smith, C. P. (Ed.). (1992). Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press.
33.
Summerfield, A. B. , & Green, E. J. (1986). Categories of emotion-eliciting events: A qualitative overview. In K. R. Scherer, H. G. Wallbott, & A. B. Summerfield (Eds.), Experiencing emotion: A cross-cultural study (pp. 50-65). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
34.
Tiedens, L. Z. (2000). Powerful emotions: The vicious cycle of social status positions and emotions. In N. Ashkanasy, W. Zerbe, & C. Hartel (Eds.), Emotions in the workplace: Research, theory, and practice (pp. 71-81). Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
35.
Tiedens, L. Z. (2001). Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: The effect of negative emotion expressions on status conferral. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 86-94.
36.
Tiedens, L. Z. , Ellsworth, P. C., & Mesquita, B. (2000). Stereotypes about sentiments and status: Emotional expectations for high- and low-status group members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 560-574.
37.
Tomkins, S. S. (1962). Affect, imagery, consciousness: The positive affects (Vol. 1). New York: Springer.
38.
Tomkins, S. S. (1963). Affect, imagery, consciousness: The negative affects (Vol. 2). New York: Springer.
39.
van Hoof, J. A. R. A. M. (1972). A comparative approach to the phylogeny of laughter and smiling. In R. A. Hinde (Ed.), Non-verbal communication. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Weinberger, J. , & McClelland, D. C. (1990). Cognitive versus traditional motivational models? Irreconcilable or complementary? In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition (Vol. 2, pp. 562-597). New York: Guilford.
41.
Winter, D. G. (1973). The power motive. New York: Free Press.
42.
Winter, D. G. (1991). Measuring personality at a distance: Development of an integrated system for scoring motives in running text. In A. J. Stewart, J. M. Healy, Jr., & D. J. Ozer (Eds.), Perspectives in personality: Approaches to understanding lives (pp. 59-89). London: Jessica Kingsley.
43.
Winter, D. G. (1994). Manual for scoring motive imagery in running text (4th ed.). Available from the author, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
44.
Winter, D. G. (1996). Personality: Analysis and interpretation of lives. New York: McGraw-Hill.
45.
Woike, B. A. (1994). Vivid recollection as a technique to arouse implicit motive-related affect. Motivation and Emotion, 18, 335-349.
46.
Woike, B. A. , Gershkovich, I., Piorkowski, R., & Polo, M. (1999). The role of motives in the content and structure of autobiographical memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 600-612.
47.
Zeldow, P. B. , Daugherty, S. R., & McAdams, D. P. (1988). Intimacy, power, and psychological well-being in medical students. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 176, 182-187.
48.
Zurbriggen, E. L. (2000). Social motives and cognitive power-sex associations: Predictors of aggressive sexual behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 559-581.
