Abstract
Traditionally, implicit motives (i.e., non-conscious preferences for specific classes of incentives) are assessed through semantic coding of imaginative stories. The present research tested the marker-word hypothesis, which states that implicit motives are reflected in the frequencies of specific words. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2001), Study 1 identified word categories that converged with a content-coding measure of the implicit motives for power, achievement, and affiliation in picture stories collected in German and US student samples, showed discriminant validity with self-reported motives, and predicted well-validated criteria of implicit motives (gender difference for the affiliation motive; in interaction with personal-goal progress: emotional well-being). Study 2 demonstrated LIWC-based motive scores' causal validity by documenting their sensitivity to motive arousal.
Highlights
Implicit motives, that is, non-consciously operating dispositions to experience certain classes of incentives as affectively charged, are assessed through the content coding of written text (Schultheiss and Pang, 2007; Schultheiss, 2008)
With Picture Story Exercise (PSE) sequence controlled for in all analyses, there was a significant Motive × Time × Condition effect for n Power and n Affiliation based on the US sample-specific LIWC estimates, F(2, 26) = 3.87, p < 0.05 [F(2, 26) = 2.37, p = 0.11]
When analyses were restricted to a direct comparison of power and affiliation arousal, excluding participants in the neutral-movie control condition, the Motive × Time × Condition effect was even stronger, F(1, 17) = 7.98, p = 0.01 [F(1, 17) = 4.83, p < 0.05], similar to the results reported by Schultheiss et al (2004) for motive scores based on content coding
Summary
That is, non-consciously operating dispositions to experience certain classes of incentives as affectively charged, are assessed through the content coding of written text (Schultheiss and Pang, 2007; Schultheiss, 2008). The traditional measure of implicit motives, the Picture Story Exercise (PSE; McClelland et al, 1989), requires research participants to write 5-min imaginative stories about each of a series of 4–8 pictures showing people in various social situations. The stories are subsequently analyzed using coding systems derived from experimental-arousal studies of motivational needs (Smith, 1992). After careful learning of the coding rules and applying them to training materials, coders are required to pass a high threshold of coding reliability, usually >85% agreement with expert-scored calibration stories, before they can apply their skills to new stories harvested in empirical studies (Schultheiss and Pang, 2007). The coding of a set of stories from a given participant requires between 20 and 30 min. To document interrater reliability in research reports, usually two coders analyze all stories independently
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