Automated Motive Scoring and International Crisis Behavior

Abstract

Abstract Although implicit motives are well established, coding for implicit motives has been a time-consuming and difficult manual process. This study (i) evaluates automated motive coding schemes for Need for Achievement, Need for Affiliation, and Need for Power, (ii) assesses the relationship between these three motives and crisis initiation, and (iii) assesses the explanatory power of other psychological variables for crisis behavior. The results establish the convergent validity of the Need for Achievement and Need for Power coding schemes with hand coding and support findings of a significant relationship between Need for Power and crisis behavior. A unit increase in Need for Power doubles the probability that a leader will initiate a crisis. Even stronger models were obtained by including other previously studied psychological variables. The scope of the dataset (154 leaders across a diverse set of 93 countries) lends weight to the findings and provides many opportunities for additional research.