Motivation and Culture

Abstract

The potential impact of culture on the nature and functions of psychological variables has long been recognized. However, until relatively recently, it was often assumed that definitions, methodologies, data, and generalizations from psychological research could be readily transferred, more or less intact, across cultural boundaries. Typically, this meant that psychological theory and research that was based in (and on) American or Western European settings was considered readily transferable to other cultures with few, if any, modifications. In particular, the assumption of transferability applied to a range of psychological constructs of interest in applied (ie, real-life) settings. These constructs included intelligence, anxiety, expectancies, and motivation, perceptions of success and achievement, and self-concept. However, there is now a wide recognition that such constructs are not necessarily structured in the same way across cultures. Moreover, the relative importance of various constructs may differ greatly among cultures. For example, it has been demonstrated that the ways in which students construct their understandings of achievement and success (ie, what “counts” for achievement/success and how achievement/success is gained) may be very different across cultures. For this reason, there has been considerable impetus to reformulate important psychological constructs (and research methodologies) to make them more relevant and appropriate to the specific cultures to be studied. This, in turn, suggests the need for the development of taxonomies, nomenclatures, and conceptualizations of affect, cognition, and behavior that are culturally specific. This article begins by discussing early studies in, and conceptualizations of, achievement and achievement motivation. It then discusses more recent theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of these constructs, with particular emphasis being given to their application in cross-cultural settings.