Implicit Motives Research Articles

The relationship between implicit motives and physical activity: a scoping review

BackgroundInterventions that leverage implicit motives — affect-based, non-conscious motivational dispositions — may increase physical activity by making physical activity more pleasurable. However, there is no evidence synthesis of the empirical data linking the major implicit motives (achievement, affiliation, and power motives) and physical activity. We aimed to close this research gap.MethodsFollowing a systematic literature search in the PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science databases until August 2024, we performed a scoping review. We included German- or English-language publications in peer-reviewed journals or books that followed an observational or intervention study design. Studies had to link ≥ 1 major implicit motive measured via a well-established method to physical activity behavior. We critically appraised the methodological quality of the included studies using an adaptation of the JBI critical appraisal checklist for analytical cross-sectional studies and synthesized the evidence qualitatively.ResultsOut of 1047 potentially relevant records, five publications (seven studies, N = 550) were included. All eligible studies were observational (six cross-sectional, one prospective longitudinal). The achievement motive was researched the most. The data indicated a relatively consistent positive association between physical activity and the achievement motive, particularly in athletes and in sports-specific settings. The associations with the affiliation and power motives were more mixed. Most studies were conducted in sports-specific settings. All studies elicited methodological concerns, to varying degrees.ConclusionsThe available data indicate a positive association between achievement motive strength and physical activity. However, important limitations, especially the lack of intervention studies and the use of non-gold standard assessment methods, limit the confidence in the findings. More, methodologically sound research is needed to better understand the link between implicit motives and physical activity, especially in the general population.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42023392198.

Exploring motivational patterns in high-performing pianists: evidence from Cliburn competitors' biographies.

This research examines the motivational patterns of high-performing classical pianists, characterized by a combination of implicit motives (i.e., non-conscious preferences for specific incentives). Utilizing the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software, I analyzed textual data from biographies of 107 pianists (i.e., Juniors aged 13-17: n = 38; Professionals aged 18-30: n = 30; Amateurs aged 35 and older: n = 39) participating in the prestigious 2022-2023 Van Cliburn Competitions. My results showed distinct profiles of implicit motives among pianists compared to non-pianists, with significantly higher need for achievement and need for power. While professional pianists exhibited the lowest level of need for power, junior pianists demonstrated the highest level of need for affiliation. Gender and age predicted part of pianists' implicit motives. Male pianists demonstrated higher need for achievement than females. Finally, age negatively predicted need for affiliation. These findings highlight the motivational patterns within the classical piano community, offering theoretical implications for understanding implicit motives and practical applications for pianist education. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Dark triad traits, study and power motives among medical students–A cross-sectional study at a German medical faculty

BackgroundA good physician should be empathic and altruistic, among other qualities. Therefore, the levels of socially undesirable personality traits (Dark Triad) as well as implicit motives of achievement, affiliation and power (Multi-Motive Grid) among medical students as future physicians were analyzed at two different points in their medical training. MethodsThis study includes 380 medical students in their first year and 217 in their third year in Germany. All participants completed the Dirty Dozen (DD) and Multi-Motive Grid (MMG) questionnaires at the end of two different classes as paper-and-pencil tests. Relevant differences of the Dark Triad traits between the medical students and reference sample and the two different cohorts, as well as their implicit motives, the associations of Dark Triad traits and MMG components and gender differences of the Dark Triad traits were calculated. ResultsThere were no significant group differences between year one and year three medical students in narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism (Dark Triad). There were no significant differences between the medical students and reference sample except in psychopathy. Male students scored significantly higher in the Dark Triad traits than female students. In the MMG, first-year students scored significantly higher levels in Fear of Rejection, and lower levels in Hope of Success and Hope of Power than the third-year students. Some associations were found between narcissism and Machiavelliansim with Hope of Success, Hope of Power and Fear of power. ConclusionsDark Triad traits already appear to exist before the commencement of medical studies. These traits do not differ significantly between the medical students and reference sample; only a few MMG components seem to differ at different stages of their studies. This lack of differences between the medical students and validation cohort indicates that tests based on (undesirable) personality traits are not suitable criteria for the admission selection of medical students.

The role of parenting style for the development of the implicit power motive in children

Findings show that both parents’ reported parenting and children’s perception of parenting play a role in predicting a vast number of developmental outcomes. Available research on the development of implicit motives in children, for example, shows a link to early parenting strategies. However, research on effects of parenting on the development of implicit motives is sparse. In the present study, we examined the role of authoritarian and positive parenting (parents’ reports) for the development of the implicit power motive (nPower) in children, along with the moderating role of perceived parental psychological control and warmth/support (children’s report). We hypothesized that authoritarian parenting shows a negative longitudinal association with nPower in children, particularly when children also perceive the parenting as psychologically controlling. In contrast, we assumed a positive longitudinal association of positive parenting with nPower in children, particularly when children also perceive the parenting as warm/supportive. Data of 66 German children (25 girls) and parents were assessed at two measurement points. Children were 6/7 years old at t1. Analyses partially support our hypotheses. The higher parental reports of authoritarian parenting were, the lower was children’s nPower 3.5 years later. This association was only significant among children perceiving high or medium levels (vs. low) of parental psychological control. We found neither significant effects of parents’ nor children’s reports of positive/warm parenting nor a significant interaction of the two. Findings are discussed with respect to existing models of the development and stability of implicit motives and the role of parenting for implicit motive development.

Sex Differences in Sexual Motivation in Humans and Other Mammals: The Role of Conscious and Unconscious Processes.

In self-report questionnaires, men report higher scores than women on variables such as desire for sex, frequency of sexual thoughts, number of sex partners, etc. Based on this, men are considered to have a higher level of sexual motivation than women. However, retrospective self-reports may be unsuitable for estimations of the inherent level of sexual motivation. We review data on automatic (unconsciously controlled) responses and measures of implicit motivation during exposure to sexual stimuli. These responses and measures are inaccessible to willful manipulations and make it possible to determine whether the sex difference in answers to questionnaires is replicated when volitional response manipulations are unlikely. We complement the human data with observations from some rodent and non-human primate species. The attentional resources allotted to stimuli with sexual relevance as well as genital responses to such stimuli are similar in men and women. Measures of implicit motivation also fail to detect any sex difference. Finally, the frequency of masturbation is superior in female infants before the age at which social expectations begin to determine behavior. Neither in rodents nor in non-human primates is there any clear-cut evidence for sex differences in motivation. It seems that males and females are similar with regard to the intensity of sexual motivation. The responses to questionnaires may be affected by social learning of sexual scripts and/or the inferior quality of sexual experiences in women, among other things.

A Correlational Study of Implicit Motivation and Learned Optimism of Higher Secondary Students

A Correlational Study of Implicit Motivation and Learned Optimism of Higher Secondary Students

Automated Motive Scoring and International Crisis Behavior

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.

The discursive construction of self-diagnosed “pornography addiction”

Addiction is a term recently extended to problem sexual behaviours. Proponents of pornography addiction (PA) argue that pornography is comparable to drugs in its impact on brain processes and behaviour, producing effects similar to substance abuse disorders. Critics, however, assert that PA lacks diagnostic validity, that supporting research is methodologically unsound, and that diagnosis obscures the social contexts and discursive practices in which sexual behaviours are embedded. This study investigates how self-identified pornography addicts describe their experiences and explores the implicit motives and meanings at play in this identity construction. Using a psychoanalytically informed discursive methodology, the authors analyzed interviews with 10 self-identified pornography addicts, focusing on the meaning of self-diagnosis, the process of self-labelling, and participants’ psychological investment in diagnosis. Participants perceived an enslavement to desire as central to their addiction identities. Underlying this identity work were defences and conflicts about power, gender, sexuality, and perversion, as well as histories of disturbed attachment and deprivation by parental figures. The PA diagnosis counteracted feelings of shame and allowed participants to speak more freely about their difficulties. However, it also precluded more nuanced self-understandings and identity possibilities. The article concludes with a discussion of the mental health and psychotherapeutic implications of those presenting with self-diagnosed PA.

Couple dominance, dark personality traits, and power motivation

In romantic couples, there is usually an asymmetry in decisional power such that one partner is dominant and the other is subordinate. This study investigated the role of sex, ethnicity, self-assessed social status, personality traits, and power motivation (both explicit and implicit) as potential determinants or correlates of couple dominance in a mixed-sex sample of 50 college students. Through a previously validated questionnaire, participants indicated whether they were dominant or subordinate in their romantic relationship, or whether the latter was egalitarian. Major personality domains, narcissism, psychopathy, borderline, autistic-like traits, and explicit power were assessed through questionnaires. Participants also underwent a Picture Story Exercise to evaluate their implicit motives. Being dominant and having high explicit, but not implicit, power motivation were associated with some psychopathic, narcissistic, and/or borderline traits, while autistic-like traits were associated with being subordinate. Traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, and honesty-humility had weak associations with couple dominance and/or explicit or implicit power motivation. Our findings have implications for the understanding of dominance dynamics within couples and the relationship between personality traits and power motivation.

Implicit Motive and Its Role in the Plot of A. S. Pushkin

The article examines the concept of implicit motive. Its specificity lies in the fact that it does not actively manifest itself in the plot and does not directly influence the development of the action. Its purpose is different: to connect texts that are far apart from each other into supertextual unites, organizing the author’s model of the world. Using the example of three works by A. S. Pushkin – “My Pedigree”, “Yezersky” and “Bronze Horseman” show how ancestry motive creates such unity. “My Pedigree”, written three years before the other two texts, reflected Pushkin’s dual position: an impoverished aristocrat among poets and a poet among the wealthy nobility. Thus, the poem turned out to be a rhetorical invective directed at two addresses: against the literary party of Bulgarin, on the one hand, and against the new nobility, on another. In the first case, Pushkin’s victory was unequivocal and consolidated the poet’s fame for centuries. It was more difficult with another addressee: the nobility, very far from the literary struggle and who continued to look at Pushkin with considering disdain. A reflection of continuing duality was the poet’s rejection of direct rhetoric and the transition to poetics, where the autobiographical motive of ancestry was transformed into fate of fictional characters: first Andrey Yezersky, then Eugene from “The Bronze Horseman”. Such a transition, in our opinion, gives grounds to consider the three works as a single super text.

Realization of affiliation goals, interpersonal identity development, and well-being: effects of the implicit affiliation motive among German and Zambian adolescents.

Across various cultural contexts, success in goal realization relates to individuals' well-being. Moreover, commitment to and successful pursuance of goals are crucial when searching for a meaningful identity in adolescence. However, individuals' goals differ in how much they match their implicit motive dispositions. We hypothesized that successful pursuance of affiliation goals positively relates to commitment-related dimensions of interpersonal identity development (domain: close friends) that, in turn, predict adolescents' level of well-being. However, we further assumed that the links between goal success and identity commitment are particularly pronounced among adolescents who are characterized by a high implicit affiliation motive. To scrutinize the generalizability of the assumed relationships, data were assessed among adolescents in individualistic (Germany) and collectivistic (Zambia) cultural contexts. Regardless of adolescents' cultural background, we found that commitment-related dimensions of interpersonal identity development mediate the link between successful attainment of affiliation goals and well-being, particularly among adolescents with a pronounced implicit affiliation motive; that is, the strength of the implicit affiliation motive moderates the association between goal success and identity commitment. We discuss findings concerning universal effects of implicit motives on identity commitment and well-being.

Up for the challenge: Power motive congruence drives nurses to craft their jobs and experience well-being.

Job crafting is the behavior that employees engage in to create personally better fitting work environments, for example, by increasing challenging job demands. To better understand the driving forces behind employees' engagement in job crafting, we investigated implicit and explicit power motives. While implicit motives tend to operate at the unconscious, explicit motives operate at the unconscious level. We focused on power motives, as power is an agentic motive characterized by the need to influence your environment. Although power is relevant to job crafting in its entirety, in this study, we link it to increasing challenging job demands due to its relevance to job control, which falls under the umbrella of power. Using a cross-sectional design, we collected survey data from a sample of Lebanese nurses (N = 360) working in 18 different hospitals across the country. In both implicit and explicit power motive measures, we focused on integrative power that enable people to stay calm and integrate opposition. The results showed that explicit power predicted job crafting (H1) and that implicit power amplified this effect (H2). Furthermore, job crafting mediated the relationship between congruently high power motives and positive work-related outcomes (H3) that were interrelated (H4). Our findings unravel the driving forces behind one of the most important dimensions of job crafting and extend the benefits of motive congruence to work-related outcomes.

Motive perception at first impressions: On the relevance of targets’ explicit and implicit motive dispositions

When people judge the motive dispositions of unacquainted others, are their judgments accurate representations of the targets’ explicit motives, their implicit motives, or both? To address this question, we assessed target persons’ explicit motives via self-report and their implicit motives via a Picture Story Exercise as well as two recently developed affective contingency-based measures. Targets were then filmed during a short, casual conversation. The recordings were shown to thirty unacquainted observers who judged targets’ affiliation, power and achievement motives. For all three motives, observer ratings were linked to explicit motives. For the affiliation and achievement domains, ratings were also linked to implicit motives. We further investigated whether the extent of congruence between observer ratings and motive ratings would depend on information modality, this was not the case. The findings thus indicate that both explicit and implicit motives are relevant for observer judgments, but that these effects are not modality-specific.

Gravity’s Influence on Human Motivation

Earth’s mass generates a definitive Earth-vertical reference, shaping life’s evolution. Notably, these gravity models influence self-perception and the first-person viewpoint in the CNS, tied to bodily self-awareness and spatial orientation. Transitioning from Earth’s constant gravity to microgravity potentially disrupts the CNS’s gravity-representation models, formed since birth. Our study explored if altered gravity triggers emotional and motivational responses in rapid CNS adaptations. A psychological parallel between Earth’s gravity and attachment systems in infants and adults is proposed. We measured implicit motives through vocal interactions during demanding tasks, finding that disrupted gravity impacts the implicit affiliation motive, i.e., the subconscious need to restore bonding as soon there are signals that this attachment or “gravitational” field is disrupted. As expected, this implicit need for attachment was significantly higher in the groups which experienced disrupted gravity. Causation remains unverifiable due to exploratory design.

People who binge drink show neuroendocrine tolerance to alcohol cues that is associated with immediate and future drinking- results from a randomized clinical experiment.

Neuroendocrine tolerance to alcohol, i.e., a blunted cortisol response to alcohol, has been linked to Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (VmPFC) alcohol cue reactivity and relapse risk in severe Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs), but its role in the development of AUDs is not clear. Recent work suggests that blunted cortisol responses to alcohol cues in individuals who engage in binge drinking (BD) may play a role in motivation to consume larger amounts of alcohol, but the link between this dysregulated endocrine response and BD's neural responses to alcohol cues remains unclear. To examine this, two groups of participants were recruited based on their recent drinking history. Thirty-three BD and 31 non-binging, social drinkers (SD) were exposed to alcohol cues and water cues in two separate 7 T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Each scan was followed by the Alcohol Taste Test (ATT) of implicit motivation for alcohol and a post-experiment, one-month prospective measurement of their "real world" drinking behavior. During each scan session, blood plasma was collected repeatedly to examine the separate effects of alcohol cues and alcohol consumption on cortisol levels. Relative to water cues and SD, BD demonstrated blunted cortisol cue reactivity that was negatively associated with VmPFC cue reactivity. In BD, both blunted cortisol and greater VmPFC cue reactivity were related to immediate and future alcohol consumption in the month following the scans. Thus, neuroendocrine tolerance in BD may be associated with increased incentive salience of cues and contribute mechanistically to increased alcohol consumption seen in the development of AUDs.

Influence From the Top: CEOs’ Implicit Motives, High-investment HR Systems, and Firm Performance

Influence From the Top: CEOs’ Implicit Motives, High-investment HR Systems, and Firm Performance

Depth of the self: Implicit motives and human flourishing. Introduction to the special section

This special section is the outcome of a conference organized in Würzburg, as part of the interdisciplinary research project Motivational and Volitional Processes of Human Integration: Philosophical and Psychological Approaches to Human Flourishing (2018–2021). The goal of the project was to connect (philosophical) perspectives on flourishing to empirical research that suggests that implicit motives play an important role in who we are and what we do and decide. One main aim was to find a middle ground between two extremes that conceptualize implicit motives either as recalcitrant states that hamper flourishing, or as reflecting who we really are, much more than our explicit motives. We propose that both implicit and explicit motives are crucial to flourishing. The articles in this special section bring up other important questions as well. First of all, what is the role of the external world? It seems to be crucial for being a self, but it may also hamper flourishing. And second, how should the relationship between the self as basic subjectivity, and the self with certain values, desires, and intentions be understood?

Successful Goal Attainment: Longitudinal Effects of Goal Commitment and Implicit Motives Among German and Zambian Adolescents.

Goal commitment typically relates to successful goal realization. Yet, individuals differ in how much their goals correspond to their implicit motives. We hypothesized that for those adolescents high in a given implicit motive, goal commitment and goal success in the corresponding motive domain (i.e., achievement, affiliation, power) are more closely related than for those low in the implicit motive. Data were assessed in an individualistic (Germany) and a collectivistic cultural context (Zambia) on two measurement occasions (i.e., T1: Picture Story Exercise for implicit motives; T1 and T2: GOALS questionnaire for goal commitment and success, respectively). Goal success at T2 was reliably predicted by goal importance and goal success at T1, respectively. The hypothesized interaction was found only for the implicit power motive but not for the implicit needs of achievement and affiliation, respectively. Results were equivalent across adolescents' cultural backgrounds. Findings are discussed with respect to motive-specific effects on goal dimensions.

IL-6, but not TNF-α, response to alcohol cues and acute consumption associated with neural cue reactivity, craving, and future drinking in binge drinkers

Objective and designPreclinical studies suggest learned immune system responses to alcohol cues and consumption may contribute to alcohol's pharmacodynamic properties and/or Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) pathogenesis. Mechanistically, these immune alterations may be associated with increased craving and alcohol consumption, both acutely and over time. We sought to characterize this relationship in a randomized, counter-balanced, crossover neuroimaging experiment which took place between June 2020–November 2021. MethodsThirty-three binge drinkers (BD) and 31 non-binge, social drinkers (SD), matched for demographic and psychological variables, were exposed to alcohol cues and water cues in two separate 7 T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Each scan was followed by the Alcohol Taste Test (ATT) of implicit motivation for acute alcohol. Craving measures and blood cytokine levels were collected repeatedly during and after scanning to examine the effects of alcohol cues and alcohol consumption on craving levels, Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and Interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels. A post-experiment one-month prospective measurement of participants’ “real world” drinking behavior was performed to approximate chronic effects. ResultsBD demonstrated significantly higher peak craving and IL-6 levels than SD in response to alcohol cues and relative to water cues. Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (VmPFC) signal change in the alcohol-water contrast positively related to alcohol cue condition craving and IL-6 levels, relative to water cue condition craving and IL-6 levels, in BD only. Additionally, peak craving and IL-6 levels were each independently related to ATT alcohol consumption and the number of drinks consumed in the next month for BD, again after controlling for craving and IL-6 repones to water cues. However, TNF-α release in the alcohol cue condition was not related to craving, neural activation, IL-6 levels, immediate and future alcohol consumption in either group after controlling for water cue condition responses. ConclusionsIn sum, BD show greater craving and IL-6 release in the alcohol cue condition than SD, both of which were associated with prefrontal cue reactivity, immediate alcohol consumption, and future alcohol consumption over the subsequent 30 days. Alcohol associated immune changes and craving effects on drinking behavior may be independent of one another or may be indicative of a common pathway by which immune changes in BD could influence motivation to consume alcohol. Trial registrationClinical Trials NCT04412824.

Measuring implicit motivations: a qualitative approach

Purpose The present study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the picture story exercise (PSE), a tool for measuring implicit motivations in Iran. Design/methodology/approach The research method is descriptive correlation and was conducted in two studies. In the first study 24 psychology master’s students were selected by convenience sampling method and tested them to check retest and inter-coder reliability. The second study investigated the correlation between self-reports and the PSE test on a sample of managers. Its statistical population comprised all the managers of a refinery company, 50 people were selected by convenience sampling method. To check the concurrent validity of the PSE test, the participants of the second study, completing the PSE, also completed the needs questionnaire of Steers and Porter (1979). Findings The findings showed that the PSE test in the Iranian sample had high retest reliability (0.62 on mean) and inter-coder reliability (0.87 on mean), and, following previous research, it does not show a significant relationship with self-reported motives. Practical implications PSE can be used in future research as a tool that has demonstrated its reliability and validity in the Iranian sample. Originality/value Measurement of implicit motives is a practical factor for predicting people’s behavior, the necessity of using tools that can accurately evaluate implicit motives is strongly felt. Taking into account the fact that so far, in Iranian samples, implicit motivations have not been measured, therefore, the current research is trying to answer this question, whether one of the most important and prominent tools that were made for this purpose and used in various studies can also be used in Iranian samples.