Motivation Analysis Test Research Articles

Overweight and obesity as a prognosis factor of desmotivation in children and adolescents

Spain has become the country in the European Union with the fourth highest number of overweight and obese children. This condition directly affects physical health as well as mental health. The objective of this research study was to evaluate motivational aspects in one group of obese or overweight adolescents and another group of normal-weight adolescents. For this purpose a descriptive observational study was carried out in an educational institution in Guadix (Granada). The universe was composed of 200 children of ages 10 to 14. A sample of 24 children was selected by means of proportional random sampling with an error of 0.19, and was divided into the following groups (i) 12 normal-weight children; (ii) 12 obese children. Motivation was measured by means of the School Motivation Analysis Test (SMAT), a multidimensional measuring instrument based on Cattell's dynamic model of motivation and emotions. Our study evaluated five motivational parameters: TAO (total autism-optimism), TGI (total general information), TIN (total integration), TPI (total personal interest), and TCO (total conflict). Our results showed that for each of the SMAT variables, the overweight and obese children obtained an average value of 4.5 in contrast to the normal-weight children, who obtained an average value of 5.9. This indicates that overweight and obese children have low motivational states and a higher level of frustration. They also tend to distort reality by alleging the existence of obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goals.

The Motivation Analysis Test: An Historical and Contemporary Evaluation

This is an historical review and contemporary empirical evaluation of the Motivation Analysis Test (MAT), one of the first tests to take a psychometric approach to the assessment of motivation. Reviews were quite positive, but the test is now over 50 years old. Nevertheless, it employs innovations in measurement not widely used in objective measurement then or now: (1) subtests with different formats, (2) disguised items, (3) speeded administration procedures, and (4) ipsative format and scoring procedures. These issues are discussed and a contemporary sample (N = 360) obtained to evaluate the Motivation Analysis Test in light of its innovative characteristics.

Internal Structure of the Children's Motivation Analysis Test--normative data

Summary The present study investigated normalised stens for 380 Xhosa children in standard 5 using the Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT). The CMAT was administered to separate groups of girl and boys upper elementary school children, representing the first such normative data available for this instrument in South Africa. The gender differences in the means and standard deviations for the main CMAT subscales for each group are investigated and reported. It is suggested that the norms presented are also recommended for use with other African samples, as previous comparative work with CMAT norms has shown that they are not significantly influenced by Zimbabwean/South African cultural differences.

Predicting patrol officer performance from a psychological assessment battery: A predictive validity study

The psychological assessment battery is an integral part of the selection process used to select patrol officer applicants. Unlike all other procedures used in the selection process, the psychological assessment has not been adequately validated. The purpose of this study was an attempt to provide validation data for a psychological assessment battery. The battery consisted of the Nelson-Denny, Shipley-Hartford, MMPI, and the Motivational Analysis Test (MAT). Performance measures included various measures of training academy performance and field training performance. A stepwise regression and MANOVA/Discriminant Analysis indicated that the psychological tests did predict performance, although an exact predictive equation could not be developed due to the high intercorrelations between predictor variables.

Personality, motivation, and Holland type in a private-practice sample

Variations in personality and motivational patterns among Holland types were investigated. Motive was measured by the Motivational Analysis Test (MAT), personality by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), and Holland type was derived from scores on the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) or the California Occupational Preference System (COPS). The results of these tests were obtained from a private-practice data base including 206 clients seeking career counseling or therapy. It was expected that certain levels of personality factors and motivational patterns would be characteristic of persons in the various Holland types. The results suggest that motivational patterns tend to be more similar across Holland types, whereas analyses of variance found significant variability between the Holland types on the personality factors extraversion, practicality, and independence. Interpretations were offered and theoretical implications discussed.

Children's motivation analysis test (CMAT): An experimental manipulation of curiosity and boredom

The present study investigated the influence of manipulating the states of curiosity and boredom on the 10 scales of the Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT). The CMAT is a multidimensional objective (T-data) instrument measuring several important dynamic motivation traits among primary school children. The CMAT was administered to 202 grade 6 and 7 children, pre- and post-exposure to either curiosity, boredom, or control (neutral) conditions. Scores on the Unintegrated Curiosity scale of the CMAT increased for the children in the Curiosity condition. For children in the Boredom condition, Unintegrated Pugnacity, Unintegrated and Integrated Narcism scores increased in response to the mildly aversive experimental manipulation. Evidently, a number of the dynamic traits measured in the CMAT are sensitive to situational stimuli as hypothesized in the dynamic calculus theory of motivation.

Utility of the School Motivation Analysis Test in predicting second language acquisition

The School Motivation Analysis Test (SMAT) is a 190‐item, objective (T‐data), multidimensional instrument for measuring factor analytically derived adolescent motivation dimensions. The SMAT was administered to 109 high school students (63 females, 46 males) enrolled in a Melbourne metropolitan foreign language school. Sten scores on the SMAT dynamic source traits (Assertiveness, Mating/Sex, Fear/Escape, Narcism, Pugnacity, Protectiveness, Self‐sentiment, Superego, School Orientation, and Home Orientation) were used to predict achievement (combined across Comprehension, Grammar, Written Expression, and Oral Expression) via separate stepwise forward multiple regression analyses for each of five subgroups of SMAT variables (Integrated, Unintegrated, Total, Conflict, and Derivative components, respectively). SMAT dynamics accounted for up to 34 per cent of the achievement variance (males) and 26 per cent (females). Integrated Superego and Assertiveness sentiments were significant predictors of learning. However, only for the Total (U + I) stens, was Self‐sentiment a significant predictor. The derivative stens accounted for 15 per cent of the achievement variance (males), and 12 per cent (females). Results also showed that gender was a major determinant of achievement outcomes, with males and females exhibiting different patterns of motivational investment in second‐language acquisition.

Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT) ‐‐ Normative data

The Children Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT) is a newly developed paper and pencil (objective) instrument for quantifying human motivational dynamic traits among upper elementary school childeren. The CMAT is a downward extension of the SMAT and MAT questionnaires, which have put motivation measurement on a firm (Objective) empirical and theoretical basis. These objective instruments avoid the most serious handicap of self‐report instruments (Boyle, 1989). N‐stens for 540 Zimbabwean children in Grade 6 are presented as the CMAT was administered to separate groups of girls and boys, children, representing the first such normative data available for this instrument in Africa. Gender differences in means and standard deviations for the main CMAT subscales for each group are investigated and reported.

Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT)--normative data.

N-stens for 475 Australian children in Grade 6 and for boys and girls separately are presented for the Children's Motivation Analysis Test, representing the first such normative data available for this instrument.

Sex differences in the prediction of academic achievement using the Children's Motivation Analysis Test.

The Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT), together with standardised achievement tests in mathematics and reading, was administered to a large sample of Australian elementary school children. Stepwise forward regression analyses were conducted on subsamples of 209 males and 179 females (cases with missing data previously excluded). Several of the CMAT dynamic traits significantly predicted achievement scores. The most useful predictors were conscientiousness (Superego) and family (Home) orientation. These results, based on objective motivation measurement, represent the beginnings of a new approach for research into children's motivation structure.

Dimensions of adolescent motivation as measured by higher-order factors in the school motivation analysis test

Although previous analyses of higher-order motivational dimensions have suggested at least seven major dynamic traits among adults, corresponding analyses among adolescents have not yet been undertaken in any satisfactory manner. To this end, the present article reports the results of a higher-order factor analysis of the subscale intercorrelations for the School Motivation Analysis Test (SMAT) on an Australian sample of 277 Year 10 students enrolled in various senior high schools. The results suggest that at least six factors maximally account for the common variance in the SMAT. Tentative interpretations of the higher-order factors cbtained are made and discussed in terms of their applicability for school psychology.

PREDICTION OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT USING THE SCHOOL MOTIVATION ANALYSIS TEST

Summary. Mathematics and English achievement was investigated among 277 Year 10 Australian students. Using the School Motivation Analysis Test (SMAT) as the measure of dynamic motivational traits, significant achievement variance (25 per cent for Mathematics; 34 per cent for English) was accounted for independently from that due to abilities and personality traits. Male students tended to invest a greater proportion of intellectual abilities (indexed via the SMAT General Information Intelligence score) than did females in the learning of Mathematics (accounting for 25 per cent of the variance for males), whereas females demonstrated a higher investment of abilities in English. The specific motivational dynamic traits predictive of performance in each subject area are reported and discussed.

Comparison of higher-stratum motivational factors across sexes using the children's motivation analysis test

The Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT) is a newly developed objective instrument for quantifying several important motivational dynamic traits among primary school children. The CMAT is a downward extension of the MAT and SMAT instruments, which have put motivation measurement onto a new level of sophistication. These pencil-and-paper instruments avoid the most serious handicap of self-report questionnaires, namely the obvious transparency of items, and concomitant ease of faking good or faking bad, as well as other kinds of response distortion which may result from inadequate self-insight of one'e motivational attributes. The CMAT was administered to separate groups of male and female primary school children. Sex differences in means and standard deviations for the primary CMAT subscales, along with separate higher-order factor analyses for each group are reported and discussed.

Central dynamic traits measured in the school motivation analysis test

The School Motivation Analysis Test (SMAT) is an objective instrument which is purported to measure 10 of the major motivational dynamic structures evident in adolescents. Using the matrices of subscale intercorrelations for males and females reported in the SMAT Handbook, quasi-higher-order scale factor analyses of the instrument were undertaken. In addition, a cross-validational analysis was undertaken using a sample of Australian-born Greek adolescents. Results indicated that at least five higher-order SMAT factors accounted for most of the common factor variance. Noteworthy was the finding that both Superego and Self-Sentiment emerged as "master sentiments" among the central dynamic traits. Nevertheless, the degree of variation in higher-order factor pattern solutions across both studies and samples suggested that further refinement of the SMAT is required in order to improve its reliability and robustness.

Prediction of Objective Child Motivation Test Scores from Parents' Reports of Child-Rearing Practices

The mothers and fathers of 310 junior high school children completed a child-rearing questionnaire and the children completed the School Motivation Analysis Test. The mothers' and fathers' data were factor analyzed separately and factor scores computed and employed as predictor variables in separate sets of multiple regression analyses employing the childrens' school motivation scores as criteria. Of the 40 possible full model R2s 29 were significant. The pattern of variable interrelationships is discussed, with some of the most consistent results being a significant positive relationship of the children's integrated and unintegrated assertiveness scores with the fathers' late authoritative discipline and the mothers' high family-adjustment scores. Among numerous other relationships discussed were significant positive relationships of fathers' low use of discipline and mothers' low physical punishment vs high use of reason with the childrens' integrated self-sentiment and superego.

Canonical/redundancy analyses of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, the Motivation Analysis Test, and the Eight State Questionnaire

The present study investigated the measurement overlap between the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), the Motivation Analysis Test (MAT), and the Eight State Questionnaire (8SQ). These multivariate instruments pertain to the psychological domains of personality, motivation and mood respectively. Canonical/redundancy analysis (Stewart & Love, 1968) was employed on a sample of 258 Australian college students for the 8SQ/MAT measures, and on a subsample of 135 students for the 16PF/MAT and 16PF/8SQ measures. Results demonstrated a marginal overlap in measurement variance for the 16PF and 8SQ, while only very slight redundancy was observed for the 16PF/MAT and 8SQ/MAT intersections. It was concluded that all three instruments are efficient measures of essentially separate psychological modalities.

Application of factor analysis in psychological research: Improvement of simple structure by computer-assisted graphic oblique transformation: A brief note

Several studies have suggested the efficacy of topological rotation as an adjunct to oblique analytical rotation in attaining improved approximation to maximum simple structure of the factor pattern matrix. Recently, using a higher-order scale factoring of the motivation Analysis Test (MAT), and the Eight State Questionnaire (8SQ), Boyle (1983) reported a 6.17% increase in the .10 hyperplane count after only 5 Rotoplot cycles. Four of the 11 extracted factors were simplified. The present brief note examines the issue of topological rotation in regard to its usefulness and ease of application by investigators untrained in the procedure.

Intermodality superfactors in the sixteen personality factor questionnaire, eight state battery and objective motivation analysis test

The behavioural scientists Eysenck and Cattell have much in common, having investigated intrapersonal psychological structure, albeit at different levels in its hierarchical structure. Eysenck has studied the personality domain in terms of a typological model involving a small number of important superfactors. In constrast, Cattell has typically resorted to analyses of a considerably larger number of primary factors. While both approaches are clearly complementary, nevertheless, little research has been undertaken into intermodality superfactors. The present study, therefore, examines Cattellian intermodality superfactors across the normal personality trait, mood state and motivational dynamic domains in the hope of elucidating superfactors additional to those already documented by Eysenck.

A reanalysis of the higher-order factor structure of the motivation analysis test and the eight state questionnaire

In an exploratory study of the higher-order factor structure of the Motivation Analysis Test (MAT) and the Eight State Questionnaire (8SQ), Boyle (1983c) obtained an 11-factor solution comprising 9 second-order MAT factors and 2 higher-order 8SQ factors. However, application of more conservative criteria regarding the size of significant factor pattern loadings, significance of derived factors, together with reinterpretation of the appropriate Scree ‘break’, suggest that in Boyle's earlier analysis 2 factors too many were extracted. Recalculation of the factor pattern for the MAT (using 8SQ data as ‘hyperplane stuff’) supports the view that 7 rather than 9 second-order MAT factors were appropriate. A separate dR-factoring of the intercorrelations of the subscale difference scores indicated 3 higher-order 8SQ factors, indicative of change dimensions, and not 2 factors as found in the static single-occasion combined factoring of both the MAT and 8SQ data.

A reconsideration of the Cooper/Kline critique of the factor structure of the motivation analysis test

Criticism of Cattell's Motivation Analysis Test (MAT) partly on the basis of a quasi-higher-order factor analysis of the MAT subscales on a sample of 109 subjects is untenable, given the methodological weakness inherent in the procedural application of the method by Cooper and Kline (1982). Cattell's (1982) response to the Cooper/Kline critique did not address these methodological issues directly, but instead concentrated on the controversy pertaining to intra-scale item-homogeneity. The debate over the structure of the MAT requires consideration of the factor analytic issues per se. The present reconsideration of the Cooper/Kline critique attempts to do this, and to provide a fuller perspective on the issues raised by Cooper and Kline. A series of articles recently published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology concerning the internal structure of the Motivation Analysis Test (MAT) has left the reader with a less than adequate account of reliability and validity of the instrument. Cooper/Kline (1982) criticized both the low item-homogeneities and also the factor structure of the MAT. Cattell (1982) responded to the Cooper/Kline critique and addressed the issue of intra-scale item-homogeneity. However the question of the factor structure of the MAT remained unresolved, and subsequently, Kline and Cooper (1982) reiterated their belief that the factor structures of the MAT were not stable across different samples. As Cattell did not address this issue in his response, it is germane to reconsider the evidence provided in the paper by Cooper and Kline. In particular, the present discussion focuses on (1) the validity of the MAT, (2) the number of subjects required, (3) the number of factors extracted, and (4) the question of simple structure. Finally, conclusions regarding the adequacy of the Cooper/Kline critique of the MAT are presented.