Open AccessRISK TAKING AND PERFORMANCE IN RELATION TO ACHIEVEMENT‐RELATED MOTIVES, DEFENSIVENESS AND SOCIAL CONTEXT 1
Author(s) -
Damm John T.,
Bloxom Anne
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1971.tb00803.x
Subject(s) - psychology , context (archaeology) , need for achievement , anxiety , incentive , social psychology , test (biology) , developmental psychology , discriminative model , social environment , arousal , economics , microeconomics , paleontology , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , computer science , political science , law , biology
ABSTRACT This study investigates the effects of two social contexts on the risk‐taking behaviour of elementary school boys on a shuffleboard task. It is predicted that Atkinson's motive‐probability‐incentive (M‐P‐I) model will be supported in the peer‐competitive context, in that the success‐oriented subjects will choose more goals with median Ps values than the failure‐avoidant subjects, but that these two groups will not differ in this regard in the adult‐evaluative context. These hypotheses are supported. A test is also made of Atkinson's recent prediction that performance will relate positively to summated motivation in the peer‐competitive context but negatively to this variable in the adult‐evaluative context. These predictions are partly supported, and the data are interpreted in terms of the inverted U curve postulated to hold between discriminative behaviour and total arousal. The summated motivation measure is a combination of need for achievement, defensiveness and test anxiety.