Chapter 7
Read chapter 7. Summarize the chapter. What was the most surprising thing you learned? If you had to rate yourself as high, medium, low, on the various social needs, what would those ratings be? How do those various levels manifest themselves in your life? Choose one social need and discuss how it motivates some of your specific behaviors.
Provide a list of terms at the end of your post that you used from the chapter.
Chapter seven concludes the types of needs with breaking down the components of social needs. Social needs differ from psychological needs in that social needs are a type of acquired needs (gained through experience), the other type being quasi needs (immediate wants). Social needs influence behaviors by presenting incentives to people high in a particular need (which tends to lie dormant until the incentive is presented).
There are four types of social needs, the first being achievement. Achievement is a challenge to one’s optimism which results in success or failure. The need for achievement is molded by one’s social influences (including emphasis on independence, aspiration, self-standards, and environmental stimulation), cognitive influences (including optimism, expectations, and self-perception), and developmental influences (begin to compare self to others by evaluation and develop pride or shame).
Two approaches can be used to explain achievement, the first one being Atkinson’s classical approach. This approach states achievement behavior comes from the strength of the need, probability of success, and the incentive value, in which the behavior may approach success or avoid failure. This approach also includes the dynamics-of-action model, which theorizes that ongoing behavior is from instigation (approach from past success, such as I will go out for football since I was all-state last year), inhibition (avoid from past failures such as I won’t go out for football since I wasn’t good enough to play last year), and consummation (the behavior decreases over a prolonged performance such as I enjoyed football at the start of the season, but I’m now sick of it after eight weeks). The conditions which must be met to satisfy this need include moderately difficult tasks (to test skills and separate high-need achievers from low-need achievers by making the task challenging but possible), competition (to evaluate yourself), and entrepreneurship (to develop responsibility).
The other approach is the contemporary approach, which differs from the classical approach in that it examines why the achievement behavior is shown. It explains this with the use of achievement goals to categorize the motivations behind the behaviors. Mastery goals strive to self-improve (intrinsic motivation) and performance goals strive to outlast competition (extrinsic motivation). Furthermore, the mastery goals have benefits over the performance, which resemble benefits of intrinsic over extrinsic motivation (such as better persistence and performance). The implicit theory (used to guide goals) can be used to further examine these types of achievement goals. Entity theorists believe one’s qualities are fixed, and therefore cannot improve, influencing performance goals. Incremental theorists believe one can adjust their qualities, influencing mastery goals. There is a struggle of effort (to fail a task, but learn how to do it better or avoid a task but appear more competent) which influences entity theorists to withhold it to seem more capable at the expense of learning. For instance, I can’t dance. If I did, then I would likely look like an idiot but would learn how to do better from that failure. An entity theorist would not bother to try in order to avoid failure (because they wouldn’t think they could improve).
The second social need is affiliation (having a positive relationship with another). This need is similar to the third social need: intimacy (willingness to exchange with another). Affiliation deals more with deficit needs, which stimulate it in negative conditions (such as being isolated from others). Intimacy deals more with growth needs, in which stimulate it in positive conditions (such as developing a caring relationship). The difference can be further noticed by the reactions when the needs are satisfied. Affiliation needs are met with relief when satisfied (sort of like negative reinforcement) and intimacy needs are met with loving emotion when satisfied (sort of like positive reinforcement).
The final social need is power (ability to conform the environment to one’s personal image). The process of gaining power can be defined by impact (establishing power), control (maintaining power), and influence (expanding power). This need can be satisfied by leadership (recognition from others), aggressive impulses (stimulates competition), influential occupations (control over others), and prestigious possessions (tangible symbols of their power). Although people high in power tend to do well reaching goals, they tend to lack in meaningful relationships. This demonstrates the conflict for satisfying all the social needs, so these needs vary within each individual.
I enjoyed this chapter, because it focused on the needs in which we think about more in our typical days (relationships, grades, jobs, etc.). I was surprised to learn that we tend to daydream about things relating to unsatisfied needs (a date if intimacy is lacking, a job if power is lacking, a test score if achievement is lacking). Furthermore, it was surprising that these needs are not really thought of until an incentive is presented. I would give myself a low power need (I don’t like being the one in charge and taking the responsibility for everyone), a high affiliation need (I really need to get off this computer and get a life, because I tend to spend a lot of time with homework during the school year and get cut off from civilization), a medium intimacy need (I have some close friends nearby, but most of my good friends are scattered all over the country, and I really hate using facebook), and a high achievement need (which goes back to me spending all my time with homework, because I want to get good grades to get into the grad school of my choice and get my dream job). To elaborate on my need for achievement, this greatly affects my behavior every day. I wake up and spend my free time doing homework until class starts, and do future assignments ahead of time just have something to do (for instance, this assignment isn’t due for another few days). It keeps me from procrastinating (which manifests itself to other non-achievement activities such as cleaning my room and doing laundry). It also contributes to my affiliation need (isolated from people) and my intimacy need (again, isolated from people). To sum it up, my need for achievement contributes to my work ethic, vanity (of success), efficiency, neuroticism, perfectionism, systematic intelligence (logic and math-related), and social skills (or lack of), which in turn directs my behavior to the particular way it normally is.
Terms: acquired needs, social needs, quasi needs, incentives, achievement, social influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, Atkinson’s classical approach, dynamics-of-actions model, instigation, inhibition, consummation, contemporary approach, achievement goals, mastery goals, performance goals, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, implicit theory, entity theorist, incremental theorist, effort, affiliation, intimacy, deficit needs, growth needs, negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, power, impact, control, and influence
There are two types of acquired needs: social needs and quasi-needs. Quasi-needs are not actual needs, but more wants and desires instead. They originate from situational demands and pressures that promote a psychological sense of tension, pressure, and urgency until that sense goes away from taking action. An example would be seeing an item when shopping, feeling a want/desire for that item, and then easing tension after purchasing the item. Social needs, which are the main idea of chapter seven, arise from experiences, socialization, and developments. Incentives that activate each social need are achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power.
Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. There are two different ways one can react when it comes to gaining achievement which is either through approach-oriented or avoidance-oriented behaviors. Achievement originated from a range of social, cognitive, and developmental processes. Atkinson’s model helps explain the different steps, reactions, and variables involved with gaining achievement through achievement behavior and its three variables: need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success. His formula Ts= Ms x Ps x Is helps explain the tendency to approach success by having Ms be the motive to succeed, Ps is the perceived probability to succeed, and Is is the incentive value for success, which all equal Ts, being the strength of a person’s need for success. Atkinson also has a formula for the tendency to avoid failure towards achievement. This formula is Taf = Maf x Pf x If. Maf is the motive to avoid failure; Pf is the perceived probability of failure, If is the negative incentive value for failure; all adding up to Taf, which is the tendency to avoid failure. Atkinson combines these two theories to correlate the two. He discovered that if Ts (tendency to approach success) is greater than Taf (tendency to avoid failure) then the person approaches the opportunity to test personal competence, but when Ts is lower than Taf, the person hesitates or avoids the opportunity overall. The formula for this is Ta = Ts – Taf = (Ms x Ps x Is) – (Maf x Pf x If). There is a stream of ongoing behavior within achievement that is determined by three forces: instigation, inhibition, and consummation. When one has high instigation and low inhibition, he/she will most likely have high success in achievement needs.
Moderately difficult tasks, competition, and entrepreneurship are three situations that are involved with and help satisfy the need for achievement. Moderately difficult tasks provide a cue for diagnosing competence and level of ability, cognitively. Competition promotes moderate emotion, approach behavior, and improved performance in high-need achievers, but negative emotion, avoidance behaviors, and debilitated performance in low-need achievers. Entrepreneurship appeals to people with a high need for achievement because it involves taking risks, assuming responsibilities, and a concrete, rapid performance feedback that helps generate pride and satisfaction.
Two main achievement goals are master and performance goals. Master goals are achieved to progress on a self-set standard. Achieving a performance goal is just doing better than others. There are two types of mastery and achievement performance goals: performance-approach and performance-avoidance. Mastery goals increased intrinsic motivation, whereas performance-avoidance goals decreased it; performance-approach goals increased performance, whereas performance-avoidance goals decreased it.
Two types of implicit theories make up how personality works: entity and incremental. Entity theorists believe there is no way we can change our qualities because they are fixed/enduring. Incremental theorists believe that our qualities can be changed. Implicit theories help to predict the type of achievement and goal the individual chooses to pursue. Entity theorists also believe that effort won’t be much help on difficult tasks while incremental theorists believe effort can become a learning experience as well.
Affiliation and intimacy are other social needs that tend to complement one another. The need for affiliation is the deprivation of social interaction and social isolation or fear-arousing conditions increase that person’s desire to affiliate with others. It brings out emotions such as relief rather than joy and people will go out of their way to avoid conflict, competitive situations, are unselfish and cooperative, and avoid demands on others. The need for intimacy can be due to the need for relatedness within a warm, close, reciprocal, and enduring relationship.
Power is the last social need that is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one’s personal image or plan. Impact, control, and influence over another person, group, or world at large help fill this power-need. It is a need for dominance, reputation, and status/position that gears this power-seeking need. Four conditions are involved with gaining power: leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions. If one has a high-power need, they are more likely to act aggressively to get their way. They also will possess symbols of power, such as nice cars, expensive clothing, and a possibly a rifle/pistol. Leadership means having a high need for power, low need for intimacy, and high inhibition. A good leader, such as a president, would probably have high power, low affiliation, and self-control when making decisions and wanting a positive, powerful outcome of their achievements.
The most surprising thing I learned was how power is most likely not the secret to true happiness. We need leaders in today’s world to help us progress through difficult tasks and events in life, but leaders that are low in intimacy/affiliation are more likely to not be the best liked or judged when talking and exerting influence on a group. They also were judged in that they did not contribute the most to getting the job done or for coming to a satisfactory conclusion. A high-powered person can actually produce the poorest decisions, which I found to be quite shocking, but makes sense if power-seeking leaders want others to follow their plan of action and are not willing to openly discuss other information or strategies within the tasks involved.
If I had to rate myself on the various social needs, my need for achievement would probably be high because I am constantly seeking new opportunities to strive for success in, whether it’s school, work, or hobbies. I like to think that most of my achievement needs are internalized, but I also tend to have a high motive for avoiding failure as well. My need for affiliation and intimacy change at different times within my life, but are usually pretty moderate. I like to keep strong relationships with my friends, but can also tend to be “needy” when it comes to certain events if I don’t feel as involved or up to date with things. My need for power is moderate as well, for when it comes to exchange relationships I am a very strong leader that has a high need for power by organizing the group I am working with, a low need for affiliation/intimacy for I do not try and make friendships out of a group task, and high inhibition for I do not trust other workers to do what I expect and my mind is constantly flooded with the idea of failing.
One social need that really motivates most of my behavior would sadly be power. I am constantly worried about the world judging me and want nothing more than to prove people who have judged me to be wrong through my power and success of school. I remind myself that if I stick with school and love what I do, that I will eventually gain money, nice possessions, and a good reputation overall. I like to think I am natural leader for I always notice I will take control in a group and try my best to influence each group member to follow my idea, although I am very willing to change any ideas if the group thinks it to be best. I have become to understand why I can get aggressive or angry if I do not reach my goal of being successful or powerful in a situation. My main goal in life is to have a good, stable, higher paying job to support my family, to have a good reputation when I am older, and to be able to reward my hard work after college with nice possessions, such as a new car and home.
Terms: acquired needs, social needs, quasi-needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, instigation, inhibition, Atkinson, entrepreneurship, implicit theories, entity, incremental, relatedness, master goals, performance goals, performance-approach goals, performance-avoidance goals.
Chapter seven discusses our social needs. Social needs are acquired psychological needs that we learn from repeated socialization experiences in our environment. Quasi-needs are short-term needs that are based on the situation. Both social and quasi needs are acquired needs because they are not innate; they arise out of our interactions with others. Social needs can be seen as enduring needs for achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power while quasi-needs are temporary and brought about by situational desires.
The need for achievement is the desire to do something well when compared to others or a certain standard. This need pushes us to compete against others or against our own personal goals. Some people are measured as having a high need to achieve while others are measured to having a low need of achievement. This spectrum arises from our differing social, developmental, and cognitive influences. There are formulas that can be used in measuring achievement. The classical model of achievement behavior as presented by John Atkinson measures both the tendency to approach success and the tendency to avoid failure. It uses the measures of motivation to succeed or avoid failure, probability or success or failure, and incentive value of success or failure respectively. These models used together can predict whether you approach or avoid a task or challenge.
There are certain conditions that can also influence the need for achievement. If the task is perceived as difficult high-achievers perform better. Competition motivates high-achievers and induces anxiety in low-achievers. Entrepreneurship appeals to high-achievers while low-achievers tend not to be entrepreneurs.
There are three types of achievement goals. Performance-approach goals arise from the need to achieve while performance-avoidance goals arise from the fear of failure. Mastery goals come from your perceived competence in completing a task.
Implicit theories tell us how people perceive their personal characteristics and predict the type of goals people desire to achieve. There are type types of these theorists discussed in the book. Entity theorists tend to think people’s intelligence and qualities are fixed while Incremental theorists tend to think people’s intelligence and qualities can be changed. Entity theorists tend to assume performance goals while incremental theorists tend to choose mastery goals.
Affiliation goals consist of the need to belong and the need for intimacy. Affiliation is associated with maintaining relationships. Intimacy is associated with the need to have strong affirmative interpersonal relationships. Both needs involve interacting with others and forming relationships.
Power is a need that makes someone want to impact, control, and influence their world as they see fit. People that have a high need for power tend to be more aggressive and desire leadership roles and positions that allow them to be highly influential.
The most surprising thing I learned is that they have studied president’s speeches prior to a conflict and where able to predict whether war or peace would follow. If the speech was full of power imagery war most likely followed. If a speech had less power imagery it was more likely to be followed by war.
I would rate myself high on the social need of achievement. I believe I have a medium need for affiliation. My need for intimacy is medium. The need to have power is low for me. Because of this I like competition and push myself to do well. I feel my interaction with others is about average and I have a normal relationship with my wife. I do not seek much recognition or have much of a need to control or influence my environment.
I will discuss my low need for power in more detail. I feel I have a low need for power for a few reasons. One, I have never had the desire to stick out or be a highly visible person. I am more comfortable blending in an observing my environment. I don’t have much of a need to control my environment. Instead, I choose to be in places where I feel comfortable and avoid places I don’t like to be in. My approach to impacting my environment or influencing those around me is more laid back. If someone asks my opinion I will give it but I don’t feel any need to express how I feel without being prompted.
Terms: Social Needs, Quasi-Needs, Acquired Needs, Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, Power, Atkinson’s Model of Achievement Behavior, Performance-Approach Goal, Performance-Avoidance Goal, Mastery Goal, Implicit Theories, Entity Theorists, Incremental Theists
This chapter started off looking at acquired needs. There are two different needs: quasi and social. Quasi needs are situationally induced wants and desires that are not full-blown needs in the same sense of physiological, psychological, and social needs. These needs affect how a person thinks, feels, and acts. For example, college students start thinking about securing a job, money, or career plan. These needs originate from situational demands and pressures. A college student wouldn't worry about money and finding a job if it didn't directly deal with their college major. It promotes tension, pressure and the urgency to perform. The other acquired need is social need. A person acquires this through experience, development, and socialization. It may activate an emotional and behavioral potential when satisfying incentives appear. For example, a person may avoid and fear a school test whereas they approach and look forward to a school dance.
The next need examined was achievement. This is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence which challenges a person's sense of competence ending with a success or failure. If a person achieves something it will be emotionally meaningful of personal competence. It may also bring anxiety causing them to react with avoidance emotions and behavior instead of approach. Achievement originated for social, cognitive, and developmental influences. Atkinson's model looks at the inherent struggle of approach versus avoidance. There is the classical model examining the dynamics of action and the contemporary model looking more specifically at the goals people adopt in achievement situations. Goals are also apart of achievement. The need for achievement can be predicted by performance approach behaviors. Fear or failure can be predicted by performance avoidance behaviors. Lastly, high competency can be predicted by mastery behaviors. The most positive outcomes are seen with performance approach and mastery behaviors. The book also visited implicit theories on achievement. This reveals whether people think their personal qualities are fixed and enduring or are malleable and can be increased. This guides a person's goals and how they reach them.
Affiliation was the next social need. This was broken down into 2 categories: the need for affiliation and the need for intimacy. The need for affiliation is the rejection of anxiety where a person works to establish, maintain, and restore relationships with others. This is mostly to escape negative emotions like loneliness. A person will work to avoid this and build friendships. The need for intimacy promotes affiliation interest. It is a social motive for engaging in warm, close, and positive relationships. There is little threat of rejection here. An example of this would be a couple dating for several years.
The last social need discussed power. This is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one's personal image for it. High power individuals strive for leadership and recognition in small groups. A special variant of this uses a leadership motive pattern where a person rated as highly effective by others would have a high need for power, a low need for intimacy, and a high inhibition need. An example of a person like this might be the president of the US. They have to make decisions for an entire nation and need to maintain a positive outlook in order to be seen as successful or high achieving.
What I found most surprising was the example the book used of what a highly effective person looks like in terms of social needs. They have a high need for power and inhibition and a low need for intimacy. The low need for intimacy was what surprised me. I understand why it would be this way - a person can't focus on both a relationship and being extremely successful at the same time. Most of the time it is one or the other. If for some reason a person can make both work than I would assume that the partner in the relationship sees something lacking or the other sees something lacking in their achievement so far. I don't know if that makes complete sense but basically behind the scenes one or the other is going to be lacking something and they aren't completely happy.
To rate myself on the different social needs, I would rate myself as high on achievement, medium on affiliation and intimacy, and medium on power. I have always been extremely motivated to do well in school and to push myself with my own goals. Of course I like to do well in the eyes of the University, but my own internal goals are so much stronger. With affiliation and intimacy I rated myself as medium but I feel like it changes based on where I find myself in my life. If I had to give the most consistent level I would rate myself as between medium and high (medium and a half you could say). I think relationships of all kinds are important to one's well-being. There are times I find myself more "needy" where I need to be involved with friends and other times I wish I was able to share more of my time with the people I have more intimate relationships with. Lastly, I rated myself as medium on power. I believe power is a good way to motivate myself but ultimately it doesn't determine my lifestyle. It is helpful to have at times, but it is not necessary for me. For example, I will take leadership positions for group projects and student organizations, but I think it is more for my own and not necessary to impress others.
Achievement is really the social need that motivates me the most. It is why I started working harder after my freshman year of college to improve my grades. I knew that my freshman year was not an accurate projection of what kind of student I really am. I am continually working to improve my GPA. It also pushed me to apply for graduate school. My ultimate goal is to become a genetic counselor and there are certain steps one has to take to get to that point. I am constantly working to better myself so I can achieve that position some day. It really is about testing my competence and presenting myself with a challenge. I know I am able to do it and now I just have to prove it to others. If I am able to achieve this job it will be such a personal success for myself. It will also have an emotional tie because I know the journey that I have taken to get to it. That will make it even better.
TERMS: acquired needs, quasi needs, social needs, achievement, standard of excellence, competence, socialization influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, Atkinson's model, performance avoidance, performance approach, mastery, goals, implicit theories, affiliation, intimacy, power
Chapter 7 contains the last piece of human needs, social needs. Our social needs originate from preferences gained through experience, socialization, and development and emerge and change over time. Examples of social needs include achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Another type of acquired need this chapter talks about is quasi needs, which are situationally induced wants and desires we introject from the environment.
The need for achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence that has been steeped in a range of social, cognitive, and developmental processes. Parents largely contribute to providing socialization influences in their children. Cognitive influences, or ways of thinking, include perceptions of high ability, mastery orientation, high expectations for success, strong valuing of achievement, and optimistic attribution style. Achievement related values show predictable developmental patterns. For instance, pride emerges from a developmental history of success situations that produce mastery, while shame emerges from a developmental history of failure situations. John Atkinson formulated a model in which to describe and predict achievement behavior by using factors such as, need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success, portrayed in the formula (Ts=Ms x Ps x Is). The incentive value for success during difficult tasks is high, yet low during easy tasks. As is the motive to succeed is to seek out achievement situations, the motive to avoid failure is to escape from achievement situations. Present day achievements can affect motives for the future, and future strivings can add to present motivation. Future-achievement orientation refers to the psychological distance of a long-term goal. Atkinson also treated achievement behavior as a choice either to approach the standard of excellence or to avoid it. The two main goals in this case are mastery goals and performance goals. To achieve a master goal, one must make progress according to a self-standard. To achieve performance goals, one must do better than others. Another model to explain achievement behavior is the dynamics of action model. This model explains that achievement behavior occurs within a stream of ongoing behavior and is determined by instigation, inhibition, and consummation. To satisfy the need for achievement, one must perform moderately difficult tasks, compete, and have entrepreneurship; however, for low-achievers these factors create anxiety. These two approaches, Atkinson’s classical theory and the contemporary achievement goals can be combined into a single model. For instance, people with high-achievement adopt performance approach goals, people with high fear of failure adopt performance-avoidant goals, and people with high competency adopt mastery goals. The differences in goals produce differences in a person’s well-being. For example, people with performance-avoidant goals have characteristics like neuroticism and poor life skills. This generated the basis of implicit theories, such as entity theorists vs. incremental theorists. Entity theorists believe they have fixed qualities and withdrawal from effort, while incremental theorists believe they have changing qualities and understand utility of effort. These implicit theories predict the type of achievement goal the individual chooses.
The next social need factor is the need for affiliation and intimacy. The source of this need arose from our fear of interpersonal rejection. It’s our need for approval, acceptance, and security from others. The intimacy motive concerns the quality of social involvement and is expressed by growth-oriented. However the need for affiliation is expressed as deficiency-oriented. Feelings like anxiety provoke our need to affiliate with others for emotional support. The level of intimacy, high or low, reflects whether a person is satisfied with their relationships and maintains them or dissatisfied and doesn’t maintain them, respectively. To satisfy our need for intimacy, we must achieve closeness and warmth in a relationship.
The last social need is power, which is a desire to impact, control, or influence the physical and social world and increases approach motivation. This allows the person to establish, maintain, and expand or restore power. To satisfy our need for power, we need to have effective leadership skills, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions. The power motivator can be seen in effective U.S presidents who express direct actions, perception of greatness, their performance on social and economic issues, and international relations.
The most surprising or interesting feature I learned from this chapter was that even though people vary on their need and level of affiliation and intimacy, we still all need to be comforted in times of high stress, fear, and anxiety. People’s emotions are effected greatly when not affiliated with others, like cases of social isolation, and actually feel pain. I enjoy the idea that this aspect of human behavior has an evolutionary standpoint. Throughout history, in times of disaster or conflict, people have drawn together to comfort one another, thus improving psychological well-being. In a way, humans are unconsciously addicted to social support in order to improve emotional concerns. We have learned to rely on others instead of relying on our own actions.
For each of these social needs of achievement, affiliation and intimacy, and power, I’d rate myself on different degrees. My need for achievement would be a high for mastery goals, because I enjoy seeing my progress in a difficult task and feel more motivated to engage in moderately difficult tasks rather than easy ones. My need for affiliation and intimacy would be a high as well. I say this because from reading information about this social need, I noticed I have more characteristics in common with those in high need for it. For example, I still keep in touch with friends from high school who I don’t get to see as often and for the friends I have now I strive to get to know them better and thus achieving a better closeness and warmth within the relationship. My need for power is low. I have no desire to control or impose myself on another believes or actions. People can make their own decisions, and I have learned to adapt and accept that. According to the chapter’s conditions to satisfy power, I don’t engage in them fully or if at all, such as leadership, aggression, or prestige possessions.
The social need of affiliation and intimacy reflects my behavior of engaging in close, positive relations, and to establish, maintain, and restore interpersonal relations. I look more for long lasting friendships than short term/exchangeable relationships. This could reflect my type of personality, but I avoid conflict and competitive situations involving my friends, am selfless and would do anything for them, and don’t demand or impose on others. According to this chapter, those characteristics reflect those of someone with high need for affiliation. These characteristics also reflect why I want to be a counselor since I seek to support others. Also according to the book, I may engage in this behavior because of my underlying fear or rejection, but who isn’t afraid of that?
TERMS: social needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, quasi-needs, socialization,atkinson model, future-achievement orientation, mastery goals, performance goals, dynamics of actions model, instigations, inhibition, consummation, performance approach goals, performance avoidant goals, implicit theories, explicit, incremental, growth oriented, deficiency oriented
Chapter 7 talked about different types of social needs. It first talked about quasi-needs before it started to talk about social needs. Quasi-needs are induced wants and desires that are not actually full-blown needs in the same sense as the other needs that include physiological, psychological, and social. Quasi-needs affect the way be we think, feel, and act but they originate from situational demands and pressures. Some examples that the book talks about are needing money at the store, getting a Band-aid after you get a cut, and finding an umbrella for the rain. Quasi-needs are just one part of two categories of what are called acquired needs. The other category that I am going to talk about are social needs.
The first type of need that they talked about in the book was achievement. Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. A standard of excellence is any challenge is any challenge to a person's sense of competence that ends with an objective outcome of success versus failure. Achievement can come from different things like solving a puzzle, running a race in which you are looking for a personal best, or trying to become a class valedictorian. The book also talked about some cognitive influences that are related to achievement. It talks about perceptions of high ability, mastery orientation, high expectations for success, strong valuing of achievement, and optimistic attriubtional style.
The next needs that the book talks about are affiliation and intimacy. They talk about both of the needs at once. Affiliation is defined as establishing, maintaining, or restoring a postitive, affective relationship with another person or persons. They discuss that people with high need affiliation interact with others to avoid negative emotions such as fear of disapproval and loneliness. Intimacy is along these same lines but it is seen as a part of the dual view of affiliation. Some examples of conditions of these needs are loneliness, rejection, or separation and these different things raise people's desire.
The last social need the book talks about is power. Power is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one's personal image or plan for it. People that are high in power have impact, control, and influence. Impact allows power-needing individuals to establish power. Control allows power-needing individuals to maintain power. Influence allows power-needing individuals to expand or restore power. These different strivings center around a need for dominance, reputation, status, or position. Power seeking individuals usually become leaders and stay leaders. They tend to participate in jobs that include allows them to have control over people and situations. For example, teaching usually involves this.
What I found most surprising was the leadership example of presidents that they used. I found it pretty cool that they coded the president's leadership qualitites and social needs are found that the most historically strong presidents had scored high on power needs and relativetly low on affilation needs. I'm not surprised that the presidents had these scores but I found it cool that there was a study done about this. They looked at inaugural addresses and scored them on achievement, affiliaton, and power.
I would rate myself as medium on achievement because I feel that that I try to achieve things but I don't try to do well in everything. I sometimes pass off good work as enough and I don't put a full effort into everything else. I also feel like I am medium in affilation because I like to be around people and like to talk to people but I am not needy about it as the book talks about. I would probably say I am also a medium in power. I like to have some control over situations but I am not a control freak so thats why I am medium.
One social need that motivates my behavior is achievement. The reason I pick this is because most college students are in college to achieve. Everything that we do is involved with achievement. Every one of us are trying to do good in school, get a degree, and find a job for which we would be good at. For example, for each test that I take in college I could study for an hour and stop but I don't do that because I want to be prepared and do what I think is good enough. I don't want to necessarily slide by in college but get good grades and achieve high scores.
Terms: Quasi-needs, Acquired Needs, Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, Power, Standard of Excellence, Social Needs, Control, Impact, Influence
The chapter begins by describing to us a situation in which a driver jumps from thought to thought as he travels. The one thing that remains constant through all of his thought is the idea of needing and wanting things in life. We are not born with a sense of achievement in our minds, but rather develop such ideas from the influences of society, relationships, and our environment. There are many types of needs. Physiological, Psychological, social, and Quasi-Needs are all part of what makes us human and what makes people different. We are constantly seeking out needs that satiate our desires both physically and emotionally. Once we find a way to take care of our needs we tend to repeat that behavior and it begins to dictate living style. Social Needs are more of what an individual wants rather than a generic human. Some people like to paint for pleasure needs and others could care less. However, quasi-needs are more generalized and ephemeral. These are needs that are dictated by the situation and environment. Say it is cold outside, you will need protective clothing. This is a quasi-need because the situation the individual is in dictated the need. Chapter seven was more directed towards that of social needs and a certain four needs in particular. Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, and Power.
First to talk about achievement we must understand that it means to be successful in something relative to a set standard. There are two ways to gain achievement and they both depend of the individual. Those who are driven to achieve will have an approach oriented style in which they will practice and hope to overcome the standards set before them. On the other end of the spectrum there are the avoidance oriented individuals. These people find achievement when successfully navigating around a difficult task by either not doing it or finding and easier and simpler course of action. Both of these models are influenced by the Dynamics-of-action model which talks about ongoing achievements are driven by instigation, fear of failure, and of course the satisfaction of achieving as well. All this high powered need for achievement is also pushed by the origins of need for achievement which include, societal, cognitive, and developmental influences.
This need for achievement is further dissected in the Atkinson's Model. This classical model of achievement is a more behavioral and choice approach and not merely and avoidance approach. It is all based on a multiplicative function of the individuals need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success. The equation is as follows, (Ts = Ms x Ps x Is). This also includes the same equation with failure with the variables being fear of failure, probability of failure, and incentive to avoid failure.
When looking to achieve something one is always making personal goals in order to lay out a plan to complete the achievement. There are three types of achievement goals that people lay out in order to see the success come. They are performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery. These three approaches dictate the manner in which individuals will view and address a situation that is placed before them. Implicit theories are theories that people use to predict which type of approach people will use to achieve. Those called entity theorists generally adopt performance based goals as they also believe high effort equals a lack of ability. On the flip side Incremental theorists adopt learning goals and believe that effort is where learning and development occur. These theories are two approaches researchers take to look into people's need for achievement. As far as my need for achievement goes a believe I am actually somewhere in the middle of high and low need for achievement. I can deal with the not achieving some things, but others that directly relate to my advancement in society I need to achieve.
The next two needs the book discussed were lumped together and they are affiliation and intimacy. The striving for affiliation stems from the avoidance of loneliness and deprivation of attention. We look to affiliate ourselves with people so we can rank ourselves by how our social network appears. The need for intimacy is more directly related to what we strive to find in our family, friends, and significant others. This is where we satisfy our needs for close interpersonal communication and find our social acceptance, approvals, and reassurance that we are doing well in life. As expected those with high need for affiliation will seek out groups to be involved in and try new things simply to be part of a social circle while others will even avoid people because they are okay alone, but when it comes down to it everybody needs a little social interaction. When I pondered about my need for affiliation and intimacy I would say I rank very high on that spectrum. I do like being part of social groups, but now that I am matured I know which ones to desire and which to cast aside as unimportant. Intimacy is another issue with me. I have an extremely high need to be close to my family, friends, and girlfriend and I go out of my way to please people who are important to me. This need motivates me constantly. I am always trying to create a balancing act of friends and girlfriend while I am at school. I am trying to lend myself to both groups and manage other parts of my life as well. When I am not at school I do my best to connect with my family and spend significant amounts of time getting caught up in their lives.
The last section of neediness the chapter discussed was power. Power is a tricky need because the line between high and low need for power is very fine and being on either side can have positive and negative affects. Low need for power tends to manifest itself in weak pushover types of people who let others run their lives, yet it is positive because they are agreeable and typically easy going. High need for power can be good if the intention is good since they are trying to get the world and others to conform to their ideals and ideologies. However, as we all no power hungry people become more greedy and do not take other's lives into consideration resulting in detrimental effects.I found it particularly interesting when examining the qualities of leaders. They were seen to posses high power need, low affiliation, and high inhibition. The low need for affiliation surprised me the most. This made me think that politics is still as fake as I thought it was. Promises to care for their people and be concerned for them when their low need for affiliation basically says they do not even posses the need to care about others. A very interesting chapter indeed.
Terms Used: Social and Quasi-Needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, approach-oriented, avoidance-oriented, incentive, Atkinson Model, Dynamics-of-action model.
This chapter focuses on our Social Needs in life. Our social needs are learned and change over time depending on many different variables. This chapter focuses on the four examples of social needs which are: acquired needs, achievement, affiliation and intimacy, and power. The chapter first goes to explain that there are two types of these needs. The first one explained in Quasi Needs, which are the wants and needs that we use with our sense of physiological, psychological and social needs. These types of needs also affect the way we feel, act, and thinking. The book gave a really nice example of these types of needs, which pertained to college school (which I can obviously relate to!). It states that our thought about money, careers, and approval are all quasi needs and it is something that we strive for every day. These needs are things we get from certain pressures in life, which is something that college kids know a lot about. The examples in the book really helped me understand this concept, as well as the others. The next set of needs that was discussed in the book was social needs. These are what we develop through certain experiences and socialization aspects. Also, once we obtain these social needs as emotional and behavioral, they are activated by a particular incentive. The table on page 175 was helpful in looking at the ways social needs relate to incentives, which is a topic we have already discussed in class.
The next social need that was explained was achievement. This is something that also relates to my life right about now. Achievement is the desire to do well in a certain area, and ‘seek success in competition with a standard of excellence’. This can be a motivator for many individuals. There is a level of excellence that we are all going to try to achieve, and something that caught my eye in this section stated that achievement can bring two things for someone. The first can be excitement, which is positive and pleasurable; yet the other can be anxiety which is more aversive and can bring someone down. The book also explains the origins of achievement. These can relate to socialization, cognitive, and developmental influences. The book then starts to explain some of the models and approaches that relate to social needs such as achievement such as Atkinson model, Tendency to avoid failure, and the Dynamics of Action mode. These were very interesting, yet kind of went over my head, and are something I need to look at more closely.
Affiliation and intimacy are the third social need explained in this chapter. An individual can be high or low in both of these. Many people strive for the need of approval and intimacy, which is what this section of the book is stating. There can be many conditions that go along with these such as fear and anxiety, social networking, and maintaining interpersonal networks. This section ended by stating the conditions that we need to satisfy our need for affiliation and intimacy, which relates to everyday life.
Power is the last social need that this chapter discusses. The need for power is to make other individuals conform to your ideas, images and plans. It explains that people who are in “high need for power” desire control, and a lot of influence over other people. These people usually try to dominate others and put themselves in front of, or higher than others. There are other factors that contribute to the need of power as well. These can be power in leadership roles, relationships, and occupations and these can sometimes and oftentimes relate to aggressiveness. The book relates power to the president, and how effective his power is over the United States.
I think that the most interesting part of this chapter for me was the power, and how it related to the power of countries, and mostly the president of the U.S. One of the things that interested me the most was the five variables that are used to define the president’s effectiveness. These are: direct presidential actions, perceived greatness, social performance, economic performance and international relations. It explained that researchers tried to rate past president’s level of power, affiliation, and inhibition on their speeches and letters they have written. The researchers found multiple patterns. First, the leadership pattern showed when presidents would take on war, or when a president will attempt to use peace between the two countries. It also stated that when the power imagery rose, the chance of war rose; and when the power imagery decreased, the chance of war decreased as well. I thought this was all pretty interesting, and it caught my eye since we are getting ready for the election of 2012.
I would rate myself high on achievement. During my younger years I probably would not have rated it as high, but since I am in college and working my butt off every day to get where I want to go, I feel a high need for achievement. I want and have a need to get good grades, raise my GPA, get scholarships, and hopefully get into a graduate school of my choosing, or one that I would enjoy going to and expanding my education. If I cannot achieve these things then there is a chance that what I want will not happen, so my achievement level is pretty high at the moment. And even though I do not achieve everything I want and desire, my achievement level still stays the same, and sometimes that motivates me more.
When it comes to affiliation and intimacy I would say I am a medium-high. I think it really depends on the situation, mood I’m in, and where exactly I am in my life. I think that every desires the need for both of these, just some more than others. I have many close relationships and I think they are good for everyone’s well being, and I am someone who really cherishes those relationships, and is in need for some type of intimacy. Yet, some days I really do not care, and definitely want to be by myself and not worry what other people think, and not want to be around people.
For power, I would give myself a low-medium. There are so many things in this world that are out of my control, but if there are things that are in my control, I usually make sure I try my best to control them. Yet, I do not feel the need to dominate and control other people and other situations. The only thing I try to control is myself, and where I go in life. When it comes to other people, I hope everyone can have some type of their OWN control in some aspects of their life eventually, and not be dominated.
Achievement is something that most definitely relates to my life every day. I know I have already mentioned many of the situations, but the main one right now is school, yet others could be work, and also exercising. When it comes to school, I work hard to get good grades and to raise my GPA. Ultimately I would like to get into graduate school, and to achieve that would be one of my best accomplishments considering if you asked me 4 years ago, I would have said I had never considered applying to graduate schools! Also, achievement for me can be motivated at work. I work at the CSBR and am a telephone interviewer. Some days I do not talk to anyone, and everyone seems like they hate me; but some days I can get up to 8 interviews, which is a huge achievement for me, which then influences me to keep going and to work harder.
TERMS: social needs, acquired needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, quasi needs, needs, drive, incentive, motivator, aversive, standard of excellence, model, tendency to avoid failure, dynamics of action mode, desire
Chapter Seven discusses social needs and quasi-needs. Social needs come from preferences gained through experiences, socialization, and development, whereas quasi-needs include situational induced wants, such as an immediate need for money, raincoat when it rains, or a self-esteem boost when you feel down about something. This chapter also discusses achievement. Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. It motivates people to seek success, especially while in competition. The need for achievement comes from a variety of processes. Socialization, cognitive and developmental influences all play a part in the desire for achievement. Atkinson’s classical model of achievement, behavioral approach versus avoidance is a multiplicative function of the individual’s need for achievement, probability of success and incentive for success (Ts = Ms x Ps x Is), as well as the individual’s fear of failure, probability of failure, and incentive to avoid failure ( Taf = Maf x Pf x If). Affiliation strivings involve two areas; the need for affiliation (rejection anxiety) and the need for intimacy (affiliation interest). The need for affiliation involves creating and maintaining relationships with others in order to get away from negative emotions. The need for intimacy is viewed more as a social motive for participating in close, positive, interpersonal relationships.
The most surprising thing I learned from the reading was about the fear of failure. The text describes the fear of failure as having the power to interfere with performance, persistence, and emotionality. Having the fear of failure causes people to carry out performance-avoidance goals, such as trying to avoid making a mistake, embarrassing oneself, or performing poorly. These avoidance actions cause individuals to underperform, quit quickly, and lost interest in the activity. This concept plays an important role in personal adjustment and mental health. When a person adopts performance-avoidance goals it is very hard for them to maintain a positive sense of well-being. They often experience negative affects which lowers their self-esteem. This was interesting to me because I think everyone experiences performance-avoidance goals to an extent; however, for some it is so intense that it stunts their development, emotionally, mentally, etc.
If I had to rate myself on the various social needs I would give myself a high for the need of achievement, a medium for the need of affiliation, a medium for the need of power. The need of achievement is something that does not feel like it takes over my life; however it has become more important throughout college. In high school I seemed to just fly by the seat of my pants, but in college I have taken much more initiative to meet with professors when I am struggling, seek out job positions, work ahead and so on. I don’t do as well as I could, but my need for achievement has definitely increased in the past few years. My need for affiliation has remained somewhat the same throughout my life. When I am at work and school I strive to meet people, make friends in class and socialize. I enjoy having people to talk when I am doing my everyday activities and having a sense of belonging. The reason I did not rate myself high on this need is because I enjoy my alone time. When I am at home and winding down for the day, I would rather not be bothered so I can do homework, read a book, etc. My need for power is rated a medium. The first example that came to mind was working on group projects. Typically with group work I tend to take on the leader roll, unless it’s a project I really don’t care about. Even if I don’t really care about the project, I will still participate and include my thoughts on how things should go.
The social need I will go more in-depth on is affiliation. Affiliation is not the same construct as extraversion, friendliness, or sociability. Early researchers found that individuals with the highest need for affiliation were often less popular than people high low affiliation strivings. This makes sense since the pressure to be popular and liked could cause performance-avoidance behaviors that the individual may not even be aware of. Those that rate high on the need for affiliation often have higher level of anxiety. I can relate this to my daily life, especially at work. I frequently work with new people and interact with customers. It is difficult to maintain a positive attitude all the time or appear to be “cool” when you are stressed. Sometimes I find myself seeking others approval in order to feel affiliated. Another example of how affiliation relates to my life is fear and anxiety. There are time where my boyfriend and I won’t talk all day and then I feel anxious when we don’t talk very much at night. We have a long distance relationship and don’t get to see each other very often. This tends to cause feelings of isolation and fear. When I feel this way I tend to appear on edge and tense. These feelings of anxiety are not severely intense compared to people with addictions, patients suffering from a particular illness and so on.
TERMS: social needs, quasi-needs, achievement, motivates, socialization, cognitive, developmental, desire, behavioral approach, incentive, affiliation, intimacy, negative emotions, interpersonal, failure, performance-avoidance goals, mental health, well-being, negative affects, self-esteem, anxiety
Chapter seven discusses our social needs and quasi needs. Quasi needs are essentially temporary needs. A good example of a quasi need is that when you get a cut, you need a band-aid. However, after you get the band-aid placed on your cut, you no longer have the need for a band-aid. These needs may recur later on but the frequency usually cannot be determined as it is rather sporadic. Our social needs are thought to be effected more so by the environment we were raised in, rather than being innate. Social needs can be broken down into four different needs: achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Social needs are also mostly reactions to things we experience in our environment.
The first of the four parts of social needs is achievement. Achievement is the desire to do well in relation to a certain standard of excellence. Our development of achievement is related to our upbringing. People higher in achievement strivings had parents that provided certain things such as more independence, realistic standards of excellence, and a home environment full of stimulation potential such as books. The textbook introduces us to Atkinson’s Model of achievement. Atkinson’s model is explained with a formula. This formula contains our tendency to approach success and our tendency to avoid failure. I am not going to go into detail about what each piece of the formula is and how each piece fits together. The whole formula, however, is Ta = Ts – Taf = (Ms x Ps x Is) – (Maf x Pf x If). Ta is our tendency to achieve, Ts is our tendency to approach success, and Taf is our tendency to avoid failure.
We were also introduced to the Dynamics-of-Action Model. This model says that achievement behavior is within a stream of ongoing behavior that is determined by instigation, inhibition, and consummation. Instigation occurs by confronting environmental things associated with past rewards that cause a rise in approach tendencies. Inhibition is almost a direct opposite of instigation. Inhibition occurs by confronting environmental things associated with past punishment that cause a rise in avoidance tendencies. Consummation just discusses how performing an activity will result in it stopping. Consummation allows for achievement behavior to be understood as changing over time. Within achievement, there are three types of goals that we try to achieve through the fulfillment of our need for achievement. These three goals are mastery goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals. The types of achievement goals we create are related to two different implicit theories. The first implicit theory is entity, which applies to the people that believe that people are born with some fixed and enduring qualities. Incremental is the other implicit theory and this applies to people that believe that we are born with certain personal qualities that can change over time. Which type of implicit theory you believe in will influence which type of achievement goal you will choose.
The next two types of social needs go hand-in-hand. They are the needs for affiliation and intimacy. The need for affiliation is our fear of interpersonal rejection. By itself, affiliation is a pretty negative need. This is why intimacy entered the picture. Our need for intimacy is our need for close, positive relationships that don’t contain any fear of rejection. The need for affiliation rises from the deprivation of social interaction. We need to satisfy these needs whenever we are afraid or are experiencing anxiety. This is the reason that support groups are very popular. People with a high need for intimacy tend to form longer relationships and work to maintain them.
The final social need is the need for power. The need for power is the desire to have the world change to your personal image of it. The three facets are impact, control, and influence. Impact allows people high in the need for power to establish it, control allows them to maintain power, and influence allows them to restore or increase power. Four separate conditions allow for the need for power to be satisfied. These conditions are leadership and recognition, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions. People high in the need for power tend to have more prestige possessions. Prestige possessions are items such as nice cars, electronic equipment, etc. People with a high need for power will also pursue more leadership recognition in groups, be more aggressive, and try to be in careers that are influential such as teachers, journalists, and business executives. A strong benefit of people that have a high need for power is that they will more likely achieve their goals.
The most surprising thing I learned was how the need for power manifests itself. I understood that the need for power correlated with leadership and influential occupations. I really didn’t anticipate for people with a high-need for power to have prestigious possessions. I never really thought of the need for power manifesting itself in such a physical form. I was not surprised, however, to learn that people with a high need for power to have a high need for recognition. There are many people I know that seek leadership positions only for the title and recognition (and it drives me nuts!). Unfortunately, the people that tend to do this will get the position because they are more aggressive than a person that actually has good intentions for the position.
I would rate myself as high in achievement, medium in affiliation, and medium/high in power. I consider myself as high in achievement because of the fact that when I do things, I try to do them to the best of my ability. There are times when it is something I really don’t care about and do not want to do, I will get by with good enough. However, most of the time I make sure I do things to the best of my ability. When it is something I am interested in or enjoy, I try to learn much more and get better. I am medium in affiliation because I don’t feel a strong need to interact with many other people. However, I do have a higher need for the intimacy aspect. I don’t worry too much about large social situations, but those long0term relationships are very important to me. Lastly, I consider myself medium/high in power because I do have a high need for power. However, I am not a particularly aggressive person and I am not too concerned about my possessions. I am more functional in my possessions. I do enjoy leadership and I am pursuing an influential occupation.
Achievement manifests itself everyday for me. I attend class so that my performance in a class may improve. I also do the assignments and study so that my performance may be at its peak. Another thing I do is take time to read historical fiction books on a regular basis. I enjoy history and reading and these books allow me to expand my knowledge of historical events. As an RA I am required to do a certain number of programs a month and I make sure I do one or two more than that so that I am exceeding the expectations of my supervisor in that job. I also do that so that my girls are getting the best experience possible.
Terms Used: Social Needs, Quasi Needs, Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, Power, Atkinson’s Model, Tendency to Approach Success, Tendency to Avoid Failure, Dynamics-of-Action Model, Instigation, Inhibition, Consummation, Mastery Goals, Performance-Approach Goals, Performance-Avoidance Goals, Implicit Theories, Entity, Incremental, Impact, Control, Influence, Leadership, Aggressiveness, Influential Occupations, Prestige Possessions
The difference between our quasi-needs and social needs is that quasi-needs develop from our wants and desires and social needs are developed through experience and socialization. Quasi-needs arise during certain situations where we may feel pressure, tension, and urgency but then when we fulfill the desire the feeling of want/needs diminish. As for social needs we have an emotional and situational trigger which “goes off” after socialization and experiences have influenced us.
An individual desire for achievement is related to the person’s competence and ability to motivate our self to be successful. Initially a person is influenced to achieve through how they have been socialization and cognitive and developmental experiences. People use both avoidance of failure and approach to success to strive for achievement. Through the Atkinson’s Model approach to success and avoidance to failure are ways in which we attempt to achieve things in our life and they differ for people who may be high or low in the desire for achievement. When applying achievement directly to my life I would say I was medium-high. This is my self-rating because I am very competitive in sports, games, and in most tasks I complete. When I am able to successfully overcome or accomplish a difficult task I am able to prove my competence to myself and others who I am possible “competing” with. Another way achievement is through the dynamics of action model, I can also apply this model to my personal achievement. The panels of instigation, inhibition, and consumption apply to me because I am able to reflect on the past rewards and punishments and understand that experiencing achievement changes with the reflection of previous achievement.
Affiliation and intimacy are correlated in the sense that we desire the development of relationships. I agree with the more contemporary way of expressing affiliation which is done through intimacy and approval. The positive feelings needed during relationships are affected by social context, interaction, and mutual involvement in the developing relationship. I agree with the books explanation of our fear of being rejected or isolated from others and how this is a motivator to be involved. Not only are there networks beneficial for personal growth but it may also affect the person’s business networks in the future. For me the social affiliation in relation to intimacy and approval is high. Being able to develop relationships and interpersonal networks is a very strong need developed since childhood. Due to the way in which I was socialized by my parents and peer group I grew up being involved and desiring the interaction with others. My mother was very social herself, teaching us kids that by being social with others you are able to make various personal connections. The book presents a definition of a high affiliated person and I agree that I fit this description well because I desire approval, attempt to avoid conflict and enjoy/desire positive conversation with others but I am also very competitive.
For me personally the importance of affiliation with the facets of intimacy and approval is the more influential and motivating social need. Being accepted and developing interpersonal networks are important because they correlate with my desire of achievement. Being successful with my school work, serving occupation, and personal involvement is all interrelated to affiliation and intimacy. When I initially began college I would introduce myself to my professors on the first day of class. The behavior of introducing me was motivated by the importance of affiliation and attempting to get on a personal but still professional level with my new professors. I also choose to sit in the front of most of my large lecture based courses because I feel that I am more involved, increasingly focused, and more affiliated with the professor. Another behavior which is motivated by intimacy is when there are new servers hired at my place of employment I take the initiative to introduce myself. I don’t want the person to feel awkward in the new environment and I not only want to please my own desire for intimacy but theirs as well. I am personally driven by the social need of intimacy because I desire the positive feelings of being able to be involved with others on the intimate relationship.
Power is another social need which affects many of our lives. Power reflects the social and physical desire to control external people and situations to benefit you. Impact, control, and influence are three factors which assist in implicating power over others. There are benefits to having a high need for power because having a high need for power allows for self-driven and independent behaviors. Occupations of high-power people are very control based, not solely in a negative manner but to benefit or help others. For my personal rating in reflection of power I would say I was medium. I do feel the need to control the majority of situations I am involved in, but because I am usually control them I am able to make decisions which benefit my goals and desires. I would also say that I seek my goals out very persistently and I take action with these goals. When correlating power and relationships I would have to agree with the book in the idea that women do not use the arena of dating relationships to express or find their need for power. I agree with this in relation to my personal dating relationship because my partner and I do not fight for power but we are able to converse with one another about the decisions made in our relationship.
Achievement, affiliation (intimacy), and power are three social needs which will always affect my life. All of these needs are interconnected for me and allow me to pursue my goals in life. I find it very interesting that my social need of affiliation and my psychological need of relatedness are two needs which seem similar are my two highest needs. I also find it very surprising the effect of these social needs is vastly affected by the socialization of children during childhood. Incorporating decision making and independence at a young age allows for children to strive in achievement which will affect their need for power and intimacy. For me I realize my needs but at times I make decisions which allow these needs to suffer and after I ignore them I have to make up for what I did to myself.
TERMS: quasi-needs, social needs, socialization, pressure, tension, urgency, achievement, competence, motivate, approach to success, Atkinson’s Model, instigation, inhibition, consumption, rewards and punishments, affiliation/intimacy, interpersonal networks, power, dating relationship, psychological need of relatedness
Chapter 7 goes into depth about social needs. Social needs are an acquired psychological process that grows out of ones’ socialization history that activates emotional responses to a particular need-relevant incentive. The types of social needs are achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Quasi- needs are ephemeral, situationally induced wants that create tenser energy to engage in behavior capable of reducing the build-up tension. An example is, needing money at the store, a band-aid after a cut, or umbrella in the rain. Social needs originate from preferences gained through experience, socialization, and development.
The social need for achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. Any challenge to a person’s sense of competence that ends with an objective outcome of success vs. failure, win vs. lose, or right vs. wrong is a standard of excellence. Achievement needs originate through social cognitive, and developmental process. Social influences are what parents provide; such as, independence training, high performance aspirations, and realistic standards of excellence. Cognitive influence is achievement based ways of thinking. Developmental influences are achievement related beliefs, values, and emotions.
Establishing, maintaining, and restoring relationships with others to avoid negative emotions such as disapproval and loneliness is affiliation. A person with high need for affiliation experiences anxiety in their relationships because of trying to be approved by all. The need for intimacy is the social motive for engaging in warm, close, positive interpersonal relationships that produce positive emotions and hold little threat of rejection. An individual who frequently thinks about friends and relationships has a high need for intimacy.
Need for power is a desire to make the physical and social world conform the ones’ personal image or plan for it. A person with a high need for power wants to impact, control, and influence. They basically want to become a leader. Impact allows establishment of power, while control assists in maintaining power. Influence helps to expand the power of the individual.
The most surprising thing to me was that the need for affiliation had a different meaning than what I expected. I thought it would simply mean to make friends or acquaintances. However, the book explains that when a person has a high need, it means they are basically very insecure. They monitor disapproval and seek reassurance. I would have expected it was a popularity contest without the self-doubt.
I would rate myself a medium achievement based person. I definitely like to do well. However, if I mess up on something, I try not to be too hard on myself. If it is something big though, I would get very disappointed. Affiliation would be rated low to high. When I am emotional, and in a bad mood, I become insecure. This causes me to question and get reassurance if my friends like me. I also tend to judge myself to see if people disapprove of my actions. On the other hand, when I am not feeling that way, I don’t care what people think of me, so my need for affiliation is low. As for intimacy, my need for it would be ranked at high. I always desire close relationships. I work hard at deepening a friendship and even when I meet someone new, I like to get to know them, so I ask a lot of questions. My rank for need for power varies. I like to be a role model and impact lives. However, I don’t want to control people.
Here are some examples of how these needs play a role in my life. Today, actually, my friend got upset with me that I backed out of our plans to go be with my girlfriend in her time of need. I am at a high level of this need because I don’t want her to disapprove of my actions and I would like to know if things between us are going to be solved. As I mentioned earlier for intimacy, I love to get to know people and form close relationships. I have a high need for achievement to do well and graduate college. However, when I don’t understand my homework, I give up sometimes. Power plays a small role for my life. I like to encourage younger people to go to college, because I didn’t decide to until 2 years after high school. I tell them how I missed out on meeting people, which I try to influence and impact them.
I would say affiliation has the greatest impact on my life. I get too worried people don’t like me, so I don’t speak my opinion or anything. However, if I were to just be myself, and not care if someone disapproves, I feel more people would like me even better. My friends that I am my outspoken-silly-confident self around love it, so why wouldn’t others? This has always been a challenge for me to get over. Once I know a person well though, they get to see this side.
Terms used: social needs, quasi-need, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, standard of excellence, social influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, impact, control, influence,
Chapter seven is about acquired social needs. Acquired social needs are broken down into two categories: social need and quasi-needs. Personal experience brings us to expect more positive emotions in some situations over other situations. We acquire preferences when we continuously experience the positive emotions attached to certain experiences. Quasi-needs are not technically needs. They are desires created by a situation that brings out a psychological tension in an individual. Social needs come about when need-satisfying incentives emerge.
The need for achievement is complex. It has influences from socialization, cognition, and development. Kids develop high levels of the need for achievement when their parents provide independence training, high performance expectations, realistic standards of excellence, stimulating environment, and wide range of experiences. Cognitive influences include: beliefs of being capable, mastery orientation, high expectations for success, strong value of achievement, and an optimistic attributional style. The Atkinson’s model of achievement motivation puts emphasis on task-specific probability of success as well the personality dimension of a need for achievement. The contemporary model of achievement motivation is the Dynamics-of-Action Model. In the Dynamics-of-Action Model, instigation, inhibition, and consummation make up a stream of behavior that achievement behaviors occur in. Competition, moderately difficult tasks, and entrepreneurship satisfy the need for achievement. People that are high in the need for affiliation act socially to avoid negative emotions. The need for approval and the need for intimacy are the two facets of the need for affiliation. Social isolation and fear-inducing conditions are two situations that increase a persons desire to affiliate with others. People with a high need for intimacy get to know people on a more personal level and report feeling fulfilled from those relationships. They also work to keep those relationships alive. Individuals with a high need for affiliation typically go into helping professions. The core of the need for power is the desire to make the world conform to their plan for it. They are dominant types that value reputation and status. There are four conditions that help satisfy the need for power. They are leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions.
I surprised to learn that individuals who are high in the need for affiliation are not actually extraverts. I would have guess that extraverts had more of a desire for affiliation than others. I would say that I am high on the need for achievement and affiliation. I would say that I am medium on the need for power. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in school. I get stressed if I do not have someone who I am close to in the area. I like to have an influence on my environment, but I do not have to control it at all times. My high need for achievement is my motivation to do my schoolwork well and keep up a high job performance. It keeps me from slacking off in the different areas of my life.
Terms: Acquired social need, Social need, Quasi-need, Incentive, Need for Achievement, Atkinson’s model of achievement motivation, Dynamics-of-action model, instigation, inhibition, consummation, stream of behavior, Need for Affiliation, Need for Intimacy, Need for Power
The chapter talks about the two different categories of acquired social needs. The first is social needs and the other is quasi needs. Quasi needs are more situationally baseda nd comes from the urgency to want to meet a specific environmental demand such as getting a high GPA or wanting to make a lot of money. Social needs are different as in they come from our personal experiences and our own history.
There are four major social needs and each one of these needs motivate our behavior. The first one is the need for achievement. We want to feel we are doing something well so we can feel personal competence. This motivates us to try harder and to do better. I would rate myself as medium to high on my need for achievement. When I first decided to go back to school, everyone was so proud of me and it made me feel that much better. I look forward to graduation not only for me and knowing that I did it, but after having a baby young and going to college later, graduation with my BA is much more of an achievement for me than most others in my family. I was just going to go for my AA at first, and after satisfying my need for achievement there and everyone being so proud for just that, I wanted to make it a challenge to go on for my BA and fulfill again my need for achievement. I also would say I have a medium to high need for achievement at work. I feel I was blessed with the job I have now and feel very lucky to be in that position, so therefor I try really hard to prove that I am grateful for it and that they made the right decision putting me in that position. My supervisors are very good at praising and letting people know in many ways they are doing a good job, and the more praise and acknowledgement I get in that position, I feel the harder I work to accomplish and achieve more, although I also see myself having a strong tendency to avoid failure, I rarely take on things I am not sure I will achieve. I am not afraid however, to take on competition, one of my greater motivators.
The next social need is the need for affiliation and intimacy. The need for affiliation is the need for establishing, mainitainng and restoring relationships with others, but mostly to avoid negative emotions such as loneliness. I know a lot of people that have a high need for affiliation, mostly because I work with teenage girls. I see it every day, they do and say things that they think will make people like them more. I had a girl a few weeks ago (13 years old) who told me she wanted to get pregnant because she sees all the attention the other 13 year old girl in her middle school is getting. This took a lot to get her to say this, but she eventually admitted to me why she wanted to get pregnant at such a young age. Her need to feel like she had friends and that other people would talk to her and rub her belly, made her want to risk her entire teenage years and her life. I see a high need with other teens though on a daily basis that isn’t so extreme just the way they talk with their friends, the words they use and way they dress, but when I talk to them one on one, they have a completely different way of speaking. They want to feel as if they belong. I would have to say that now I have a low need for affiliation, mostly because I am happy with who and what I am affiliated with, but I will have to admit that in high school and middle school it was higher.
the need for intimacy is the need to engage in close, personal, warm relationships that promote positive emotions. I would say that I have a high need for intimacy, but that it is very well met. It is very important to me to have stable and strong relationships. I spend a lot of time interacting with others including my daughter, fiancé, family, friends, co workers, etc. I think it is important to maintain these relationships and it is also important to me that they are reciprocal.
The need for power is the desire for making the physical and social world conform to a person’s image for it. These people strive for leadership and recognition, and also sometimes have impulses of aggression and lots of times have prestige possessions. I have a very low need for power, I strive for equality in a lot of things I do. I will take a leadership role if needed, but don’t always like to be the leader. There can be some negative aspects of people with a high need for power, however, we need these people too for roles such as CEO’s, Presidents, etc.
I think my highest social need would be the need for achievement. I want to feel competent in all I do, and do like to hear I am doing a good job. Because of this high need, I am always trying to tell others when they are doing a good job, whether or not I know there need for achievement is as high as mine.
Terms used: Quasi needs, social needs, achievement, tendency to avoid failure, competition, affiliation, intimacy, power, aggressiveness, prestige possessions,
Chapter 7 begins by distinguishing between two types of acquired needs: quasi-needs and social needs. Quasi-needs are situationally induced wants and desires that promote a sense of psychological sense of tension, pressure, and urgency within us. This false need is deficiency-oriented and situationally reactive. Some examples of quasi-needs include money, a secure job, and a career plan.
The main focus of the chapter, however, was on the second type of acquired need: social needs. Social needs are acquired through experience, development, and socialization, and while they are partially determined by one’s up bringing, these personality characteristics emerge and change over time. These needs are reactive in nature. We experience them as emotional and behavioral potentials that are activated by particular situational incentives. Through our experiences, we learn the incentive value of a particular situation and therefore, when we come across a similar situation the social need is activated.
The first social need discussed in the chapter was achievement, which is defined as the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. A standard of excellence was defined as any challenge to a person’s sense of competence that ends with an objective outcome, such as success or failure. People’s emotional reactions vary when faced with a standard of excellence; people with high achievement need experience approach-oriented emotions whereas people with low achievement need experience avoidance-oriented emotions. The origins of achievement need are multi-faceted. These mechanisms include socialization influences (such as parental standards of excellence and high-ability self-concepts), cognitive influences (such as mastery orientation and optimistic attribution style), and developmental influences. The classic model to explain achievement need is Atkinson’s Model, which says that achievement behavior is determined by more than achievement need. In fact, there are three variables that predict achievement behavior: 1) need for achievement, 2) probability of success, and 3) incentive for success. Atkinson’s model also explains achievement-avoidance behaviors through: 1) motivation to avoid failure, 2) probability of failure, and 3) incentive to avoid failure. Another model used to explain achievement behavior is the Dynamics-of-Action model, which says achievement behavior occurs within a stream of ongoing behavior. The stream of behavior is influenced by instigation, inhibition, and consummation.
Another point worth mentioned regarding the need for achievement are the two achievement goals people might have: mastery or performance goals. A person with a mastery goal wants to develop their competence and make progress towards a particular challenge whereas someone with a performance goal wishes to demonstrate or prove their competence or do better than others. This distinction is important because it has been found that those who adopt a mastery goal rather than performance goal are more likely to prefer challenging tasks that offer learning opportunities, use conceptually based learning strategies, experience more intrinsic motivation than extrinsic motivation, and are more likely to ask for information or help.
The second social need discussed in chapter seven was the need for affiliation and intimacy. Affiliation is defined as establishing, maintaining, or restoring a positive, affective relationship with another person or persons. Generally, this is seen as a negative trait because it gives rise to anxiety and can be perceived as “needy”. On the other hand, intimacy need is defined as a willingness to experience a warm, close, and communicative exchange with another person. While affiliation need is a deficiency-oriented motive (meaning, the need is expressed when faced with a lack of social contact), intimacy need is a growth-oriented motive that is activated when a person is in a warm and close relationship.
The third and final need discussed in this chapter was power, or the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one’s personal image or plan for it. A high need for power is also associated with a need for dominance, reputation, status, or position. There is four conditions that are known to involve and satisfy the power need: 1) leadership positions, 2) aggressiveness/aggressive impulses, 3) influential occupations (such as a political leader or teacher) and 4) prestige possessions.
The most surprising thing I learned from chapter seven was the implications behind how one views personality characteristics. If you view personality characteristics, such as intelligence, as being static (or “entity theorists”) then you are more likely to have negative motivational responses to negative feedback or tasks that require a large amount of effort. On the other hand, if you view personality characteristics as dynamic or changing (called “incremental theorists”), then you are more likely to adopt positive motivational responses to difficult tasks and negative feedback. I found this interesting because I had not thought about how my perceptions of abilities might be influencing how I approached tasks (or standards of excellence).
If I had to rate myself on the social needs, I would say that I have a high need for achievement, a low need for affiliation, a high need for intimacy, and a medium need for power. Because my need for achievement and intimacy are the highest, I often value these aspects of my life the most. When I feel deficient in my achievement or intimacy need, it has a stronger impact on my psychological well-being than a deficit in my affiliation need. Therefore, I place greater emphasis on the tasks that involve my achievement and intimacy needs. I would say that I have a high need for achievement due to my high level of motivation towards school work and test performance. While at first I was concerned that my achievement orientation was focused on performance goals (such as my grades or GRE scores), I think that I have a large amount of mastery goals as well because I often get frustrated when I am not able to grasp a concept. While getting the question right satisfies some of my fellow classmates, I am more concerned about understanding how they got their answer. So while my sense of achievement is derived somewhat by my performance, I also place a lot of emphasis on mastery goals. An example of my achievement need in school could be my active participation in class and my ability to ask questions until I have fully grasped a concept. Because I place more emphasis on the mastery goals, I am more likely to be persistent in my achievement behaviors (such as by asking for help or asking for clarification).
Terms: quasi-needs, social needs, achievement, standard of excellence, Atkinson’s, Dynamics-of-Action model, mastery goal, performance goal, affiliation, intimacy, power, entity theorists, incremental theorists
Chapter seven explains needs. The two acquired needs are social needs and quasi-needs. Social needs are met through experience, development, and socialization. Quasi-needs (true needs) are a person’s wants and desires. The affect how we act, think, and feel. Social needs can motivate behavior; there are four types of social needs: achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Achievement is doing something well to show personal competence. Affiliation is an opportunity to please others and gain their approval. Intimacy is defined as a warm or secure relationship. And power is having impact on others.
The chapter continues by explaining the Atkinson’s model which includes the dynamics-of-action model. It is expressed as Ts= Ms x Ps x Is. The contemporary view of the Atkinson’s model centers around the goals people adopt in achievement situations. The dynamics-of-action model includes: instigation, inhibition, and consummation. Instigation causes rise in approach tendencies and occurs by confronting environmental stimuli associated with past rewards. Inhibition causes rise in avoidance tendencies and occurs by confronting environmental stimuli associated with past punishment. Consummation refers to the fact that performing an activity brings about its own cessation. The chapter then goes on to discuss implicit theories. People have different implicit theories and that means they will have different goals. Meaning every person is different in what goals they make and how they go about reaching their goals.
The most interesting thing I learned in the chapter was about intimacy and affiliation. I always have a feeling that I need to keep in touch with my high school friends and what is going on in their lives. I used to think this was just because I was a good friend but my need for affiliation is what keeps my drive for an interpersonal relationship continuing. I also found it interesting that people do have different levels of anxiety and everyone deals with fear differently. Some may want to be around others before something stressful while others like to be alone.
If I had to rate myself on the social needs I would say that I am high because being a college student and trying to figure out my future and make ends meet requires a lot of motivation to achieve. I have a high sense of achievement because I know I will need to compete against others for my job and I am going to need to be the best I can be. I have always enjoyed achieving rewards and pursuing new dreams.
I would give myself a rating of high on affiliation and intimacy. I really enjoy having friends around me and a family to support me. I like having others to keep me motivated and to share my experiences with. I am a huge people person. I believe that by knowing and learning from others I will experience things in life that I never could myself. And there is the classic saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
I would rate myself low on power. I have never been the extremely powerful person. I believe everything happens for a reason and if I work hard enough I will achieve my goal. I can’t control everything in my life, so thinking that I can over-power anyone will never be good for me. I can only control myself. Other people and outside factors I really have a minimal chance to control.
The one social need that motivates me very highly in my life right now would be achievement. I am going to need to continue achieving good grades and good resume builders to achieve my goal of employment after college. The social need of achievement also helps me stay motivated to go to work because I need to achieve the task of paying for rent and groceries every month. For the past couple of months to goal to achieve a “beach body” has also kept me motivated to go to the gym.
Terms: social needs, quasi- needs, acquired needs, achievement, intimacy, affiliation, power, motivation, Atkinson’s model, dynamics-of-action model, implicit theories, instigation, inhibition, consummation.
Chapter 7
This chapter was about quasi-needs and social needs that are both acquired from psychological needs. Quasi-needs are wants and desires induced from a situation that arise out of a psychological context of tension and urgency to meet some specific environmental demand. This want could include the need to get a high grade point or needing money. Social needs arise from an individual’s personal experiences and unique development, cognitive, and socialization histories. They are more enduring than quasi-needs and act as emotional and behavioral potentials activated by situational incentives. The need-activating incentive for achievement would be doing something well to show personal competence. Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. A high need for achievement makes people’s emotions and behaviors approach-oriented such as hope, where as people with a low need for achievement have a high fear of failure and respond with avoidance-oriented emotions and behaviors such as anxiety. The dynamics-of-action model states that ongoing achievement behavior is determined by instigation, inhibition, and consummation, which is the need for achievement, fear of failure, and achievement behavior. Atikinson’s classic model of achievement shows the difference between behavioral vs avoidance approaches which involves the need of achievement, probability and incentives for success, as well as the individual’s fear of, probability for, and incentive to avoid failure. There are three types of achievement goals; performance-approach predicted by the need for achievement, performance-avoidance predicted by the fear of failure, and mastery predicted by high competency expectancies. Mastery and performance-approach goals are generally associated with achievement and positive outcomes whereas performance-avoidance goals are not. A need-activating incentive for affiliation would be an opportunity to please others and gain their approval. It involves establishing, maintaining, and restoring relationships with others in order to avoid or escape negative emotions such as loneness or disapproval. There are two parts to striving for affiliation; rejection anxiety which is the need for affiliation and affiliation interest which is the need for intimacy. A warm and secure relationship that holds little threat of rejection would be an inventive for intimacy. The need for power would be having an impact on others. The leadership motive pattern consists of three needs including the high need for power, low need for intimacy, and high inhibition. Implicit theories reveal whether people think their personal qualities are entity theorists that are fixed and enduring or incremental theorists that are malleable and can be increased. Implicit theorists predict the type of goals that people choose to pursue, entity theorists adopt performance goals, and incremental theorists adopt learning goals. Entity theorists believe that high efforts mean low ability, whereas incremental theorists are more adaptive in their views of effortful and persistent work.
The most surprising thing that I read was that the need for intimacy holds little threat of reaction. It makes sense, but when I think of people in serious relationships, I automatically think of people not trusting each other’s feelings for one another. This is funny because scientifically, if you are in a serious (intimate) relationship, you should not be threatened with the fear of rejection. I unfortunately would classify myself have being anxious sometimes so I would say my need for achievement is low because I am more afraid of failure than many things. I think I have a high need for affiliation and intimacy because I love to constantly be surrounded by family and friends. Relationships are an important priority in my life. I think my need for power is medium because I like to make a good impression to people and want to have an impact, but I also don’t want to control or dictate anyone else’s emotions or behaviors except my own.
One social need that motivates specific behaviors in my life would be the need for affiliation. It makes me behave in such a way that isn’t for the benefit of just me but others as well. I plan what I do throughout my day based on the schedules of my friends or family so I can spend as much time with those people as I am allowed. The need makes me want to be around people majority of the time and motivates me to avoid the feeling of loneliness.
Terms: quasi-social need, social need, affiliation, achievement, intimacy, power, dynamics-of-action model, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, mastery, need-activating incentive
Chapter 7 is about acquired psychological needs. The two needs discussed are quasi needs and social needs. The difference between these two needs are that they are socially derived rather than innate.
Quasi needs are situationally induced desires and wants that are not actual full blown needs. They originate from situatinal demands and pressures and dissapear once they are satisfied. An example used in the book was the desire for an umbrella when it starts raining. This desire disspears when an umbrella is presented, showing that it is not essentially neccessary for life growth and well being. Also, no one is born with a desire for an umbrella. Quasi needs are defficiency oriented and stiuationally reactive. Thus the urgency of the need depends on the psychological tension of the defficiency and pressure from the environment
Social needs are derived from experience, development and socialization. There are four types of social needs that are each activated by different environmental incentives. Achievement needs are driven by the desire to show personal competence. Affiliation needs are driven by the desire to please others and gain approval. Intimacy needs are motivated by the desire for warm, secure relationships and Power needs are activated by situations that allow them to have impact on others.
Achievement needs are fulfilled in relation to a population standard. Individulas with a high need for achievement respond to incentives with approach-oriented emotions and behaviors. Individuals with a low need for achievment respond with avoidance oriented emotions and behaviors. Achievement behavior is not only determined by need for achievement and fear of failure, but also by the the behavior itself.
Power needs are motivated by the desire to conform ones environement and social world. High power need individuals generally have low need for affiliation. Affiliation is categorized by by the need for affiliation and need for intimacy. Affiliation needs are driven by desires to avoid negative behaviors such as isolation and intimacy needs are driven by the motivation to develop positive relationships.
The most surprising thing I learned about was how strongly tendency to avoid failure affects the probablilty of success. I was also surprised that avoidance behavior affects achievemnt need.
I would rate myself as medium-low for achievement needs, high for affiliation and intimacy needs and medium-low on power needs. I am most driven by my interpersonl relationships and sometimes paralyzingly motivated by my desire to impress others and gain their approval.
I realized that my medium-low achievement needs are almost completely defined by my fear of failure. I realized this because I value achievement highly and I'm confident that I approach almost anything I do with a low probability of failure. That is, I really think I am capable of doing anything. At the same time however, I am deblitatingly affected by my fear of failure. I allow challenges to stop me in my tracks and shut me down. I'm not sure why, but I wish I could make this need more of a priority than my need for affiliation.
Terms: Social needs, Quasi needs, achievement needs, affiliation needs, intimacy needs, power needs, socialization influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, atkinsons's model, achievement behavior, Instigation, inhibition, consummation, entity theorists, incremental theorists, leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations and prestige possessions
The main focus of chapter 7 is social needs. These needs are achievement, affiliation and intimacy, and power. Social needs are acquired through socialization, development and personal experiences. It has been found that through the use of incentives, that predicts our behavior in certain domains. We find pleasure and competence in these certain areas in what is important to us.
The first social need, achievement is described as being the desire to do well comparative to a standard of excellence. There have been differences found in individuals that have a high need of achievement vs. a low need for achievement. The individuals with a high need have been found to choose more difficult tasks, persist in difficulty, have a better performance because of their pride, as well as taking responsibility for their successes and failures. The need for achievement is influenced by socialization, cognitive and development influences.
Future achievement orientation is a person’s psychological distance from a long-term goal. The more immediate goals take priority over these long-term goals, which put off the approach to the task. The dynamic-of-action model is also important to the need of achievement. Achievement occurs during a constant line of other behaviors. These other behaviors depend on instigation (hope for success), inhibition (fear of failure), and consummation (an activity ending on its own). The achievement need can be satisfied by performing moderately difficult tasks, having competition, and having opportunities for entrepreneurship.
The Atkinson’s Model is the classical model described in the text. It describes the need for achievement depending on a person’s need for achievement as well as their probability of succeeding at the task and the incentive that goes along with succeeding. He also points out that individuals go back and forth between approaching the task and avoiding the task. This approach versus avoidance also shows up in future achievement orientation. The other main model is the contemporary model. This model focuses on why a person shows achievement behavior rather than whether is occurs. There are two main goals in the contemporary model: mastery goals and performance goals. Mastery goals are about the persons’ competence and performance developing. Performance goals is actually interacting in the task and proving their competence and their ability to outperform others.
The second social need, affiliation and intimacy, is defined as creating and maintaining a positive relationship with others. The main root of affiliation is the fear of interpersonal rejection. People that are high in affiliation seek approval and intimacy; this can make them look needy. The more positive side of this need is intimacy. It is the growth, warmth and personal closeness between individuals. People who are high in intimacy and affiliation are more likely to join social groups, spend a lot of time interacting with other people and maintaining relationships. This need can be satisfied by relatedness in a close and warm relationship.
The final social need is power. Power is described in the text as the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one’s plans for it. Impact (establishing power), Control (maintaining power), and influence (expanding or restoring power) are used by individuals with a high need of power. They seek recognition in groups by making themselves visible to others and attempting to create at influence on them. A high need for power creates poor personal romantic relationships and also creates high aggressiveness in the individual.
The most surprising thing I learned in this chapter was the difference between affiliation and intimacy. I actually have been dealing with some issues with my friends in this category and now it is all making sense. I think many of us know that person who is very “needy”. I have found that my friend that acts in this way, in the past year, has really started to bother me. She is constantly looking to be around people and looks down on others (me) who are okay with shopping for groceries by myself. It’s interesting that a concept that seems so similar is actually quite the opposite.
If I had to rate myself on these three needs, I would rate myself highest in achievement. Like the text said, these needs can adapt over time. In high school I would have been high in affiliation and intimacy, but in the past couple years it’s not as important to be and competence has become more important. I find more pleasure in succeeding in school and in certain areas then constantly worrying about making the wrong move with my friends. Currently, I would say I am medium on the affiliation and intimacy level and low on the power level. I enjoy having autonomy, but not control over others.
As I have previously stated, now striving for achievement has become more important to me. In previous years if I had a test the next day I may have put off studying to go out with my friends. Now, I take pride in my work and I don’t want to look stupid by doing poorly on a test. It has changed my behaviors and choices lately.
Terms used: Social needs, achievement, affiliation and intimacy, power, Atkinson’s Model, future achievement orientation, dynamic-of-action model, contemporary model, mastery goals, performance goals, impact, influence, control
Chapter 7 talks about Quasi-needs and Social needs. Quasi-needs are situationally induced wants and desires that are not actually full-blown needs in the same sense that physiological, psychological, and social needs are. Social needs are an acquired psychological process that grows out of one’s socialization history that activates emotional responses to a particular need-relevant incentive. Human acquire social needs through experience, development and socialization. The book talks about four main Social needs: achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power.
Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. A person can be measured as a high-need-for-achievement person or a low-need-for-achievement person. High-need-for-achievement individuals generally respond with approach oriented emotions and behaviors. High-need-for-achievement individuals usually engage in moderately difficult tasks, put forth more effort to perform better, and take personal responsibility for success or failure. The Atkinson’s classical model of achievement is a multiplication formula that involves an individuals need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success (Ts = Ms x Ps x Is). As well as calculating an individual’s fear of failure, probability of failure, and incentive to avoid failure (Taf = Maf x Pf x If).
The second and third social needs the book talks about are Affiliation and Intimacy. Affiliation involves establishing, maintaining, and restoring relationships with others, mostly to escape from and to avoid negative emotions such as disapproval and loneness. Basically it gives you an opportunity to please others and gain their approval. Intimacy is the social motive for engaging in warm, close, positive interpersonal relationships that produce positive emotions and hold little threat of rejection.
The fourth and final social need the book talks about is Power. Power is the desires for making the physical and social world conform to one’s personal image for it. Basically is having an impact on others. People with high power need usually strive for power positions, recognition in smaller groups, and amass prestige positions. Leadership motive pattern is common in high need for power individuals. Leadership motive pattern consists of a threefold pattern of needs, involving high need for power, low need for intimacy, and high inhibition, most U.S. presidents possess these qualities.
If I were to rate myself for the four social needs I would have to say that I was a medium for achievement because yes there thing that I want to achieve, but I don’t perform well on difficult tasks, high in affiliation because I like to have relationship s that I can turn to when needed, medium for intimacy because I don’t need that close feeling, but sometimes it is nice to have it, and low for power because I don’t need to have power over people to feel good.
I have to say of the four social needs Affiliation is the most important in my life because of the importance of friendships and it motivates me to go out and just be myself , even if people don’t like me for me, because of the relationships that I already have and knowing that I don’t need people that don’t like be because I have plenty of friends that do.
Terms: Quasi-Needs, Social-Needs, Achievement, High-Need-For-Achievement, Atkinson’s Classical Model of Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, Power, High-Power-Need, Leadership Motive Pattern
Chapter seven talks about and breaks down social needs to their basic components. Social need are an acquired need that are gained through experience, different from quasi needs, that are on the spot induced wants and desires that can fade away once the need is satisfied. It is this reason that quasi needs are not considered actual full-blown needs. The way that social needs influence emotional and behavioral potential is through situational incentives that are keyed to that particular individual.
Social needs are broken down into four types, and the first one is achievement. A need that is a challenge to a person’s sense of competence that leads to either success or failure. Achievement is comprised of one’s social influences which are (independence, aspiration, standards, and self-concepts), cognitive influences (self-perception, expectations, and optimism), and developmental influences (development of how people think over their life span).
There are two way to explain achievement, classical and contemporary approach. The classical approach takes a view from the Atkinson’s model that states achievement behavior comes from: the need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success, in which the individual can approach success or avoid failure. This approach also includes the dynamic-of-action model, that theorizes that ongoing behavior is determined by instigation (approach from past rewards), inhibition (avoid those from past failures), and consummation (behavior decreases over a prolonged activity). In order to satisfy these needs there has to be a moderately difficult task (provides a mix of skills that motivate high-need more than low-need achievement), competition (to evaluate one’s self), and entrepreneurship (that offers challenge). The other approach, contemporary, is different from classical in that it is interested in why a person shows achievement behavior. It does this through two main achievement goals, mastery and performance. Mastery goals strive to make progress for one-self (intrinsic) were performance goals are bout doing better than others (extrinsic).
The next social needs are affiliation and intimacy (the need for approval and the need to engage in a warm relation). Affiliation deals with negative aspects such as anxious need to establish, maintain, and restore interpersonal relationships. Intimacy (affiliation strivings), deal with the more positive aspects like growth needs through warm close, and positive relations. The last social need is power (the desire to make the environment in one’s image). This desire can be explained through impact (establish power), control (maintain power), and influence (expand or restore power). This need can be satisfied by leadership (recognition from others), aggressive impulses, influential occupations (power to control others), and prestige possessions (any tangible object of power). One thing that people high in power tend to lack is a meaningful relationship, more so for the male figure.
The one thing I found to be the most surprising is the difference in high-power women verse high-power men. For a male we fare poorly in relationships and even worse in marriage, in both dating and marriage women don’t suffer the same outcome. They are able to resist using interpersonal relationships to satisfy their need for power. I would rate myself as medium on the scale of achievement needs because I do what I can to the best of my abilities when I am presented with a challenge, if it be competition or entrepreneurship, if it ends in success or failure. When it comes to affiliation and intimacy I’d have to rate myself a low and medium-high. Affiliation has never really been a deep rooted fear for me in the sense of being interpersonally rejected and intimacy would have to be a medium….medium-high. I do think frequently about friends and relationships which puts me in the category of interaction style (self-discloser, intense listening habits, and conversations). Then there is the need for power with a rating close to low. I lead when no one else wants to, aggressive when I need to be, an occupation is an occupation to me, and I don’t have to many prestige possessions. If I had to choose a social need that motivates my behavior the most it would have to affiliation. Wanting those relationships with friends and family pushes me to succeed in my achievement, if that be education or a job that calls for a higher power need.
Terms: Social need, quasi need, achievement, social influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, classical and contemporary approach, Atkinson’s model, dynamic-of-action model, instigation, inhibition, consummation, moderately difficult task, competition, entrepreneurship, mastery and performance goals, affiliation, intimacy, affiliation strivings, power, impact, control, influence, leadership, aggressive impulses, influential occupations, prestige possessions
Chapter 7 Social Needs. This chapter discusses two categories of acquired needs: social and quasi-needs. Quasi-needs are situational induced wants and desires that are not actually full-blown needs in the same sense that physiological, psychological, and social needs are. Quasi-needs originate from situational demands and pressures such as needing to pay the rent bill and the need to get married in our 20's. Social needs arise and activate emotional and behavioral potential when need-satisfying incentives appear. Social needs are mostly reactive in nature. The need for achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. People’s emotional reactions vary when facing standards of excellence. High need for achievement individuals generally respond with approach-oriented emotions and behaviors, whereas low need for achievement individuals generally respond with avoidance-oriented emotions and behaviors. Within an achievement situation, three types of achievement goals exist: performance- approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery.
Affiliation striving have two facets: the need for affiliation and the need for intimacy. The need for affiliation involves establishing, maintaining, and restoring relationships with others, mostly to escape from and to avoid negative emotions such as disapproval and loneliness. The need for intimacy is the social motive for engaging in warm, close, positive interpersonal relationships that produce positive emotions and hold little threat of rejection. Participating in warm reciprocal, and enduring relationships constitutes the condition that satisfies the need for intimacy.
The need for power is the desire for making the physical and social world conform to one's personal image for it. High-power-need individuals strive for leadership and recognition in small groups, experience frequent impulses of aggression, prefer influential occupations, and amass prestige possessions.
Something interesting that I learned was that the principal condition that involves the need for affiliation is the deprivation from social interaction. The need for affiliation expresses itself as a deficiency-oriented motive. I found that I am high in the intimacy need. I like to interact with others and get to know more personal information and history about many friends. I've found that when I've been working on homework for hours that I feel the need to make contact with one of my friends. I use this as a driving force to get my homework done faster so that I can go hang out with them afterwords. I have also found that I laugh and smile more than others.
Terms: Affiliation, intimacy, power, negative emotions, loneliness, social motive, interpersonal, aggression, high-power-need, avoidance-oriented, behaviors, performance-approach, mastery.
Chapter 7
Chapter seven was all about acquired needs which include social needs and quasi-needs. These two types of needs are different from the other needs that we have talked about because unlike physiological and psychological needs, acquired needs are not programmed into us when we are born we learn them through our own social and personal experiences. Quasi-needs are a little bit different in the respect that they are not full-blown needs and only arise because of certain situations or circumstances. The book gave the example of wanting an umbrella because it was raining outside; or needing money because you have bills to pay and you are short on cash. Quasi-needs also disappear once we get what we want or we no longer find ourselves in that situation. For example even if you never got that umbrella but it stopped raining you wouldn’t need it anymore anyway. Social needs however are a little more complex and don’t go away quite so easily. The book listed four main social needs which are achievement, affiliation, intimacy and power.
I found the social need of achievement to be a lot like the psychological need of competence. However, achievement is much more complex and social rooted. Achievement is the need to do well relative to a standard of excellence. The three main influences of achievement are socialization influences, cognitive influences and developmental influences. Socialization influences can come from different sources but the main one we experience as children come from our parents. When parents set the stage with high but realistic performance standards as well as an environment rich in stimulation potential, the need for achievement blossoms. Cognitive influences comes from certain ways of thinking such as perceptions of high ability, mastery orientation, high expectations for success, strong value in achievement, and optimistic attributional style. Developmental influences are very prevalent in children who are notorious for overestimating their abilities and ignoring negative feedback such as low scores this allows them to not feel bad or shame. As we grow we start to look at these negative feedback signs and don’t always participate in activities we do poorly in. The book also gave two different models for predicting achievement. They are the Atkinson’s model, which is the classical viewed one, and the dynamics-of-action model, which is the more contemporary one. The Atkinson’s model had many components and produced the formula of Ta=Ts-Taf=(Ms*Ps*Is)-(Maf*Pf*If). In this formula Ta is the tendency to achieve, Ts is the tendency to approach success, and Taf is the tendency to avoid failure. Tendency to approach success is made of three components Ms (motive to succeed), Ps (perceived probability of success) and Is (incentive value of success). Tendency to avoid failure is also made of three very similar components of Maf (motive to avoid failure), Pf (probability of failure), and If (negative incentive value for failure). The dynamics-of-action model is similar to this model except it also incorporates the theory that what we do isn’t just a moment thing but may be motivated by a bigger picture for a long term goal. The second social goal was affiliation. This is the need to please others and gain approval. Intimacy is the desire to create warm secure relationships. If a person is high in intimacy needs they tend to create long-lasting, meaningful relationships. The last social need discussed was power. Power is the need to impact or influence others. The book talked about power having four main outlets. They are leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions. Leadership is a way for people to influence others whether or not this leadership role is just volunteering. Aggressiveness is another way for people to demonstrate power. Although the law is set against abuse or violence, people in aggressive sports are often in high need for power. Influential occupations can be another outlet. Some examples are teachers, psychologists, clergy and business executives. In all of these the person is in a position of authority or a position of giving advice/ rewards. Prestige possessions was the last example the book gave. These are items or power symbols that give the owner a superior feeling. They can include an expensive car, wine glasses, or even a gun. These possessions were the most surprising thing I learned in this chapter. I had no idea owning certain items could fulfill certain needs within a person.
If I had to rate myself in the different social needs it would be as follows: high/medium in achievement, high in affiliation, high intimacy, and low in power. I have always needed to be good at what I do. I work hard for good grades, the main reason so I can fulfill long term goals such as getting a good job. I’ve also always had a fairly high need to please people, I don’t like to see people sad or hurt. As far as intimacy goes I prefer close long-term friends as appose to the shorter superficial ones. This is probably why I’d rather spend the night sipping wine with my best friend watching a movie instead of going to a party. Power really doesn’t mean much to me. I have no desire to tell people what to do. The affiliation need has probably most influenced me by the fact that I want to be a physical therapist when I get older. This is a job that helps people better their lives and alleviates pain.
Terms: acquired needs, social needs, quasi-needs, achievement, socialization influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, Atkinson’s model, tendency to approach success, tendency to avoid failure, dynamics-of-action model, affiliation, intimacy, power, leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, prestige possessions
This chapter discusses social needs and quasi-needs. These are needs that we develop over time and not every person has the same level of each need, it all depends on how the person was socialized. Quasi-needs are things that we feel the need to do but do not satisfy any of our actual social needs. The books gave an example of putting a bandaid on a cut. There's really no need basis for doing so, but the environmental cues drive our behavior in that direction. Social needs are a reactive need. We act on fulfilling them when the situation we are in brings them to our attention. This can be either through the ability to fulfill our need (our intimacy need can be fulfilled because someone we love is nearby and can spend time with us) or because the need has not been fulfilled (we continually fail at a task and get agitated because our need for achievement is not being met).
The first need, achievement, basically means that we want to be good at what we do. Kids whose parent impose high standards of excellence on them typically show a high need for achievement later in life. This lends to the idea that these needs are socialized instead of automatic. People high in achievement needs are geared towards mastering projects and have a high opinion of their abilities. People who are not as high in achievement needs employ more avoidance-based strategies when presented with challenging opportunities.
The second need discussed is affiliation. This is the level to which somebody feels the need to please others and gain approval. Someone high in affiliation would be a people-pleaser who does things in order to make those around them happy and might overlook other needs in order to make it happen. A person low in affiliation need might have one of those 'couldn't care less' attitudes about the opinion of others and focus on meeting other needs before affiliation. Affiliation is also the need to simply be around others, and need for affiliation rises when a person is deprived of social contact for too long.
Affiliation leads to intimacy, where a person wants a more warm, loving relationship from some of the people he or she is affiliated with. Once affiliation needs are fulfilled, a person can move on to intimacy needs.
The final need discussed in power. The book describes power as having an impact on others, control over their actions, or being influential to another person. In other words, it's how strongly a person needs to control the world around them. People described as 'leaders' are typically those with higher need for power. People with high power needs also have high need of affiliation and being recognized for their actions. High need for power, however, does not directly translate into aggression or misuse of power. It simply means a person strives to be influential.
I was surprised at how much the book discussed achievement and then kindof just skimmed over the other needs and touched on quasi-needs at the very beginning.
I would rate myself as medium on achievement. I always thought I had a really high need for achievement because I strive to be good at everything I do and really push myself towards mastery, which is a characteristic of high achievement need, but upon reading this I also realized that my tendency to avoid any situation in which I feel like I wouldn't succeed is a characteristic of low achievement need. So I averaged them out and figure I'm probably about medium. I think I'm really high on affiliation and intimacy needs. I love to love people, and I hate it when people are unhappy or displeased, especially when it's directed at me. I think I'm also really low on the power needs. I would someday like to be influential in at lease one of my future patients' lives, but I'm totally okay with not really influencing anybody to change.
My high affiliation needs got me in trouble a LOT when I was younger. At first, my affiliation needs were fulfilled by being "that student" that sucked up to the teacher and did really well to get recognition and attention. After about second grade, I shifted my focus to gain affiliation need fulfillment from my peers. Unfortunately, said peers enjoyed breaking the rules and doing what they pleased. I spent a lot of time inside from recess and over lunch in the classroom in the corner when I was in elementary school. The punishments really never worked, and they actually might have been sort of rewarding to me, because all the kids I spent time with got in trouble with me, and it gave us a sense of togetherness and belonging to be singled out in front of the class and all forced to spend recess inside. It gave us something to talk about on the rare occasion we weren't in trouble and got to go outside. Everyone in our class knew that we were friends because we were always in the same trouble for the same things.
Terms: affiliation, intimacy, environment, social needs, quasi-needs, socialization, power, avoidance-oriented, aggression, mastery, impact, influence, control
This chapter focuses on social needs and quasi needs, which are two categories of psychological needs that both stem from environmental influences and have innate origins. The difference between the two is the types of influences. For instance, social needs evolve from social experiences or pressures, such as the need for achievement or wanting a brand new car. Whereas behaviors acted to fulfill quasi needs are induced by specific situations. Social needs vary within individuals based on their personal experiences while quasi needs stay relatively constant for every individual. For example, if it is raining nearly everyone will want an umbrella, but not everyone wants to go to college.
I was surprised to learn how complex the need for achievement is. Before taking this class, much of these characteristics seemed innate. I didn’t realize there were so many ways to manipulate your behaviors and motivation. I was interested in the tendency to approach success versus the tendency to avoid failure and Atkinson’s formula. I never realized there was a calculation for behavior.
Although the results for parental practices suggested that social needs are not set at an early age, but emerge over time, I am going to associate the research with my social needs ratings because I think it did have a great affect. I think I have a high need for affiliation because all throughout my childhood, my parents encouraged us to be social and active. Because of this, I love to be around people, make new friends and I have an extremely social personality. My parents never focused much on grades, unless they dropped significantly, which I think gave me a moderate need for achievement. If I received a B in a class, my parents praised me almost the same as if I got an A. They knew I was trying my best and were proud of me either way. Although it made high school easier for me, I would have pushed myself to do better if there were certain punishments or incentives for getting better grades. In addition, I have a low need for power. My parents were never in a position of power in their career which I think followed them home. They never punished me for anything because everything was based on trust. I have many leadership characteristics, but I also prefer to work with people. If I am in a situation that needs to be controlled I take initiative, but I don’t feel the need to have power over others.
My high need for affiliation manifests in my jobs. The majority of my jobs have been in the restaurant business, which always requires teamwork. In most cases, I was able to develop a strong social network with my co-workers. My moderate need for achievement has been displayed in my past years of college, excluding this semester. The first year I was more concerned with my social life than my academics. Recently I have been intrinsically motivated to do my best, perhaps because it is my last semester and I want to prove to myself that I can handle 20 credits and still maintain a job and a social life. I’m hoping this semester will prepare me for the real world. Lastly, my low need for power is displayed in my everyday activities. I am not a member of any committee on campus, or involved in any extracurricular activities, so I’m somewhat passive throughout. With this in mind, I have an optimistic attributional style of thinking. I am trying to set up a fundraiser for Autism, which will bring pride to my success.
Everyone strives for achievement at some point in their life. As I mentioned before, I have never felt the need to do great or better than others, I just wanted to get by. However, now that I am approaching graduation I am realizing that reality is going to catch up with me. Even if I don’t want to compete with others, it is inevitable because employers want to hire someone that is in control and has a high need for achievement. This can be seen as an instigator, because I am approaching success. My social need for achievement has developed into a “want”. I want to graduate, I want to get good grades, and I want to get a good job.
Terms: social needs, psychological needs, quasi needs, affiliation, achievement, power, punishments, incentives, intrinsically motivated, passive, optimistic attributional style, instigation,Tendency to approach success, tendency to avoid failure.
This chapter focuses on social needs and quasi needs, which are two categories of psychological needs that both stem from environmental influences and have innate origins. The difference between the two is the types of influences. For instance, social needs evolve from social experiences or pressures, such as the need for achievement or wanting a brand new car. Whereas behaviors acted to fulfill quasi needs are induced by specific situations. Social needs vary within individuals based on their personal experiences while quasi needs stay relatively constant for every individual. For example, if it is raining nearly everyone will want an umbrella, but not everyone wants to go to college.
I was surprised to learn how complex the need for achievement is. Before taking this class, much of these characteristics seemed innate. I didn’t realize there were so many ways to manipulate your behaviors and motivation. I was interested in the tendency to approach success versus the tendency to avoid failure and Atkinson’s formula. I never realized there was a calculation for behavior.
Although the results for parental practices suggested that social needs are not set at an early age, but emerge over time, I am going to associate the research with my social needs ratings because I think it did have a great affect. I think I have a high need for affiliation because all throughout my childhood, my parents encouraged us to be social and active. Because of this, I love to be around people, make new friends and I have an extremely social personality. My parents never focused much on grades, unless they dropped significantly, which I think gave me a moderate need for achievement. If I received a B in a class, my parents praised me almost the same as if I got an A. They knew I was trying my best and were proud of me either way. Although it made high school easier for me, I would have pushed myself to do better if there were certain punishments or incentives for getting better grades. In addition, I have a low need for power. My parents were never in a position of power in their career which I think followed them home. They never punished me for anything because everything was based on trust. I have many leadership characteristics, but I also prefer to work with people. If I am in a situation that needs to be controlled I take initiative, but I don’t feel the need to have power over others.
My high need for affiliation manifests in my jobs. The majority of my jobs have been in the restaurant business, which always requires teamwork. In most cases, I was able to develop a strong social network with my co-workers. My moderate need for achievement has been displayed in my past years of college, excluding this semester. The first year I was more concerned with my social life than my academics. Recently I have been intrinsically motivated to do my best, perhaps because it is my last semester and I want to prove to myself that I can handle 20 credits and still maintain a job and a social life. I’m hoping this semester will prepare me for the real world. Lastly, my low need for power is displayed in my everyday activities. I am not a member of any committee on campus, or involved in any extracurricular activities, so I’m somewhat passive throughout. With this in mind, I have an optimistic attributional style of thinking. I am trying to set up a fundraiser for Autism, which will bring pride to my success.
Everyone strives for achievement at some point in their life. As I mentioned before, I have never felt the need to do great or better than others, I just wanted to get by. However, now that I am approaching graduation I am realizing that reality is going to catch up with me. Even if I don’t want to compete with others, it is inevitable because employers want to hire someone that is in control and has a high need for achievement. This can be seen as an instigator, because I am approaching success. My social need for achievement has developed into a “want”. I want to graduate, I want to get good grades, and I want to get a good job.
Terms: social needs, psychological needs, quasi needs, affiliation, achievement, power, punishments, incentives, intrinsically motivated, passive, optimistic attributional style, instigation,Tendency to approach success, tendency to avoid failure, Atkinson's Mode, leadership,
Chapter 7 discusses social needs. These needs are acquired throughout our lives. The two main groups of needs discussed in chapter 7 are social and quasi needs.
Quasi needs are simpler needs which are short-term, or rather situational induced needs or wants. For example, when we have a bill that’s due, we have a need for money to pay that specific bill. Or, as the textbook states as an example, if we are outside and it begins to rain, we have a need or want for an umbrella so we do not get wet. Once the immediate need is satiated, built-up tension declines and we no longer have that need.
Social needs are more long-term and are acquired through experiences during the course of our lives, socialization with others and also through our own personal development. The four types of social needs we learn about in chapter 7 are: 1) achievement, 2) affiliation, 3) intimacy, and 4) power. The condensed definitions of these four terms are as follows; achievement refers to doing something well to show one’s personal competence, affiliation is having the opportunity to please others and also gain their approval, intimacy involves having warm, secure relationships in our lives, and finally, power refers to our impact we have on/over others. Where a person rates as far as social needs importance (high or low) motivates his/her behavior, and can be either positive or negative. For instance, someone with a strong need for power may be more motivated to try for a higher-ranking, more competitive job position, and in doing so, positive feelings are felt. Another individual with a low affiliation need may become extremely nervous before a school dance, causing hesitation about going.
The book breaks down these four social needs a bit more. First, achievement is discussed. This social need motivates us to seek out success, and encompasses the competitions we may have with ourselves, with others, or with tasks themselves. Over time and through experience, the high need for achievement will have been cultivated through previous instances where he/she succeeded, reached a standard of personal excellence, and became energized by these experiences. Emotions which are approach-oriented are gained from a high need for achievement. The go-getter attitude of the ambitious competitive job-seeker displays approach-oriented emotions, whereas a low need may give way to avoidance-oriented emotions, causing a person to shy away from higher-ranking job positions. Behaviors related to achievement are: choice, latency, effort, and persistence.
As I stated previously, social needs are acquired through socialization with others, through experiences during the course of our lives and also through our own personal development. The need for achievement is no different. Its origins lie in: I) socialization experiences from when we are very young children up until adulthood (to the present), II) cognitive aspects such as having perceptions of high ability, having high expectations for success, or a strong value for achievement, and III) developmental influences stemming from early childhood into middle childhood, and eventually reaching late childhood where our level of achievement is set.
Chapter 7 discusses Atkinson’s Model, which is the classical “Dynamics of Action Model” previously used to study achievement behaviors. This model stated that achievement behavior occurs within a stream of ongoing behavior, which is determined by: instigation, inhibition, and consummation. Instigation occurs by confronting an environmental stimuli associated with past reward (approach tendencies), inhibition occurs due to prior punishments (avoidance tendencies), and consummation refers to the fact that performing an activity brings about its own cessation. This model holds that achievement behavior is always changing (dynamic).
A contemporary model discussed in this chapter involves a more cognitive approach to study achievement behaviors. This approach focuses on the goals people adopt during achievement. There are four variables involved with this approach: achievement behavior and its three predictors- need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success. The formula for the tendency to approach success reads: Ts = Ms x Ps x Is and the formula for the tendency to avoid failure reads: Taf = Maf x Pf x If, where T = tendency, s = success, I = incentive, P = probability, f = failure, Ms = motivational force to seek out achievement situations, and Maf = motivational force to escape from achievement situations. With regard to Atkinson’s Model, instigation refers to Ts, while inhibition refers to Taf.
Moderately difficult tasks, competition, and entrepreneurship are all situations that involve and satisfy the need for achievement. When studying achievement, Atkinson’s classical approach looked at whether achievement was approached (success/ failure), while the contemporary approach focused on WHY a person shows achievement behavior. The latter approach has two goals: mastery goals, and performance goals. Mastery goals (positive feelings) are achieved when self-set standards are reached, while performance goals (negative feelings) mean doing better than others.
An integrated model of Atkinson’s and the contemporary has been established, with goals including mastery goals, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance behaviors. Obviously we want more performance-approach goals since those are more beneficial to our well-being, unlike the performance-avoidance goals. Unfortunately, previous dispositional characteristics can bring about avoidance behaviors, such as poor life skills. Whether a person believes characteristics can be changed or not help determine achievement goals.
Affiliation and intimacy refer to wanting close, personal, warm relationships with others. Previously, these needs were thought of with negative connotation, or being needy and engaging with others to avoid rejection. Maslow stated that the need for affiliation revolved around “deprivation-love” while the need for intimacy revolves around “being-love”. People with these needs fear isolation, so they establish and maintain interpersonal networks to satisfy and continue satisfying these needs. They also maintain warm, close and personal relationships with others.
Those individuals with a strong need for power desire to make the world conform to their own plan or image, and also desire to have “impact, control, or influence over another person, group, or the world at large”. These people become leaders, and exhibit a take-charge attitude. Power people have four conditions involved in satisfying their need: leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions.
I was surprised by the amount of research that has been done regarding achievement. It makes a lot of sense though, that people with certain developmental and dispositional factors and characteristics are higher achievers than others. As far as my ratings on these social needs, I would say I have a somewhat high need for achievement, a high need for affiliation and intimacy, and a low need for power. The need for achievement causes me to strive for a good grade and for that degree at the end of the tunnel. The need for intimacy and affiliation motivate me to keep in touch with friends and family, and show affection to my children and fiancé. My low need for power causes me to stand back and let others take the wheel with certain activities and also why I don’t want to be a lawyer or CEO or President (or any political figure for that matter). I do not desire the high ranking status nor do I desire having extreme power over others because it entails a whole lot of responsibility. Again, with the need for intimacy, I would rate myself high because I consider close relationships to be very important in my life and to my overall well-being. I believe I do better in day-to-day activities and with problem-solving when I have a content attitude and a support system behind me. I think when you have close, intimate relationships, you can more effectively deal with stressors and unhappy times.
TERMS: social needs, quasi needs, affiliation, achievement, intimacy, power, mastery goal, performance-approach/ performance-avoidance goals, Atkinson’s Model, Dynamics of Action Model, contemporary model, social, cognitive, developmental processes, competition, entrepreneurship
This chapter focuses on social needs and quasi needs, which are two categories of psychological needs that both stem from environmental influences and have innate origins. The difference between the two is the types of influences. For instance, social needs evolve from social experiences or pressures, such as the need for achievement or wanting a brand new car. Whereas behaviors acted to fulfill quasi needs are induced by specific situations. Social needs vary within individuals based on their personal experiences while quasi needs stay relatively constant for every individual. For example, if it is raining nearly everyone will want an umbrella, but not everyone wants to go to college.
I was surprised to learn how complex the need for achievement is. Before taking this class, much of these characteristics seemed innate. I didn’t realize there were so many ways to manipulate your behaviors and motivation. I was interested in the tendency to approach success versus the tendency to avoid failure and Atkinson’s formula. I never realized there was a calculation for behavior.
Although the results for parental practices suggested that social needs are not set at an early age, but emerge over time, I am going to associate the research with my social needs ratings because I think it did have a great affect. I think I have a high need for affiliation because all throughout my childhood, my parents encouraged us to be social and active. Because of this, I love to be around people, make new friends and I have an extremely social personality. My parents never focused much on grades, unless they dropped significantly, which I think gave me a moderate need for achievement. If I received a B in a class, my parents praised me almost the same as if I got an A. They knew I was trying my best and were proud of me either way. Although it made high school easier for me, I would have pushed myself to do better if there were certain punishments or incentives for getting better grades. In addition, I have a low need for power. My parents were never in a position of power in their career which I think followed them home. They never punished me for anything because everything was based on trust. I have many leadership characteristics, but I also prefer to work with people. If I am in a situation that needs to be controlled I take initiative, but I don’t feel the need to have power over others.
My high need for affiliation manifests in my jobs. The majority of my jobs have been in the restaurant business, which always requires teamwork. In most cases, I was able to develop a strong social network with my co-workers. My moderate need for achievement has been displayed in my past years of college, excluding this semester. The first year I was more concerned with my social life than my academics. Recently I have been intrinsically motivated to do my best, perhaps because it is my last semester and I want to prove to myself that I can handle 20 credits and still maintain a job and a social life. I’m hoping this semester will prepare me for the real world. Lastly, my low need for power is displayed in my everyday activities. I am not a member of any committee on campus, or involved in any extracurricular activities, so I’m somewhat passive throughout. With this in mind, I have an optimistic attributional style of thinking. I am trying to set up a fundraiser for Autism, which will bring pride to my success.
Everyone strives for achievement at some point in their life. As I mentioned before, I have never felt the need to do great or better than others, I just wanted to get by. However, now that I am approaching graduation I am realizing that reality is going to catch up with me. Even if I don’t want to compete with others, it is inevitable because employers want to hire someone that is in control and has a high need for achievement. This can be seen as an instigator, because I am approaching success. My social need for achievement has developed into a “want”. I want to graduate, I want to get good grades, and I want to get a good job.
Terms: social needs, psychological needs, quasi needs, affiliation, achievement, power, punishments, incentives, intrinsically motivated, passive, optimistic attributional style, instigation. Tendency to approach success, tendency to avoid failure, leadership, Atkinson’s Model
Chapter seven discusses social needs. Social needs are not innate needs; they are acquired throughout our lifetime through experiences, socialization and development. These needs are not predetermined or established when young, they are ever-changing. Social needs react when we are in a situation that brings the need to our attention. Achievement is the first social need discussed in the text. Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. People with a high need for achievement perform better in moderately difficult situations than people with a low achievement need. High achievement need individuals are less likely to procrastinate, and have more persistence than low achievement need individuals. Socialization influences, cognitive influences, and developmental influences are all origins for the need for achievement. Socialization influences include parent’s ability to increase a high achievement need by giving their children independence training and reinforcing positive, attainable yet high goals. Cognitive influences include perceptions of high ability, mastery orientation, high expectations for success, strong valuing of achievement, and optimistic attributional style. Developmental influences include learning to be pride-prone or shame-prone when facing a standard of excellence. This occurs over time; when children are young they have unrealistic goals for themselves. As individuals grow into adolescents they learn to use self, peer, teach and parental evaluations to set realistic goals. There are two theories that help explain achievement motivation. The first is classical or the Atkinson Model. This theory suggests that the need for achievement is not the only thing that predicts achievement behavior. There are factors that account for achievement behavior which include; the strength of a person’s need for achievement, the perceived probability of success, and the incentive value of success. The book goes on to describe formulas in great detail. Basically a person’s tendency to approach success is higher when they have a higher positive incentive to succeed, which comes from a more difficult task. A person’s tendency to avoid failure is higher when they have a higher negative incentive and a higher probability of failure. When tendency to approach success is greater than tendency to avoid failure the individual approaches a task with a more positive look on accomplishing a difficult task. However, when tendency to avoid failure is greater than tendency to approach success the task may be avoided. The dynamic-of-action model, describes achievement behavior as ongoing. It is determined by instigation, inhibition, and consummation. Instigation causes a rise in approach tendencies. Inhibition causes a rise in avoidance tendencies. Consummation explains that performing an activity brings its own end. The text then describes four different examples of individuals with different achievement behaviors. The first person had high instigation and low inhibition. This person started the achievement-related task first and showed the most persistence with the task. The fourth individual had the lowest instigation and highest inhibition. This person showed the most latency on starting the achievement-related task and demonstrated low persistence. The other two individuals were in the middle of the spectrum. This information gives insight to latency and persistence in an achievement task depends on motive strength. The text describes three situations that satisfy the need of achievement. Moderately difficult tasks, competition, and entrepreneurship all promote better performance for high need achievers than low need achievers. Achievement goals seem to be the cornerstone of the contemporary theory. This theory is more concerned with why a person shows achievement behavior. The two achievement goals discussed in the book are mastery goals and performance goals. Mastery goals are set when an individual has a desire to increase competence, self-improvement and persistence. Performance goals are set when an individual wants to show competence, high ability and success to other people. Mastery goals allow an individual to grow and learn in a more meaningful way; instead of memorizing and using extrinsic motivation like performance goals. The best way to explain achievement is to combine the Atkinson theory with the contemporary theory. This model involves mastery goals and two different performance goals; performance approach and performance avoidance. People with a high need to achieve will apply performance approach goals, people with a high fear of failure will most likely exercise performance avoidance goals, and those with high competency will utilize mastery goals. The implicit theory that an individual follows, the way they see intelligence and personality, can determine their achievement goals. Entity theorists believe in fixed qualities; either you have it or you don’t way of thinking. People with this view set performance goals and see effort as low ability. Incremental theorists believe that these qualities are ever changing; the harder you work at something the better you’ll get it. These individuals pursue mastery goals and take advantage of their skills and abilities. Affiliation and intimacy are the next needs discussed in the chapter. Those with a need for affiliation have anxiety within their relationships and are looking to avoid disapproval and loneliness. People with a high affiliation need are often seen as needy. When their need is satisfied they have a feeling of relief. They try to please others and avoid conflict in relationships. A person with a need for intimacy wishes to have warm, close, personal relationships and don’t fear rejection. People with a intimacy need will work hard to maintain relationships with letters, phone calls, and visits much like a person with a need for affiliation. A person with a high intimacy need makes deeper relationships with others by listening and self-disclosing. The third need discussed in the chapter is power. Power is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one’s personal image or plan for it. A person with a high need for power often had a need for dominance, reputation, status, or position. Those with a high need for power are more aggressive and forceful. Men with a high power need are less successful in dating relationships. Business executives, teachers, psychologists, journalists, clergy and international diplomats are among those who have a high need for power.
It was interesting and surprising to read some of the information on power. The book explains that individuals with a high need for power have “prestige possessions.” I never thought that having items such as a car, wine glasses, and a stereo would show power. I also found it surprising that groups that have a member with a high need for power don’t perform well. They don’t do as well because of their over assertiveness and need for the group to follow their plan.
I would rate myself with a high need for achievement. I don’t rely on others for answers and try to be independent and develop my competency by working hard. I don’t like to share my grades with others, even when they are exceptional. I work hard to learn as much information as I can that is going to help me be successful in my profession. I would rate myself in the middle for affiliation and intimacy needs. I have a small group of friends that I have deep connections with. I reach out for close, emotional relationships. However, I don’t have anxiety over feeling lonely or rejection. I would rate myself low on a high need for power. I like to work in groups and have everyone’s input. I don’t feel the need to control others behaviors. If people don’t feel the same way I do, or have different opinions on things it doesn’t bother me.
As an individual with a high need for achievement I work very hard in school. I want to be able to understand the topics and concepts being discussed in my classes. This motivates me to spend a lot of time studying in the library and avoiding situations that are going to distract me from getting all of my work done. I choose to stay in instead of going out every night so not only can I get more homework done, but I will be able to perform at my best the next day. I also work very hard outside of school at my job to fulfill my need for achievement. I want to perform well in my job and doing so gives me a great amount of satisfaction.
Terms: Social needs, achievement, socialization influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, Atkinson’s Model, tendency to approach success, tendency to avoid failure, dynamic-of-action model, instigation, inhibition, consummation, instigation, inhibition , latency, persistence, moderately difficult tasks, competition, entrepreneurship, achievement goals, contemporary theory, mastery goals, performance goals, incremental theorists, entity theorists, affiliation, intimacy, power
Chapter 7 discusses the third of the three basic human needs; social needs. Social needs are acquired through experience and socialization. Quasi-needs differ from physiological, psychological, and social needs in that they are situationally induced wants and desires. The book also discusses the three basic social needs; achievement, the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence, affiliation and intimacy, establishing, maintaining, or restoring a positive, affective relationship with another person, and power, the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one's personal image or plan for it.
One of the surprising things I read in the chapter was at the beginning when it was being discussed where our social needs come from. Because no one is born with the need to achieve good grades or have a good job it stands to reason that parents have an influence on what social needs are important. A study did find that there were a few predictors of social needs established by parents but that mostly our social needs grow and change with us. After reading this did make more sense and seems like a simple concept but to many I think it is easy to look at the way you were raised to draw on where your social needs came from.
If I were going to rate myself on each of the social needs I would probably be moderate to high on achievement, high on affiliation and intimacy, and moderate on power. My moderate to high level on achievement plays a great role in my drive for good grades and partaking in other areas such as volunteering. I know that I will have to put in the time and effort in order to get into grad school and pursue the career I am interested in. Without this level for achievement this goal would not be attainable. My high level on affiliation and intimacy is displayed in the various relationships in my life. I take great pride in being a good friend, sister, daughter, girlfriend, employee, and student. I seek to develop and maintain relationships that are meaningful to me and my goals that I've set out for. I rated myself as moderate in terms of power because although I do desire a certain status and leadership position it is not my main motivator.
Although all three social needs motivate my behavior, as I described above, the main motivator is affiliation and intimacy. I have always been a "people person" and my relationships across the board mean a great deal to me. I strive to be a friend that I would want to have, a daughter I would be proud of, a sister I could rely on, an employee with responsibility, and a student with a desire to learn. All of these things motivate my daily actions in numerous ways and are always on in the front of my mind when making important or even simple decisions.
Terms: social needs, achievement, affiliation and intimacy, power, quasi-needs
Chapter 7 broke down our social needs into four components: achievement, affiliation/intimacy, and power. Before delving into these topics they explained what quasi-needs are and how they affect us. Quasi needs are any need that seems like a life necessitating need when it is actually not. These types of supposed ‘needs’ arise only because of situational properties when in all actuality you could get away without them, they just seem like a need. One example of this would be the ‘need’ to watch the game on Sunday afternoon. It seems like a need, but in all actuality it is not because it doesn’t fulfill us in the sense that the textbook defines a need which is something that fulfills us physically, psychologically, or socially. That isn’t to say that these needs cannot be extremely powerful at times. They certainly can and they sometimes even take precedent over actual needs. After exploring this, the chapter went on to explore achievement in extreme depth. Individuals with a high need for achievement have often developed this due to socialization, cognitive, and developmental factors. The most interesting/surprising thing I learned about achievement was the implicit theories. If someone is an ‘entity theorist’ then they believe that all of your personality/character traits/ability traits are what you’ve been born with and that they cannot change them. Someone who is an incremental theorist will maintain that we have qualities about us that can be changed, usually through hard work, but changeable nonetheless. What these differing world views give people is a unique perception when it comes to facing a challenging task. An entity theorist will be much less likely to try a challenging task because they will be afraid of failure, exhibiting high performance avoidance strategies, like anxiety, fear, and feelings of helplessness. However, an incremental theorist will be much more likely to try any challenging task, whether a performance approach goal or a mastery goal which is simply doing something for the joy of it. This was the first surprising thing I learned: the difference between Mastery Goal and Performance Goals. MG’s can be defined as simply doing something for the love of it with multiple failed attempts while you perfect your craft. PG’s however, are done solely because they have to and you will be rated as succeeding or failing in the end. Next the textbook explored affiliation and intimacy. I was surprised when I found out that affiliation had a predominately negative view, kind of like an individual who is overly clingy or smothering. When I first looked at the chapter I assumed it would be a good thing and would have thought I was high in this area. However, the textbook definition was clearly negative. Intimacy, however, is a healthy balance of relationships in which it is mutual, deep, and caring. The last social need explored was power, which is when people feel the need to establish power, exert control, and expand their domain in their environment or in other people.
If I were to rate myself on these social needs it would be as follows: Achievement-medium, Affiliation-low, Intimacy-high, and Power-low. Affiliation and Power rarely manifest themselves in my life. One area where power comes out most prevalently would be in my relationships with my younger brothers. I tend to exert more control here than in other areas simply because I’m more protective and think I know best. I suppose I exhibit affiliation tendencies when I am at work. I want my co-workers to like me and feel mild anxiety about this, even though I don’t really care about the depth of our relationships. Achievement for me comes out predominately in a mastery goal way. I like to become self sufficient or good at a task even if it takes me many failed attempts. Intimacy, for me, is clearly the social need that I enjoy the most. I like building deep relationships with those around me and feeling comfortable with being open with friends. In this area specifically, I think that the way I spend my lunch hours are indicative of this. I have three different friends that I will meet with for lunch on various days of the week. This time gives us a chance to catch up, pray for each other, and just have a good time together. In doing this I feel as though I fulfill my social needs. All in all the chapter was very insightful and I’m glad I took the time to read it.
Terms: social needs, quasi needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, socialization, performance avoidance strategies, mastery goal, performance approach goal, openness, motivation, physiological, psychological
Chapter seven mainly talked about the components of social needs. There are four main social needs that the chapter talks about and those are achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. These social needs are different from psychological needs on the basis that they are gained through experience. These needs originate from preferences in our life and change over time. The line in the book that covers the idea quite nicely is “None of us are born with a need for achievement, power, or affiliation; yet each of us develop these strivings to some degree.”
Another important aspect that the chapter covered shortly was quasi needs. To me, quasi needs are short-term wants and desires. These desires affect our cognition, emotions, and behaviors yet are not considered a need. Quasi needs form in certain situations and disappear after the situation is satisfied. The example that the book gave that made the most sense to me was the set of quasi needs that affect college students. College students feel the need for money, a secure job, and a career path. These are not physiological or psychological needs yet they take control of our motivation and lead our behavior down a certain path.
Achievement is the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. The book defined a standard of excellence to be any challenge to a person’s sense of competence that ends with an objective outcome. This may sound a little confusing but it is basically success versus failure and win or lose. Achievement is a very strong motivational factor in our lives and we have all experienced it. The book tried to explain how achievement drives our behavior but it is best explained in real life. The example in my life that I thought of was being in a sports event. When you are on the court or field, all you want to do is win. You don’t care if you piss the other team off, hurt yourself, or even embarrass yourself. You do it for the sense of accomplishment or achievement.
The book also went on to explain Atkinson’s model, which is a mathematical equation that breaks down the sense of achievement. The main components of Atkinson’s model are: need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success. I would explain what each of these is and how it relates to our motivational state but I don’t fully understand it myself. The thing that I took from the section on Atkinson’s model is that achievement behavior is determined by more than achievement needs.
Affiliation and intimacy appear to go hand in hand because they have very similar definitions. Affiliation is defined as establishing and maintaining an affective relationship with another person. Intimacy is defined as the social motive for engaging in warm, close, and positive interpersonal relationships that produce positive emotions. Both of these terms are closely related and are satisfied in practically the same manner.
The book also went on to explain the difference between a person with a high need for affiliation and one with a low need. A person with a high need for affiliation makes numerous friends, spend time interacting with others, and form stable relationships. We all know a person like this who seems to be friends with everyone on campus. On the other end of the spectrum are those who are quieter and seem to only have one or two friends. It isn’t that these people are weird, it’s just that they have a low need for affiliation and intimacy.
Power is the need to make the physical and social world conform to one’s personal image. Power often seems to revolve around the need for dominance, reputation, status, and position. We all know somebody who always needs to be in control of the room. This person will speak in a forceful manner and demand respect. Not everybody has a high need for power and their jobs often seem to show that. People with a high need for power tend to be in positions where they control their own fate and aren’t told what to do.
Aggressiveness ties into the social need of power because more often than not, a person is not in control of its environment. When a person who has a high need for power is put in one of these situations, these lose control and show signs of aggression.
The thing that I found most interesting in the chapter had to do with people with a high need for power and alcohol. This paragraph in the book stated that with the more power a person needs, the more they drink. To me, this seems like a stretch for one particular reason. The reason that I disagree with this is because of the jobs that these people are in. People with high needs for power are often in more demanding jobs that include much more stress. The reason that these people often drink is to relieve the stress, not because they want to lose the sense of power. The book also said that alcohol could create the perception of power. I have a hard time believing that because of all the alcoholics that I have known throughout my life, not a single one has found alcohol to provide them with a sense of power over their life.
If I were to rate myself on various social needs, I would put myself right in the middle of all of them. I say this because I feel like I have found a good equilibrium. I have a sense of achievement because I seek out new opportunities, but I don’t push myself to do things that are outside of my comfort zone. My sense of affiliation would have to be the lowest of the three main needs because I am happy with only having a few friends. I am not out seeking new friends everyday but I am also not afraid to make new ones.
My sense of power is the one that motivates my behavior the most. Power can be a very strong motivational tool but it can also hurt you. I feel like power is guiding my behavior in several different ways. I like to be in control of my life and don’t necessarily like people telling me what to do. This depends greatly on the situation at hand and there are times where I do like structure. There are also times when I want to take control of certain situations and there are times when I will gladly pass on the leadership role. This is my sense of power at work.
After graduating from school, I want to become a police officer and I believe that this has to do with my sense of power as well. I want to be the person that tells people what they can and cannot do and also the one who is in control of their fate. Being a police officer also provides me with a sense of stability in the way that there are limitations to my power. A police officer cannot just do whatever he wants and I feel like this career path will give me the right combination of power.
Social needs, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, Atkinson’s model, quasi needs
Chapter seven deals with our social needs and quasi-needs. Quasi- needs are wants and desires, but are not exactly physiological needs, and they are different from social needs. Social needs, are acquired through experience, development and socialization. Both types of needs are acquired through psychological needs. Quasi needs are experienced from a demand or pressure. When that demand or pressure is fulfilled then the quasi need goes away. Social needs come in three different areas. They include; achievement, affiliation and power. Achievement happens to be one of the major social needs in this chapter. Achievement, has to do with the standard at which you perform at. If you perform the way you want to, at your highest level or excellence then you have achieved something. Achievement alone often has a lot to do with motivation. Someone who is high in achievement often is a easy person to motivate. There are different levels of achievement as well, they are approach oriented emotions (which are often people who have a high need for achievement), then there is avoidance oriented emotions (which are often people who are low in achievement levels). People who respond with the avoidance oriented approach show much anxiety and often are scared to fail. The second social need is affiliation. Affiliation, deals with relationships and how you establish, maintain and restore such relationships. Two facets are characterized in the affiliation social need area. They include; the need for approval and the need for intimacy. A surprising fact that the book talks about is that people are usually less popular when they have a high need for affiliation. That surprised me because I thought these were the very social people, but I can also see how they could be the needy people, as well. Power, is the third social need. Power is defined as, the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one's personal image or plan. People who are high in power are often controlling people. That is not always a bad thing. People who are bosses, managers and CEO's have to control their business. That means that there is a high chance that they have a need for power and maintaining power. People who are in dominant positions are successful, because they have a need for power and control. Leadership is a very big part of power. Often people who are leaders like to impact, control and influence other people. Power, is a good quality for leaders.
The most surprising thing I learned from chapter seven was the paragraph about the presidents. I think it was cool how someone could score the presidents social needs and predict who was going to be the most effective president. Although, it does make sense I have never thought of our social needs in that way.
If I had to score myself from high, medium and low in the social needs they would go in this order, high-achievement, medium-power, low-affiliation. I have a high need for achievement. I like to be successful and try my best at everything I do. If I don't do so well on an assignment or a test it really bothers me. I feel like I could have done better. Achievement is very important to me. Power, is also important to me. I like to be in control of what I do and I think that's normal. I have a low affiliation social need, although I do like warm and close relationships, the ones I do have I cherish and I don't go out looking for more close friends. I definitely think that's how my levels of social needs manifest themselves in my life.
The social need I am going to focus on is achievement. Achievement plays a major role in my life because I am very competitive, especially with myself. I like to challenge myself and school is very important to me. If I do not do well on an exam or an assignment it really bothers me and I do anything I can to try and do better on the next one. Also, I like to think ahead and I use future achievement orientation a lot. I like to make long term goals. That way when I successfully achievement them I feel a sense of pride. I have a standard for myself and whenever I do not fulfill my standard or lower myself to a different standard that makes me feel awful about myself. I have to make sure I do not set my standards too high because if that would happen I would always be feeling like I couldn't achievement anything. Everyone has a different achievement standard and I think that's what makes us all unique.
Terms: social needs, quasi needs, achievement, power, affiliation, future achievement orientation, motivation, avoidance oriented emotions, approach oriented emotions
The chapter is about the extensions of psychological needs that are quasi-needs and social needs. These types of psychological needs are situational desires and wants. They are social needs are achievement, affiliation, power, and intimacy. These social needs are gained through life experiences and the quasi needs are wants. Incentives are presented and influence the behaviors that correspond with social needs. The behaviors that are influenced by the social needs may not be present until the incentives come into play. People high in certain social needs have stronger reactions or behaviors.
I was most surprised by the details that came along with something the broad needs of achievement, power, affiliation, and intimacy. I was specifically surprised and interested in all of the aspects of achievement. I found that specific need most impressive as I didn’t expect it to have so many I did not realize how much detail was actually involved it social needs that seemed so simple. For example: when it comes to achievement there are two different approaches. One, the Atkinson’s classical approach is about the strength of the social need, the value or quality of the incentives to achieve (avoid failure and move toward success), and the likelihood of succeeding. The Atkinson’s classical approach includes the dynamics-of-action model which is the idea that past success will help encourage someone to act in the same way that brought success in the past (instigation) and past failure will cause someone to act in a way that will avoid failing again (inhibition). Consummation is another part of the dynamics-of action model. To me it reminds me of what it sounds like. When consuming food, once you have “consumed” enough of a certain food or taste as a meal, you begin to grow tired of it. This is similar with success or achievement-after having success at the same thing for a long period of time, it becomes less exciting and the behavior decreases as the incentive is not as high (like consuming to much food).
The second approach to achievement looks at why achievement behaviors happen. Achievement goals are what motivate achievement to happen. These goals are mastery and performance goals. Mastery goals are the goals of an individual to personally improve themselves by mastering something-this is intrinsic motivation. Performance goals are the goals to strive to beat the competition and be number one-extrinsic motivation.
I found the breakdown of achievement to be interesting as it made so much sense in simple terms but I was surprised that it had 3 conditions for satisfying the need of achievement: Moderately difficult tasks, competition, and entrepreneurship. The difficulty of tasks effects different people based on their need for achievement. Competition is a condition that helps people evaluate themselves.
Finally, entrepreneurship is a condition of achievement in which individuals develop responsibilities. I am shocked and impressed with how complex achievement needs are.
The other three social needs from the chapter briefly summarized: Affiliation and intimacy are very similar social needs. Affiliation is the need to have a good relationship with another person and intimacy is the willingness to have exchanges with another person. Intimacy focuses on growth and positive conditions while affiliation looks at negative conditions like isolation and shortage needs. The forth social need in the chapter was power. Power is the ability that one has to impact others by establishing their power, maintain that power in terms of control, and influence others by expanding that power. Power is how one is able to shape the environment to fit their image and it has a big focus on leadership.
If I were to rate myself, I would give myself a very high rating in all of the social need categories, especially achievement. My life revolves around my approaching success. I fear and even avoid failure at all costs! I specifically have found success in rugby and have worked hard to continue to approach that success. However, I am beginning to approach some feelings of consummation as I have been practicing and playing with the team every week since August 23rd. I am beginning to grow tired as I have no competition until March. Still, I find rugby to be a difficult challenge and I enjoy the large amounts of effort that I have to put into the game. When I work so hard at the high level of difficulty I feel a higher level of achievement and I have an incredible need to achieve and find success in everything that I do.
I have a high affiliation need as I love to talk and always have to have people around me. I hate being alone and I work to find every attempt to communicate whether it be in person, over the phone or texts, e-mail, facebook, etc. When it comes to intimacy my fiancé may say that I have too high of a need for this as well, I always want to cuddle. I have a strong desire to spend a great deal of my free time with him and I feel like I would struggle greatly without that intimate connection.
Finally, next to achievement, I may have the greatest social need for power. I am a natural born leader. If I have an opportunity to step up and give instructions so that I can be certain that things are performed and carried out according to my plans, I will run at that opportunity. I am an officer with NSCS, a member of two fraternities, I have applied to be an RA, I am running for a psychology club officer position, and I constantly try to head committees because I enjoy and need to have the power that comes with those positions. Perhaps worse still is the fact that I am a perfectionist and that drives me in all four of the categories of social need.
Terms: Psychological needs, quasi-needs, social needs, achievement, affiliation, power, intimacy, incentives, behaviors, approaches, Atkinson’s classical approach, value, dynamics-of-action model, instigation, inhibition, consummation, competition, entrepreneurships, moderately difficult tasks, mastery, performance, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, control, leadership, isolation, establish, maintain, influence.
Chapter seven discussed two categories of acquired psychological needs. First, quasi-needs which are situational induced wants and desires. While they are not full blown needs like physiological, psychological, or social needs are, they still resemble true needs in some way. Quasi-needs stem from situational demands and pressures. Events that cause tension, pressure, and urgency cause quasi-needs to occur. Social need is the other acquired psychological need discussed in chapter seven. Social needs are acquired through experience, development, and socialization. Social needs are not set at an early age, but rather emerge and change over time. Social needs are experienced as emotional and behavioral potentials that are activated by particular situational incentives. People gain and rely on personal knowledge of their social needs to gravitate toward environments that are capable of activating and satisfying their needs. The need for achievement is discussed as the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence. When facing standards of excellence, people’s emotional reactions vary. Sometimes people feel excited and react with approach emotion and behavior, but at other time people feel anxiety and they hesitate and react with avoidance emotion and behavior. There are many influences that affect a child’s need for achievement. Some of these include social influences, cognitive influences, and developmental influences. There are two theoretical approaches that dominate the understanding of achievement motivation. These include the classical view of Atkinson’s model of achievement behavior, and the cognitive approach that centers on the goals people adopt in achievement situations. The two main achievement goals described in the chapter are mastery goals and performance goals. Implicit theories were discussed as either someone believing that people are born the way they are and there is no changing it, and the other is those who believe that people can improve with hard work and dedication. The need for affiliation and intimacy were also discussed in this chapter, along with the conditions that satisfy the affiliation and intimacy needs. Power was also discussed and the conditions that involve and satisfy the need for power. Some listed included leadership and relationships seeking, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige possessions.
The most surprising thing that I learned in this chapter is how much the way we handle achievement goals affects different aspects in our lives. It has a huge impact on people’s personal adjustment and mental health. The social need that I would rate high on is achievement. I would rate medium on the need for intimacy, and lower on the need for power and affiliation. My need for achievement is rated high, because I challenge myself on a daily basis with the different activities that I am involved in. While many won’t ever see me I still am involved in it for my own personal gain and competence. I rated medium on intimacy, because while I have a strong desire for intimacy with people I usually choose to stay home alone. I am rated low on affiliation and power, because I don’t really think that what I do will have much of an impact on others and I don’t do these things in my life for other people’s approval. On a high level, I have adopted many mastery goals in my life. Some of these include hapkido, tai chi, and taekwondo. When I started these martial arts I had to overcome the difficulties with much effort and persistence. Through time, I have made much progress, and have improved myself in many ways through it. Also, I realized through this reading that, at times, I set performance-avoidance goals. When taking some of the more difficult classes, such as biochemistry. I find myself saying that I just want to pass the class, rather than telling myself that I want to master the material. I didn’t realize the huge implication this can have on low self-esteem, personal control, vitality, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being.
Terms: Acquired psychological needs, quasi-needs, social need, situational incentives, achievement, standards of excellence, social influences, cognitive influences, developmental influences, mastery goals, performance goals, performance-avoidance goals, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power
Chapter seven talks about social needs. Social needs are found prevalently in humanity. Social needs can be found in the broader category of acquired needs. These acquired needs consist of social and quasi needs. Quasi-needs are dependent upon the person. They are defined as wants and needs that tend to come from an environment that produces a certain demand from the individuals mind. This demand acts as a stimulus and forces the individual to either act on that stimulus or not. Social needs are more dependent on the individual themselves. Social needs are developed over time and are sensitive to the persons past experiences. When these certain experiences repeat themselves they create personal incentives for the individual, causing them to adhere to some specific behavior of theirs.
Social needs are composed of four different need-activating incentives. These are achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power.
Out of these four incentives, achievement is probably the most important. Achievement is based on an individuals need to meet some standard level of competence in something that is ultimately determined by society. There are actually different ways that someone can be rated on their achievement level. Someone can either have a high need for achievement or a low need for achievement. High need for achievement individuals usually choose to interact with complex, difficult tasks. Mastering and completing these different activities have profound emotional impacts on them as individuals. High need for achievement individuals have to feel competent in certain aspects of their life. Low need for achievement individuals tend to avoid certain situations that arise in their life due to them being scared of possible failure in that particular behavior. They associate strong anxiety with most of these and develop an avoidance behavior. Approach behavior is found in high need achievement individuals while avoidance is found in low need achievement individuals.
Affiliation has different benefits that keep the individual from experiencing many negative emotions. Affiliation allows a person to feel connected with others and not feel alone in the world. Humans need affiliation to be healthy psychologically. A loss of affiliation can lead to depression and social anxiety. Closely related with affiliation is the need for intimacy. Intimacy is consistent of more in-depth relations that people have with each other. These are close relationships with people that we care a lot about and have immense feelings for.
Lastly, is the need for power. The need for power is ones’ own perception of the world, socially and physically, which they believe should be the way they perceive it or believe it should be. Leadership qualities are common among people with high power need traits. However, even though this is true, they often lack in other needs departments.
One thing that was surprisingly interesting to me was the fact that some people with low achievement have avoidance behaviors due to anxiety of failure. So, instead of engaging in whatever behavior it is, they would simply just rather avoid it all together. I found this interesting because I figured people with low levels of achievement were just like that because they don’t feel like being productive or would rather just not participate.
For the social needs, I would rate myself as med-achievement, med-affiliation, med-intimacy, and med-power. These different needs manifest in my life in various ways. Achievement is something that’s very important to me. I have a want to do well in everything I do. I choose med though because I can see that there are some behaviors I choose to avoid because I’m scared of possible failure. Affiliation, intimacy, and power are all med for me as well. When it comes to being affiliated socially I really don’t have to have that need satisfied. I can stay in and play video games or whatever by myself and be fine with that but there are times when I would rather go out and socialize with my friends. It just depends on the day I guess. Intimate relationships are important to me too but again I don’t let them rule my life. I think it’s important to have close ties with family and a few of my best friends. The need for power was med for me because sometimes I see the world in a certain way and believe that’s how it should be, or that that’s what is normal even though many others don’t always agree with me.
My high need for achievement in school motivates my behavior to do my homework, go to class, and adequately study for tests. I’m like this because I want to do well in my classes and graduate. I also hate the feeling I get when I do badly on something and the rest of the class does a lot better than me. This really motivates me to try harder next time.
Terms: Acquired needs, Social needs, Quasi-needs, Need-activating incentives, Achievement, Affiliation, Intimacy, Power, Avoidance & Approach behavior
Chapter 7 discusses two types of acquired psychological needs: social needs and quasi-needs. Social needs are said to be acquired through experience, development, and socialization. The social needs that are discussed are enduring functions of personality characteristics: achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. (Although other researchers argue that there are additional social needs, such as cognition, closure, and structure.)
As I understand it, these social needs are expressions of the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as they evolve through the individual’s personal history of experience, development, cognition, and socialization (much as the psychological drives of thirst, hunger, and sex stem from the physiological needs of water, food, and reproduction).
Reeve states that we experience social needs as “emotional and behavioral potentials that are activated by particular situational incentives” (i.e., different situations present different opportunities for different needs to be fulfilled) (174).
Quasi-needs are temporary needs that originate from situational demands and pressures (e.g., an umbrella when it rains, money when bills are due), which fade away after the need is satisfied; it is, in fact, this aspect of quasi-needs that distinguishes them from other needs, as true needs are “essential and necessary for life, growth, and well-being” (174). Reeve describes quasi-needs as ‘deficiency-oriented’ and ‘situationally reactive’, because they refer to constructs, required to respond to some temporary environmental factor, which are lacking; however, he uses similar terms to describe social needs (175).
Atkinson’s model of achievement behavior is discussed. In this model, the need for achievement is considered a necessary but not sufficient factor in predicting achievement behavior: the individual’s probability of success and the incentive for achievement also play a role. (A similar model is also used to describe failure-avoidance behaviors.)
Atkinson’s model presupposes an internal locus of control: it describes what happens once the individual chooses to approach achievement or avoid failure. More recent research, however, is more interested in the origin of achievement behavior, which can have either internal (mastery goals) or external (performance goals) loci of control. Mastery goals are associated with positive (achievement approaching) emotions, whereas performance goals are associated with negative (failure avoiding) emotions.
The discussion of mastery goals vs. performance goals was surprising to me, as it seems contrary to common academic practices. According to this model, intrinsic motivation should be promoted over graded performance; yet this does not seem to be the case in the school or university setting, where ‘mastery’ is often defined in terms of one’s ability to regurgitate the prescribed information. It is also unclear to me how this would apply to a work environment, where setting goals is acknowledged to promote improved performance.
If I had to rate myself as high, medium, or low on the social needs described in the chapter, I would say that I am high on achievement (as I have worked hard to overcome obstacles and advance my position in school, in the military, and in business); medium-low on affiliation (as I value quality over quantity in relationships, and eschew many social entanglements); low on intimacy (as I work at my relationship with my girlfriend, but remain somewhat aloof from other ‘intimate’ relationships); and medium-high on power (as I seek to maximize my autonomy).
The need for intimacy motivates me to: 1) be more forthcoming and open about my inner-life with my girlfriend than I am with others; 2) actively engage with her on multiple levels; and 3) take pains to assure that her needs (physiological, psychological, and social) are being met.
Terms: acquired psychological needs, social needs, quasi-needs, autonomy, competence, relatedness, experience, development, socialization, personality characteristics, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, cognition, closure, structure, situational demands and pressures, deficiency-oriented, situationally reactive, constructs, environmental factor, internal/external locus of control, achievement behavior, mastery goals, performance goals, achievement approaching, failure avoiding
Chapter 7 went into detail about social needs and the different types there are. A social need is defined as something that is and acquired psychological process. Examples of social needs are the need to do well, have friends, and make others proud.
This chapter also talked about quasi-needs. These needs are different from social need in that they only occur in certain situations. Feeling that money is needed at a restaurant is a quasi-need.
One of the most prominent social needs is the need for achievement. This need is influenced in many ways. The three influences for the need to have achievement are socialization, cognitive, and developmental.
If I had to rate myself on different social needs, I would say that I was very high on almost all of them. I do much better when there is someone else there to see me doing well.
One concept that really stood out to me was that of the tendency to avoid failure. Not failing is a very large motivator for me. I will often choose not to do certain things if there is a chance I will fail. I feel like the best example of this can be shown in my current workout plan. I do not write down how much I want to work out, or any goals I have along the lines of exercising. I feel like this is because in my mind, if my goals are not written down, I can’t fail when they don’t happen.
Terms: social needs, quasi-needs, achievement, socialization, cognitive, developmental, tendency to avoid failure
This chapter discussed quasi-needs and social needs. Quasi-needs are needs that depend on situations. These are not essential needs like many physiological needs such as eating and breathing, but they are very important and can be strong motivators. These are needs that impact our thinking, our emotions, and our behavior. This can be a need such as figuring out what to do this summer. There are many application deadlines for internships and other jobs, so it may be a situation that causes an individual to experience a lot of pressure and it is potentially an important decision to make. The other type of need discussed in this chapter is social needs which have three aspects which are achievement, affiliation, and power.
Individuals have varying levels of the need for achievement, and there are three aspects that influence that level. The first is social influences; this is how the people around an individual affect their need for achievement. For example if a parent of a high school student expects them to receive all A’s and strictly enforces that then they have a high social influence on their achievement level. If the parent doesn’t care about their child’s academic achievement, then they may be more likely to have a lower need. The second is cognitive influences, and this related to the individuals own mindset behind achievement. This can be as simple as a positive or negative attitude, for instance saying “I am going to fail this test” automatically sets that individual up for low achievement. The last is developmental influences. This discussed some research done on achievement at different ages and showed that young children believe they are capable of high achievement because they do not pay attention to peer performance and don’t compare. This idea fades as the individual gets older. I would rank myself as having a high need for achievement; however it has decreased as my faith has increased. I still have a desire to do things to the best of my ability and I do like achieving my goals, but I also see how my achievements do not give me any worth as I used to believe and that I am saved by grace and not by my achievements.
Affiliation and intimacy is the relationships that we have. This is not based of extraversion or other social traits, but is connected with anxiety and fear of rejection. We desire to have close relationships with other and we want to feel a sense of belonging and love from others. Achieving this need does not result in happiness, but more of a sense of relief because the fear of rejection has not become a reality. I would rate myself medium-high in this category. As much as I would not like to admit it, I do care what others think and I desire for others to like me and accept me. This has decreased since high school, since that is a time of a lot of peer pressure to do things a certain way so that others accept you.
The last is Power. This is the desire to have control, impact, or influence. Individuals with a high need for power desire status. Individuals are likely to seek leadership roles, which can be a very positive thing because leaders are very important. Another characteristic of power is aggression. This can be good in some instances because aggressiveness can get things done, but can be more negative. Aggression can manifest into being to controlling, can lead to alcohol use, and other negative behaviors. I would rate myself medium in power. I like to be a leader and I enjoy leadership positions, however I am not a bossy or aggressive person.
Achievement motivates my behavior in college because I desire to do well in my classes. I try to do my best on assignments and I do put a decent amount of time into studying. This is not pressure from my parents or anyone, but more of a cognitive approach and internal motivation. This is what keeps me going when I have a lot of work to do, since I desire to do well and achieve.
The most surprising thing that I learned was that affiliation and intimacy are not based on the desire to experience the joy of relationships, but more about the relief from fear and anxiety. I do think it is true for many individuals that they fear not belonging and being accepted and it is interesting that we are motivated by that fear to have intimacy. I found this very interesting and I think explains a lot of behavior especially in high school or other situation involving a cliques, because even though an individual may not be happy with what their friends do, they do it because they don’t want to be rejected.
Terms: Motivation, quasi-needs, social needs, achievement, power, affiliation, intimacy, intrinsic,socialization influence, cognitive influence, developmental influence, anxiety, fear
Chapter 7 discusses two types of acquired psychological needs social needs and quasi needs. Quasi needs are not physiological needs; they are more similar to social and psychological needs. Quasi needs stem from situational demands and pressures. They can be described as wants and desires opposed to a physiological need. Quasi needs would be needing self-esteem after being rejected or feeling the need to get married because we are in our late 20’s. Whenever a person satisfies their situational demands or pressure then the quasi needs goes away. This is an indication that quasi needs are not crucial for life, growth and ones well-being.
Social needs arise more from situational factors. Humans acquire social needs through experience. Social needs are activated through incentives. There are four types of social needs achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. These Four types of social needs motivate behavior. People respond to different things depending on how high or low their needs are. A person who is high in power will most likely seek out a high position in a company; someone who is high in achievement might enter a business to become an entrepreneur.
The need for achievement is the desire to exceptionally well and achieve a standard of excellence. It motivates people to succeed to have a sense of competence. When facing a standard of competence people respond differently and have a broad spectrum of emotions. Individuals with a high need for achievement usually respond with emotions such as hope, pride, and anticipatory gratification. Individuals low in achievement respond with anxiety, fear, failure and defense. The need for achievement is a range of social, developmental, and cognitive processes. The dynamic of action model demonstrates that people not only have a great need for achievement and a fear of failure but with consummation as well. The Atkinson’s classical model of achievement explains two theoretical approaches to achievement, the tendency to approach success, the tendency to avoid failure and the combined approach and avoid tendencies.
Affiliation and intimacy go hand in hand; the need for affiliation is to reject anxiety and the need for intimacy affiliates interest. The need for affiliation involves one to build, restore and maintain relationships to avoid negative feelings and emotions. People want intimate relationships to feel good warm feelings and to reduce the chances of rejection. People with high intimacy are more likely to join groups and be around a lot of people to satisfy the affirmation and intimacy. They want to be accepted and a part of something to avoid being out of the group.
An individual’s need for Power is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to ones personal beliefs and ideas. The individual wants to make decisions and be in control. People with a high need for power experience emotions such as impulses of aggression; they prefer leadership positions and have a high need for power, low intimacy level and high inhibition. They are usually leaders of the group.
If I had to rate myself I would have to have a high need for achievement, I like doing things well and being recognized for having success. A medium affiliation and intimacy level, I like being around people and feeling like a part of something but I am okay being alone as well. My need for power is very low, I don’t like being in charge and making all the decisions.
I think affirmation is the one that motivates my behavior. I make time to be with my freinds and family and sometimes avoid doing fun things I like to be avoid losing my friends and my families company.I like having people to talk to and socialize with.
Key terms: quasi need, acquired psychological need, physiological need, social need, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power, competence, cognitive, social
Chapter 7 talked about various social needs. Social needs are individual and are acquired through experience, development, and socialization. The individual learns the emotion-laden incentive value, whether positive or negative, of the objects around them. These objects activate a pattern of emotion and behavior associated with their corresponding social needs. If they associate an event as negative, they could react with fear or behavioral avoidance. On the other hand, if they view an event as positive, they will feel hope and approach the behavior. People tend to gravitate toward professions and environments in which they will be able to satisfy their social needs.
Four common social needs are achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Individuals vary in their levels of these needs. Achievement is the desire to do well to show personal competence. The three types of achievement goals include performance-avoidance, performance-approach, and mastery. Affiliation is the opportunity to please others and gain their approval. Intimacy is warm, secure relationships. Power is having an impact on others.
I was most surprised by the depth of the need for achievement discussed in this chapter. That seemed to be the most complex social need. There is so much that goes into it and I got confused by all the different aspects. I think the lecture will help me straighten the concepts out. I also thought the difference between intimacy and affiliation was interesting.
If I had to rate myself on these social needs, I would say that I have a medium to high need for achievement, a high need for intimacy, and a medium need for both affiliation and power. I am therefore more concerned about achievement and intimacy than I am about affiliation and power. The paragraph on conditions that satisfy intimacy needs describe my personality spot-on. I am a hugger. Therefore, I touch others (in a non-threatening way, of course) often. I prefer to have very deep and meaningful relationships. I like to talk to my close friends a lot and in-depth, and gain satisfaction from doing so. Therefore, I seek out people that I feel comfortable talking to and people that I can have reciprocal relationships with. I talk to these people a lot, and care a lot about them. I am constantly trying to keep up with everyone’s lives, which keeps me pretty busy!
Terms: social needs, incentive value, behavioral avoidance, behavioral approach, achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power
Chapter seven talks about acquired needs such as social needs and quasi-needs. Social needs are preferences from experiences, socialization, and development. Social needs are achievement, affiliation, and power. Quasi-needs are wants based on the situation. They affect our cognition, emotion, and behaviors. Some examples of quasi-needs are: money for rent, food, job, and approval. Quasi-needs are from the demands and pressures of a situation. When the situational pressures or demands are satisfied, the quasi-need goes away.
Achievement is the desire to excel. Achievement motivates people to seek competition and succeed with excellence. Achievement challenges one's competence and ends up in success or failure. The need for achievement is due in part from socialization, like from parents. When parents provide independence training, high performance aspirations, realistic standards of excellence, high ability self-concepts, and others. There are also cognitive influences in achievement, which include: perceptions of high ability, mastery orientation, high expectations for success, strong valuing of achievement, and optimistic attributional style. Atkinson's model and a cognitive approach that centers on the goals people adopt in achievement situations are the two theoretical approaches to the achievement motivation. Atkinson's model is the classical view. The theory have four variables: achievement behavior and its three predictors, need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success. The contemporary style is the achievement goal. The achievement goal has two goals, mastery and performance. Mastery goals are when a person is facing the standard of excellence ad seeks to develop greater competence, make progress, improve the self, and overcome challenges through intense and persistent effort. Performance goals are when a person is facing the standard of excellence and seeks to prove competence, display high ability, outperform others, and succeed with little effort.
Affiliation is maintaining or restoring a positive, affective relationship with another person or persons. The need for affiliation is in fear of interpersonal rejection. Affiliation recognizes the need for approval and the need for intimacy. The need for intimacy is satisfied by receiving attention and engaging in warm, close, positive interpersonal relations. The need for intimacy is expressed by how often a person thinks about their friends, relationships, self-disclosure, intense listening, and frequent conversations.
Power is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one's personal image. People with power desire to have impact, to establish power, control, to maintain power, and influence, to expand or restore power. Power is a need for dominance, reputation, status, or position. High-power people seek to become leaders. Aggression can be used for one to become a leader.
The thing that surprised me the most was the quasi-needs. I have never heard of quasi-needs before. I did not know before that quasi-needs are from situational demands and pressures and can fade away when satisfied. Like when a bill for rent comes, the need is for money. When the person get the money to pay for rent, the quasi-need is fulfilled.
My need for achievement is medium because I like to succeed, I like to master new things, I like to prove myself. I dislike failing, but if I do once, in awhile, I learn and do better to succeed. My need for achievement is partially from the socialization of my parents. They expected me to get good grades so I could continue to be in my extracurricular activities in high school. I still now am expected to get good grades, but I am mostly the one wanting to achieve the good grades. In dance I like learning new dances and proving that I know them and can perform them well.
My need for affiliation is high, because I like hanging out with people. I like talking with my friends and having intimate conversations with them. I like having my own "me" time, but I prefer to be around other people for the majority of the time. I have pretty close relationships with my best friend, friends that I have known since elementary school, and my boyfriend. We are able to talk about pretty much anything, we have fun, and we support each other. I would be very lonely without my friends.
My need for power is low. I do not necessarily like being the leader, I do not like to control other people. I like having control in projects because I want things done right, so we can get a high grade. But I do not approve of aggression to receive power.
TERMS: acquired needs, social needs, quasi-needs, achievement, competence, socialization, cognition, Atkinson's model, achievement goal, mastery goals, performance goals, affiliation, intimacy, power
Chapter 7 discusses social and quasi-needs, which are known as acquired psychological needs. Social needs originate outside of an individual and are influenced by an individual’s own experience, socialization and development, and they tend to last for an extended period of time and have the ability to change over a person’s lifetime. Four of the main social needs that people experience of differing levels according to their experiences, socialization and development include: achievement, affiliation, intimacy and power which influences a person’s emotional and behavioral patterns.
Achievement is a desire for a person to do well and give someone a sense of competence, and in the hopes to make a person feel like they have not failed. Social, cognitive, and developmental influences affect how people feel a sense of achievement in their life. And example of achievement would be when a child receives praise from parents for doing well on a test, and they will aspire to do excellent again in the hopes to feel like they have accomplished something again. Two theoretical approaches (Atkinson’s model and contemporary view) help to try and explain achievement. Atkinson’s model features four variables: achievement behavior and the three predictors—need for achievement, probability of success, and incentive for success. It then uses various equations to determine a person’s success, but I found this to be confusing to try to explain achievement. Also, there are three types of situations that help satisfy a person’s need for achievement which are: competition, moderately hard tasks, and entrepreneurship.
Affiliation and intimacy are similar and are seen as a person’s need for approval from others and to maintain relationships with people. They both thrive on positive and negative aspects and they affect a person’s happiness. The need for affiliations comes from a person’s lack of social interaction and the need for intimacy comes from one improving and deepening their relationships. People generally feel fear and anxiety when it comes to affiliation and intimacy out because they do not want to feel rejected and unwanted by people they are interacting with. Therefore, people need to build relationships and maintain them so they can have the type of social interactions and relationships that meet their needs.
Power is the desire to make the physical and social world conforms to an individual’s own plan or image. The goal is for a person to impact, control, and influence others to follow their lead. People may feel like they have power if they are recognized as leaders in groups or that they lead in their relationships, although that may cause more problems for them and cause harm to a group or relationship. People will also use aggression to satisfy their need for power or work in influential occupations because then they can get people to follow their lead due to their status. Power can also be satisfied by the possessions that a person owns that they feel gives them a certain status.
Quasi-needs on the other hand develop depending on what a person needs in certain situations, and are not necessary needs and affect the way a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions. People generally feel that these types of needs must be satisfied right away and dominate a person’s mind, and are satisfied once they receive that need.
Personally I feel like I have a high need for affilations and intimacy because I like working with people and run off how they are feeling. I think that is why I like being an RA because I get to meet with a lot a people and satisfy their needs. I also have a high need of achievement because I am someone who aspires to make the Dean’s List every semester and have goals set for my life.
Terms used: social and quasi-needs, acquired psychological needs, experience, socialization and development, achievement, affiliation, intimacy and power, Atkinson’s Model, competition, moderately hard tasks, and entrepreneurship.
This chapter focuses on social needs and quasi needs, which are two categories of psychological needs that both stem from environmental influences and have innate origins. The difference between the two is the types of influences. For instance, social needs evolve from social experiences or pressures, such as the need for achievement or wanting a brand new car. Whereas behaviors acted to fulfill quasi needs are induced by specific situations. Social needs vary within individuals based on their personal experiences while quasi needs stay relatively constant for every individual. For example, if it is raining nearly everyone will want an umbrella, but not everyone wants to go to college.
I was surprised to learn how complex the need for achievement is. Before taking this class, much of these characteristics seemed innate. I didn’t realize there were so many ways to manipulate your behaviors and motivation. I was interested in the tendency to approach success versus the tendency to avoid failure and Atkinson’s formula. I never realized there was a calculation for behavior.
Although the results for parental practices suggested that social needs are not set at an early age, but emerge over time, I am going to associate the research with my social needs ratings because I think it did have a great affect. I think I have a high need for affiliation because all throughout my childhood, my parents encouraged us to be social and active. Because of this, I love to be around people, make new friends and I have an extremely social personality. My parents never focused much on grades, unless they dropped significantly, which I think gave me a moderate need for achievement. If I received a B in a class, my parents praised me almost the same as if I got an A. They knew I was trying my best and were proud of me either way. Although it made high school easier for me, I would have pushed myself to do better if there were certain punishments or incentives for getting better grades. In addition, I have a low need for power. My parents were never in a position of power in their career which I think followed them home. They never punished me for anything because everything was based on trust. I have many leadership characteristics, but I also prefer to work with people. If I am in a situation that needs to be controlled I take initiative, but I don’t feel the need to have power over others.
My high need for affiliation manifests in my jobs. The majority of my jobs have been in the restaurant business, which always requires teamwork. In most cases, I was able to develop a strong social network with my co-workers. My moderate need for achievement has been displayed in my past years of college, excluding this semester. The first year I was more concerned with my social life than my academics. Recently I have been intrinsically motivated to do my best, perhaps because it is my last semester and I want to prove to myself that I can handle 20 credits and still maintain a job and a social life. I’m hoping this semester will prepare me for the real world. Lastly, my low need for power is displayed in my everyday activities. I am not a member of any committee on campus, or involved in any extracurricular activities, so I’m somewhat passive throughout. With this in mind, I have an optimistic attributional style of thinking. I am trying to set up a fundraiser for Autism, which will bring pride to my success.
Everyone strives for achievement at some point in their life. As I mentioned before, I have never felt the need to do great or better than others, I just wanted to get by. However, now that I am approaching graduation I am realizing that reality is going to catch up with me. Even if I don’t want to compete with others, it is inevitable because employers want to hire someone that is in control and has a high need for achievement. This can be seen as an instigator, because I am approaching success. My social need for achievement has developed into a “want”. I want to graduate, I want to get good grades, and I want to get a good job.
Terms: social needs, psychological needs, quasi needs, affiliation, achievement, power, punishments, incentives, intrinsically motivated, passive, optimistic attributional style, instigation. Tendency to approach success, tendency to avoid failure, leadership, Atkinson’s Model
Chapter 7
Chapter seven was about social needs and quasi-needs. Both are acquired psychological needs that develop depending either the environment or personal experience or emotion. Quasi-needs develop from from wants or needs that come from a state of timing. If it is urgent, the need that is developed from the feeling of panic is called a quasi-need. Social needs come from emotional needs that are associated with socialization and there are specifically four social needs that we must fulfill. The first is achievement, being able to do something well and receive notice and feedback for your accomplishments is important. The second need is affiliation, which is based upon wanted to feel apart of something and gaining approval from others. The third need is intimacy. Intimacy is is all about having close bonded relationships with people. And the last social need is power, it is important to feel like you have made an impact in something to feel worth and accomplishment. Overall, socials needs vary among individual, while quasi- needs are pretty universal for many people. For example if your are cold, you put on your coat.
The most surprising thing I learned from the chapter was how extensive and important the need for achieve was for people. I guess we are all driven and motivated by achievement, I but I couldn't believe how much the chapter focused on achievement as a social need. It was interesting to read about the different types of achievement situations there are. Specifically, I liked reading about achievement-avoiddance, typically you don't think about failure and achievement at the same time, so it was interesting to learn how achievement-avoidance situation do not have positive outcomes.
I would rate myself high on achievement. I am really motived by achievement and become extremely upset when faced with failure. I find a lot of pride and self-worth from achieving the goals I set in my life. i would rate myself as medium on affiliation. I like to feel like a part of things, but it's not extremely important to me to know that I am part of a group or to get approval from people. I like to attend events where I know people, but I often don't go to them because I just want some alone time. I would rate myself high on intimacy. I find that personal relationships are extremely important for me. I try to keep in close contact with my close friends and have a great bond with my significant other. I would rate myself as low on power. I like to feel like I have made an impact every once in a while, but it's not something I strive to do everyday. The place that I like to feel like I have the most power would be at work, outside of work I don't much care for having power and control over everything.
Intimacy is extremely important for me in my personal life and really motivated me to help and care for my loved ones and keep in touch with my close friends. i feel a sense of security in having close bonded relationships with others. I rate high on relatedness, so it makes sense that intimacy is also important for me. I have a strong desire to maintain intimate relationships with people once they have been established.
Terms: social needs, quasi-needs, acquired psychological needs, emotional needs, achievement, feedback, affiliation, intimacy, bonded relationships, power, worth, motivation, drive, achievement-avoidance, relatedness.