Define Achievement Motivation
Achievement motivation, as put forward by David McClelland, is a factor that relates to one's aptitude for success. Numerous studies have explored and adapted portions of this theory.
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Description
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Achievement motivation typically refers to an individual's competence at striving to achieve goals. It is also sometimes viewed as someone's ability to select challenging yet attainable goals and then accomplish them.
Theories
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David McClelland viewed need for achievement as a prominent factor in determining one's success at selecting and completing tasks in general.
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Levels
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Those with a low need for achievement typically choose easy tasks to ensure their success or very difficult tasks, so that if they fail, they can attribute it to the odds being against them. Achievement-motivated individuals tend to choose goals that enable them to master a task.
Attributes
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Those who are achievement motivated tend to work for personal fulfillment rather than reward. They also tend to prefer project or job-related critiques rather than comments about their personal traits and interaction while completing a task. McClelland puts forward that achievement-motivated individuals often think about how to improve things as a force of habit. He also believed that households in which parents hold exceptional expectations tend to produce achievement-motivated children.
Benefits & Detriments
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Individuals that exhibit high achievement motivation tend to be promoted more, get more work done and get more raises than do those with low achievement motivations. However, those with high achievement motivations may not be as well-suited for supervising people that have more socially-motivated attitudes.
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