Are implicit motives “visible” to well acquainted informant peers?

Abstract

Narrative story-telling (implicit) and self-report (explicit) measures of motivation frequently fail to correlate, or correlate only minimally (Fineman, 1977; Spangler, 1992). McClelland, Koestner, and Weinberger (1989) propose that implicit measures assess true motivational states, whereas self-report measures assess the subjective value placed on motives. This explanation also suggests that an individual may know little about his or her true motivational dispositions. Is it possible that peers who know us well possess relevant information about our implicit motives? Specifically, this study explored whether informant ratings of Conscientiousness and Extraversion can predict the implicit need for achievement and implicit need for affiliation (respectively) of a well-known peer. Regression analyses were used to test the predictive power of informant ratings. After controlling for demographic variables and self-rated Conscientiousness, informantratings of Conscientiousness did account for significant incremental variance in need for achievement scores, ΔF (1, 115) = 5.52, p < .05, ΔR ² = .044. Informant-ratings of Extraversion did not significantly account for incremental variance in nAff scores, ΔF (1, 115) = 1.16, p = .28, ΔR ² = .008. The implications of these results are discussed and future directions of study are outlined.