ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION, AFFILIATION MOTIVATION, AND TASK DIFFICULTY AS DETERMINANTS OF SOCIAL CONFORMITY
Abstract
Extending from the differentiation of normative and informational processes of social influence an investigation of interactions between two motivational factors (achievement needs and affiliation needs and one situational factor (task difficulty or ambiguity) was executed. Undergraduates were subjected to contrived group pressures toward erroneous perceptual judgments. An analysis of variance of frequencies of conforming behavior revealed (a) that conformity occurs more frequently on maximally ambiguous perceptual tasks than on relatively unambiguous ones, and more frequently on unambiguous tasks which are characterized by lack of subjective confidence in accuracy of judgment than on ones characterized by high levels of confidence in accuracy of judgment; (b) that predispositional achievement nees are related to characterization of the task stuation as easy, difficult, or impossible whereas predispositional affiliation needs are unrelated to task characterization; (c) that high levels of achievement motivation operate to suppress differentiation of response to social influence as a function of differences in affiliation motivation, while low levels of affiliation motivation may generate relative indifference to social influences regardless of differences in achievement motivati n; and (d) the sex differences in frequency of conformity to group pressures disappear when predispositional motivational factors are controlled. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0292793
Entities
People
- Francis Sistrunk
- John W. Mcdavid
Organizations
- University of Miami