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Achievement Motivation. What does it mean? An individuals interaction with the environment and their desire to succeed . Drive to succeed/persist with a task Atkinson suggested an individual’s level of motivation depends on a combination of personality and situational factors.
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Achievement Motivation • What does it mean? • An individuals interaction with the environment and their desire to succeed. • Drive to succeed/persist with a task • Atkinson suggested an individual’s level of motivation depends on a combination of personality and situational factors
Achievement Motivation - cont • Athletes either display a need to achieve (nAch) or need to avoid failure (nAf) tendency when placed in certain situations • A situation is evaluated in terms of an individual’s probability of success and the incentive value of that success, which can be expressed as: (Ms – Maf) x (Ps x {I – Ps}) Where: Ms = motive to succeed, Maf = motive to avoid failure, Ps = Probability of success and I = Incentive value of success
Need to avoid failure: - Avoids challenges - Often gives up - Does not want feedback Eg: Climber takes easiest possible route to ensure success • Need to Achieve - Likes a challenge - Welcomes feedback - He/She not afraid of failure - Has high task persistence Eg: Climber who will take the most difficult route up a mountain to gain maximum satisfaction
Eg: The motivation level of a novice tennis player when faced with a match against a club player: will depend on their perceived chance of success and whether or not they are prepared to face the challenge whatever the outcome or merely not play in case they are seen to fail Some theories argue that athletes perceive success – depending on outcome/task orientated goals
Arousal levels and the Drive Theory • Arousal levels need to be under control and at the right level depending upon the task • DRIVE THEORY The higher the arousal level, the more likely the dominant response occurs Eg – Elite Tennis player – playing in front of large crowd, will pull off his/her best possible shots
Inverted U – Cont • Optimum performance occurs at moderate arousal levels • What is wrong with this theory? • The position of Optimum arousal depends on a number of factors: • Type of activity • Skill level of Performer • Personality of Performer
Type of activity: - Gross skills require high arousal - Fine skills require low arousal • Skill level of performer: - Higher the skill level – the higher the level of arousal needed • Personality of performer: - The more extrovert, the higher arousal level is needed (RAS)
Achievement Motivation – What happens when arousal levels become too high? • Performance increases as arousal increases BUT • When arousal gets too high, performance dramatically decreases • Eg: - Top golfer who misses an easy putt on 18th hole • Anxiety (which develops from high arousal levels) causes arousal in 2 main areas: • SOMATIC anxiety – Golfer sweating • COGNITIVE anxiety – Golfer worried about missing putt
Reticular Activating System • System within brain that controls arousal • Extroverts have lower levels of intrinsic arousal than introverts • Therefore – seek situations of HIGH arousal • Introverts seek low arousal situations • Therefore – seek situations of LOW arousal
