title: The thematic apperception test: toward a standard measure of the big three motives.
abstract: The application of the Thematic Apperception Test to the assessment of motives has been heralded as an important milestone in personality psychology. However, although this approach is well established, there is at present no standard battery of cues for measuring the Big Three motives (achievement, affiliation, power). Furthermore, the extent to which scoring subcategories contribute to overall motive scores has been neglected. Our research with students and managers examined the effectiveness of picture cues in eliciting motive imagery and the prevalence of scoring subcategories within each motive scoring system. Results from 2 data sets comprising 547 men and women suggested that there were 3 cues that should be retained for future research and that motive scoring systems could be refined through removal of redundant subcategories. Further research is needed to systematically investigate the effectiveness of a standard battery of cues and the validity of revised motive scoring systems.
authors.affiliation: Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. jalanganfox@groupwise.swin.edu.au
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Langan-Fox
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007206:Individuality; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011594:Psychometrics; D012737:Sex Factors; D012933:Social Identification; D013803:Thematic Apperception Test / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data