title: Measuring motivation multidimensionally: development of the Assessment of Individual Motives-Questionnaire (AIM-Q).
abstract: We report the development of the Assessment of Individual Motives-Questionnaire (AIM-Q), a new instrument based on an evolutionary psychology theory of human motivation. It provides multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) assessment of individual differences on 15 motive scales. A total heterogeneous sample of N = 1,251 participated in eight studies that evaluated the homogeneity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and MTMM convergent and discriminant validities of the AIM-Q's three methods. These studies generally support the overall strategy of assessing individual differences in multiple evolutionary-based motives with multiple methods. Additional validity studies are underway and, when validated further, the AIM-Q may offer a promising option for evolutionary psychologists and behavioral geneticists wanting to incorporate individual differences into their research but have had to use existing self-report measures of personality, which were not designed for such a purpose. It may also offer clinical and counseling psychologists an additional approach to personality measures for the prediction of behavior.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA. lbernard@lmu.edu
authors.forename: Larry C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Leland
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Swenson
authors.forename: R Patricia
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Walsh
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D009042:Motivation; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires