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Presentation

Derek Drake
Bridgewater State College

Subject Listing - Psychology
Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Nicholas

Thursday, Oral Session 3, Presentation 1, Carmichael Hall 133

TESTING HORNER'S "MOTIVE TO AVOID SUCCESS."

The purpose of this project was to find evidence that Horner's theory of the "motive to avoid success" in women is actually a form of self-regulation. The "motive to avoid success" is the explanation of the "unique" behavior observed in working women whom produce less than their ability in order to avoid praise, promotions, or any recognition of success. It is theorized that women do this due to the desire to conform to sex-typed norms. I hypothesize that men will conform to sex-typed behavior, resulting in the avoidance of success. This will make the behavior not unique to women and make the "motive to avoid success" null. 20 people participated in a pilot for the study to test to see if the population had an identifiable strong gender schema. Being so, a sample of 120 males was issued a series of anagrams with progressive difficulty. The subjects were told that the task was either masculine or feminine. Halfway through the task the subjects were told that they are performing above par. This feedback will effect their progress based on whether they believe their task is feminine or masculine. The magnitude and direction of the effect will help determine whether or not the motive to avoid success is unique to women. If so, then the theory of "motive to avoid success" is sound; if not, then it is a form of self-regulation.

Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Nicholas, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, MA