Achievement

Motivation
Competitiveness
Aims for today:

 To understand what achievement

motivation is.
 To gain knowledge of McClelland and
Atkinson’s model of achievement
motivation.
 To be aware of sport-specific
achievement motivation
(competitiveness).
 Motivation
 “I would give half my life
to play tennis like Roger
Federer.”

 That’s exactly what he

did!
What would you be?
An achievement situation?

 This is one in which someone expects

their performance to be evaluated.
 In sport this is most commonly
referred to as competition.
So what is achievement
motivation?
 “…the athlete’s predisposition to approach
or avoid a competitive situation”.
 This is much more than getting motivated
for a one off event.
 “..it is the fundamental, internal drive that
motivates athletes to commit a large
proportion of their lives to achieve a
particular goal.”
Cox, 1985
Achievement Motivation

 Your motivation to do well in an

achievement situation is referred to as
achievement motivation.
Therefore …
 Sport specific achievement
motivation = competitiveness.
Motivation revisited
 Motivation = the desire to fulfil a need.
 It stems from the word motive, implying that
it is learned – nurture not nature.

Synoptic links
 Drive theory – Hull, Spence, and other
behaviourists.
McClelland-Atkinson model
 Based upon the concept that motivation is
generated through a combination of
personality and situational factors.
It focuses on:
 The motive to achieve success
 Fear of failure

You may see these referred to as:

 The need to achieve success (Nach)
 The need to avoid failure (Naf)
 McClelland-Atkinson model

TAS: People with

High Nach
the tendency to
approach success

Low Naf High Naf

TAF: People with

the tendency to
Low Nach avoid failure
Success is judged against
goals
 Mastery/task goals – associated with
self improvement.
 Ego/ability goals – comparison
against rivals.
 Socially approved goals – involve
seeking social reinforcement as a
measure of success.
TAS
 These people are motivated to succeed and
not worried about the possibility of failure.
 They are more competitive and tend to be
stimulated by situations involving risk.
 They are more likely to accept challenges
where the probability of success is low and
perceive easy tasks to be too boring to
attempt.
 Enjoy being evaluated on the basis of
Ego/ability goals.
TAF
 These people are scared of failure and as
such lack a competitive edge.
 Hate being evaluated on Ego/ability goals
as these might lower self-esteem.
 They are more likely to accept challenges
where the probability of success is quite
high or attempt tasks that are impossible
because they might actually get credit for
having a go against the odds (heroic
failure)!
Task

Think of situations where:

a) You have been highly motivated to
participate because they are difficult.
b) You have not bothered to attempt
because they are too easy.
What does it mean?

 If an individual’s self-confidence
associated with performing a certain
task is stronger than his/her fear of
failing the task, he/she will approach
and perform the task.
 Achievement Motivation = Intrinsic
motivation – cognitive state anxiety
(worry caused by being in a certain
situation)
Does it predict behaviour?

 Again the answer is not really. There

is much more to performance than
just motivation.
But…
 Measuring achievement motivation
will help to predict long-term patterns
of motivation.
Implications

 The Atkinson-McClelland model is

best at predicting situations where
there is a 50/50 chance of success.
 TAS enjoy a 50/50 challenge whereas
TAF fear the failure so the 50/50
causes maximum stress.
Task

 Discuss the strategies a coach could

use to ensure that performers
experience high incentive values
during every training session.