Implicit motives are subconscious influences on our behavior, while explicit motives are conscious goals a person is able to perceive (Lesson
First one
Implicit motives are subconscious influences on our behavior, while explicit motives are conscious goals a person is able to perceive (Lesson 5, pg. 16). Implicit motives are created during childhood before language is acquired, while explicit motives are created throughout an individual’s lifetime based on their self-reflections and ideal self (Lesson 5, pg. 17).
Implicit motives also are created by the anticipation of a change from low satisfaction of a specific need to high satisfaction of the same need (Lesson 5, pg. 23). Having a need satisfied makes individuals more motivated to continue satisfying that need (Lesson 5, pg. 23). Implicit motives allow people to adapt in situations where they are required to have self-initiative and long-term investment (Lesson 5, pg. 23). Those who are motivated implicitly to act as they need to in such a situation are more likely to succeed (Lesson 5, pg. 23). Explicit motives demonstrate the need people have to maintain a positive self-image, so the individual will be motivated to act in certain ways to maintain the positive self-image (Lesson 5, pg. 23). In addition, they can help focus an individual’s attention on a single goal, which is useful in structured situations (Lesson 5, pg. 23).
Based on the Thematic Apperception Test, my most influential implicit motivator is affiliation, followed by power and achievement. In comparison, based on the questionnaire, my most influential explicit motivator is also affliation; but achievement is more influential than power.
If I base my motives off of the two evaluations, my explicit and implicit motives seem to be in agreement. Because they complement each other and I would thus strive for and need high affliation, then I would have a higher emotional well-being, based on a study by Joachim Brunstein (Lesson 4, pg. 24-25).
While my implicit and explicit motives seem to be mostly in agreement, upon self-reflection, I would actually consider achievement to be a stronger explicit motivator than affiliation because I want to be able to prove myself.
If I instead base my explicit motives on self-reflection, then that would mean that I would actually have less emotional well-being because my implicit motive (affliation) would not match my explicit motive (achievement) (Lesson 5, pg. 25).
To make my implicit motives and explicit goals match one another, I can only really change my explicit goals because my implicit motives are subconscious. As such, I should attempt to strive for positive relationships over achievement. To do this, I could interact with my peers to try to get to know them better. In addition, I should consider having a higher social status in a social hierarchy as more important than wanting to prove myself as better than others in a certain skill.
Second one
When filling out the TAT story, I found that Affiliation was the lowest and Achievement was the highest. Upon taking the questionnaire, I found that Achievement was the highest and Power was the lowest. This discrepancy was interesting to me because my explicit motives valued relationships with others more than power, but my implicit motives shows that my behavior leans more towards power. According to the lecture, implicit motives relate to my satisfaction and explicit motives are geared toward self-image. Further, implicit motives are fueled from emotions rather than a conscious decision.
With this in mind, I realized why there was a discrepancy in my scores. I personally strive for Achievement regardless because success is important to me. Growing up, I lived with two older brothers who grew up to be doctors and hard workers. My parents were both college graduates and my father went back to school recently to attain his PHD. For my self image, I actively try to make friends and get people to like me, however subconsciously my behavior tells me that being a leader and influence is more important. This could stem to the fact that I was the youngest child and my influence did not seem that significant among my siblings.
I can make my explicit and implicit goals match more than they currently do by being aware of what is going on in my thought process. As stated in slide 17, implicit goals are formed from childhood, and being more aware of this, I can better align my goals.
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