Preview

David Mcclelland

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2211 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
David Mcclelland
David Clarence McClelland (1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American personality psychologist, social psychologist, and an advocate of quantitative history.
McClelland earned his BA in 1938 at Wesleyan University, his MA in 1939 at the University of Missouri, and his Ph.D. in experimental psychology at Yale University in 1941. McClelland taught at the Connecticut College and Wesleyan University before accepting, in 1956, a position at Harvard University. After his 30-year tenure at Harvard he moved, in 1987, to Boston University, where he was a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology until his death at the age of 80.

McClelland proposed a content theory of motivation based on Henry Murray's (1938) theory of personality, which sets out a comprehensive model of human needs and motivational processes.1. In McClelland's book The achieving society (1961) he asserts that human motivation comprises three dominant needs: the need for achievement (N-Ach), the need for power (N-Pow) and the need for affiliation (N-Aff). The subjective importance of each need varies from individual to individual and depends also on an individual's cultural background. He also claimed that this motivational complex is an important factor in the social change and evolution of societies. 2. His legacy includes the scoring system which he co-developed for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) that was developed by Murray and Morgan (1935). The TAT is used for personality assessment and in achievement motivation research, and described in McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell's (1953) book The achievement motive.
McClelland's theory was an attempt to scientifically test Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. One of the key studies, confirming the validity of McClelland's theories, is the study of Bradburn and Berlew (1961) who analyzed achievement motives in British school readers ("text books") and showed a strong correlation of these themes, a generation later, with

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    | |Compare and contrast the psychoanalytic, humanistic, and diversity views of human motivation.| | |…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Complete the matrix with at least five motivational theories. Each theory application should be at least 100 words.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This theory was developed to explain how individuals respond to challenges and having the strong urge for success and accomplishment.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mgt 350 Exam 3 Notes

    • 1902 Words
    • 8 Pages

    McClelland’s Theory of Needs - Achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation…

    • 1902 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When speaking of motivation there are three main views that are discussed: Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, and Diversity. Each possessing its own unique characteristics. I favor the diversity view the most because it allows for flexibility. Humans are diverse, and all are different in unique ways. The diversity view argues that humans do things and are motivated by different things. Some may be motivated by money or power, while others are motivated by emotion and well-being. Henry Murray suggested that humans live in past experiences and expectations of the future to achieve needs and desires. In addition he believed humans possessed two main types of needs: Viscerogenic (physiological needs such as air and water) and psychogenic (autonomy, achievement, fulfillment, dominance, play, and etc). Also needs often interact with dispositional traits (extroversion, introversion). The dispositional trait will reflect how the person uses behavior to fulfill a need. The TAT test was created to help measure the needs for power, intimacy, and achievement in regards to motivation.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Individual Analysis

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Need for Achievement – McClelland (quoted by Pattanyak, 2006) notes motivation that influences employees to direct his or her behaviour towards attaining goals.…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Robin Hood Case Study

    • 3673 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Carpenter, Mason, Talya Bauer, and Berrin Erdogan. "Need-Based Theories of Motivation." Principles of Management. Vol. 1.1. N.p.: Flat World Knowledge, 2013. 667-69. Print.…

    • 3673 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Stanley Milgrim was born in New York City in 1933, the son of European immigrants. He earned his bachelors degree in Political Sciences from Queens College, where he never even took a course in psychology. He then applied to Harvard for his Ph.D. but was not accepted because of his lack of background in psychology. After taking a few courses in psychology he was accepted to Harvartd where he earned his Ph.D. in 1960 (American National Biography).…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Motivation EDU 213

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    References: http://www.enotes.com/motivation-motivation-theory-reference/motivation-motivation-theory. (Ormrod, J.E., (2011). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners. 7th Edition. Pearson Publishing: Boston, MA.)…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    David Premack

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    David Premack was born October 26, 1925 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He is married to Ann Premack and has three children. He attended college at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. There he received a Bachelors in 1943 and then a Masters in 1951. He became an instructor for the University from 153-1954 and then received his PhD in experimental psychology in 1955. He was a research assistant at the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology in 1954 where he came up with the basis for the Premack Principle. He was a research associate professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia from 1955-1964. He then was a visiting associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1964. After that he was a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1965-1975. He then worked at Harvard University, Cambridge from 1970-1971 as a visiting professor. He was then a professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1975-1990. He currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus and Penn Arts & Sciences in the psychology department.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    John B. Watson Brochure

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    [1913-‘15] He published one of his famous articles “Psychology as a Behaviorist Views it”, also published “Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology”. He was elected president of the American Psychological Association…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Campbell-Whatley, G.D. (2008). Teaching students about their disabilities: Increasing self-determination skills and self-concept. University of North Carolina at Charlotte. International Journal of Special Education 23(2). 137-144. Retrieved from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ814451.pdf…

    • 5370 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    How do others influence our behaviour? Discuss with reference to social psychology theory and research.…

    • 1978 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ray, J.J. (1979). A quick measure of achievement motivation - validated in Australia and reliable in Britain and South Africa. Australian Psychologist. 14 (3), 337-344.…

    • 2253 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Viney, W. (2004, autumn). Where History, Philosophy, and Psychology Meet: An Interview With Wayne Viney. , 31(4), 289-295.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics