Achievement 185Individual Difference Factors
The Achievement Motive
Look at the picture of the two acrobats flying
through the air depicted in Figure 6.1. What do
you see? What kind of story would you write
about the two acrobats? If you wrote about
how hard the two people had worked to be-
come acrobats, all they had given up for their
profession, how successful they were, and the
difficult feats they were trying to accomplish,
you might be considered to have a high motive
for achievement. At least, this is one way the
need for achievement has been measured.
David McClelland and colleagues
(McClelland et al., 1953) described the
achievement motiveas a stable personal-
ity characteristic that reflects the tendency to
strive for success. The achievement motive was
measured by people’s responses to scenes from
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards
like the one depicted in Figure 6.1. People
would view the scene on the card and write
a story about it. The content of the story was
then coded for themes related to the achieve-
ment motive. Mentions of success, striving,
challenge, and accomplishment would reflectmore likely than women to receive de-
grees in computer science and engineer-
ing. Women are less likely than men to
major in what are now known as “STEM”
(Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math) fields (Hill, Corbett, & Rose,
2010). There has been little change in
these numbers over the last 10 years. In
the area of computer science, there was
an increase in the number of women who
entered the field in the 1980s, but that in-
crease was followed by a decline. In 1986,
35% of all bachelor’s degrees in computer
science were awarded to women, whereas
in 2006 the number was 21%. Women
are equally likely as men to receive a sci-
ence degree, but women tend toward the
life sciences whereas men tend toward
the physical sciences.
In the first section of the chapter, I
describe a number of individual differ-
ence explanations for women’s and men’s
choice of different areas of study and levels
of achievement. These explanations pertain
to characteristics of women and men. Men
and women may be motivated to achieve
in different domains and may have differ-
ent beliefs about their abilities, which could
influence their motivations. There are a va-
riety of explanations as to why women do
not realize their achievement potential, in-
cluding ideas that women fear success, lack
self-confidence, have lower self-esteem,
and are faced with stereotype threat.
In the second section of the chapter,
I explore social explanations for sex differ-
ences in achievement. How do other peo-
ple’s expectations and beliefs—in particular
those of parents and teachers—influence
women’s and men’s achievement?
FIGURE 6.1 Adaptation of a Thematic Apper-
ception Test (TAT) card depicting two acrobats
flying through the air.M06_HELG0185_04_SE_C06.indd 185 6/21/11 8:10 AM