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Achievement Motivation
A form of motivation aimed at achieving a personal standard of excellence, related to experiences of “doing better.” With power and affiliation, the achievement motive represents one of the three basic motives formulated by Henry Murray in 1938. Motivation is differentiated into implicit (or operant) motives and explicit (or respondent) motives. (Implicit achievement motivation is also known as need for achievement, or nAch; explicit achievement motivation is also known as self-attributed need for achievement, or sanAch.) Both are generally unrelated and are linked to different behavioral correlates. Explicit achievement motivation is readily articulated and involves seeing oneself as a hard worker and wanting to take on challenging tasks. In contrast, implicit achievement motivation reflects a less conscious preoccupation with self-improvement and an intrinsic enjoyment of ...