A Comparative Analysis of Fantasy Need Achievement among High and Low Achieving Male Hawaiian-Americans

Abstract

Fantasy need achievement scores were obtained from male high school students representing three ethnic groups: Filipino-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and indigenous Hawaiians who were further categorized into high-achieving and low-achieving groups. The only significant differences were between the Japanese and the two Hawaiian groups who had the lowest n Ach scores. More importantly, the two Hawaiian groups differentiated in terms of experience, ability, achievement, and social class did not differ significantly in terms of n Ach. These findings were interpreted as challenging the usefulness of the notion that Hawaiian children do well or poorly in school because they possess or lack n Ach.

Motivation: Reopening the Research Agenda

“…Collaborative group effort serves the need for affiliation, and makes it easier for a feeling of achievement to be attained, because it removes, to some extent, the need for one individual's achievement to be attained at the expense of another's; the condition that would obtainin more competitive arrangements. It can also be noted that different cultures differently value needs for power, affiliation, and achievement (Sloggett, Gallimore, & Kubany, 1970;Cooper & Tom, 1984). Some cultures allow for individual excellence, with tolerance of competition (sometimes intense) whereas others strive mainly for group excellence (Brislin, Chushner, Cherrie, & Yong, 1986).…”

Cultural differences in delay of gratification: A problem of behavior classification.

“…The informants in this study were 202 Hawaiianand 49 Japanese-American students, randomly selected in proportion to the ethnic composition of the student body of a high school in rural Oahu. The socioeconomic position of the Japanese-Americans contrasted sharply with the Hawaiian-Americans, the former being characterized by high levels of educational attainment, upward mobility and traits associated with preference for delayed gratification, for example high n Ach (Sloggett, Gallimore, & Kubany, 1970). Each student wrote an essay in response to the question: "If someone gave you $1,500, what would you do with it?"…”

Use of Group Activities and Team Rewards to Increase Individual Classroom Productivity

“…For example, Hawaiians score significantly below local Japanese and Filipinos, as well as lower-class Mainland Negroes and Caucasians, on a test of achievement motivation (Sloggett, Gallimore, and Kubany, :1970). In addition, Hawaiians apparently derive little personal pleasure from competing successfully against others and, in fact, avoid individual competition.…”