Arousal of need for affiliation in women.

Abstract

100 freshman college women from a residence hall were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions expected to affect need for affiliation (n Affiliation) or to a control group. In agreement with previous research on male Ss, 2 of the conditions-being rated by peers and being rejected by peers-resulted in arousal of TAT n Affiliation. No effect of the 3rd condition, social acceptance, was obtained. Implications for a 2-factor theory of n Affiliation were discussed.Although the fantasy measure of need for affiliation (n Affiliation) described by Heyns, Veroff, and Atkinson (19S8) has been widely employed in research, some basic assumptions concerning its validity have not been put to adequate empirical test. The present study attempts to determine the applicability of the measure to female subjects and to evaluate some theoretical inferences that were drawn in initial validation experiments.According to McClelland (1958, p. 9), a minimal requirement for the validation of a measure of motivation is that it reflect the presence or absence of the motive in the individual. Experimental arousal commonly has been used as a direct method of determining whether fantasy measures of motivation are sensitive to gross variations in motive strength. Although experimental arousal of n Affiliation has been demonstrated repeatedly in male samples (Atkinson, Heyns, & Veroff, 1954; French & Chadwick, 1956; Shipley & Veroff, 1952) there are no published reports of attempts to arouse n Affiliation in women. Yet female subjects often have been used in correlational studies employing the projective measure of n Affiliation. One aim of the present study is to determine whether n Affiliation can be aroused in women by the techniques that have proved successful in previous studies of men.The present study also is concerned with the degree of support provided by the earlier experimental studies for a two-factor theory of n Affiliation. Following McClelland's (1951) general distinction between approach and avoidance motives, Shipley and Veroff (1952) suggested that the tendency to seek affiliation (n Affiliation) is a function of two subdispositions-the ap-

Models for affiliative and conformity behavior.

“…) Atkinson et al (1954) also found that subjects who had been given a sociometric rating (which typically arouses fear of rejection) prior to taking the TAT received higher n-affiliation scores than did those who had not been given a sociometric rating. In particular, Rosenfeld and Franklin (1966), who used the 1958 scale, found that n-affiliation scores were higher for subjects who had received no feedback or negative feedback on a sociometric rating than for subjects who had received either a positive feedback or had not participated in the sociometric rating.…”

Approval-seeking and approval-inducing functions of verbal and nonverbal responses in the dyad.

“…The six categories of nonverbal behavior of instructed subjects that were assessed con-2 Role-playing instructions were employed to induce approval motivation, in preference to deprivational procedures (cf. Walters & Parke, 1964) or affiliative feedback (e.g., Rosenfeld & Franklin, 1966), in the expectation that a more clear and uniform motivational state would result within the sample. The AA instructions were intended to induce more of a neutral than a hostile response set.…”

Sociotropy and Autonomy: Preliminary Evidence for Construct Validity Using TAT Narratives

“…In addition, men who were rejected in their attempts to join a fraternity also scored higher on nAff than control participants (Shipley & Veroff, 1952). Another study (Rosenfeld & Franklin, 1966) found that women who received false feedback that they were rejected by their peers scored higher on nAff than women who did not receive such feedback. Individuals with high scores on nAff were also found to be rated higher on the trait "approval seeking" by their peers (Atkinson et al, 1954).…”