Level of Aspiration Measures and College Achievement

Schultz, Douglas G.; Ricciuti, Henry N.

doi:10.1080/00221309.1954.9920226

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Following aspiration theory, whenever individuals engage in social comparison, their level of aspiration moves toward the perceived behavior of the reference group (Festinger, 1942; Lewin et al, 1944). Those movements in aspirations, or aspiration shifts , are defined in the literature as the “discrepancy between the individual’s expressed level of aspiration and his immediately preceding performance” (Schultz & Ricciuti, 1954, p. 267). Hence, aspiration shifts express how much more ( positive shift ) or how much less ( negative shift ) participants intend to volunteer relative to their current volunteering level.…”

Section: Conceptual Foundations and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under Pressure: Social Information on Reference Groups and its Influence on Volunteering Intention—A Survey Experiment

Henninger,

Rottler,

Helmig

2023

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

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Voluntary contributions are a crucial resource for nonprofit organizations and challenging to acquire. Social information on other people’s contributions has been found to positively influence individual giving behavior. However, a clear understanding how social information reference groups impact volunteering intentions is missing. Drawing on social comparison theory, we conducted a survey experiment with variations in social information reference groups to shed light on mechanisms within social comparison processes in volunteering. Results show that volunteering intention increases when social information refers to reference groups similar to recipients (ingroups) compared with reference groups without similarities (outgroups). This effect is mediated by group identification. In contrast, shifts in volunteering aspiration are anchored by observed performance levels and independent of reference groups. The study contributes to the social information literature and suggests the need to distinguish different forms of social information to understand social comparison processes in volunteering, relevant for researchers and practitioners alike.

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Section: Conceptual Foundations and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under Pressure: Social Information on Reference Groups and its Influence on Volunteering Intention—A Survey Experiment

Henninger,

Rottler,

Helmig

2023

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The results were mixed. Schultz and Ricciuti (1954) found that level of aspiration measures, based on a general ability test, a code learning task, and regular course examinations, did not correlate with college grades. A subsequent study by John Hills (1958) used a questionnaire measure of level of aspiration in several areas, TAT measures of need for achievement in the same areas, and McClelland's standard TAT measure of need for achievement to predict law-school criteria.…”

Section: Level Of Aspiration or Need For Achievement And Academic Permentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The emphasis has continually shifted, and attention to different lines of inquiry has waxed and waned, reflecting changes in the Zeitgeist in psychology, the composition of the Research staff and its interests, and the availability of support, both external and from ETS. A prime illustration of these changes is the focus of research at ETS and in the field of psychology on level of aspiration in the 1950s, exemplified by the ETS studies of Douglas Schultz and Henry Ricciuti (e.g., Schultz and Ricciuti 1954), and on emotional intelligence 60 years later, represented by ETS investigations by Richard Roberts and his colleagues (e.g., Roberts et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%