Motivational structure of an hospitalized mental defective.

Abstract

attempting to isolate basic dimensions of motivation, did not have the benefit of the factor analytic methods which have enabled Cattell and his co-workers to substantiate the concepts of drive, ego structure, and sentiment. On the assumption that factor analysis of many scores obtained on objective attitude measuring devices would reveal a limited number of motivational components which could account for the multitude of phenomena observed in dynamic behavior, Cattell pioneered three researches: an R-technique study to isolate and identify the basic motivational determinants (Cattell, 1950), another R-technique study to confirm the findings of the first and to develop alternative objective measuring methods (Cattell & Miller, 1952), and a P-technique study to confirm further and to clarify the ideas elicited by the other two studies as well as to investigate the applicability of these ideas to an individual (Cattell & Cross, 1952). The present case study continues this line of research.The objective here was to discover the motivational dimensions of an institutionalized mental defective by objective P-technique factor analysis and to ascertain whether the findings were congruent with clinical understanding of the case and with earlier factor analytic results on nondefectives.

The Internal Structure of the Motivation Analysis Test

“…Cattell et al (1964) quote factorial validity coefficients (i.e., correlations with the true factors) in excess of 0.9, but, as Alker (1972) points out, multiple correlations such as these are likely to be gross overestimates of the true validities. Kline and Grindley (1974) after Cross (1951) and Shotwell et al (1961) reported a study in which one subject completed the MAT each day for a month. When compared ' blind ' with a comprehensive diary kept by the subject the MAT scales did appear to vary in a meaningful manner with life events.…”