Psychology ( Achievement Motivation )

Question 1

What is achievement motivation ?

Answer 1

• Achievement motivation is an interactionist approach as it is dependant upon personality and the situation
• Performer can be ‘need to achieve’ or ‘need to avoid failure’
• Achievement motivation is a desire to succeed minus the fear of failure
• Desire to succeed is dictated by the incentive value of success (what winning it worth)
• Fear of failure is dictated by the probability of success
• If a performer’s desire to succeed outweighs their fear of failure, they will show NACH
  characteristics e.g. a performer who has scored 9/10 penalties is more likely to take a penalty
• If a performer’s fear of failure outweighs their desire to succeed, they will show NAF
  characteristics e.g. a performer who has scored 3/10 penalties is less likely to take one.

Question 2

What are the characteristics of a NACH performer (need to achieve) ?

Answer 2

• Desire to succeed outweighs fear of
  failure
• Seek challenging/50-50 situations
• Display approach behaviour
• They have a high task persistence
• A high level of self efficacy
• Attribute failure to external factors,
  such a task difficulty
• Like evaluative situations and value
  feedback from others

Question 3

What are the characteristics of a NAF performer (need to avoid failure) ?

Answer 3

• Fear of failure outweighs desire to succeed
• Show avoidance behaviour
• Low task persistence
• Low self efficacy
• Attribute failure to internal factors, such as
  ability
• Dislike evaluative situations and are likely
  to perform worse

Question 4

How can a coach can develop approach behaviour…

Answer 4

• Reduce the performer’s fear of failure by setting the performer achievable goals
• For example, increasing the size of a target in a target game
• This will guarantee success for the performer
• The difficulty of the task should then be gradually increased
• The performer should then be encouraged to take risks
• Avoid the use of punishment to ensure that self-efficacy levels remain high
• Increase the incentive value by offering the performer tangible and intangible reward
• Attribute success to internal factors, such as ability
• Attribute failure to external factors, such as luck/ability of the other team