Are Implicit and Explicit Motive Measures Statistically Independent? A Fair and Balanced Test Using the Picture Story Exercise and a Cue- and Response-Matched Questionnaire Measure

Abstract

Previous studies that have examined the relationship between implicit and explicit motive measures have consistently found little variance overlap between both types of measures regardless of thematic content domain (i.e., power, achievement, affiliation). However, this independence may be artifactual because the primary means of measuring implicit motives—content-coding stories people write about picture cues—are incommensurable with the primary means of measuring explicit motives: having individuals fill out self-report scales. To provide a better test of the presumed independence between both types of measures, we measured implicit motives with a Picture Story Exercise (PSE; McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989) and explicit motives with a cue- and response-matched questionnaire version of the PSE (PSE–Q) and a traditional measure of explicit motives, the Personality Research Form (PRF; Jackson, 1984) in 190 research participants. Correlations between the PSE and the PSE–Q were small and mostly nonsignificant, whereas the PSE–Q showed significant variance overlap with the PRF within and across thematic domains. We conclude that the independence postulate holds even when more commensurable measures of implicit and explicit motives are used.

Acknowledgments

All PSE and PSE–Q picture cues and Inquisit and Matlab scripts used in this research are available on request from O. C. Schultheiss, as are paper-and-pencil versions of the PSE and PSE–Q. This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant BCS–0444301.

Notes

^a The same PSE–Q item was used for the assessment of power- and affiliation-related helping.

*p < .05.

** p < .01.

*** p < .005.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

*** p < .005.

^a PSE categories for power − and affiliation − related helping were correlated with same PSE − Q helping scores.

*p < .05.

¹ There was some evidence for this in this study. The amount of discrepancy or congruence between PSE scores and PSE–Q scores within each motive domain was positively and significantly correlated across motivational domains, suggesting that, for instance, a person with matching PSE–Q and PSE scores in the power domain also tended to have matching scores in the achievement and affiliation domains. Such lawful covariation of congruence between implicit and explicit motives was not observed when PSE and PRF scores were pitted against each other. These findings suggest that although the PSE–Q is not a measure of implicit motives, it may be a sensitive indicator for the extent to which self-attributed motives deviate from implicit needs.