Motive incongruence
In psychology , a distinction is made between on the one hand explicit, conscious and on the other hand implicit, unconscious motives . If explicit success orientations deviate from implicit achievement motives, this motive incongruence can negatively affect the subjective well-being of people with emotion regulation deficits .
Personality Systems Interactions Theory
According to Julius Kuhl's Personality Systems Interactions Theory , explicit orientations are associated with the intention memory, while implicit motives are associated with the extension memory. Stress (chronic frustration or chronic fear) complicates the communication process of these two cognitive systems and thus the congruence between implicit motives and explicit orientations.
The effects of stress depend on the individual's affect regulation . Stress in the form of demands is particularly troubling for hesitant people (situation orientation in relation to decisions), while stress in the form of threats has a negative effect on the well-being of the person, especially in brooding people (situation orientation in relation to failure). Julius Kuhl basically differentiates between two types of stress, once the threat stress, which increases the negative affect, which is related to the object recognition system and creates "pressure" - and once the stress stress , which slows down the positive affect, which is related to the intentional memory and "stress" generated. This is described in the following by the keywords demands (stress stress) and threats (threat stress).
Scientific evidence
In people who experience a lot of stress (in the form of demands),
- Does the subjective well-being decrease in situation-oriented people, but not in action-oriented people.
- In situation-oriented people, do the explicit success orientations deviate from the implicit achievement motives. This incongruence cannot be seen in action-oriented people.
High congruence of the implicit and explicit motives indicates high subjective well-being, while high incongruence indicates low subjective well-being.
In patients who experience a lot of stress (in the form of threats),
- The somatic complaints accumulate in position-oriented patients, but not in action-oriented patients.
- In position-oriented patients, the explicit success orientations deviate from the implicit achievement motives, but not in action-oriented patients.
A high incongruence between explicit and implicit motives indicates a high number of somatic complaints. Incongruences between explicit and implicit motives often occur because the two types of motive correlate statistically little or no correlation with one another. They also predict different behaviors and - in terms of content - can be roughly subdivided into motivation manifestations, whose "head is stronger than the stomach" or vice versa. These different incongruences in turn result in specific complaints and also statements from affected persons (see also classification of motive discrepancies ).
These incongruity effects could be recorded both with questionnaires and with experimental manipulations.
Mediation model
The results speak for the causal function of stress in the formation of motive incongruences in situation-oriented people. These motive incongruences act as a hidden stress factor that diminishes well-being and promotes the formation of somatic complaints. Thus, not only stress alone, but above all the affect regulation abilities of the person concerned are decisive for the health consequences.
literature
- Baumann, Nicola; Kaschel, Reiner & Kuhl, Julius (2005): Striving for Unwanted Goals: Stress-Dependent Discrepancies Between Explicit and Implicit Achievement Motives Reduce Subjective Well-Being and Increase Psychosomatic Symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 89, No. 5, 781-799.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julius Kuhl: Textbook of Personality Psychology . Hogrefe, 2010.