Operant motive test

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Julius Kuhl and David Scheffer brought out the Operant Motive Test (OMT) in 1999 . Like the methodically related Thematic Perception Test (TAT), it explores people's motives by associating them with images. In contrast to the TAT, you don't have to write entire stories, just key points. The time saved is used to query more images: while the classic TAT only presents 6 images (because the information content of the story decreased significantly from the 7th image), OMT does not only examine one motif, but the three main motives (power, achievement, connection) simultaneously. In addition to the pictures, there are the following questions:

  • What is important for this person in this situation and what is he doing?
  • How does this person feel?
  • Why does the person feel this way?
  • How does the story end?

Since the publication of the TAT , the motivation theory has developed further and also researched processes of self-regulation. The OMT takes these new interests into account: instead of just differentiating between an avoiding and an outreach variant of a main motive, it knows both passive-fearful avoidance and four different types of outreach motivation. The four outreach variants are differentiated according to whether positive or negative affects controlled, and whether internal processes or situational triggers were decisive.

Action

Since one would like to capture the unconscious, the type of motivation of the test participant is not explicitly asked as in questionnaires, but inferred from his answers. One proceeds from the modulation assumption of the PSI theory : If a narrow view ("black / white thinking") and rigid procedures become visible, the presence of negative affects is concluded. If, on the other hand, the satisfaction of needs is sought in a creative and prosocial way, one concludes that there are positive affects . In order to distinguish the self-controlled from the incentive-controlled variants, one looks for signs of flexibility, creativity and motivation arising from the matter itself, e.g. B. Encounter with the relationship motive , flow experience with the achievement motive, prosocial influence on the power motive. If these are missing, external triggers are assumed.

There are 5 categories per motif:

  • self-regulated positive affect
  • incentive-driven positive affect
  • self-directed dealing with negative affect
  • Coping with negative affect through instrumental action ("actionism")
  • passive coping with negative affect ("brooding")

validity

According to the developer's manual, the OMT has significantly improved its reliability and internal consistency compared to the TAT. It showed an interrater reliability of .85, in the upper and lower quartile of the characteristic value distribution even Cronbach's alpha over .70. Its proponents describe the detection of discrepancies between conscious goals and implicit motives in mental illnesses and the assessment of the need for behavior-correcting measures in child and adolescent psychology as reliable locations.

See also

literature

  • Jutta and Heinz Heckhausen: Motivation and Action. Springer, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 3-540-25461-7 .
  • D. Scheffer, J. Kuhl, J. Eichstaedt: The Operant Motive Test (OMT). In: Joachim Stiensmeier-Pelster, Falko Rheinberg (Ed.): Diagnostics of motivation and self-concept. Hogrefe, Verlag für Psychologie, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-8017-1674-0 .

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