Achievement motivation, psychological reactance, and learned helplessness

Abstract

Two experiments are reported in which the behavior of subjects classified as high or low on achievement motivation was studied following experience of uncontrollable, nonaversive outcomes, using a triadic design. In both experiments, subjects high on achievement motivation displayed facilitation, whereas subjects low on achievement motivation displayed slight interference or no effect. In the second experiment it was shown that the experimental treatment was successful in inducing the expectation of response-outcome independence without associated perceptions of failure. It differed in this respect from manipulations used in most reported studies of human helplessness. The results are discussed in relation to theories of achievement motivation, psychological reactance, and learned helplessness.