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The Achievement Motive : A Sociological Analysis, H. Dale Baumbach

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

David McClelland's theory of n Achievement (n Ach.) and Max Weber's theory of achievement implicit in THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM are experimentally analyzed and compared with Theodore Kemper's theory of reference groups in an attempt to determine the relative importance of factors of the immediate social situation versus ingrained personality characteristics in in the development and modification of achievement motivation. In examining the effects of the reference group on achievement motivation in this study, the subjects were initially ranked according to level of n Ach and those low in n Ach were individually established in reference …