Implicit and explicit motives

Abstract

McClelland, Koestner, and Weinberger (Psychological Review 96:690-702, 1989) suggested to strictly differentiate between implicit and explicit motives when analyzing motivated behavior. This chapter will first present the history of this suggestion before offering findings supporting the idea that the two types of motives are indeed independent and specific: implicit motives are primarily related to the pursuit of affective satisfaction, whereas explicit motives indicate cognitive needs to obtain information about one’s own behavior. Implicit and explicit motives may interact with each other, which can result in their cooperation or conflict due to motivational discrepancy. This chapter will also discuss how the goals individuals choose themselves can be adapted to their implicit behavioral preferences. The final part of this chapter will discuss some unanswered questions.