Personal need for structure and control motivation: Linking social cognition and interpersonal motivation

Abstract

The authors examined the assumption that Personal need for structure (PNS) is negatively related to the approach component of control motivation and positively related to the avoidance component of control motivation. Participants (n = 60 university students) were administered self-report Personal Need for Structure scale and semi-projective Multi-Motive Grid. Analysis showed that PNS was positively related to Fear of Losing Control. No relation between PNS and Hope for Control was found. Results are interpreted in the context of dispositional and situational conditions influencing control motivation.