Holger Busch

Concern for Generativity and Its Relation to Implicit Pro‐Social Power Motivation, Generative Goals, and Satisfaction With Life: A Cross‐Cultural Investigation

So far, cross-cultural research on generativity has been lacking. The present study tests the cross-cultural applicability of an integrative model of generativity proposed by McAdams and de St. Aubin. Measures of implicit pro-social power motivation, a general disposition for generativity, generative goals, and life satisfaction were administered to adults in Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Germany. These measures cover the intrapersonal part of the generativity model. After examining the comparability of the measures across the three cultures, cultural differences in the level of each variable were inspected. Finally, the hypothesized model was tested via structural equation modeling. Results show that the model can be successfully applied in all three cultural samples. This finding has interesting implications for the further investigation of generativity, particularly its social antecedents and behavioral consequences.

Developing and Evaluating the Social Axioms Survey in Eleven Countries: Its Relationship With the Five-Factor Model of Personality

Based on a deductive, culturally decentered approach, new items were generated to improve the reliability of the original Social Axioms Survey, which measures individuals’ general beliefs about the world. In Study 1, results from 11 countries support the original five-factor structure and achieve higher reliability for the axiom dimensions as measured by the new scale. Moreover, moderate but meaningful associations between axiom and Big-Five personality dimensions were found. Temporal change of social axioms at the culture level was examined and found to be moderate. In Study 2, additional new items were generated for social complexity and fate control, then assessed in Hong Kong and the United States. Reliability was further improved for both dimensions. Additionally, two subfactors of fate control were identified: fate determinism and fate alterability. Fate determinism, but not fate alterability, related positively to neuroticism. Other relationships between axiom and personality dimensions were similar to those reported in Study 1. The short forms of the axiom dimensions were generally reliable and correlated highly with the long forms. This research thus provides a stronger foundation for applying the construct of social axioms around the world.

Satisfying One’s Needs for Competence and Relatedness Consequent Domain-Specific Well-Being Depends on Strength of Implicit Motives

Considering the effect of implicit motives, the current study examined the link between well-being in important life domains, that is, job and relationship, and the satisfaction of needs as proposed by self-determination theory. Data on domain-specific well-being, satisfaction of needs for competence and relatedness, and the implicit achievement and affiliation motives were assessed from 259 German and Cameroonian participants. The achievement motive moderated the relation between competence and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the affiliation motive moderated the association between relatedness and relationship satisfaction. Satisfaction of the needs for competence and relatedness is linked to higher levels of job and relationship satisfaction, respectively, among individuals with strong implicit motives. Effects were found regardless of participants’ culture of origin. Findings indicate that implicit motives can be understood as weighting dispositions that affect how far experiences of competence and relatedness are linked with satisfaction in relevant life domains.

The Measurement of Implicit Motives in Three Cultures Power and Affiliation in Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Germany

This article examines methodological issues related to the measurement of implicit motives in culturally divergent samples. Implicit motives are seen as basic needs shared by all human beings. However, crosscultural comparisons are very restricted because many cross-cultural studies on implicit motives with non-Western cultures developed and discussed culture-inherent stimuli. The aim of the study here was to search for a culture-independent set of picture stimuli measuring two basic motives (affiliation and power motive) in three different cultures. Two pretests and one main study were carried out in Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Germany with student and nonstudent samples, respectively, and an extended methodological cross-cultural analysiswas conducted. Construct bias, method bias, and item bias that threaten the cross-cultural comparability of findings were addressed. In analyses, unbiased culture-independent sets of picture stimuli were identified that can be used for cross-cultural comparisons of these two implicit motives.

Is Self-Determined Functioning a Universal Prerequisite for Motive-Goal Congruence? Examining the Domain of Achievement in Three Cultures

Research has shown that capacity for accessing implicit motives promotes congruence between the implicit and the explicit motivational system: Individuals able to test a conscious goal for its fit with their implicit motivation commit themselves more fully to self-congruent goals. However, it has not yet been shown whether this is a universal phenomenon or limited to Euro-American cultures in which individual needs are less strictly constrained by the social environment than in other cultural contexts. Thus, the present study examined whether self-determination interacts with the implicit achievement motive to predict how much importance individuals from Cameroon, Germany, and Hong Kong ascribe to achievement goals. Moreover, the importance ascribed to goals should indirectly predict life satisfaction via success in goal realization. Results showed that the associations described above are valid in all three cultural groups and are discussed in terms of their implications for the universal processes characterizing motivation.

Self-Regulation and Milestones of Adult Development: Intimacy and Generativity.

In 2 separate studies, the idea is tested that the positive association between self-regulatory capacities and well-being is partly explained by the positive effect self-regulation has on the successful resolution of developmental crises in Eriksonian terms. In Study 1, attentional control, intimacy, and subjective well-being are assessed in 177 young adults. Results show that attentional control fosters intimacy, which in turn is beneficial to subjective well-being. Study 2 has a longitudinal design: Action control, generativity, purpose in life, and Machiavellianism are measured in 163 adults with an interval of 18 months between the 2 testing occasions. Action control is found to promote the development of generative concern, which in turn increases purpose in life. The latter association, however, is further qualified by Machiavellian attitudes. Results are discussed with respect to the role of self-regulation in development and to belief in the species, which Erikson postulated to be active in the development of generativity.

Self‐regulation and well‐being: The influence of identity and motives

The relationship between self–regulatory capacities and self–esteem as well as well–being is examined by a mediation model that views self–regulation as promoting the development of identity achievement which, in turn, is expected to be associated with well–being. Among secondary school students (Study 1) identity achievement mediated the association between the self–regulatory capacity of attention control and self–esteem. In Study 2 (university students), the mediational effect of identity achievement was found for the relationship between the self–regulatory capacity of action control and well–being. Explicit motives moderated this association. In sum, a firm identity enhances well–being by lending a sense of continuity to ones life. However, explicit motives have a substitution effect by giving direction to life when lacking firm identity commitments. Copyright

Socio-cultural Aspects of Identity Formation: The Relationship between Commitment and Well-Being in Student Samples from Cameroon and Germany

This article examines the relationship between ego identity formation (commitment statuses) and subjective well-being among student samples from Cameroon and Germany. The Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status was administered to Cameroonian and German participants. Additionally, data on life satisfaction and mood states were collected. Firstly, the equivalence of measurements across cultural groups was examined. Subsequent analyses revealed that well-being was positively related to the level of identity achievement among participants from both cultural groups. In contrast, well-being did not show a positive association with commitments to goals and values that were adopted from significant others (Foreclosure). Gender did not moderate the relationship between well-being and identity statuses. Findings are discussed with respect to personal and socio-cultural aspects of identity development.

Identity, prosocial behavior, and generative concern in German and Cameroonian Nso adolescents

Little is known about whether ego identity statuses have the same developmental concomitants in different cultural contexts. Thus, 159 German and 158 Cameroonian Nso adolescents aged 15-18 were recruited to test if associations between identity and generativity (i.e. the desire to create a positive legacy) and prosocial behavior (i.e. helpful and supportive behavior), respectively, are comparable. In both cultural samples, only identity achievement was positively linked with generative concern and prosocial tendencies. Integrating these and previous findings on the association between prosocial behavior and generativity, a partial mediation of the relation between identity achievement and generative concern through prosocial tendencies was hypothesized and confirmed for both cultural groups. Thus, there is an equivalent association between identity achievement, prosocial behavior, and generative concern in adolescents with widely different cultural background.

Arousal of Achievement Motivation Among Student Samples in Three Different Cultural Contexts: Self and Social Standards of Evaluation

This article examines the influence of different situational contexts on the arousal of need for achievement in student samples from different cultural contexts. Implicit achievement motivation was assessed by a Thematic Apperception Test—type story test for which two different instructions were used: Although one group was informed that the best performance would be identified (me-oriented instruction), the other group was told that only the performance of the whole group (we-oriented instruction) would be evaluated. In Study 1, analyses revealed that Cameroonian participants who received the we-oriented instructions showed a significantly higher achievement motivation even if study groups did not differ in explicit life goals. In Study 2, the relationship between situational context and arousal of need for achievement was scrutinized in Chinese and German student samples. Within both cultural groups, students who were assigned to the me-oriented condition showed the highest levels of need for achievement. Findings are discussed with respect to differences in students’ self-construal.