Six Motivational Reasons for Low School Achievement

摘要

Reiss (The normal personality: a new way of thinking about people. CambridgeUniversity Press, New York, 2008) empirically derived a reliable and valid taxonomy of 16life motives ("psychological needs"). The model suggests six motivational reasons for lowachievement in school. Low achievement may be motivated by fear of failure (high needfor acceptance), incuriosity (low need for cognition), lack of ambition (low need forpower), spontaneity (low need for order), lack of responsibility (low need for honor), andcombativeness (high need for vengeance). For junior and senior high school students, theReiss School Motivation Profile provides a standardized assessment of the six motivationalforces. Each motive for low achievement has different implications for intervention.