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.Key words: personal need for structure, control motivation, hope for control, fear of losing controlOSOBNA POTREBA STRUKTURY A KONTROLNA MOTIVACIA: PREPOJENIE SOCIALNYCH KOGNICII A INTERPERSONALNEJ MOTIVACIESuhrn: Autori skumali predpoklad, ze potreba struktury (PNS) je v negativnom vztahu s motivaciou ku kontrole v zmysle priblizovania a v pozitivnom vztahu s motivaciou ku kontrole v zmysle vyhýbania. Participantom (n = 60 univerzitným studentom) bol administrovaný sebavýpovedový dotaznik Potreba struktury (PNS) a semi-projektivny dotaznik Multimotivacna mriezka (MMG). Výsledky ukazali, ze potreba struktury je v pozitivnom vztahu so Strachom zo straty kontroly. Data nepodporili predpoklad o negativnom vztahu potreby struktury a Tuzbou po kontrole. Výsledky su interpretovane v kontexte dispozicných a situacných podmienok ovplyvnujucich motivaciu ku kontrole.INTRODUCTIONAttention and subsequent information processing are selective, especially in case of social stimuli, and determined by our goals (Neuberg et al., 2005). Cognitive processes and motives do not operate in isolation, but rather work together to determine decisionmaking (Roets, Van Hiel, 2011) or behavior generally (e.g., Burger, 1993). Major theories of social-cognitive revolution addressing motivational influences on cognition deal with the effect of epistemic goals on information processing (Fiske, Neuberg, 1990; Kruglanski, 1989; Cacioppo, Petty, 1982; Bar- Tal, 1994), while research on other fundamental motives is rare (Neuberg et al., 2005). One of the personality and cognitive constructs addressing the issue of epistemic motivation and cognition is personal need for structure (PNS, Neuberg, Newsom, 1993; Sarmany-Schuller, 2001). People differ in the way they cognitively approach the world - some people prefer a clear and simple structure, others appreciate complex information. Personal need for structure is a construct indicating how much organization people prefer to have in their lives (Neuberg, Newsom, 1993). The tendency to reduce information quantity and complexity has its implications for various aspects of psychological functioning, especially social information processing and social interaction. Individuals high in PNS tend to arrange their social interactions in ways that enable them to avoid complexity, they prefer predictable and scripted social situations with stable and clear rules (Neuberg, Newsom, 1993). They are also more likely to use stereotypes and previously acquired categories in new situations and form less complex representations of the self and the others. Once an answer is found, they are more likely to freeze on the first available explanation and are less likely to search for alternatives (Neuberg, Newsom, 1993). In attribution processes, high PNS individuals tend to attribute the performance of other people to internal causes rather than external constraints such as task difficulty (Schaller et al., 1995) and are more likely to form spontaneous trait inferences when categorizing behavior than those who are low in PNS (Moskowitz, 1993). In context of a working environment, Slijkhuis et al. (2013) showed that high PNS individuals tend to welcome any type of evaluation situations, whereas in low PNS individuals only informational (not controlling) feedback had positive effect on motivation and creative performance. …