386 Iv. COGNITI vE AND M OTIvATIONAL P ROCESSES
As suggested by Schult  heiss and Brunstein 
(2005), achievement-  motivated individuals 
have a generalized expectation of mastery 
whenever they encounter cues associated 
with task difficulty. More specifically, they 
have learned to associate the originally un -
pleasant experience of investing effort into 
a task with the subsequent pleasure of mas -
tery, thus turning perceived difficulty into 
an attractive challenge and something that 
they even seek out (see McClelland et al., 
1953). This characterization of n Achieve -
ment is consistent with the observation that 
achievement-  motivated individuals have 
been raised by parents who not only set age- 
appropriate challenging tasks and rewarded 
their children’s autonomous task mastery 
with affection but also punished their chil -
dren when they failed to master such tasks 
on their own (for a summary, see Heckhau -
sen & Heckhausen, 2018). The parental em -
phasis on self-  directed mastery may explain 
why individuals high in n Achievement pre -
fer to solve challenges independently and 
quit if they are not allowed to do so (Schult -
heiss & Brunstein, 2005). The character -
ization of n Achievement as an automatic 
expectation of mastery when difficulty is 
encountered is also supported by recent re -
search. Compared to others, achievement- 
motivated individuals show less of a stress 
response when engaging in competitions 
or having to prove themselves under try -
ing circumstances (Schult  heiss, Wiemers, & 
Wolf, 2014) and instead show more signs 
of active, coping-  oriented physiological and 
behavioral engagement with challenging 
tasks (Brunstein & Maier, 2005; Brunstein 
& Schmitt, 2010; Mazeres, Brinkmann, & 
Richter, 2019).
However, achievement-  motivated indi -
viduals only show serious task engagement 
when they can get feedback about how well 
they are doing and only step up their efforts 
if the feedback suggests that the task is chal -
lenging (Brunstein & Maier, 2005). Without 
feedback, there would be no way of recog -
nizing a challenge and, consequently, ex -
periencing pleasurable mastery. Moreover, 
if there is feedback, but it indicates a lack 
of difficulty or an insurmountable obstacle, 
the task is likewise unattractive and will not 
engage achievement-  motivated individuals’ 
effort. Finally, achievement-  motivated indi -viduals prefer feedback that indicates how 
they are doing individually and show little 
interest in how they are doing compared to 
others (Brunstein & Maier, 2005).
Achievement-  motivated individuals’ Pav -
lovian attraction to challenges ensures that 
they are emotionally less vulnerable to dif -
ficulty. To them, setbacks only signal that 
the eventual mastery experience will be 
particularly pleasurable. As a consequence, 
people high in n Achievement are less likely 
to suffer from depression and other symp -
toms of psycho  pathology (see Neumann & 
Schult  heiss, 2015, for a review and findings) 
and more likely to experience elevated well-
being and adjustment (McAdams & Vail -
lant, 1982; Veroff, 1982).
Another consequence is their preference 
for careers that provide them with frequent 
opportunities to come up with and master 
challenging tasks. Entrepreneurial business 
is one line of work in which achievement- 
motivated individuals frequently excel, as 
long as they have full control over how the 
business is run and can monitor how well it 
is doing by, for instance, checking the daily 
cash flow (Collins, Hanges, & Locke, 2004; 
McClelland, 1961; Winter, 2010). Their per -
formance fizzles, however, when they work 
in jobs that require managerial or “people” 
skills (Spreier, Fontaine, & Malloy, 2006; 
Winter, 2010). In these jobs, the focus is no 
longer on what the achievement-  motivated 
person may perceive as the best possible 
goal, the best possible way to achieve it, and 
having full control over the process. Rather, 
managerial positions require the delegation 
of work to others, finding compromises be -
tween conflicting views and interests, and 
making personnel decisions—  none of which 
has any strong appeal for achievement- 
motivated individuals.
The Affiliation  Motive
At n Affiliation’s core is a capacity to de -
rive satisfaction from establishing, main -
taining, and restoring positive relationships 
with others and to experience separation as 
aversive  (Atkinson, Heyns, & Veroff, 1958; 
Weinberger, Cotler, & Fishman, 2010). Indi -
viduals high in n Affiliation enjoy spending 
more time with people, get more relaxation 
and satisfaction out of their intimate rela -