A Conditional Reasoning Approach to Measuring Relative Achievement Motivation: Validation Results from an Applied Setting

This study presents the first attempt to validate a new approach to measuring an individual's relative achievement motivation in an applied setting. The new measurement approach which utilizes conditional reasoning differs from other self-report measures in that it capitalizes on the respondent's subjective processes of interpreting and framing information and developing a causal model to explain the information they are presented with in order to arrive at a logical conclusion. In this study, relative achievement motivation as measured by the Conditional Reasoning Test was not found to be related to individual patrol officer activities. However, a number of patrol officer activities were found to be significantly and positively related to the relative achievement motivation of their respective supervisors. In addition, supervisors with a relative fear of failure orientation were found to provide more lenient ratings of their subordinates. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.