McClelland's Needs Theory identifies three important needs that motivate behavior: the need for power, the need for affiliation, and the need for achievement. The need for power involves influencing and controlling others, while the need for affiliation centers around developing social relationships and avoiding rejection. The need for achievement involves taking moderate or calculated risks to achieve goals and overcome obstacles. McClelland determined that these needs are learned over time based on life experiences rather than innate, and they influence the types of situations and roles that motivate different people.

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Decoding TAT 2:
Murray’s Need Press and Thema

2. Theory of Needs
 Murray - Personology
 Personality is located in the brain: "No brain, no personality.”
 - The person is an organic whole
 -The parts can be studied separately, but "reconstruction" must follow
analysis
 - The "field," the environmental context, must be understood
 - Early childhood events are crucial in shaping adult behavior
 -Committed to "depth psychology" – unconscious determinants of
behavior
 Needs: - determinants of behavior within the person
 "A need is a construct (a convenient fiction…) which
stands for a force…in the brain region, a force which
organizes perception, apperception, intellection, conation
and action in such a way as to transform in a certain
direction an existing, unsatisfying situation….It may be
weak or intense, momentary or enduring. But usually it
persists and gives rise to a certain course of overt behavior
(or fantasy), which…changes the initiating circumstance in
such a way as to bring about an end situation which
stills…the organism." (Murray, 1938, --. 123-124)

3. Theory of Needs
 Accordingly Murray developed a theory of personality that was organized in
terms of
 Motives,
 Presses, and
 Needs.
 Murray described needs as a "potentiality or readiness to respond in a
certain way under certain given circumstances …. It is a noun which
stands for the fact that a certain trend is apt to recur" " (1938).
 Theories of personality based on needs(Being Unconscious) and motives
suggest that our personalities are a reflection of behaviors controlled by
needs.
 He assumed that the human natural state is a state of disequilibrium,
and that is why people have needs—to satisfy the lack of something.
 While some needs are temporary and changing,
 Other needs are more deeply seated in our nature.
 According to Murray, these psychogenic needs function mostly on the
unconscious level but play a major role in our personality.

4. Murray’s Types of Needs
 Murray identified needs as one of two types:
 Primary Needs( viscerogenic): Primary needs are basic needs that are
based upon biological demands, such as the need for oxygen, food, and
water.
 Secondary Needs(psychogenic) : Secondary needs are generally
psychological/psychogenic, such as the need for nurturing, independence,
and achievement.
 Overt (manifest) needs – needs that are allowed more or less direct and
immediate expression - expressed in motor behavior
 Covert (latent) needs – needs that are generally restrained or repressed
 - expressed in fantasy or dreams
 - exist covertly because of internal standards for acceptable conduct
(superego)
 While these needs might not be fundamental for basic survival, they are
essential for psychological well-being.
 List of Psychogenic Needs
 The following is a partial list of 24 needs identified by Murray and his
colleagues.
 All people have these needs, but each individual tends to have a certain level
of each need.

5. Ambition Needs
 Ambition needs are related to the need for
 Achievement(1)(The need for achievement is often
expressed by succeeding, achieving goals, and overcoming
obstacles)
 People with a high need for achievement tend to select more
challenging tasks.
 Recognition( 2)The need for recognition is met by gaining
social status and displaying achievements.)
 Sometimes the ambition needs even involve a need for
exhibition(3)( the desire to shock and thrill other people.)

6. Materialistic Needs
 These needs often involve obtaining items, such as buying material
objects that we desire.
 In other instances, these needs compel us to create new things.
 Obtaining and creating items are an important part of the materialistic
needs, but keeping objects and organizing them is also important.
 The materialistic needs center on the
 Acquisition(4),
 Construction(5),
 Order(6), and
 Retention(7).

7. Power Needs
 The power needs tend to center on our own independence as
well as our need to control others.
 Autonomy(8) (Involves the desire for independence and
resistance.) Murray believed that it was a powerful need.
 Abasement(9) (confessing and apologizing),
 Aggression(10) (attacking or ridiculing others),
 Blame avoidance(11) (following the rules and avoiding
blame),
 Deference(12) (obeying and cooperating with others), and
 Dominance(13) (controlling others).

8. Affection Needs
 The affection needs are centered on our desire to love and be
loved.
 Affiliation(14) (seek out the company of other people.)
 People who rate high on affiliation needs tend to have larger
social groups, spend more time in social interaction, and more
likely to suffer loneliness when faced with little social contact.
 Nurturance(15)( taking care of other people, is also important
for psychological well-being. )
 Succorance (16)(involves being helped or protected by
others).
 Play(17)( having fun with other people was also a critical
affection need.)
 Most of the affection needs center on building relationships
and connections,
 Rejection(18)(Murray also recognized that rejection could
also be a need. Sometimes, turning people away is an
important part of maintaining mental wellness. Unhealthy

9. Information Needs
 The information needs center around both gaining knowledge
and sharing it with others. According to Murray, people have an
innate need to learn more about the world around them.
 Cognizance(19) as the need to seek knowledge and ask
questions. In addition to gaining knowledge, he also believed
that people have a need for what he referred to as
 Exposition(20) (The desire to share what they have learned
with other people.)

10. Influences on Psychogenic Needs
 Each need is important in and of itself, but
 Murray also believed that needs
 Can be interrelated,
 Can support other needs, and
 Can conflict with other needs.
 For example,
 the need for dominance may conflict with the need for
affiliation when overly controlling behavior drives away
friends, family, and romantic partners.
 Murray also believed that environmental factors play a role in
how these psychogenic needs are displayed in behavior.
 Murray called these environmental forces "presses.”

11. Srl No Needs Meaning
1 Abasement: To surrender and accept punishment
2 Achievement
:
To overcome obstacles and succeed
3 Acquisition: To obtain possessions
4 Affiliation: To make associations and friendships
5 Aggression: To injure others
6 Autonomy: To resist others and stand strong
7 Blame
avoidance:
To avoid blame and obey the rules
8 Construction
:
To build or create
9 Contrariance To be unique

12. Srl No Needs Meaning
10 Counteractio
n:
To defend honor
11 Defendance To justify actions
12 Deference: To follow a superior, to serve
13 Dominance: To control and lead others
14 Exhibition: To attract attention
15 Exposition: To provide information, educate
16 Harm
avoidance:
To avoid pain
17 Infavoidance To avoid failure, shame, or to conceal a weakness
18 Nurturance: To protect the helpless

13. Srl No Needs Meaning
19 Order: To arrange, organize, and be precise
20 Play: To relieve tension, have fun, or relax
21 Recognition: To gain approval and social status
22 Rejection: To exclude another
23 Sentience: To enjoy sensuous impressions
24 Sex: To form and enjoy an erotic relationship
25 Similance To empathize
26 Succorance To seek protection or sympathy
27 Understandin
g:
To analyze and experience, to seek knowledge

14. Motives/Press/Thema
 Motives (Aim): – the specific goal adopted by a person as an expression of
a need
 - need is a physical condition
o motive is the subjective experience
 The terms "Needs" and "Motives" are often used interchangeably.
 Press – determinants of behavior in the environment
 Press is an external condition that creates a desire to obtain or
avoid something.
 Are FORCES IN THE ENVIRONMENT WHICH AFFECTS NEED
FULFILMENT BEHAVIOUR
 PRESS IS THE PROPERTY OR ATTRIBUTE OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL
OBJECT OR PERSON THAT FACILITATES OR IMPEDES THE EFFORTS OF
THE INDIVIDUAL TO REACH A GIVEN GOAL
 alpha press – the way the environment exists in reality
 beta press - the way in which the person views or interprets their environment
 OR
 CONGENIAL PRESS AND UNCONGENIAL PRESS.
 Behavior is most closely correlated with beta press.
 Examples of Press:
 Poverty
 Parental rejection

15. GROUP C
PRESS RESULTING MOTIVE
LACK OF COMPANIONSHIP DESIRE TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS.
FAMILY DISCORD DESIRE TO BE COMFORTED.
LACK OF VARIETY DESIRE TO SEEK NEW EXPERIENCE.
LACK OF NOURISHMENT DESIRE TO SEEK VARIETY OF FOOD.
LACK OF POSSESIONS DESEIRE FOR ECONOMIC MOBILITY.
POVERTY DESIRE MATERIAL POSSESSIONS.
UNSETTELED HOME DESIRE TO ACQUIRE STABILITY.
DEATH OF PARENTS DESIRE FOR BELONGINGNESS.
DANGER OF MISFORTUNE DESIRE FOR FAVOURISM.

16. GROUP C
PRESS RESULTING MOTIVE
BETRAYAL OF TRUST DESIRE FOR REVENGE.
INCONSISTENT DISCIPLINE DESIRE FOR PREDICTABILITY.
CONFINEMENT DESIRE FOR FREEDOM.
PHYSICAL INFERIORITY DESIRE FOR HEALTHY BODY.
SOCIAL INFERIORITY DESEIRE FOR LEADERSHIP.
INTELLECTUAL INFERIORITY DESIRE FOR KNOWLEDGE.
BIRTH OF SIBLING DESIRE FOR AUTHORITY.
ACCIDENT DESIRE FOR ADVENTURE.

17. Motives/Press/Thema
 Thema – an interactive behavioral unit
 - deals with the interaction between needs and press; both the
person and situation must be considered
 - can involve single subject-object interactions
 E.g., someone is snubbed and responds in kind: rejection press triggered a
rejection need/motive
 - can involve an individuals' characteristic reaction to a particular
press
 the person may repeatedly try harder after a failure: failure press
triggers an achievement need
 Murray emphasized both the person and the situation must be unde

 "…the biography of a [person] may be portrayed abstractly as an
historic route of themas…For an individual displays a tendency to react
in a similar way to similar situations, and increasingly so with age.
Thus there is sameness (consistency) as well as change (Murray, 1938,
p. 43).

18. GROUP C
A COMBINATION OF PRESS (THE ENVIRONMENT) AND NEED
(THE PERSONALITY) THET BRINGS ORDER TO OUR BEHAVIOUR.
OPERATES AS AN UNCONSCIOUS FORCE.
DERIVED FROM CHILDHOOD EXPRIENCES ,GIVES MEANING AND
COHERENCE TO BEHAVIOUR – “KEY TO AN INDIVIDUAL‟S UNIQUE
BEHAVIOUR.

19. GROUP C
THEMANEED PRESS

20. McClelland’s Needs Theory
 Definition: McClelland’s Needs Theory was proposed by a psychologist David
McClelland, who believed that the specific needs of the individual are acquired
over a period of time and gets molded with one’s experience of the life.
McClelland’s Needs Theory is sometimes referred to as Three Need theory or
Learned Needs Theory
 McClelland has identified three basic motivating needs, Viz. Need for Power,
Need for Affiliation and Need for Achievement and, along with his associates
performed a considerable research work on these basic needs. Need for Power
(n-pow): What is Power? Power is the ability to induce or influence the behavior
of others. The people with high power needs seek high-level positions in the
organization, so as to exercise influence and control over others. Generally, they
are outspoken, forceful, demanding, practical/realistic-not sentimental, and like to
get involved in the conversations.
 Need for Affiliation (n-affil): People with high need for affiliation derives
pleasure from being loved by all and tend to avoid the pain of being rejected.
Since, the human beings are social animals, they like to interact and be with
others where they feel, people accept them. Thus, people with these needs like
to maintain the pleasant social relationships, enjoy the sense of intimacy and like
to help and console others at the time of trouble.
 Need for Achievement (n-ach): McClelland found that some people have an
intense desire to achieve. He has identified the following characteristics of high
achievers:
 High achievers take the moderate risks, i.e. a calculated risk while performing the
activities in the management context. This is opposite to the belief that high
achievers take high risk.