Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Program

Psychology

Supervisor

Richard Sorrentino

Second Advisor

Clive Seligman

Third Advisor

Jim Olson

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine in both achievement and social domains how motives predict daily life experiences and how the associations between motives and daily experiences are moderated by uncertainty orientation and country. Participants in China and Canada first participated in a mass-testing session in which their uncertainty orientation, affiliation-related motives, and achievement-related motives were assessed. Then subjects participated in a 2-week daily study session in which they made daily reports of life events. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to predict daily social/achievement events (in level-1) with the individual differences of uncertainty orientation, affiliation/achievement-related motives, and country (in level-2). It was found that affiliation-related motives predicted social events, and achievement-related motives predicted achievement events in given conditions determined by uncertainty orientation, country, or their interaction. The psychological function of fit between individuals’ uncertainty orientation and the culture’s uncertainty-resolving styles is discussed.

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