Implicit and self-attributed dependency strivings: Differential relationships to laboratory and field measures of help seeking

D. C. McClelland, R. Koestner, and J. Weinberger (1989) argued that self-report tests assess self-attributed needs (i.e., motives that are openly acknowledged by the actor), whereas projective tests assess implicit needs (i.e., motives that affect behavior without conscious awareness on the actor's part). The present studies examined the effects of implicit and self-attributed dependency strivings on laboratory and field measures of help seeking. In Study 1, college students were prescreened with widely used objective and projective dependency tests, then underwent an information manipulation designed to influence their attention to dependency-related issues. As expected, dependency status and information condition interacted to predict help-seeking behavior. Study 2 used experience-sampling procedures to demonstrate that implicit and self-attributed dependency needs differentially predict direct and indirect help seeking in vivo.