Referential processing and competence as determinants of congruence between implicit and explicit motives

competence as determinants of congruence between implicit and explicit motives. In S. Referential processing 2 Referential processing and competence as determinants of congruence between implicit and explicit motives In this chapter, we approach the issue of self-knowledge from an information-processing perspective on the dissociation between implicit and explicit forms of motivation. We will argue that the dissociation between these types of motivation is due to differences in the way that implicit and explicit motivational systems process information, namely as nonverbal and verbal-symbolic codes, respectively. Therefore, congruence between both systems can be achieved through referential processing, that is, the translation of verbal codes into nonverbal codes and vice versa. This can happen as the result of the strategic translation of verbally represented goals into the imagined experience of goal pursuit and attainment, or as the result of individual differences in referential processing ability (referential competence). We will review various measures of referential competence, their development, convergent and discriminant validity, and their ability to account for individual differences in motivational congruence. In closing, we will discuss the role of referential processing in the coherence of personality and in affective disorders. 1. Conceptual overview: Two-systems model of motivation From the perspective of motivation psychology, the issue of self-knowledge can be framed as an issue of motivational congruence, that is, the accurate explicit (i.e., conscious) representation of one's implicit (i.e., nonconscious) motives. For more than 50 years, researchers have examined this issue by devising a large variety of self-report instruments to measure explicit beliefs about one's motives, and correlating these with content-coding measures of implicit motivational needs, such as The self-report instruments were originally devised to measure the same motives assessed by the TAT and PSE, namely people's needs for power, achievement, or affiliation (e.g., the Personality Research Form or PRF; Jackson, 1984). Other self-report instruments were developed to assess personal goals in these domains of motivation (e. However, when these explicit measures were correlated with the implicit measures of motives-the TAT or PSE-the variance overlap was usually in the minuscule positive range, despite the fact that, as we will see shortly, both types of measures are valid predictors of various types of goal-directed behavior. Low correlations between implicit and explicit motive measures indicate that while some people hold explicit views of their motivational needs that are congruent with their implicit motives, there are roughly as many whose explicit views do not fit their …