Approval Motive and Hostility

An attempt has been made in the present study at investigating the relationship between approval motive and hostility in an Indian sample.The correlation between the two variables, based on 236 males of age group 17 years to 23 years, was found to be -.301.The high approval motivated Ss are reported to have a low degree of hostility and vice versa.Thus, approval motive appears to be inversely related to hostility.In a way human behavior may be considered as bipolar.On one extreme we find that people try to approach, to attain their goals and incentives and involve themselves in such behavioral acts which lead to social acceptance, conformity and maintenance of social structure.The other extreme is characterized by 'moving against the people' tendency.Behavioural manifestations of this tendency can be put under the category of hostile or aggressive behaviors which lead to avoidance of social norms, and accepted values, etc.However, due to varied interactions with unique patterns of social experiences, people develop peculiar motive patterns.For instance some people become governed by approaching tendencies while others develop avoidance tendencies.Approval and Hostility are thus two motives which represent these two tendencies.Crowne and Marlowe (1964) put forward the proposition that the approval motivated individual responds to his need to gain acceptance, to obtain dependency gratification, and achieve recognition and/or status by engaging in approval seeking behaviors in particular situations through positive self-presentation and denial of inadequacies.Hostility as Buss (1961) defines it is an attitudinal response that induces an implicit verbal response involving negative feelings (ill will) and negative evaluations of people and events.As an enduring response with both feeling and labeling aspects, hostility is by implication a dispositional and motivational response i.e. it may lead to aggression.Hostility can safely be conceptualized as a personality trait, in which motivational component is the main determiner.Hostility and approval these two by definition seem to be antagonistic concepts.Studies by Conn and Crowne (1964), Fishman (1967), Norman (1963) and Taylor (1970) examined the relationship between need for approval and aggression.