Achievement Motivation: NACH and NAF
Achievement motivation describes how much a player desires to succeed, and is best understood through two personality dimensions identified by Atkinson (1964): the need to achieve (NACH) and the need to avoid failure (NAF).
- Players with a high need to achieve (NACH) display approach behaviours – welcoming competition, taking risks, being confident, seeking challenge, persisting at tasks, attributing success internally, welcoming feedback and evaluation, and taking pride in performing well
- Players with a high need to avoid failure (NAF) display avoidance behaviours – avoiding competition and risk (e.g. choosing easy opponents), giving up easily, disliking feedback, lacking confidence and avoiding evaluation
- Achievement motivation in a given situation results from the interaction of personality (NACH/NAF) and situational factors, particularly the perceived probability of success and the incentive value of succeeding
- Coaches can help develop the need to achieve through: reinforcement (praise for effort and success), attributing success internally (linking success to the player's own effort or technique rather than luck), allowing early success through achievable tasks, improving confidence, and appropriate goal setting