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Motivation and linguistic knowledge

People accumulate linguistic knowledge over the course of their lives. Vocabulary size, for instance, has been shown to keep growing even into old age. Similarly, recent experimental work found that grammatical knowledge, rules concerning the morpho-syntax of one’s native language, varies across adult language users, too. Research within the field of motivational psychology established that there is massive variability in individuals’ implicit motivation, that is, they're nonconscious motivational needs. These implicit needs include the needs for power, achievement, affiliation, and intimacy.

The project “Motivation and linguistic knowledge” will investigate possible links between variability in implicit motivation and variability linguistic knowledge. Using an exploratory cross-sectional approach, a diverse sample of participants will be asked to complete psycholinguistic tests tapping into different aspects of linguistic knowledge and tests tapping to implicit motivation.

Team members

Florian Hintz
Ariel James (Macalester College)
Leah Lieber
Oliver Schultheiss (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)