Need for Affiliation and Intimacy

The need for affiliation and intimacy motive deal with responses to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).  While taking the TAT a participant can respond in one of three ways, depending on their specific situation, in reguards to the need for affiliation.  Those three situations could be the person who is currently in a social relationship, they are desiring a relationship, or are feeling bad following the termination of a social relationship.  In specific, the need for affiliation regers to the motive to establish, maintain, or restore positive social relationships with other individuals or groups.  Also, the need for affiliation is latent until relevant environmental conditions arouse it.  An example of this type of arousal would be the presence of something or the availability of other individuals.  People with a need for affiliation do what the need suggests.  The person affiliates in order to satisfy that need.  Students who have a high need for affiliation tend to work harder and reiceve higher grades then students with a lower need for affiliatin.  Next, there is the intimacy motive postulated by McAdams.  The intimacy motive is used to emphasize the positive feelings that exist between the individuals in a social relationship.  The intimacy motive refers to a readiness for experiences of warm, close, and communicative interactions with other persons.  TAT pictures may also be used to explain and/or display the intimacy motive.  An example of this would be two people sharing an encounter that involved feelings of love, friendship, happiness, or peace of tender behavior.  Differences in the intimacy motive among individuals show up in terms of differences in their social behavior.  People who have a higher intimacy motive tend to experience a greater positive affect during their social interactions compared to those with a low intimacy motive.  Also, people with higher intimacy motives enjoy social interactions more than people with a low intimacy motive.  Higher intimacy motivation is associated with a greater frequency of interactions with friends, greater levels of self-disclosure, and higher levels of listening during conversations.  I agree with both the need for affiliation and the intimacy motive.  I agree with them because I have personally experienced both.  In reguards to my personal experience, what the book had stated was right on target.