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The student completes a questionnaire containing 104 simple, direct
items about his or her values, goals, and desires. After you score
the results on your personal computer, a three to seven page
professional-looking report can be viewed on your screen or printed out.
This tool evaluates the following six reasons for poor school performance.
(Reason No. 1) Lack of Ambition
Some individuals lack ambition because they dislike influencing other
people. These people are commonly called easy-going or laid back
because of their tolerance of other people and events. They are
non-directive. They hate giving others advice, leading, or putting
their personal mark on events. Since achievement represents a form of
influencing others, non-directive students tend to lack achievement
motivation. They place below-average value on personal competence.
When a student who lacks ambition is pushed to work harder, the
individual quits. If your student lacks ambition, you need to be
careful in how hard you encourage the student to work in school. The
student may be willing to work at a moderate pace, but not when
pushed to work harder. This individual may be at his or her best in
support or back-up roles and in non-challenging situations.
(Reason No. 2) Fear of Failure
People with a fear of failure hold back effort because failure hurts
less when they do not try. They may try hard on easy tasks but not
when challenged. Consequently, their school performance is
characterized by inconsistent effort. Since they hate being yelled
at, they do not listen when others are shouting advice or criticism.
They are at their best when others stand behind and encourage them.
They respond to people who are nonjudgmental. This students needs
services aimed at building self-esteem.
(Reason No. 3) Lack of Curiosity
Although curious students intrinsically value even impractical ideas,
practical individuals value only those ideas that are useful to them.
Practical people dislike thinking. When required to think in school,
they quickly become frustrated -- not because they lack intelligence,
but rather because they lack the potential to enjoy thinking. They
think only when they must in order to succeed at something they view
as relevant to their lives.
Practical students underachieve in school but may experience much
greater success as adults. They may excel at business, athletics, and
many other practical activities. Parental discipline can motivate
them to maintain an acceptable grade point average in school, but
teachers who think these students may not go far in life, may be
surprised by what they accomplish after their school days are finished.
(Reason No. 4) Spontaneity
A strong need for order motivates students to be organized, whereas a
weak need for order motivates people to be spontaneous. Organized
people pay attention to details, whereas spontaneous people are
disorganized, being focused on the "big picture."
Spontaneous people underachieve primarily because they go in too many
directions at once. They have too many balls in the air. They need to
be taught organizational and planning skills.
(Reason No. 5) Expedience
Expedient students take advantages of opportunities without letting
prior commitments get in their way. They are loyal to others only to
extent that others are loyal to them.
Expedient students can be irresponsible and untrustworthy. Expedient
school children shirk their homework and other responsibilities.
Teachers mark them down for being irresponsible. These children need
to learn that others are not going to let them get away with anything.
(Reason No. 6) Combativeness
These students underachieve because they are always fighting with
others and getting themselves into trouble. At school, they get into
fights on the playground or even in the classroom itself. The
fighting distracts them from their schoolwork. As adults, they fight
so many battles with others they have little time to focus on what
they need to do to get ahead. They have a tendency to make enemies of
potential friends and to have adult tantrums that their employers
will not tolerate. They may need anger management training.
USER QUALIFICATIONS
This tool can be administered only by qualified users. The minimum
qualifications are:
-
State licensed school psychologists or social workers may purchase
this instrument.
- Doctoral-level psychologists may purchase this instrument.
- Public school districts may purchase this instrument.
- Accredited private schools may purchase this instrument.
SAMPLES AND ORDER FORM
HOW THE REISS SCHOOL PROFILE WAS VALIDATED
The Reiss School Profile is the first standardized, comprehensive
assessment of what motivates students. It shows the forces driving
personality development of mentally healthy people. Teachers,
parents, and students often comment on how accurate the Profile is;
the scientific validity coefficients are very high. The predictive
validity is extraordinary.
Phase I: Exploratory factor studies of lists of
hundreds of motives repeatedly showed 15-16 basic intrinsic desires
of life. Multinational, confirmatory factors studies.
The 16 basic desires are acceptance, curiosity, eating, family,
honor, idealism, independence, order, physical activity, power,
romance, saving, social contact, status, tranquility, and vengeance.
The Reiss School Profile assesses 13 of these basic desires - all
except eating, romance, and saving.
Everybody embraces these desires, but to different extents. How you
rank order the basic desires is called your Reiss Profile. Your RP
predicts your personality traits and how you behave in many situations.
Phase II: Psychometric studies established test-retest,
internal, and inter-rater reliabilities.
Phase III: Concurrent validity shown with Big 5, Myers
Briggs, Murray's needs, and the ASI.
Each scale validated against "real-world" behavior.
Published in APA and other top journals. 20 peer-reviewed articles,
more than 10,000 administrations in six countries.
Phase IV. The RP was adapted for use in middle and high
schools. More than two years' of field testing indicated a very high
degree of practicality and relevance to the school population.
REFERENCES
Engel, G., Olson, K.R., & Patrick, C. (2002). The personality of
love: Fundamental motives and traits related to components of love.
Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 839-853.
Havercamp, S.H., & Reiss, S. (2003). A comprehensive assessment
of human striving: Reliability and validity of the Reiss Profile.
Journal of Personality Assessment, 81, 123-132.
Maller, R. G., & Reiss, S. (1992). Anxiety sensitivity in 1984
and panic attacks in 1987. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 6, 241-247.
Maller, R.G., & Reiss, S. (1987). A behavioral validation of the
Anxiety Sensitivity Index. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 1, 265-272.
Olson, K. R., & Weber, D. A. (2004). Relations between big five
traits and fundamental motives. Psychological Reports, 95, 795-802.
Reiss, S. (2005). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation at 30:
Unresolved scientific issues. Behavior Analyst, 28, 1-14.
Reiss, S. (2005). Why people become organ donors. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in New Orleans.
Reiss, S. (2005). Human individuality and the divide between science
and religion. Zygon, 40, 131-142.
Reiss, S. (2004). Multifaceted nature of intrinsic motivation: The
theory of 16 basic desires. Review of General Psychology, 8, 179-193.
Reiss, S. (2004). The 16 strivings for God. Zygon, 40, 131-142.
Reiss, S. (2001, Feb.). Secrets of happiness. Psychology Today, 50-56.
Reiss, S. (2000). Human individuality, happiness, and flow. American
Psychologist, 55, 1161-62.
Reiss, S. (2000). Who am I: The 16 basic desires that motivate our
actions and define our personalities. New York: Tarcher/Putnam. 288
pp. (translated into Chinese, Danish, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish)
Reiss, S. (2000). Why people turn to religion. Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion, 39, 47-52.
Reiss, S. (1999). The sensitivity theory of aberrant motivation (pp.
35-58). In S. Taylor (Ed.), Anxiety Sensitivity: Theory, Research,
and Treatment. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Reiss, S. (1997). Trait anxiety: It's not what you think it is.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 201-214.
Reiss, S. (1991). Expectancy model of fear, anxiety, and panic.
Clinical Psychology Review, 11, 141-153.
Reiss, S., & Havercamp, S. (2005) Motivation in a developmental
context: Test of Maslow's theory of self-actualization. Journal of
Humanistic Psychology, 45, 41-53.
Reiss, S., & Havercamp, S. (1999). Sensitivity, functional
analysis, and behavior genetics: A response to Freeman et al.
American Journal of Mental Retardation, 104, 289-293.
Reiss, S., & Havercamp, S. (1998). Toward a comprehensive
assessment of fundamental motivation. Psychological Assessment, 10, 97-106.
Reiss, S., & Havercamp, S. (1997). Sensitivity theory and mental
retardation: Why functional analysis is not enough. American Journal
of Mental Retardation, 101, 553-566.
Reiss, S., & Havercamp, S. (1996). The sensitivity theory of
motivation: Implications for psychopathology. Behaviour Research and
Therapy, 34, 621-632.
Reiss, S., & McNally, R.J. (1985). Expectancy model of fear. In
S. Reiss and R.R. Bootzin, R.R., Theoretical Issues in Behavior
Therapy. New York: Academic Press.
Reiss, S., Peterson, R.A., Gursky, D.M., & McNally, R.J. (1986).
Anxiety sensitivity, anxiety frequency, and the prediction of
fearfulness. Behavior Research and Therapy, 24, 1-8.
Reiss, S. & Reiss, M. (2004). Curiosity and mental retardation:
Beyond IQ. Mental Retardation, 42, 77-81.
Reiss, S., & Sushinsky, L. W. (1975). Overjustification,
competing responses, and the acquisition of intrinsic interest.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 1116-1125.
Reiss, S. & Wiltz, J. (2004). Why people watch reality TV? Media
Psychology 6, 363-378.
Reiss, S., Wiltz, J., & Sherman, M. (2001). Trait motivational
correlates of athleticism. Journal of Personality and Individual
Differences, 30, 1139-1145.
Takakuwa, M. & Wakabayashi, M. (1999, personal communication).
Unpublished factor study of Japanese translation of Reiss Profile
with Japanese college students.
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