Age and gender differences in implicit motives

• Implicit motives are important personality characteristics.
• We investigated age and gender differences in implicit motives.
• Research on this topic is rare and shows contradictory results.
• Aged adults scored lower on all motives as compared to young adults.
• Results also revealed gender differences.

Research on age differences in implicit motives is rare and has shown contradictory results. We investigated age and gender differences in implicit motives (achievement, power, affiliation and intimacy), measured by the Picture Story Exercise (PSE), in an extensive, heterogeneous dyadic sample of 736 adults aged 20–80 years. Data were analyzed with a multilevel approach. Results indicate lower motive scores in all four measured motives in aged as compared to young adults but higher scores in activity inhibition. Further, women scored higher in affiliation and intimacy motives than men, while men scored higher in achievement and power motives and in activity inhibition than women. Possible underlying affective and neuroendocrinological processes of age dependent change in implicit motives are discussed.