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 to 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.

Although growing research indicates that certain personality traits change over the lifespan, implicit motives are often deemed to be rather stable personality characteristics. Researchers have been interested in implicit motives for several decades, but our understanding of how these dispositions change still lacks clarity. This article gives an overview and a discussion of the current evidence for the stability of and the changes in implicit motives. After elaborating on the theoretical background of the motive construct and its measurement, we present an overview of studies that have investigated the trainability of implicit motives and their dispositional stability and changes using cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. Although the results are inconclusive concerning the direction of change, the reviewed studies suggest that implicit motives adapt to life circumstances much like other personality traits. This review sets out to contribute to a better understanding of the functioning of implicit motives and to present a roadmap for further research.

Research has evidenced positive effects of dyadic similarity in various characteristics, such as values, attitudes and personality traits. Despite the well-known influence of motivational constructs on the functioning of intimate relationships, the investigation of dyadic similarity in motivational constructs has been neglected so far. We aimed to close this gap and extend existing research on spouses' similarity in an extensive heterogeneous dyadic data set (N ϭ 368 couples). We investigated the dyadic similarity of life goals and implicit motives, additionally examining relationship duration as an important predictor for similarity. With regard to life goals, results indicated a similarity, but no increase in similarity with longer relationship duration. With regard to implicit motives, our results showed a positive relationship between the similarity in implicit motives and relationship duration. We interpret the results concerning similarity in the context of assortative mating and convergence effects: Individuals choose a partner who has similar life goals at the beginning of their relationship, whereas spouses converge to each other in their implicit motives as they get better acquainted with each other.

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