Personality needs of under-and overachieving freshmen.

The Dynamics of Deviant Achievement

“…The hypotheses offered here fit rather well with some of the formulations of other writers. For example, McClelland et al [5] suggested that, as a child, the underachiever was dependent on his parents and had to subordinate his interests to those of the larger family group; Rust [6] characterized underachievers as "externally motivated"; Gebhart and Hoyt [3] found evidence for an association between underachievement and a need for variety and change; various writers have asserted that hostility plays an important part in the dynamics of underachievement and Gough 686 [4] suggested that underachievement be viewed as a form of asocial behavior. SUMMARY Under-and overachievers were compared with normal achievers on the clinical and validity scales of the MMPI.…”

The Measurement and Evaluation of Over- And Underachievement

“…A pattern analytical approach (Haggard, 1958;McQuitty, 1959) might be recommended in which it is possible to predict the different types of overachievers and underachievers that researchers have hypothesized exist (Gebhart and Hoyt, 1958;Krug, 1959).…”

Group Counseling with Male Underachieving College Volunteers

“…Two methods of group counseling were used in the investigation. The directive method, des i g nat e d leader-structured (LS), placed emphasis on topics that relate to the underlying emotional patterns in the underachiever as discussed in the more recent,descriptive and theoretical literature (Kirk, 1952;McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Dowel, 1953;Berger & Sulker, 1956;Gebhart & Hoyt, 1958;Farquhar, 1963;Roth & Meyersburg, 1963;Taylor, 1964;McKenzie, 1964), e.g., a strong need for dependent relationships, a concept of self that is inadequate and inferior, a high degree of anxiety and depression, an inability to overtly express feelings of anger, an overall weakness in ego strength, and ambiguous or unrealistic purposes, goals, and values.…”