The Person and the Situation

by Lee Ross

One of the most striking demonstrations was that, historically, periods of economic development for a given culture (of all kinds, including non-Christian ones) can be predicted by increases in achievement themes in the children’s literature of the generation before. They also were able to show significant correlations (albeit, generally rather weak ones) between the achievement imagery expressed by individuals, in their writings and in their responses to projective tests, and both the socialization practices to which they were exposed and their own actual achievement in various domains. There was, however, one weak link in the research evidence. Investigators were unable to establish that American Protestants show more achievement imagery than American Catholics (Veroff, Feld, & Gurin, 1962). Roger Brown, in his classic 1965 social psychology text, thought this a serious enough weakness to cast significant doubt on the entire enterprise.