CHILDRENS MOTIVATION ANALYSIS TEST (CMAT) - AN EXPERIMENTAL MANIPULATION OF CURIOSITY AND BOREDOM

The present study investigated the influence of manipulating the state s of curiosity and boredom on the 10 scales of the Children's Motivati on Analysis Test (CMAT). The CMAT is a multidimensional objective (T-d ata) instrument measuring several important dynamic motivation traits among primary school children. The CMAT was administered to 202 grade 6 and 7 children, pre- and post-exposure to either curiosity, boredom, or control (neutral) conditions. Scores on the Unintegrated Curiosity scale of the CMAT increased for the children in the Curiosity conditi on. For children in the Boredom condition, Unintegrated Pugnacity, Uni ntegrated and Integrated Narcism scores increased in response to the m ildly aversive experimental manipulation. Evidently, a number of the d ynamic traits measured in the CMAT are sensitive to situational stimul i as hypothesized in the dynamic calculus theory of motivation.