David C. McClelland

David Clarence McClelland (1917–1998) was a pioneering American psychologist renowned for his work on motivation need theory, particularly the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power. He developed new scoring systems for the Thematic Apperception Test and applied his theories to analyze broad social phenomena including economic development, leadership, and war. McClelland spent most of his career at Harvard University, where he served as a professor and chair of the Department of Social Relations.