Understanding Motivations 2

In the first post, we talked about motivations for bullies. This time, we are going to talk about motivations for people who do not suffer from psychological or personality disorders. These are general rules, and they can fluctuate a bit, based on circumstance or unforeseen motivations.

Reward & Penalty
Broadly speaking, one would reward behavior they want to see more of, or punish behavior they want to see less of.

The main exception to this is "reverse psychology" - specifically, if a person's motivations are rooted in doing exactly the opposite of what they think you want. Then it is a simple game of telling them not to do what you really want them to do.

Basic human motivations
People will be motivated to action based on simple needs:

Physiology: hunger, thirst, sleep, etc.
Secondary physiology: Safety, Security, Shelter, Health
Emotional: Belonging, Love, Friendship
Intellectual: Self actualization

Basic desires
According to Dr. Steven Reiss, people have 16 basic desires:

Acceptance, the need for approval
Curiosity, the need to learn
Eating, the need for food
Family, the need to raise children
Honor, the need to be loyal to the traditional values of one's clan/ethnic group
Idealism, the need for social justice
Independence, the need for individuality
Order, the need for organized, stable, predictable environments
Physical activity, the need for exercise
Power, the need for influence of will
Romance, the need for sex
Saving, the need to collect
Social contact, the need for friends (peer relationships)
Social status, the need for social standing/importance
Tranquility, the need to be safe
Vengeance, the need to strike back/to win


Summary

A person who understands these three basic tenets will have the leg up on 95% of the population when it comes to understanding people. 


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