Dr. Steven Reiss

Ohio State University

 Who Am I?: The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our

 We surveyed more than 2,500 people using various methods to identify

the end motives (or meaning) of human behavior.  Using psychometric

techniques of exploratory analysis, confirmatory analysis, and validation of

factors against long-term, real-world behavior, we have shown 15-16 basic

desires in studies with more than 6,000 people from diverse cultures.

Similar desires emerged from self-report and ratings-by- others methods.

End ("intrinsic") motivation has a 15-16 factor solution. 

     Theoretically, the 16 basic desires make us individuals and potentially

explain much of what we do.  Relationships, careers, families, sports, and

spirituality seem to be organized to satisfy these specific desires.  The

basic desires are end motives -- as Aristotle put it, means are motivational

only because they produce something else, whereas ends are self-motivating

goals.  Each of the 16 ends (e.g, learning) is a continuum anchored by two

extremes (e.g, curiosity and mindlessness).  Both ends of the same continuum

can motivate the same person at different points in time because people aim

for "golden means" (e.g., a balance in the amounts of time spent learning

versus being mindless).  Individuals differ to a much greater extent that

psychologists have realized in these golden means or balances (e.g., some

people aim to be mindless most of the time; for these people, mindlessness

is a motive, not a lack of skills.)  Individuality can be expressed as a

profile of these "golden means" on each of the 16 basic desires.

     This work provides empirical definitions of complex motives based on

co-variations of the strength of motivational elements or components -- the

details call into question the construct validity of many ideas.  Murray's

notion of nuturance, for example, is inconsistent with findings that people

who say they are highly motivated to raise their own children do not also

say they are highly motivated to raise children generally.  Maslow's

definition of order is invalid because knowing how much a person is

motivated to organize does not predict how much the person is motivated to

seek tranquility. 

     Social psychologists may wish to study how people try to impose their

motivations on others and how such efforts influence interpersonal

attraction and relationships.  The idea of self-hugging implies a natural

tendency to assume that fulfillment of our own dreams produces the greatest

happiness, not just for ourselves, but for everyone.  Self-hugging motivates

parents to try to change their children to be more like them, educators to

force children to fit the mold of an intrinsically motivated scholar, and

partners to change their spouses for their own good.  What is overlooked in

self-hugging is the extent to which we are individuals so that what makes

one person happy (e.g., learning in school, workaholism, autonomy) cannot

make another happy. 

RELEVANT PUBLICATION:

Reiss, S.  (2000).  Who Am I?: The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our

Actions and Define Our Personalities.  New York: Putnam.