R. W. White (1959) proposed that certain motives, such as curiosity, autonomy, and play (called intrinsic motives, or IMs), have common characteristics that distinguish them from drives. The evidence that mastery is common to IMs is anecdotal, not scientific. The assertion that “intrinsic enjoyment” is common to IMs exaggerates the significance of pleasure in human motivation and expresses the hedonistic fallacy of confusing consequence for cause. Nothing has been shown scientifically to be common to IMs that differentiates them from drives. An empirically testable theory of 16 basic desires is put forth based on psychometric research and subsequent behavior validation. The desires are largely unrelated to each other and may have different evolutionary histories. Motives are reasons people hold for initiating and performing voluntary behavior. They indicate the meaning of human behavior, and they may reveal a person’s values. Motives often affect a person’s perception, cognition, emotion, and behavior. A person who is highly motivated to gain social status, for example, may be observant of marks of social distinction, may think often about issues pertaining to wealth, may especially enjoy the feeling of selfimportance, and may behave in ways associated with upper-class status. 1 By defining motives as reasons, we do not imply that motives are primarily cognitive, any more than establishing a motive for a crime in a court of law requires conscious premeditation. A person can have a reason to behave, and thus a motive, without necessarily being aware of it. Aristotle (330 BCE/1953) divided motives into ends versus means on the basis of the individual’s purpose for performing the behavior. Ends are indicated when a person engages in a behavior for no apparent reason other than that is what the person desires to do. Examples include a child playing ball for physical exercise and a student reading a book out of curiosity. In each of these examples, the goal is desired for its own sake. In contrast, means are indicated when a person performs an act for its instrumental value. Examples include a professional athlete who plays ball for a salary and a student who studies to improve a grade. In each of these examples, the goal (salary, grade) is desired because it produces something else. A person

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Multifaceted Nature of Intrinsic Motivation: The Theory of 16 Basic Desires

Two questionnaire studies examined the social and cognitive contexts of bullying among conscripts in the Norwegian Army. Replicated prevalence was 12%. Study 1 (N = 696 soldiers) found that (a) bul...

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Bullying and Hazing Among Norwegian Army Soldiers: Two Studies of Prevalence, Context, and Cognition

Sensitivity theory provides an analysis of personality based on what people say motivates their behavior. After Reiss and Havercamp (1998) confirmed a 15-factor solution to self-reported human strivings, the Reiss Profile of Fundamental Goals and Motivation Sensitivities (Reiss & Havercamp, 1998) psychometric instrument was standardized. In 3 studies, the Reiss Profile was shown to possess good test-retest and internal reliability and concurrent and criterion validity. Ten independent samples of adults (n = 764) and a comparison group (n = 737) participated in these studies. Pearson product-moment correlations between the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) and the Reiss Profile ranged in absolute value from .01 to .39 (M = .16). How people self-reported their trait motives correlated with how they behaved in the "real world." The Reiss Profile can be used to study motivational traits.

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A comprehensive assessment of human strivings: test-retest reliability and validity of the Reiss Profile.

This study used Predicted Outcome Value theory as a general framework to understand why some roommate relationships persist and others do not. Data from this study indicate that roommates who had more positive initial interactions were more likely to continue living together and indicated that they would live together in the future. Additionally, positive initial impressions were linked to more satisfying subsequent interactions. Roommates who indicated more positive initial impressions were also more likely to use constructive, or solution oriented conflict management strategies and avoid antisocial or unproductive strategies. For those roommates whose initial impressions were less positive, subsequent interactions were less satisfying and they were less likely to use productive methods of resolving conflict. Study applications and limitations are addressed in the final sections of the paper.

An exploratory investigation of the relationship between roommates’ first impressions and subsequent communication patterns

Summary Measures of attitudes toward institutional authorities should be differentiated from measure of personality traits associated with authoritarianism. Both types of measure were given to students at the South Australian Institute of Technology. They (178) completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward police, teachers, law, army, symbolic authority; and a test of conforming with authority. Varying numbers (over 100 in each case) also completed personality tests relevant to authoritarianism: intolerance of ambiguity, tolerance of complexity, dogmatism, cognitive simplicity, creative independence, and emotional activation. Two oblique factors were found, representing attitudes toward institutional authority and authoritarian personality, and the two factors were moderately correlated (.41). Personality variables were linearly related to attitudes toward authority, and the first canonical correlation between the two sets was .63. Two partial replications with University of Adelaide students suppor...

Attitudes Toward Authority and Authoritarian Personality Characteristics

(1971). Personality Styles of Student Activists. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 79, No. 2, pp. 221-231.

Allan J. Schwartz

Papers

Personality Styles of Student Activists

Value Similarity and Satisfaction in Suite-Type Living Arrangements.

Comparative effectiveness of three group-oriented interventions with college undergraduates.