16 basic desires theory of motivation

The 16 basic desires theory is a personality theory of motivation.

Starting from studies involving more than 6,000 people, Professor Steven Reiss has proposed a theory that find 16 basic desires that guide nearly all human behavior. The desires are:


 * 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)
 * Status, the need for social standing/importance
 * Tranquility, the need to be safe
 * Vengeance, the need to strike back/to win

In this model, people differ in these basic desires. These basic desires represent intrinsic desires that directly motivate a person's behavior, and not aimed at indirectly satisfying other desires. People may also be motivated by non-basic desires, but in this case this does not relate to deep motivation, or only as a means to achieve other basic desires.