I've been thinking a lot about this lately. Freud thought people were motivated by sex. I had a professor who said it was fear. Recognizing that there are lots of possibilities, what do you think motivates us as people to act the way we do? Why?
My initial thought is power, with greed and pride as possible subsidiaries of that. I think about a lot of the political conflicts in the world, the Penn State scandal, the Catholic church scandal - all about obtaining and maintaining power.
Post by basilosaurus on Aug 9, 2012 8:31:45 GMT -5
I'm not motivated by sex, b/c I kind of haven't wanted it in a really long time (poor H).
I'm not afraid of much. If he abandoned me, I could easily make it on my own
I have no power in our relationship, as the mil/trailing spouses.
Yeah, I stick with him because he loves me and gets me. Does Freud explain that? Does Jung? Does Skinner? I think they're all too simplistic for real love.
But wrt the Catholic church, I certainly buy there's both a power issue and a real (misguided) love issue.
I think power is true for a lot of people. But I think that acceptance (there is a better term for this, but I can't for the life of me think of it) is a huge motivator for many. They want to be thought of as worthy, be "popular", and/or a "winner".
But really, the universal motivator is pleasure. People go after what makes them feel good. Many times this runs counter to what is actually what will make them feel good or benefit them in the long run.
I think power is true for a lot of people. But I think that acceptance (there is a better term for this, but I can't for the life of me think of it) is a huge motivator for many. They want to be thought of as worthy, be "popular", and/or a "winner".
But really, the universal motivator is pleasure. People go after what makes them feel good. Many times this runs counter to what is actually what will make them feel good or benefit them in the long run.
I agree with this a lot. I think pleasure is certainly a huge motivator.
Also Sibil - your husband could commiserate with mine. post-baby i have zero interest in sex. I'm exhausted and it hurts. fun times.
I think power is true for a lot of people. But I think that acceptance (there is a better term for this, but I can't for the life of me think of it) is a huge motivator for many. They want to be thought of as worthy, be "popular", and/or a "winner".
But really, the universal motivator is pleasure. People go after what makes them feel good. Many times this runs counter to what is actually what will make them feel good or benefit them in the long run.
I think this is similar to waht I said re: selfishness. I think we are averse to suffering. Sometimes in our quest to avoid suffering, we suffer anyway.
I think power is true for a lot of people. But I think that acceptance (there is a better term for this, but I can't for the life of me think of it) is a huge motivator for many. They want to be thought of as worthy, be "popular", and/or a "winner".
But really, the universal motivator is pleasure. People go after what makes them feel good. Many times this runs counter to what is actually what will make them feel good or benefit them in the long run.
I think this is similar to waht I said re: selfishness. I think we are averse to suffering. Sometimes in our quest to avoid suffering, we suffer anyway.
True, tho not everyone derives pleasure from (outward) selfishness. Plenty of people find pleasure in helping others. Even if isnt a selfless act for them.
I think this is similar to waht I said re: selfishness. I think we are averse to suffering. Sometimes in our quest to avoid suffering, we suffer anyway.
True, tho not everyone derives pleasure from (outward) selfishness. Plenty of people find pleasure in helping others. Even if isnt a selfless act for them.
But why do we help others? To remove their suffering. ;-)
True, tho not everyone derives pleasure from (outward) selfishness. Plenty of people find pleasure in helping others. Even if isnt a selfless act for them.
But why do we help others? To remove their suffering. ;-)
But removing others suffering isnt inherently selfish.
I think fear - it think it is at the root of the other things mentioned - one's desire to seek power, for example, probably stems from the fact that power can bring control. And if you have control, you can try and avoid what you fear (poverty, a political position, etc.). Same thing with selfishness. I think people are selfish because they fear being without something.
I think fear - it think it is at the root of the other things mentioned - one's desire to seek power, for example, probably stems from the fact that power can bring control. And if you have control, you can try and avoid what you fear (poverty, a political position, etc.). Same thing with selfishness. I think people are selfish because they fear being without something.
This is what I think, though I would reverse it and say all other motivations come from a need for power. With power we can eliminate the things we fear, we gain acceptance, we have the means to get pleasure, etc.
Can you be motivated by curiosity? I feel like that drives a lot of my priorities. If I'm going to get really excited about something and really throw myself into it, it's probably going to be somehow new. This explains my hobbies and my job for the most part.
I don't see why not. This isn't a question with a right answer.
Over the last week or so, I've been thinking about some of the "big things" in life, so to speak. My husband and I had a long conversation about this last night, and I'm just particularly interested in the different motivations for human behavior and why people think that certain motivations are stronger than others - ie, why I think power is a bigger motivator than fear, and my husband thinks the quest for power arises out of fear.
To me avoiding suffering is the similar to looking for pleasure. Do you think looking for pleasure is selfish? Does avoiding suffering always have to be selfish? Not sure about that. However, if I am honest, I see selfish components of it in my own life.
To me avoiding suffering is the similar to looking for pleasure. Do you think looking for pleasure is selfish? Does avoiding suffering always have to be selfish? Not sure about that. However, if I am honest, I see selfish components of it in my own life.
Avoiding suffering is not the same as seeking or being motivated by the pursuit of pleasure. And while both avoiding suffering and pursing pleasure can be selfish, they aren't always so, tho I would say try are never selfLESS.
To me avoiding suffering is the similar to looking for pleasure. Do you think looking for pleasure is selfish? Does avoiding suffering always have to be selfish? Not sure about that. However, if I am honest, I see selfish components of it in my own life.
Avoiding suffering is not the same as seeking or being motivated by the pursuit of pleasure. And while both avoiding suffering and pursing pleasure can be selfish, they aren't always so, tho I would say try are never selfLESS.
Maybe not always, but I tend to think more times than not it is selfish.
I don't think just one thing motivates. I think for most, its a combo. So fear, acceptance, power, guilt, pride, pleasure....I don't think we can boil it down to one.
I don't think just one thing motivates. I think for most, its a combo. So fear, acceptance, power, guilt, pride, pleasure....I don't think we can boil it down to one.
Oh, I certainly think it's a combo. But I'm just trying to isolate what some of those motivations are.
I'm motivated by my unparalleled urge to be accepted by others. It makes me happy to know that I'm well regarded by someone who's riddled with shitty flaws themselves.
AH--was there a key difference between you and your H's arguments that you could identify?
I think some of it was what events were influencing our opinions. I was out of the state when the Sikh temple shooting happened, so it was a little fresher in his mind. Plus, we have a friend who is close with one of the families involved. And I think there's no question that fear (specifically, fear of the other) plays a large part in violence like that and in the white power movement as a whole.
I was thinking a lot about a recent sermon my pastor gave. She compared the OT reading for the day (David & Bathsheba) with the parable of Jesus feeding the 5,000. David used his power for personal gain while Jesus used it to serve others. That got me thinking about the cover-ups of abuse at Penn State, the Catholic church, and other places we don't even know about, and how that was all done in the quest to obtain, maintain, or increase power.
And it happens at an institutional level as well - the desire to maintain or increase power is why bureaucracy tends to grow but not shrink. But H related that back to the individual actors' fears of being unemployed, having no purpose, etc.
Where I see power as a motivating factor, he tends to see fear of a lack of something as the motivating factor.
I really believe our motivation lies with our social and economic status. If you are poor, your motivation is going to primarily be food, shelter, basic needs. Once those needs are met, we are going to care about quality of life issues like being comfortable, happy, spending time doing fun things. Above that, there is the luxury of having free time to do whatever you like and beyond that is having the additional funds to spend your free time doing something completely for pleasure.
I think I am going ot return to my first response: selfishness.
I think everything mentioned has a selfish component to it...whether it's wanting pleasure, power, control or avoiding suffering, fear, anxiety, etc. Even wanting those things for others involves some level of selfishness. Although I think we are very much capable of doing selfless things, I think if we dig deep enough and are honest enough we get something out of it for ourselves.