Fascinating. I wish the article told us what his universal motivations are. Guess I need to subscribe to his blog...
On Mar 23, 2012, at 9:46 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > > > > Psychology Today > What Happens in Vegas: The New Psychology of Marketing > > Application of intrinsic motivation to marketing > > Published on March 22, 2012 by Steven Reiss, Ph.D. in Who We Are > We set out to construct a scientific model of intrinsic motivation. Our model > has four unique features. First, we empirically derived a taxonomy of > universal motives and demonstrated construct validity, measurement > reliability, concurrent validity, and criterion validity. Second, we put > forth a conceptual platform for connecting universal motives to personality > traits and values. We can teach people how their personality is an > expression of their moties and values. Third, we connected universal > (intrinsic) motives to dyadic relationships including work and romance. > Repeated quarrels in a relationship arise from conflicting values and > motives. Fourth, we applied our model broadly to education, business, > sports, health care, counseling, and relationships. Today more than 1,000 > professionals on three continents work with our model, called the "Reiss > Motivation Profile" or RMP. > > Historically, much of what psychologists have said about motivation is > invalid. For all practical purposes, Freud had only one motive. He said that > libido (sex) motivates most everything but virtually every explanation he > gave identified anxiety reduction as the ultimate motive. Freud's model of > motivation was so weak even his followers quickly rejected it. Maslow > developed his famous pyramid by asking his self-actualized friends what > motivates them. He said he would study motivation scientifically but he > didn't know how. To their credit, the Deci-Ryan research is based on many > studies, but when all is said and done, they recognize only two kinds of > motives, which they called intrinsic and extrinsic. The distinction between > intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is based on multiple errors in logic. (See > my previous blogs.) In reality all motivation arises from intrinsic motives, > as Harvard's McDougall understood, and extrinsic motivation doesn't exist. > The Deci-Ryan work is more important for what is says about > self-determination than about extrinsic motivation. > > Four generations of Harvard psychologists (James, McDougall, Murray, > McClelland) recognized that universal motives are the organizing themes of > who we are. The Harvard psychologists, however, did not put forth a viable > model of what a universal motive is. McDougall thought that emotion is the > key to understanding universal motives, but it is the goal. The Harvard > psychologists proposed many lists of universal motives but did not > scientifically validate any list. They did not construct non-projective > measures of which motives are strong or weak for any individual. They did not > figure out how to project universal motives into practical endeavors such as > relationships, education, health care, sports, and so on. > > When I want to predict what people might do, I ask them what their values, > goals, and purposes are. Incredibly, other psychologists don't do that. > Instead they try to predict how people will behave in natural environments by > asking them about their childhood. Such information predicts very little. If > I tell you I am lonely, you can predict I will seek out company and you would > have a decent chance of being right. If I tell you I still remember when my > parents wouldn't let me stay up to watch a television program, you can't > predict anything about me. Current motives predict behavior much better than > remote childhood events. > > A new psychology of intrinsic motivation is emerging and it excels in > predicting how people will behave in natural environments. In recent months > interest has emerged in applying the new motivation to marketing. In the > remainder of my blog I will outline some general principles I published in my > book titled, "Who am I?" > > The new marketing permits us to compare the values expressed by a brand and > those expressed by advertisements. Consider, for example, the advertisement, > "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." If you look at the 16 universal > values, you will learn that a weak need for honor motivates expedience. The > value here is not to get caught. Since Vegas is branded as "sin city" -- sin > falls under low honor -- the advertising slogan is a direct hit on the value > of the brand. As far as I can tell, most memorable advertising slogans are > direct hits on the values of the brand. > > My colleagues and I offer a number of training seminars for those interested > in learning more. The next seminar I will give will be held in Chicago June > 21 and 22. All of my seminars are for small groups. For further information, > contact [email protected]. Various Reiss Motivation Profile Institutes > -- soon there will be 11 institutes worldwide -- also offer seminars in > Europe and Asia. > > > > > ============================== > > Articles from Psychology Today that are relevant to the above article : > > Why We Buy > > Field Guide To The Shopaholic > > Observing retail lovers in the wild. > > The Urge to Splurge > > How retailers nudge you toward the cash register. > > Field Guide to the Materialist: She's Gotta Have It > > > For some people, stuff reigns and to shop is to be. > > > Are Consumers Born or Made? Both. > > Knowing Your Customers. Step 1: Read Charles Darwin! > > The Psychology of Time Pressured Sales > > Time pressure primes you to act rather than deliberate. > > Retail Therapy Explained > > Retail therapy does not work. > > See Also > > Behavioral Economics > Decision-Making > > Advertising and Marketing > > Advertising Is Magic > > Advertising is a form of sorcery. > > Hawks in Sheep's Clothing > > How "informative advertising" sells us a bill of goods. > > Outside In: It's So Loud, I Can't Hear My Budget! > > Loud environments encourage spending. > > The Truth About Subliminal Advertising > > Subliminal advertising is less (read me) interesting than you think. > > New study: TV food ads provoke automatic eating in adults as well as children > > One reason the public needs to know about limits to their free will > > 6 Sneaky Ways Sales Spur Spending > > "The song of the Shopping Sirens is a sale." > > ================================================= > > > > from the site : > Life in Process > > Book Review of Steven Reiss' " Who Am I ? " > > > The concept of this book is quite bold: What you know about human motivation > is wrong. There are two very common theories explaining why humans do what > they do. The first states that anything we do can be boiled down and seen as > fulfilling the two biggest biological objectives: survival and replication. > The second asserts that humans are essentially hedonists - we are always > acting to either obtain pleasure or avoid pain. Both theories have their > merits, but like the author, I believe they just doesn’t seem to fit. > > Enter Who Am I? The 16 Basis Desires That Motivate Our Actions And Define Our > Personalities > > > So what does actually drive human behavior? Freud thought it was sex, Plato > thought it was truth, and B.F. Skinner said that your drives were private and > scientifically unknowable. Prompted by a life-threatening illness, the author > re-thought the whole paradigm, eventually developing the ideas in the book. > True, he stands on the shoulders of giants (Like William James) and he > acknowledges their work, but no midget himself. The implications of the book, > psychologically speaking, are potent. > > With much thought and consideration, Reiss concludes that the following are > the 16 basic desires common to all humans, (all or nearly all are present in > animals as well). > > Power, Independence, Curiosity > > Acceptance, Order, Saving > > Honor, Idealism, Social Contact > > Family, Status, Vengeance > > Romance, Eating, Physical Activity > > Tranquility. > > The way he determined whether or not a proposed desire made it to the list is > interesting. He used a mathematical technique called factor analysis to > determine that 16 desires would be unusually representative of the > possibilities (instead of 15,17, or 32). It’s hard to add another desire to > the 16 - he gives three criteria for those who want to try. > > 1. The desire must be valued intrinsically rather than for its for its > effects on something else. It must be sought for its own sake. > > 2. The desire must have explanatory significance for understanding the lives > of nearly the lives of nearly everyone. > > 3. The desire must be largely unconnected to the 16 listed. > > The Desires > > The desires themselves are fairly self explanitory. You have a high desire > for order and you keep your room clean. You have a high desire for eating and > a low desire for physical activity and you’re probably fat. The author helps > develop all 16 them quite well. With the framework of these 16 desires, > people become a lot more transparent to the careful observer. When you map > out your desires, you make a desire profile. Your desire profile says a lot > about who you are. The book leads you through the process of making yours. > Looking above, you’ll see the profile I drew for my wife and me. You measure > your desires as having high, average, or less importance to you. > > Getting it > > The author has a nice section about “Not getting it”. This occurs when > peoples desire profiles are dissimilar and can’t seem to understand why > somebody would do or say what they do. “Why does she see in him?” can be > answered by looking at how the man satisfies her desires - in a more academic > way of course. > > Value Based Happiness > > Happiness for me isn’t the same as it is for you. In fact, as mentioned > before, we could be so far off from each other that we couldn’t stand the > same activities. To each their own - and that is the key - you need to do > what makes you happy, but keep in mind your core desires. Switching jobs > doesn’t mean you’ll be happy. The duties change, but is the work tapping into > your desires in a different way? You might want to check on that. > > How to use the book > > Knowing that human beings are motivated by some distinct criteria isn’t that > enlightening - its all in the application. I liked spending some time > thinking about who in my life valued certain desires very highly and how it > effects their personality. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks listening to > people talk, and hearing beyond what they say to hear their core desires. I > understand where people are coming from a good deal more now than I did > before. Not that I agree with them - I just respect them and see what makes > them happy. > > Some Fun Extras > > I haven’t listed the chapter names like I usually like to, because they > aren’t that useful without reciting the whole chapter to you. > > The book is 280 pages long (with 20 or so pages of notes), clean and has a > easy to read style. You don’t have to read all of it either - you can just > skip to the back and create your personal desire profile. > > It is the authors opinion that our desire profile probably does not change > fundamentally over our lives. > > As the author says, alike profiles grow together, dissimilar grow apart. I > feel that my wife and I are very compatible, and the profiles back that up in > some degree. You’ll see that we never have a huge mismatch, where she values > something as very important and I value it as less important. We both have > high desires for curiosity (we both love reading and exploring) and family(we > both want to have kids and love hanging out with our folks). We both have a > low desire for vengeance and status. In total, we value 9 out of the 16 > desires the same. I think that’s pretty good, and we’ll grow together more > and more as the years go by. > > > > > > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
