Fundamental Motives Illuminate a Broad Range of Individual and Cultural Variations in Thought and Behavior

Abstract

An article published in Current Directions a decade ago introduced the fundamental-motives framework and reviewed initial promising findings using this general approach. According to this framework, a recurring set of challenges and opportunities during human evolution gave rise to overarching motivational systems in the domains of self-protection, disease avoidance, social affiliation, status seeking, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care. When activated, fundamental motives influence psychological processes by directing cognition and behavior in distinct and functionally relevant ways. In the intervening years, the approach has been expanded to a broader range of motives, individual and cultural variations in those motives, and the physiological correlates of activating different motives. In this article, we review a decade of research applying the fundamental-motives framework and point to promising new research directions.