Abstract
Criminology (as the scientific study of criminal behaviour on the individual and social level) and psychology (as the science, which seeks to understand individuals and groups) pay special attention to motivation – a theoretical construction, used to explain behaviour. In this article the motivation of recipients of bribery is widely investigated. In addition to such well-established motives as greediness, selfishness, prevalence of personal interest, the author analyzes also other criminal behaviour determinants. The works, which are used in this research are of the following authors: John Broadus Watson, Edward Lee Thorndike (Behavioural); Sigmund Freud, Erich Fromm (Psychoanalysis); Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow (Existential-humanistic theories); William Isaac Thomas (Thomas theorem); Florian Witold Znaniecki (sociological theory); Erik Homburger Erikson (theory on psychosocial development of human beings); Jean William Fritz Piaget (theory of cognitive development); Herbert Lefcourt, Ronald Smith (Locus of Control) etc. As the result of this research the author has concluded that bribe-takers’ behaviour is determined by such psychological constructs as the desire for power, fear, envy, mental deflections, mania, feeling of exclusion, the need for extreme, oppressed creativity.
Highlights
Motivation represents the reasons for people’s actions, desires, and needs, what causes a person to want to repeat behaviour and vice versa [1].Studying of bribe-takers’ motivation permits to define causes which determine the illegitimate behaviour of bribe-takers and permits to develop mechanisms for more efficient prevention of bribe taking
The feeling of power in itself affects the person’s thinking process [25]. It can be concluded from the aforementioned that a person who has received a position of an official with the aim to obtain sense of power will engage in bribe taking with high probability
We should pay attention not to the fact that a person wishes to obtain a status of a public official, but to the motivation of this particular person, for instance, a person who has received the position not in order to acquire the sense of power, but for other motives will doubtfully engage in corruption
Summary
Motivation represents the reasons for people’s actions, desires, and needs, what causes a person to want to repeat behaviour and vice versa [1]. Studying of bribe-takers’ motivation permits to define causes which determine the illegitimate behaviour of bribe-takers and permits to develop mechanisms for more efficient prevention of bribe taking. In order to ensure more efficient fighting with corruption, it is of vital importance to determine what urges an official to become a bribe-taker. Within the frames of the article, the author understands the term “motive” as inner force related to person’s needs and that motivates this particular person to perform definite actions or, in particular cases, ensures her failure to act. Maslow’s theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs [6]
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