Fundamental Human Motivation Research Articles

Prolonged unemployment is associated with control loss and personal as well as social disengagement.

The need for control is a fundamental human motivation, that when deprived can lead to broad and substantial changes in human behavior. We aimed to assess the consequences of control deprivation in a real-life situation that poses a severe threat to personal control: a prolonged unemployment. Using a sample N = 1055 of unemployed (n = 748) versus working (n = 307) individuals, we examined predictions derived from two models of reactions to control deprivation: control-regaining and disengagement/withdrawal. We found that length unemployment is correlated with a psychological state strongly interfering with psychological as well as social functioning. While control-regaining models of responding to lack of control have received virtually no support from our findings, our results provide evidence that long-term unemployed individuals are more disengaged than working individuals. They are more apathetic, less likely to engage in control-regaining efforts and in active forms of construing one's own future.

I think you might like me: Emergence and change of meta-liking in initial social interactions.

Feeling accepted by others is a fundamental human motive and an important marker of successful social interactions. This interpersonal perception, known as meta-liking, is especially relevant during adolescence, when peer relationships deepen and expand. However, knowledge is limited regarding meta-liking formation in initial social interactions. This study investigated whether adolescents (N = 293, Mage = 15.48, 61.10% female) have default expectations for meta-liking at zero acquaintance and how these judgments are updated during initial group interactions. Specifically, we used latent change models to examine how personality traits predicted initial meta-liking and whether personality and social interaction experiences were linked to changes in meta-liking judgments throughout an interaction. Our findings revealed three key insights: First, meta-liking increased gradually over the course of the interaction, with substantial individual differences in both default meta-liking and change scores. Second, extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem predicted initial meta-liking. Third, liking others was also linked to initial meta-liking and early changes, while meta-liking changes toward the end of the interaction occurred independent of all these features and were not predicted by expressive behaviors of interaction partners. This study represents a first empirical test of default expectations and updates in meta-liking based on personality characteristics and social interaction experiences in initial social interactions. We discuss our results in terms of a broader framework for understanding how metaperceptions are formed and updated early in the acquaintance process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

How did the landscape of student belonging shift during COVID‐19?

AbstractBackgroundBelonging is a fundamental human motivation associated with a wide range of positive psychological, educational, social, and job outcomes. Frequent and predominantly conflict‐free interactions within a stable, relational framework of caring are required to facilitate belonging.PurposeThe goal of this study was to understand if and how emergency remote teaching (ERT) used during the COVID‐19 pandemic changed the ways in which instructional support and interactions were linked to belonging among engineering students.Methodology/ApproachThis study used survey data from a cross‐sectional dataset at a single large institution comprised of sophomore to senior‐level students (n = 1485) enrolled in engineering courses between 2016 and 2021. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to study relationships among instructional support, instructor interactions, and belonging.Findings/ConclusionsHLM models of ERT and traditional learning differed dramatically. In traditional classroom learning, race, interactions with faculty and teaching assistants (TAs), and instructional support were important factors in belonging. In ERT, certain motivations to study engineering (altruism, desire to build things) had nuanced associations with belonging, while race and interactions with faculty and TAs became largely irrelevant. Most concerning, faculty interactions in traditional learning were negatively associated with belonging.ImplicationsRather than returning to pre‐pandemic traditional learning, a hybrid model that offers a more level playing field for marginalized students to find belonging in the classroom is recommended. In developing such models, faculty must take special care to avoid having a potentially negative impact on student belonging.

A Few Close Friends? Adolescent Friendships’ Effect on Internalizing Symptoms Is Serially Mediated by Desire for More Friends and Social Goal Orientation

Interpersonal connection is a fundamental human motivation, and the extent to which it is fulfilled is a strong predictor of symptoms of internalizing disorders such as social anxiety and depression, perhaps especially during the “social reorienting” period of adolescence. However, little is known about the contribution to this effect of the individual’s social motivations, which are intensified during adolescence. Furthermore, social goal orientation – an individual’s priorities and intentions in social interactions – is an important predictor of vulnerability to internalizing symptoms. Adolescents spend most of their waking lives in classrooms, bounded social networks with a limited pool of candidates for befriending. This study investigated whether friendships within one’s class protects against internalizing symptoms in part by reducing the desire for more classmate friendships, which may tend to promote maladaptive social goals. Participants were 423 young adolescents (M age = 13.2, sd = 0.52 years; 49.4% girls). As predicted, adolescents’ number of reciprocated classroom friendships had a protective effect on internalizing symptoms which was serially mediated by desire for more such friendships, and social goal orientation. However, only demonstration-avoidance goals significantly predicted internalizing symptoms. Unreciprocated friendship nominations were unexpectedly associated with stronger desire and more social anxiety symptoms. The results suggest that the effect of number of friends is mediated by the individual’s thoughts and feelings about their number of friendships, such that a strong desire for more friendships promotes maladaptive goals, oriented toward social status and consequently less oriented toward the cultivation of interpersonal intimacy with the friends they already have.

Recognizing the diversity in how students define belonging: evidence of differing conceptualizations, including as a function of students’ gender and socioeconomic background

Sense of belonging is a fundamental human motivation and, in higher education settings, has been associated with students’ motivation and academic outcomes. However, less is known about the nuances of how students define belonging within a university context, and how their gendered and socio-economic identity-based experiences inform these definitions. Using a qualitative approach, we interviewed 36 UK university students to better understand (1) students’ definitions of belonging to university, and (2) how these conceptualizations are shaped by their experiences in terms of their gender, their socioeconomic status, and the intersection of these two identities. Interviews showed that students defined belonging in terms of social belonging. These definitions were shaped by their (a) cultural capital about university, (b) socioeconomic or gender identity experiences and (c) perceived similarity with other students. Indeed, despite the fact that students’ definitions of belonging were associated with how they have experienced belonging to university, identity-based experiences were mostly mentioned when they perceived they did not belong, which was framed as a “sense of anti-belonging”. Otherwise, students defined belonging as (a) being authentic, considering—for example—gender identity-based experiences of acceptance in university, or (b) sharing similar experiences with others, considering the importance of perceiving similarity with other students to feel they belong and, in some cases, being necessary to learn about university culture to perceive similarity with others. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of how belonging conceptualisations are bound up in identity and context, opening questions about the consequences of inclusion and diversity policies in higher education.

Do I Fit In: Race/Ethnicity and Feelings of Belonging in School

The desire to belong has been conceptualized by motivational psychologists as a fundamental human motive (need to belong), which means that it can guide thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Indeed, a growing literature has documented that students who perceive a sense of belonging in school generally fare well—academically, socially, and emotionally. In this article, we bring the racial/ethnic context to the study of school belonging. We review a number of studies from our program of research—both cross-sectional and longitudinal—that describe how feelings of belonging are shaped by important racial/ethnic context variables such as the size of one’s racial/ethnic group in school across critical school transitions, perceived representation of one’s group in critical STEM courses (e.g., 9th-grade math), and how the differences between school-level and course-level representation affect both schools belonging and academic achievement. We make an argument for studying racial/ethnic diversity as a fluid and dynamic construct that impacts motivation and achievement in previously understudied ways.

Investigating the Link between Social Media Use and Need to Belong

The need to belong is a fundamental human motivation to be accepted into social relationships and be part of social groups. It has been hypothesized that one of the reasons why people use social media is to manage and maintain their social relationships. This study examined emerging adults’ frequency of social media use and the relationship between social media use and need to belong using data from the Emerging Adulthood Measured at Multiple Institutions 2 (EAMMI2) collaboration. As expected, need to belong was positive associated with social media use.

The Battle of Belonging: A Study of Contemporary Shillong Poets

The British colonialisation, the partition of India during independence, growing urbanization and increased human mobility led to the growth of migrant settlers belonging to a number of cultural, racial, ethnic and religious groups in the state of Meghalaya, particularly Shillong which is the state’s capital. These factors contributed to the transformation of the city into a multi-cultural centre. However, contradicting this development was the increased desire of the indigenous tribals of the state to exclude and otherise the non-tribal settlers by way of promoting the ‘sons of the soil’ policy. Though in the recent decades, statistics depicts (2011 census) more out-migration with a decreased share of the non-tribal to the state’s population, yet a perceived notion of increased in-migration was fed by the indigenous tribal belonging both to pressure groups and political parties leading to issues of insider-outsider the concept of belonging and un-belonging. Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow were the early psychologists who recognized that humans strive to belong. However, it was Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary’s seminal work “The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation” that contributed to the theoretical understandingof belonging. Belongingness in today’s multicultural society has become all the more relevant wherein the questions of belonging and un-belonging and the complex politics of belonging are issues that confront us. This in turn has led to ‘belonging’ emerging as a subject of interest and interrogation across multiple disciplines. The un-belonging felt by the people of the Northeast which results from their being ‘othered’ by their fellow Indian citizens of mainland India has been well documented but there is also a need to study how the same is reversed and how it is enacted and experienced in the context of the Northeast. This paper intends to analyse the select works of contemporary Shillong poets to depict how this otherisation and battle for belonging is enacted and experienced by the non-tribal settlers living in Shillong. In doing so, an attempt will be made to trace the complex working of the politics of belonging and how it manifests itself in present day Shillong.

Encouragement of cervical cancer screening via an evolutionary theoretical approach: A randomized controlled study in Japan

The introduction of an evolutionary perspective into public health research has received attention in recent years. We aimed to examine the effects of messages that target the fundamental human motive of kin care (i.e., childbirth and parenting) on cervical cancer screening recommendations, based on an evolutionary theoretical approach. A randomized controlled study was conducted in Japan. Female participants (n = 969) were randomly assigned either to a group that received an intervention message that targeted the fundamental motive of kin care (recommending cervical cancer screening for future childbearing), or that targeted the fundamental motive of disease avoidance, or a control message. Intention to obtain cervical cancer screening was assessed both before and after reading the messages. A one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s or Games–Howell test was conducted. Each of the intervention message targeting the fundamental motive of kin care and of the message targeting disease avoidance significantly increased intention to obtain cervical cancer screening versus a control message (M = 0.76 vs. M = 0.17, p < 0.001; M = 0.74 vs. M = 0.17, p < 0.001, respectively). A message that targeted the fundamental motive of kin care was as effective as one targeting the fundamental motive of disease avoidance. Health professionals should add messages that target the fundamental motive of kin care to their repertoire to encourage cervical cancer screening among women who wish future childbirth and parenting (e.g., “Delayed detection of cervical cancer may prevent your future childbirth and parenting. So let’s obtain cervical cancer screening regularly for your future childbirth and parenting.”)

The Pursuit of Meaning and the Preference for Less Expensive Options

AbstractFinding meaning in life is a fundamental human motivation. Along with pleasure, meaning is a pillar of happiness and well-being. Yet, despite the centrality of this motive, and despite firms’ attempts to appeal to this motive, scant research has investigated how the pursuit of meaning influences consumer choice, especially in comparison to the study of pleasure. While previous perspectives would suggest that the pursuit of meaning tilts consumers toward high-quality products, we predicted and found the opposite. As compared to a pleasure or (no goal) baseline condition, six studies demonstrate that the pursuit of meaning causes people to consider how they can otherwise use their money (opportunity costs) which in turn leads to a preference for less expensive goods. This effect is robust across multiple product categories and usage situations, including both experiential and material purchases, and is obtained even when the more expensive product is perceived to deliver greater meaning. For participants pursuing meaning, making opportunity costs salient has no effect on their choices, and encouraging opportunity cost neglect increases their willingness to pay for a more expensive item. This research thus provides an initial answer as to how the pursuit of meaning shapes consumer choice processes and preferences.

Encouraging HPV Vaccination via an Evolutionary Theoretical Approach: A Randomized Controlled Study in Japan.

In recent years, researchers have discussed the introduction of an evolutionary perspective into public health and health behavior research. We aimed to examine the effects of messages that target the fundamental human motive of kin care on HPV vaccination recommendations among mothers with daughters, based on an evolutionary theoretical approach. This study consisted of a three-arm parallel-group single-blinded randomized controlled study. A web-based survey was conducted from 7 to 8 October 2021 in Japan. Mothers with daughters (n = 969) were randomly assigned either to a group that received an intervention message that targeted the fundamental motive of kin care, or that targeted the fundamental motive of disease avoidance, or a control message. Intention to have daughter(s) receive HPV vaccination was assessed both before and right after reading the messages. A one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s or Games–Howell test was conducted. An intervention message targeting the fundamental motive of kin care and disease avoidance significantly increased intention of vaccination versus a control message (p < 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference between the two intervention groups. The evolutionary theoretical approach that focuses on fundamental human motives may have the potential to extend the communication strategy for HPV vaccination recommendations. Health professionals may be recommended to deliver messages that target the fundamental motive of kin care as well as messages about the susceptibility and severity of cervical cancer and vaccine efficacy (e.g., “Getting cervical cancer can prevent childbirth. To protect your daughter and your future grandchildren, get your daughter vaccinated against HPV”). However, the present study only evaluated HPV vaccination intentions in Japanese mothers with daughters. Future studies should evaluate vaccination behavior in a wider range of subjects to confirm that the evolutionary theoretical approach promotes HPV vaccination.

Encouraging COVID-19 vaccination via an evolutionary theoretical approach: A randomized controlled study in Japan

ObjectiveWe aimed to examine the effect of a message that target the fundamental human motive of kin care on COVID-19 vaccination recommendations among participants with young children, based on an evolutionary theoretical approach. MethodsParticipants with young children (n = 969) were randomly assigned either to a group that received an intervention message that targeted the fundamental motive of kin care, or that targeted the fundamental motive of disease avoidance, or a control message. Intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination was assessed both before and after reading the messages. A one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s or Games–Howell test was conducted. ResultsAn intervention message targeting the fundamental motive of kin care and disease avoidance significantly increased intention of vaccination versus a control message (p < 0.001, respectively). ConclusionThe evolutionary theoretical approach that focuses on fundamental human motives has the potential to extend the communication strategy for COVID-19 vaccination recommendations. Practice implicationsHealth professionals should deliver messages that target the fundamental motive of kin care as well as messages about the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 and vaccine efficacy (e.g., “Get vaccinated against COVID-19 for your child’s sake, because if you are infected, you will be unable to care for your child.”)

The Need to Belong: a Deep Dive into the Origins, Implications, and Future of a Foundational Construct.

The need to belong in human motivation is relevant for all academic disciplines that study human behavior, with immense importance to educational psychology. The presence of belonging, specifically school belonging, has powerful long- and short-term implications for students’ positive psychological and academic outcomes. This article presents a brief review of belonging research with specific relevance to educational psychology. Following this is an interview with Emeritus Professors Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary, foundational pioneers in belonging research which reflects upon their influential 1995 paper, “The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation,” to explore the value and relevance of belonging for understanding human behavior and promoting well-being.

Electricity theft whistleblowing feasibility in commercial accommodation facilities

Electricity theft is one of the most critical sources of non-technical losses in the utility sector, of which commercial accommodation facilities are significant perpetrators. Though crime resolution has socio-economic, psychological, ethical and technical underpinnings, the latter is mostly sought in electricity theft. Meanwhile, technological means to combat this menace have not been very successful, which calls for the integration of social interventions. Employing the social-psychological model of crime reporting and three other deontological and teleological lenses, we taxonomised electricity theft whistleblowing intentions and distilled the underlying reasons using a sequential mixed-methods research design. Three segments of whistleblowers, namely Kantians, spectators and utilitarians, are identified. Reasons including criminalising electricity theft, government revenue gatekeeping, avoidance of trouble and empathetic feeling uniquely define these segments. The study advances that addressing the characteristics of the segments along with the fundamental human motivations of accuracy, connection and ego could be profound engines of change for increased electricity theft reporting.

Meaning and Late-Life Vulnerability: A Philosophical Practice-Based Approach

The quest for meaning constitutes one of the fundamental human existential motivations. At first glance, late life vulnerability appears to pose a threat to meaningfulness. Sources of meaning associated with certain activities or relations may seem less accessible once vulnerabilities, caused by social losses or diminishing health, start to dominate people’s daily life experience. On the other hand, some theorists have argued that it is particularly in the confrontation with our human vulnerability that the need for meaningfulness is most urgently felt. This paper presents a philosophical-conceptual exploration of meaning as a dynamic, context-dependent social practice. Contrasting theoretical approaches that analyse meaningfulness and/or meaninglessness in terms of the presence or absence of certain components or qualities, a practice-based approach enhances our sensivitity for concrete ways in which people manage to find or create meaning in situations of vulnerability, thereby integrating this vulnerability in their life narratives and sense of self.

The sequel to COVID-19: the antithesis to life

The sequel to COVID-19: the antithesis to life

Presence and search for meaning in sport: Initial construct validation

According to Frankl (1959), the will to meaning is a fundamental human motive. Perceiving life as meaningful is associated with a number of sources and positive outcomes. Similar findings emerged when looking at domain-specific meaning, such as work. Surprisingly, sport-specific meaning is yet to be empirically investigated or measured. Therefore, the purpose of this two-study project was to examine the psychometric properties of the Meaning in Sport Questionnaire (MSQ), a sport-specific meaning measure. Survey responses (n = 329) from Study 1 were used to assess factorial validity and measurement invariance for the MSQ. Results from Study 2 with a different sample (n = 402) supported initial convergent validity for the two subscales of presence and search for meaning in sport. The MSQ is a new measure that can be used to investigate the extent to which athletes perceive their sport to be meaningful and search for such meaning.

Coalitional Value Theory: an Evolutionary Approach to Understanding Culture

In the following article, we forward the coalitional value theory (CVT) and apply it to several puzzles about human behavior. The CVT contends that humans evolved unique mental mechanisms for assessing each other’s marginal value to a coalition (i.e., each other’s coalitional value). They defer to those with higher coalitional value, and they assert themselves over those with lower. We discuss how this mechanism likely evolved. We note that it helps explains how human groups can expand into large, complicated, and specialized coalitions (chiefdoms and even nation states). And we combine this with strong evidence that suggests that status striving is a fundamental human motive to explain partially (1) anti-gay bias, (2) cultural signaling, (3) cultural conceptions of god, and (4) ideological conflict.

The Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale Revised (5DCR): Briefer subscales while separating overt and covert social curiosity

Curiosity is a fundamental human motivation that influences learning, the acquisition of knowledge, and life fulfillment. Our ability to understand the benefits (and costs) of being a curious person hinges on adequate assessment. Synthesizing decades of prior research, our goal was to improve a well-validated, multi-dimensional measure of curiosity (Kashdan et al., 2018). First, we sought to distinguish between two types of social curiosity: the overt desire to learn from other people versus covert, surreptitious interest in what other people say and do. Second, we sought to remove weaker items and reduce the length of each subscale. Using data from a survey of 483 working adults (Study 1) and 460 community adults (Study 2), we found evidence to support the pre-existing four dimensions of curiosity (Joyous Exploration, Deprivation Sensitivity, Stress Tolerance, and Thrill Seeking) along with the separation of the fifth dimension into Overt Social Curiosity and Covert Social Curiosity. Each factor of the Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale Revised (5DCR) had substantive relations with a battery of personality (e.g., Big Five, intellectual humility) and well-being (e.g., psychological need satisfaction) measures. With greater bandwidth and predictive power, the 5DCR offers new opportunities for basic research and the evaluation of curiosity enhancing interventions.

Curiosity has comprehensive benefits in the workplace: Developing and validating a multidimensional workplace curiosity scale in United States and German employees

Curiosity is a fundamental human motive that is beginning to garner closer attention by researchers and practitioners interested in workplace functioning. Recent work suggests that rather than designating someone as possessing curiosity or not, there is benefit in detailing the various elements of curiosity. To date, there is no research on how multiple dimensions of curiosity operate in the workplace. Across four samples, we developed and validated the M-Workplace Curiosity Scale. Participants were American and German employees from a range of industries. We found evidence for four workplace curiosity dimensions: Joyous Exploration, Deprivation Sensitivity, Stress Tolerance, and Openness to People's Ideas. These workplace curiosity dimensions predicted a substantial amount of variance in adaptive outcomes including job satisfaction, work engagement, job crafting, healthy work relationships, and innovation; as a test of construct specificity, workplace curiosity outperformed trait mindfulness in predicting each of these workplace outcomes. Results offer support for a comprehensive model of curiosity that identifies high performing, satisfied individuals in the workplace. These findings underscore the importance of understanding, assessing, leveraging, and developing curiosity in teams and organizations.