Chapter 11, Module 11.3 – Social and Achievement Motivation 1
Chapter 11, Module 11.3 – Social
and Achievement Motivation
Everyone acknowledges that humans need to satisfy needs for food, water, clothing, and
shelter in order to survive. Each of these needs is associated with a motivation, some sort of
psychological process that will cause us to perform a particular behaviour
The need for food would lead to the behaviour of eating.
But humans have many types of needs, some of which are less straightforward than the need
to eat. These involve social processes, as well as our need for meaning and a purpose in life
In this module, we discuss some of these social and achievement needs, and try to understand
the psychological processes that accompany them
Belonging and Love Needs
When we think about our different needs, it seems like common sense that some things are
more important than others. In an early attempt to understand the different motivations that
drive human behaviour, Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954) described a hierarchy of needs, with
needs associated with our basic physiological survival being more important than social or
achievement needs
According to Maslow, once survival needs are met, then we can move to higher-level needs
such as belonging or the need for self-esteem. At the highest point of this model lies self-
actualization, the point at which a person reaches his or her full potential as a creative, deep-
thinking, and accepting human being
Although Maslow’s depiction of human needs and motivations seems logical, numerous
researchers have criticized this model
First, the idea that we must fulfill one need before moving on to the next (in a way that is
similar to levels of a video game) is simplistic
You know from your own life that it is possible to have multiple motivations
simultaneously—you can be striving to self-actualize while also experiencing the
need to achieve at school
A second criticism was that the hierarchy appeared to be biased toward an individualistic
(Western) culture
Self-actualization, the peak state of Maslow’s model, consists of a number of
characteristics that put the individual’s needs or goals first, sometimes at the expense
Chapter 11, Module 11.3 – Social and Achievement Motivation 2
of humanity as a whole
In collectivistic (primarily Eastern) cultures, such needs would be much less
important than acting to ensure that everyone was getting along and that the
community, not just the individual, was successful
However, although the hierarchy element of Maslow’s model may be inaccurate, his work
has highlighted the fact that human motivation extends to a number of different areas rather
than being simply a matter of eating, sleeping, and reproducing. Later researchers have noted
that we have a number of needs that can, at times, feel as pressing as a grumbling stomach
E.g. research suggests that humans have a fundamental need to belong, which motivates
us to affiliate with other people and to seek meaningful, long-term bonds
Belonging Is a Need, Not a Want
The need to belong (sometimes known as affiliation motivation) is the motivation to
maintain relationships that involve pleasant feelings such as warmth, affection, appreciation,
and mutual concern for each person’s well-being. In addition, an individual must have the
sense that these feelings are part of a permanent relationship, such as a friendship, kinship, or
shared group membership
A strong sense of belonging brings more than warmth and happiness; it appears to be
fundamental in the same way that food and shelter are needs—these are all things that
humans cannot survive without
Although we all probably want to have pleasant interactions, it is the second part of the
definition—a sense of permanence—that is most important for our well-being. Specifically,
an individual who has many positive social interactions with a series of different individuals
does not enjoy the same satisfaction and other benefits as an individual who interacts with
only a few people, but regularly and for a long period of time
A substantial number of studies have shown that lonely people like the executive are more
likely to feel depressed—and have lower life satisfaction in general—than are socially
connected individuals. In addition to its effects on mental health, psychologists have found
that social connectedness has a dramatic effect on physical health
Research has demonstrated that loneliness is a risk factor for illnesses such as heart disease
and cancer. It also elevates a person’s risk for having hypertension, a weaker immune system,
and high levels of stress hormones
This relationship holds true even when lonely and non-lonely individuals have the same
amount of social interaction—it is the sense of belonging that counts. Given that belonging is
Chapter 11, Module 11.3 – Social and Achievement Motivation 3
important for health and happiness, it makes sense that so much of a person’s life is focused
on friends, family, and romantic partners
Love
In some cases, the feeling of belonging that accompanies your friendship and family bonds
becomes a form of love. This isn’t the only type of love that we experience
Through your teenage years and enter early adulthood, many of you will desire and
experience romantic relationships. Some of these will produce an intense feeling that we
think of as romantic love
What is romantic love? This is a question that has permeated our culture for thousands of
years
For most of our history, love has not been seriously discussed in scientific circles. However,
this has changed in the past 45 years
In 1974, Berscheid and Walter proposed the first scientific model of love, one that is still
widely accepted today. These psychologists suggested that love is composed of two main
components: passionate love and companionate love
Passionate love is associated with a physical and emotional longing for the other person.
We feel passionate love at the beginning of a relationship, when we are just getting to
know the other person and everything is new
Brain imaging research has shown that feelings of passionate love are associated with
activity in areas of the brain related to physical rewards as well as the insula, a region
that is sensitive to internal bodily feelings such as having “butterflies in the stomach”
Companionate love, on the other hand, is related to tenderness, and to the affection we feel
when our lives are intertwined with another person. Although passionate love is certainly
more exciting, companionate love appears to have a greater influence on the long-term
stability of a relationship
Undergraduate research participants viewed increases in companionate features of love
to be more indicative of a loving relationship than passionate features of love
Decreases in companionate love suggested that the relationship was in trouble, and
may suggest that the people do not feel as committed to each other as they once did
Love, therefore, seems to be a very pleasant state. But what motivates people to seek it out?
Arthur Aron and his colleagues (2005) have suggested that “love is a mammalian drive to
pursue preferred mates”. In other words, love may be a goal-oriented state in a way that is
similar (but obviously not identical) to hunger and sex drives
To test this hypothesis, these researchers performed fMRI scans on 17 people who were in
love. While in the scanner, these participants viewed images of their special someone, as well
as photographs of a familiar person
The brain responses to images of the loved one were stronger in dopamine-rich areas that
are part of the reward system
Even better, activity in some parts of this system correlated with the participants’ responses
on a passionate love questionnaire
Activity in other parts of the reward system correlated with the intensity of their reported
love and with ratings of facial attractiveness
Importantly, many of these brain areas contain receptors for oxytocin, the hormone related to
feelings of trust and the desire to be close to someone
It is important to note that this motivational view of love is still consistent with the
passionate–companionate theory of love. In fact, it adds a mechanism that can explain why
we seek out passionate love in the first place: a reward state similar to many other types of
motivations
Belonging, Self-Esteem, and Our Worldview
