Motives of the human animal: comprehending, managing, and sharing inner states.
We propose that four fundamental developments of the human animal together produce distinct human motives: (a) social consciousness or awareness that the outcomes or significance of a person's action (self or other) depend upon how another person (self or other) reacts to it; (b) recognizing that people's inner states can mediate their outward behaviors; (c) relating the present to both the past and the future (mental time travel); and (d) sharing reality with other people. We review a typology of four categories of concern for these motivational developments: thoughts, feelings/attitudes, competencies, and reference values (goals and standards). We then review the recent research on three specific areas related to these motivational concerns: imagining future-self inner states, managing how others comprehend us, and sharing knowledge about the world.
Higgins
E Tory
ET
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA. tory@psych.columbia.edu
Pittman
Thane S
TS
D000339:Affect; D003243:Consciousness; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception