The 16 basic desires of every human being
The interest of the human being for those elements that are elementary for life is not new. At the same time as the philosophy of opulence, a way of understanding life emerged that emphasizes the need to reduce basic desires to its minimum expression: oriental asceticism, epicureanism, meditation practice or, more recently, the example of Henry David Thoreau and his life in Walden .
However, all these tendencies have in common the renunciation of desires from a spiritual perspective or, at least, deeply subjective. What happens when science intervenes in these inquiries?
What are the basic desires of man?
In an investigation whose goal was to find the wish structure proper to the human being, the American psychologist Steven Reiss found 16 basic desires, sources of motivation, which are key when explaining our actions, the volitional dimension of our species: what moves us when interpreting, choosing and acting on our environment. This categorization of desires into 16 factors is based on a study in which more than 6,000 people participated and is a way to approach the study of what shapes our behavior and our way of satisfying needs.
But nevertheless, it also serves to explain the personality of each one according to what desires we give more importance to and which ones less. In this way, and depending on what desire is the most priority for us, it would be possible to find what Reiss defines as the "point of happiness " from each person.
The author published this classification for the first time in the year 2000 with the book Who am I? The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our Actions and Define Our Personalities, and it is the following:
1- Acceptance , the need to be appreciated.
2- Curiosity , the need to learn.
3- Food , the need to eat.
4- Family , the need to have and raise sons and daughters.
5- Honor , the need to be loyal to the traditional values of a community.
6- Idealism , the need for social justice.
7- Independence , the need to have guaranteed individuality.
8- Order , the need for stable and organized environments.
9- Physical activity , the need to exercise.
10- Power , the need to have a certain capacity for influence.
11- Romantic love , the need for sex and beauty.
12- Saving , the need to accumulate.
13- Social contact , the need to have relationships with others.
14- Status , the need to be socially significant.
15- Tranquility , the need to feel safe.
16- Revenge , the need to return the blows.
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It should be remembered however, that going to the concrete, the list of objectives, goals and sources of motivation are virtually infinite in the human being, since any concept or representation can embody one of them.
In addition, we must take into account the cultural variations between the people of each region, who can reward or repress certain manifestations of desire and will. Reiss proposes a list of 16 basic desires common to all the people who nevertheless They charge a different form depending on our decisions and our context , a theory of motivation.
