A new perspective on who you are
When Professor Dr Steven Reiss first presented his theory of the 16 basic desires in the mid-90s the US media immediately showed a lot of interest. The method appeared both to be very straightforward and plausible, while also providing explanations for the greatest complexities of the individual personality.
There are countless standard processes for analysing personality types. Only few of these, however, ask what a person expects from life. The Reiss Profile ® was developed to gain a better and broader understanding of our fundamental goals and values, and to illustrate these.
What are basic desires?
Basic desires are fundamental psychological impulses that define an adult’s personality. Basic desires directly influence our perception: we focus on those stimuli that appeal to our strong basic desires, and block out opposing ones. Basic desires determine our personal reality.
The American psychologist and motivation analyst, Professor Steven Reiss, has studied the personality elements that are common to all of us. Personal values, goals and drives are influential factors that we want to ‘express’ in all aspects of our personalities. Subconsciously we use these to guide our behaviour and reactions. Science considers these basic human desires to be the most stable elements of our personalities; they are virtually immutable.
As a result of extensive empirical studies, Professor Steven Reiss and his research team have identified 16 fundamental aspects of motivation which capture what any one individual is striving for and what is really important to him or her. The Reiss Profile ® provided a tool with which basic desires can be captured on an individual level. The test uses these 16 basic desires to identify the impulses and values which determine an individual’s actions from within (emotionally).
If you are interested to get your personal profile, just contact us. Whether you are a private individual or representing your business, we would be delighted to offer you information and advice.
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Each Basic Desire affects Performance.
The 16 basic desires identified by the Reiss Profile ® are fundamental psychological impulses that define an adult’s personality. The relative strength of these desires in any one individual can show what they are striving for, what is really important to them, how much they need to live, and the area where they are most satisfied emotionally.
Motivation is all about applying one’s values. Only if you know what the other person really wants can you motivate from the outside.
‘Status’, for instance, shows how much respect an individual pays to people with a social status they consider to be desirable. Those motivated by status aim to identify themselves with a high social standing, and express this in the clothes they wear, the way they behave, the titles they adopt etc. People with a weak basic desire for status, on the other hand, have an urge for social equality. They respect other people for what they do, and not for their background or title.
It was the Reiss Profile ® which first demonstrated on a psychological level how striving for status has a decisive influence on an individual’s performance-related behaviour.
Good performance and success are dependent on the extent to which the strength of any particular desire is matched by the opportunity of satisfying it. This is true of all the basic desires
The 16 basic desires according to Steven Reiss
1. Acceptance, the need for approval
2. Beauty, the need for aesthetically appealing environment
3. Curiosity, the need to understand
4. Eating, strength of interest in food
5. Expedience, motivation to take practical advantage of opportunities
6. Family, the need to spend time with family
7. Idealism, the need to improve society
8. Interdependence, motivation to rely on others
9. Order, the need to be organized
10. Physical activity, the need for exercise
11. Power, the need to lead, for influence of will
12. Saving, the need to collect
13. Social contact, the need for friends
14. Status, the need for prestige
15. Tranquility, the need to play it safe
16. Vengeance, strength of competitive spirit
The importance of the basic desires in practice
There are three essential points to bear in mind regarding the practical application of the theory of the 16 basic desires:
- Each basic desire can be a performance driver.
- Basic desires which are either particularly strong or weak in an individual are equally strong performance drivers.
- A basic desire never exists in isolation; the combination of basic desires is important.
The basics of motivation
How motivation can be influenced (and how it can’t)
Professor Dr Steven Reiss makes clear in his work why motivation often fails and shows new ways of helping people to improve their performance.
What really motivates us
A widely held assumption is that one only needs to motivate people extrinsically – with money for example – to enhance performance. But an individual’s motivational structure can only be influenced effectively if it is properly understood. A misunderstanding of the structure can have a negative effect, and even completely undermine the attempt at motivation. The opportunity to motivate the individual effectively by addressing their performance drivers is thus missed.
Motivational paradigms
These are the fundamental insights on motivation developed by Steven Reiss:
- The 16 basic desires are a reflection of what people want. The more pronounced a desire is, the more important it is for the individual to fulfil it in everyday life.
- Only if you know what the other person really wants can you motivate from the outside.
- Human behaviour prompted by motivation (as distinguished from biologically determined behaviour) can be traced back to either a single basic desire or a combination of several of the 16 basic desires.
- Basic desires have a direct effect on our perception: we focus on stimuli which trigger pronounced basic desires, and ignore opposing stimuli. Basic desires dictate our own personal reality.
People seek the company of those who have similar values to themselves and distance themselves from those who have opposing values.
