Motivation and Cognition in Social Life: A Social Survival Perspective

Socially motivated perceivers are potentially driven by a wide range of basic human motives, a wider range than so far addressed by theories of motivated social cognition. We suggest that the decidedly social context of our evolutionary past facilitated five core social motives: to belong, to understand, to be effective, to find the world benevolent, and to maintain self-esteem. Survival is facilitated by group membership, and we argue that all five motives facilitate successful belonging. An overview of motives previously proposed by diverse personality theorists reveals a striking consensus with our five motives. The social survival perspective more generally fits existing data and suggests new research directions.