  Case study
Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves
SECTOR
Culture
PROJECT TYPE
Field and Lab Experiments
BEHAVIORAL THEME
Cohesion| motive
OVERVIEW
The aim of this is to explore the variation of psychological factors across human societies and the implications of cultural differences for economic and political contexts. The researchers propose a framework called the fundamental social motives, which categorizes human social goals based on ancestral threats and opportunities. These motives include self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care.
The framework of fundamental social motives has provided insights into how different motives influence cognitive processes, affect, and behaviors in adaptive ways. Activation of specific motives has been found to have distinct effects on attention, perception, conformity, decision-making, aggression, and other social responses. The motives are also linked to individual differences and demographic variables, such as sex, age, and number of children. However, little research has focused on cross-cultural variations in these motives, and the study aims to address this gap by collecting data from 42 societies in two waves.
