Need analysis

We use our meaning schemas to infer the motivations of other people (and sometimes ourselves) from patterns of behaviour. Sometimes we infer incorrectly.

During reflection it can be helpful to re-examine our assumptions about what motivations were driving our own and other people's behaviours.

One way of doing this is to name a common human need (representation) and ask yourself "What evidence can I find that a need for X was behind this behaviour?" (causation)

You could then evaluate whether this need driver (or a combination of drivers) provides a more comprehensive and convincing explanation for the observed behaviour (comparison).

Below are a number of needs frameworks that could be useful.

SCARE

See David Rock's SCARF model of common threat/reward domains that influence our behaviour (status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, fairness — although if you replace 'fairness' with 'equity' you get SCARE which is perhaps more pertinent). 

• Status — respect, influence, authority, position, face, expertise

• Certainty — predictability, order, understanding, mastery

• Autonomy — freedom, control, choice

• Relatedness — belonging, inclusion, acceptance, trust

• Equity — fairness, justice, reciprocity

Human needs based on an evolutionary information systems approach (developed by me)

Output needs

• Nurturing -  to attend to the survival, nourishing and wellbeing needs of others, especially of subsequent generations

• Influence -  to have other individuals emulate one's adaptive behavioural patterns

• Authenticity -  to ensure that symbolic expressions and behaviours are likely to be interpreted by others in a way that matches as closely as possible the internal representations held by the individual

Encoding needs

• Health - to maintain one's physical (and mental) wellbeing

• Self-governance - to be able to respond to environmental stimuli with adaptive behaviours not subject to limitations, constraints or distorting influences, both external and internal

• Meaning - to be able to incorporate perceptual information into internal meaning schemas which facilitate the selection and pursuit of adaptive goals

• Rest – for regular temporary cessation of goal-directed physical, social and mental activities 

Input needs

• Sustenance - to obtain appropriate nourishment from one's environment

• Sex – to find desirable reproductive partners

• Stimulation -  for perceptible information-rich changes in one's environment

• Predictability -  for stimuli in which one can discern patterns that facilitate the understanding and anticipation of the likelihood and nature of environmental phenomena

Transmission medium needs

• Security - to preserve one's physical integrity from possible threats within the environment

• Interaction - for proximity or any form of joint activity between species members (or groups of species members) that results in the transmission of behavioural traits

• Reciprocity - for a proportional relationship between benefits received and efforts expended in collaborative communication with another

Filtering (self-esteem) needs

• Attention - to for a dependent individual to be worthy of caregiving and having one's needs met by others

• Attraction - to considered sexually desirable

• Mastery - to be able to produce or reproduce successfully adaptive behaviours in response to environmental demands or observation of other’s behaviours

• Performance - to achieve outcomes that are judged as adaptive or successful by oneself or others

• Confirmation - for accuracy in one's perceptions and judgments

• Affirmation - to receive indications that one’s explanations, predictions and valuations are accepted by others