EVALUATING HUMAN DRIVES AND NEEDS FOR A SAFE

MOTIVATIONAL SYSTEMMorgan Waser

Virginia Commonwealth UniversityDept. Computer Science

DECISION MAKING STRATEGIES• Automated Responses:

actions performed with no thought or decision, necessary when speed is of the essence

• Desires:feelings and emotions that push us towards something. Little thought and no long-term plans

• Goals:thought-out, long-term plan that pull us towards an optimal situation

WHAT FACTORS WEIGH IN ON OUR DECISIONS?

• There are five main drives that have been evolved to fulfill and maintain sub-goals that further the pursuit of virtually any goal. These drives inspire our decision making strategies and they are:

• Self-Preservation• Resource Hoarding (Collecting)• Community• Self-Improvement• Rationality

AUTOMATED RESPONSE (REFLEX)

• First strategy of decision making that was developed and it can be found in plants, animals and humans

• Can be driven by:• Self- Preservation

• Example:• Plants moving toward sunlight• Jumping at a loud noise

DESIRES

Self-Preservation

CommunityResource Hoarding

Hunger, thirst, pain and fear

Pride, disgust

Empathy, love, loneliness,

gratitude, trust and pity

Greed

Desires, emotions and feelings in animals are all derived from the

drives for self-preservation, resource collection, and community.

Desires are found in both animals and humans.

The feeling of surprise in humans is driven by self-improvement in

addition to being driven by self-preservation.

GOALS• Rationality is a huge part of how we choose our goals, how we plan to

achieve them and how we make well-thought-out decisions. Goals are based off of our desires.

• Long-term goals are unique to humans and sets us apart because of the higher-level of thinking and planning that it requires. Of course there are numerous tool users (short-term goals) among birds and other animals.

• Goals are driven by all five drives: Self-Preservation, Resource Hoarding, Community, Self-Improvement, Rationality

IF THEY REPRESENT THE SAME DRIVES, WHY DO WE HAVE ALL OF THE STRATEGIES?

• Time available: Responses that require faster response times generally require reflexes to take an action

• Desires motivate our actions without the urgency of reflexes

• Cognitive complexity enables the creation of goals (a particular manifestation) to fulfill our desires

Self-

Actualization

Esteem

Love / Belonging

Safety

Physiological Needs Development of the drive for self-preservation

Development of the drive for resource hoarding

Development of the drive for community

Development of the drive for self-improvement

MOTIVATIONAL DRIVES AND NEEDS

Development of the drive for resource collecting

Rationality

SO WHAT REALLY MAKES THIS MOTIVATIONAL SYSTEM SAFE?

Rationalityand

Community

RATIONALITY• The drive for rationality (effectiveness) is necessary for motivational

system optimality as well as providing the reasoning that makes it safer.

• Rationality:• Gives us the ability to make goals• Helps to better fulfill needs• Expands upon the drives we have already developed

RATIONALITY• Are rational goals better than emotions, feelings and desires?

We cannot say that one is necessarily better than the other because:

• Feelings and emotions tell us how we are meeting our needs• Evolution has honed our emotions to be better long-term

decision makers than rational thought• Emotions and feelings can be affected by past things which

can be disabling

COMMUNITY• Our society is community driven. Communities allow us to share

resource, divide labor and play to differing strengths. • The loss of community can result in a devastating loss to resources,

safety, stability, belonging and purpose.• Rule and law breaking generally results in losing community status

and sometimes community all together.• Because of the long-term view that rationality provides, it is

obviously more advantageous to work together in a community than to be independent (but it frequently requires emotion to force us to follow this good advice).