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Murray's Needs
Explanations > Needs
> Murray's Needs
Ambition |
Materialistic | Power | Status |
Affection | Information | So What?
This is the list of 'psychogenic' needs identified in Explorations in Personality,
edited by Henry A. Murray in 1938. They are divided into five groups.
Ambition needs
| Need |
Definition |
| Achievement |
To accomplish difficult tasks, overcoming obstacles and
achieving expertize. |
| Exhibition |
To impress others through one's actions and words, even if
what is said or done is shocking. |
| Recognition |
To show achievements to others and gain recognition for
these. |
Materialistic needs
| Need |
Definition |
| Acquisition |
To acquire things. |
| Retention |
To keep things that have been acquired. |
| Order |
To make things clean, neat and tidy. |
| Construction |
To make and build things. |
Power needs
| Need |
Definition |
| Abasement |
To surrender and submit to others, accept blame and
punishment. To enjoy pain and misfortune. |
| Aggression |
To forcefully overcome an opponent, controlling, taking
revenge or punishing them. |
| Autonomy |
To break free from constraints, resisting coercion and
dominating authority. To be irresponsible and independent. |
| Blame avoidance |
To not be blamed for things done. |
| Contrariance |
To oppose the attempted persuasion of others. |
| Deference |
To admire a superior person, praising them and yielding to
them and following their rules. |
| Dominance |
To control one's environment, controlling other people
through command or subtle persuasion. |
| Harm avoidance |
To escape or avoid pain, injury and death. |
| Infavoidance |
To avoid being humiliated or embarrassed. |
Status defense needs
| Need |
Definition |
| Counteraction |
To make up for failure by trying again, pridefully seeking
to overcome obstacles. |
| Defendance |
To defend oneself against attack or blame, hiding any
failure of the self. |
| Infavoidance |
To avoid being humiliated or embarrassed. |
Affection needs
| Need |
Definition |
| Affiliation |
To be close and loyal to another person, pleasing them and
winning their friendship and attention. |
| Nurturance |
To help the helpless, feeding them and keeping them from
danger. |
| Play |
To have fun, laugh and relax, enjoying oneself. |
| Rejection |
To separate oneself from a negatively viewed object or
person, excluding or abandoning it. |
| Sex |
To form relationship that lead to sexual intercourse. |
| Succourance |
To have one's needs satisfied by someone or something.
Includes being loved, nursed, helped, forgiven and consoled. |
Information needs
| Need |
Definition |
| Cognizance |
To seek knowledge and ask questions about things in order
to understand. |
| Exposition |
To provide information educate others. |
Murray also differentiated between physiological primary needs, such as for
food and water, and secondary needs, which are more psychological.
So What?
So find out whether the other person has these needs in any form, and help to
satisfy them in exchange for what you want of them.
You can also stimulate any of them to create tension.
Reference
Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in Personality. New York: Oxford
University Press
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