There’s an old joke that goes something like this:
An actor, in rehearsal, crosses the stage to left…just as the director instructed. But he looks uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand. Why does he cross to the left? It doesn’t make sense to me. What’s my motivation?”
“To continue to be a working actor,” the director snaps.
What makes people tick? Some say people don’t tick at all — they just act on their programming, whether the programmer is Nature or Culture. Or maybe both.
I’m not going to get quite that philosophical here. Instead, I will describe various emotions and how they may relate to motivations. These views are simply loose generalizations and they might resonate with you. Or not.
Of course, there is the very popular notion that people are selfish and that self-interest governs everyone’s thoughts and actions. Oh, sure, there’s the occasional selfless act — the soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save his comrades — but these examples merely serve to emphasize the rarity of a selfless act. This idea of selfishness is a concept used to defend capitalism (and greed) as simply human nature. And an economic system that works in accord with actual human nature is realistic and sensible. Or so the theory goes.
I see self-interest and greed as motives which certainly exist and exert a strong influence on behavior and events. But they are, in my view, by no means the only ones.
Here’s some other motivations that affect thought, behavior and probably history.
Love.
There are many kinds of love: romantic, parental, etc. Perhaps the most powerful is the love of a mother for her child. This is a bond which seems to be biologically grounded — how could the species survive if parents didn’t love and protect children? Of course, this could be re-interpreted as simple self-interest. After all, the child shares the mother’s genes. But what does self-interest really mean if the term is expanded to include others that you love?
Anger.
In the face of certain powerful emotions, reason evades us and we act impulsively and irrationally. Sometimes we control our anger and other times, it overwhelms us. Who has not acted with regret, at one time or another, out of fear? Or its companion emotion, anger? Is this merely self-interest? What if you are angry about what has been done to another person — and act in defense of that other person?
Lust.
In some ways similar to anger, lust is a strong emotion that may lead to regrettable action, unless both parties share that motive simultaneously.
Empathy.
A child falls down a well and millions of people who don’t know the child (or the parents) send cards, and perhaps ideas for rescue. There is no self-interest involved. The people reacting to this tragic event are imagining what this might be like for the parents and the child. Yes, they are wondering what it would mean for themselves, but this can hardly be called selfish.
Curiosity.
The desire to know is an often under-rated yet exceeding powerful motivation. In my view, it underpins science. Yes, people are often paid for scientific research and discoveries. Thomas Edison became very wealthy by developing and patenting commercial products. And he’s often portrayed as the ultimate genius — a man with perseverance and motivated by personal ambition.
But what about Feynman? Einstein? The people who discovered insulin and gave away the patent, putting it in the public domain? I hear ideologues who insist that greed motivates scientists, but I find that simply not credible. Who has not ever been curious, without a financial motive? And what really drives science if not the desire to know, to discover something new?
Despite our differences as humans — and those differences are on full, ugly display nowadays — we share a common humanity. We share, at the core, many of the same experiences as human beings. When we remember this, and feel this deeply, we are our better selves. When we give in to our negative emotions — fear and anger — we are at our worst.
Perhaps we should spend some time every day, contemplating all of our feelings and acknowledging them. But then we should focus on and encourage those that bring out the best in us. We will still not be perfect — we all share human frailties and imperfections — but we might be better versions of ourselves.
