0000000000009104
AUTHOR
Velibor Bobo Kovač
Affiliation Motivational System
In this chapter, the concept of affiliation is presented as a general human disposition and basic motivation. The wide range of affiliative motives is analysed in the realms of interpersonal and group dynamics. Needs on the interpersonal level include attachment, intimacy and love, while the group dynamic is analysed in terms of in-group and inter-group relations. It is argued that all needs in the realm of interpersonal and group relations are interrelated and imply the existence of the larger underlying belonging motivation. Furthermore, the chapter also postulates that the conceptualisation of the human need for belonging should also include the need for distance and, in this way, should…
Distinguishing the Need to Belong and Sense of Belongingness: The Relation between Need to Belong and Personal Appraisals under Two Different Belongingness–Conditions
People are frequently caught in the hold between the need to belong and the fear of exclusion. However, these needs might be expressed differently under different belongingness conditions, where other powerful social processes are accentuated. Thus, the need to belong and social exclusion are concepts that are subjectively appraised based on one’s social relations. The present study aims to examine the relationship between the need to belong and five personal appraisals under two different belongingness conditions: (1) social-emotion support and (2) social-value representation. A total of 201 participants from two different groups were presented with 69 different items measuring five person…
The Self-expression Motivational System
The main aim of this chapter is to introduce and promote the concept of self-expression as a basic motivation. Considering that the amount of literature on self-expression, matched with the concepts of control and affiliation, is practically non-existent, the chapter starts by attempting to provide a viable definition of self-expression motivation. Furthermore, the concept of art as a domain in which the underlying tendency for self-expression is clearly manifested is also considered. The chapter also includes a literature review to show whether or not self-expression motivation is able to fulfil the criteria suggested by Baumeister and Leary (Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529, 1995). Th…
Historical and Contemporary Background
The second chapter provides a brief historical background of fundamental motivation by focussing on two main themes given in chronological order. The first adopts a historical approach, identifying several theoretical traditions and influential theorists who have worked on the idea of fundamental motivation. This brief overview includes ideas preceding the rise of evolutionary theory and the subsequent emergence of such contemporary theoretical traditions as psychoanalysis, behaviourism and humanistic psychology. The second theme centres on the identification of the most recent contemporary contributions that are quite similar to the main ideas of this book. The concluding section comments …
Organisational Challenges for School Development and Improvement : The Obstructing Role of Sub-Groups and an Overly Positive School Culture
The purpose of this study has been to identify and analyse obstacles embedded in the school organisation that impede organisational development and improvement. The general findings show that the school structure comprised sub-groups and had characteristics of a diversified organisation. This led to dysfunctional discussions that challenged school development and improvement. Second, the findings revealed that the nature of the school culture may challenge school development processes. Positive features of the school culture, such as engagement, good relationships and high self-esteem might deter the effectiveness of the schools, e.g. the schools’ ability to prioritise and improve the pupil…
The Mechanisms of Control, Affiliation and Self-expression
The main theme in this chapter centres on the conceptual difference between psychological processes and the underlying mechanisms that propel these processes. The chapter starts with a brief historical overview and recognises the existence of the one single mechanism that throughout the past has repeatedly tended to rise to the surface, admittedly in different forms. This mechanism is called balanced dual tension. The chapter further includes a discussion on the possibility that there are distinct kinds of balanced dual tension that are characteristic for each of the three previously mentioned motivational systems. It ends with a summary of the arguments and suggests that further analyses o…
Critical Theoretical Concerns
This chapter analyses centres on the number of critical theoretical questions that are left open without being properly clarified, nuanced and addressed in the previous chapters. The important point in this chapter is to clearly communicate to the reader the existence of potential limitations in the present analysis. Moreover, the chapter further clarifies the basic assumptions and premises on which the book’s arguments are built.
Control Motivational System
In this chapter, the concept of control is presented using historical and contemporary literature. This overview presents compelling evidence that shows the importance of control in motivational science. The basic need for control is further analysed in the three all-embracing life domains: mastering environmental cues where the need for achievement is prominent, balancing interpersonal relations leading to the emergence of the need for power and managing the intra-personal processes resulting in employment of the various self-strategies. The chapter closes with the argumentation that all the presented evidence in the different life domains strongly suggests the existence of one unifying mo…