Abstract
Roy F. Baumeister’s 2014 presidential address to the Society for the Study of Motivation was a call to motivation scientists to address the lack of a grand theory of motivation and to encourage them to begin working on one. This commentary addresses some of the requirements of such a theory and discusses the relatively new action–trait theory of motivation as a viable candidate for such a grand theory of motivation. Action–trait theory is based on historic “purposive psychology” and incorporates the methods of individual differences psychology. It can be represented in eight falsifiable hypotheses, three of which have already received empirical support.
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Notes
Purposive psychology was a teleological refinement of James’ (1890) instinct theory and is defined as “… (a) systematic exposition of psychological facts and principles which emphasizes the ends to which all actions are directed and the needs or purposes which instincts serve for the organism” (italics added, Harriman 1975, p. 157).
As a result of increased understanding of the dimensions, the theory was revised to be consistent with the evolutionary concept of trade-offs as a mechanism for shaping individual differences in the strengths of action traits (see Bernard 2012).
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Bernard, L. The action–trait theory of motivation: A commentary on Roy F. Baumeister’s 2014 address to the Society for the Study of Motivation. Motiv Emot 40, 22–26 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9537-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9537-3