Week Six Check Point
PSY/230
June 23, 2011
Gavin G. Coriell, M.S.Ed

After reading over the theories, I would have to say I agree with Henry Murray the most. I believe that humans are motivated by achievement, power, and affiliation/intimacy. I believe there is much more than just these few things that drives a person’s motivation. I feel that people are motivated by achievement from a very young age. As babies we are taught how to do everything we need to survive. When we get these things correct, our parents clap, praise, and reward us in one way or another. This is where the drive for achievement comes from. As we grow so does our need to achieve bigger and better things, like graduating high school, buying a house, and having a family. Power is something that comes along with the achievements we make in our lives. We have a need to be affiliated with people of our own standards or higher. We as humans find that when we affiliate ourselves with people of this caliper, we will be seen as they are seen by society. It is in human nature to want intimacy; I believe that when a person is motivated by this they have true and very deep feelings for the other person. Most people believe that intimacy is the act of sex. This is not true; intimacy is much more than sex. It is when you can trust another person with all your secrets; you know you have someone to always be there for you, holding hands, and so on. I would have to disagree with Sigmund Freud; I do not believe people are solely motivated by sexuality and aggression. I believe that when humans are motivated by these to concepts, they end up like Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and many others.