The choice is one of the main activities which people provide every day. Some choices are not visible, the others are made with a great deal of thinking and evaluation. Motivation is one of the reasons why people make this or that decision. One of the main decisions which people make during their life is the decision about their future occupation. To be specific, let us take Senator Robert Bennett and consider his motivation for choosing this profession and evaluate his decision from Henry Murray’s theory of needs.
Bob Bennett is a 79-year-old Senator of Utah, who works and provides the changes which can make people’s lives better. Bob Bennett devoted some time of his life to management economics, working as a staffer on Capitol Hill, which allowed him to become a successful entrepreneur. The position of CEO in Franklin International Institute made it possible for him to get not only the basis of business but to make succeed in this field. This stage of his career comes to finish in 1992 when he provided a good election campaign and was elected to the Senate (Senator Bob Bennett, 2009).
Before evaluating Bob Bennett’s choice from the point of view of Henry Murray’s theory of needs, it is crucial to discuss this theory and find out the main principles according to which the motivational evaluation should be provided. Motivation is one of the most problematic psychological notions, which are impossible to understand and research fully.
There are three aspects according to which people their choices, psychoanalytic, humanistic, and diversity. The psychoanalytic view comprises four aspects of people’s motivation. (1) Determinist is when people are unable to control the changes which occur in their life (fate). (2) Drive that is people are always motivated by their inner drives and instincts. (3) That is conflict, which always occurs in people’s life. The inner conflicts are the most important as the winner motivates a person. (4) This aspect of the psychoanalytical view of motivation is the worst one, which characterizes our unconscious. People often make decisions without understanding the reasons for these decisions (McAdams, 2008).
Considering the humanistic view about motivation it is useful to note that the main concept of this motivation is that “the supreme motivator is the striving to actualize and perfect the self” (McAdams, 2008, p. 271). There are at least two opinions about people’s choice in diversity theory. Some scientists state that people’s choice is based on the simple basic drivers which are common for everybody. The representatives of the opposite point of view, the representatives of the diversity tradition, state that when “it comes to motive and goals, everybody is different” (McAdams, 2008, p. 279).
Henry Murray is one of the most famous representatives of the diversity tradition. His biggest belief is that people are ruled by different needs (physiological and psychological) while providing their choice, and these needs are influenced by personal motivations. Murray defined a need as
a construct which stands for a force in the brain region, a force which organizes perception, apperception, [interpreting perceptions], intellection [thinking], conation [striving], and action in such a way as to transform in a certain direction an existing unsatisfying situation (in McAdams, 2008, p. 279).
According to Murray’s theory (in McAdams, 2008), the person is usually pressed by them (time) and in these limits influence people’s choice through needs.
So, considering Bennett’s biography, it is possible to separate several factors, which could become the basic in his choice of political profession. Being the son of the Senator of Utah, Bob Bennett was influenced by his father’s ideas and choices for his future way, the politics were dominant from the point of view of motivation (psychoanalytic). The successful political career of his father (the Senator of Utah from 1951 to 1974) pushed Bob to follow his steps (humanistic). Being the student body president at the University of Utah, where he studied, was also one of the motivational aspects to choose the political career (Senator Bob Bennett, 2009). In this case, the press and thema factors (diversity theory) took place. So, on the example of Bob Bennett, it was proved that people’s choice is motivated according to psychoanalytic, humanistic, and diversity aspects.
Reference List
McAdams, D. P. (2008). The Person: An Introduction to the Science of Personality Psychology. Wiley, New York.
Senator Bob Bennett: Biography. (2009). Web.