THE 16 BASICS REISS THEORY

When people engage in tasks and feel competent and self-determining, they express their intrinsic motivation by saying “That’s interesting,” “That’s fun,” or “I enjoy doing that.” For instance, interest and feeling free can spark the desire to read a book, and enjoyment and feeling competent can involve a person in a challenging crossword puzzle for hours.

Starting from studies involving more than 6,000 people, Professor Steven Reiss has proposed a theory that found 16 basic desires that guide nearly all human behavior. 

The 16 basic desires that motivate our actions and define our personalities are:

In this multifaceted model, these basic intrinsic desires directly motivate a person’s behavior. The unique combination and ranking of these desires determine our individuality and uniqueness. Although people may also be motivated by non-basic desires, Reiss suggests it may be a means to achieve an even deeper basic motivation.

From a Gamification standpoint, it is especially interesting to note that Reiss models a close association between the basic desire for social contact with the need to play or to have fun. If our social needs are genetically intertwined with play, it may add another lens to the importance multiplayer relationships in game design.

The 16 desires give us a better understanding of variability in designing systems for engagement.  Reiss suggests that the enormous differences in what makes people happy make it unreasonable to factor out extrinsic incentives such as money or grades as effective motivators.


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