Fundamental Human Motivations

This list represents broad categories of fundamental drives shaping human behavior at a high level of abstraction:

1. Survival: The core biological imperative for safety, sustenance, health, and continuation.
2. Connection: The need to bond, belong, love, and feel part of a community.
3. Agency: The drive for control, autonomy, competence, and self-determination.
4. Understanding: The motivation to make sense of experiences, find meaning, and reduce uncertainty.
5. Growth: The impulse to develop, learn, improve, and transcend limitations.
6. Contribution: The drive to help others, make a positive impact, and be part of something larger than oneself.
7. Adherence to Belief Systems: The drive to align actions with deeply held beliefs, values, or worldviews.
8. Experience / Well-being: The drive to seek positive subjective states (pleasure, joy, comfort, excitement, novelty) and avoid negative ones (pain, distress, boredom).

Note: These motivations are interconnected and often influence behavior simultaneously. Furthermore, the principle of energy conservation/effort minimization acts as a fundamental modulating factor, influencing how efficiently these drives are pursued, particularly in relation to Survival and Well-being.