Basic motivation
Basic motivation is a term introduced into existence analysis by Alfried Längle in 1993 to describe the deepest motivational structure of the person in their essential pursuit of existence . It extends Frankl's theory of motivation of the will to meaning by describing three previous motivations that determine personality and structure it. The basic motivations pick up on the basic questions that humans are faced with in their existence and which can be experienced as the basic conditions of holistic existence (“existential experience”) and define the areas of maneuvering in existence. Even a partial loss of the basic motivations makes the existence deficit. Man's disposition towards existence allows him to experience the maintenance of the basic conditions of fulfilled existence as a moving basic experience of being-in-the-world. Both theoretically - in analogy to the conditions (steps) of meaningful existence and the basic dimensions of human abilities ( meaning apprehension method ) - as well as empirically and practically, four basic motivations were found that demand fourfold consent from people:
- Looking for support, space and protection to be able to be in the world. Induced by: being accepted (also places and body experience ). Requires: being able to accept the conditions (“Yes to the world”). Ontological examination of Dasein (ground of being, basic trust).
- Proximity, time, relationship to love to live. Induced by: Attention (time, emotional touch). Requires: Attention to values (“Yes to life”). Axiological examination of life (basic value).
- Differentiation, individuality, appreciation to be able to be yourself. Induced by: being seen, appreciation (respect, opinion and recognition). Requires: recognition of one's own self (“yes to being a person”). Ethical engagement with the community (self-worth).
- Engaging in devotion to productivity, experiencing and maintaining values because people want something meaningful. Induced by: contexts of meaning (ontological sense, existential sense). Requires: About-one-mood with the situation ("Yes to sense"). Practical examination of the meaning and the future ("where to") of existence (noodynamics, will to meaning).
Disturbances of the basic motivations represent the etiological background of psychopathology. The basic motivations are thus the theoretical framework for existential-analytical nosology .
literature
- A. Längle: What moves people? The existential motivation of the person. In: Existential Analysis Volume 16, 1999, pp. 18-29
- A. Längle, Ch. Probst: Be addicted. Creation, forms and treatment of dependencies. Facultas, Vienna 1997, pp. 17f, 149-169
- A. Längle: Existential Analysis. In: Längle A, Holzhey-Kunz A: Existential analysis and Daseinsanalyse. UTB (Facultas), Vienna 2008, 29-180
- A. Längle: Textbook on Existential Analysis - Basics. Facultas.wuv, Vienna 2013