The 7 Motivators

Behavioral Economics

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There are seven different motivators that every person values differently, they can value these motivators very highly to not at all. These motivators influence what decisions people make and what they care about the most.

The seven motivators are: Aesthetic, Economic, Individualistic, Political, Altruistic, Regulatory, and Theoretical.

Aesthetic

People who value Aesthetic highly tend to be motivated by style and design. If you’re going to do something you’re going to make sure it looks good and aesthetically pleasing. People who value high in this category tend to be graphic designers or interior designers.

If you value Aesthetic low this means you care more about whether something works, regardless of how well it looks. Function over form.

Economic

If you value Economic highly you are motivated by rewards or something practical. You like competition and the higher the reward the harder you will work for it. Someone who is motivated by the Economic motivator would be a good salesman as your reward is tied directly to how hard you work.

Someone who scores low on the Economic scale would not be motived anymore by offering larger rewards for more work.

Individualistic

Scoring high on Individualistic motivator shows a greater value on being independent. You are motivated greatly by working by yourself and don’t care for working on a project as a team. A journalist or an artist would be a good job for someone who values independence.

Valuing Individualistic low means, you like to work with a team to solve problems and aren’t motivated by working alone.

Political

People who value the Political motivator high means you like to be in control and having a large influence over your environment. You like to be a leader of the group and like to take control of the situation at hand. Positions suited for the Political motivator would be a politician or president of a company.

If you are not motivated by power or being a leader or being in control, then you likely value the Political motivator low and tend to focus more on community service.

Altruistic

Scoring high on the Altruistic motivator shows that you value humanitarian efforts and collaboration within the community. You value supporting others and have a lot of empathy for others. Positions suited for someone valuing the Altruistic motivator would be a Nurse or an EMT.

Although scoring high on Altruistic motivator means you are empathetic, scoring low does not mean you’re callous but instead motivated by autonomy and self-accountability.

Regulatory

If you value Regulatory motivator highly, you’re motivated by establishing structure and order. You value organization and routine and like to follow everything by the rules. Jobs that fit into this motivator would be a Police Officer or a Judge.

Showing lowing value in the Regulatory motivator means you are very flexible, like to bend the rules, and can change quickly.

Theoretical

Someone who scores high on Theoretical is motivated by learning and gaining knowledge. They love learning and understanding new things. They value wisdom and knowledge and a good fit for them would be a Scientist or Librarian

Scoring low on Theoretical motivator means you value the big picture and only learn things that you find useful.

Finding your motivator

It is useful to find what your motivation is because it will help you find a job, career, and hobby that you will enjoy.

Each person will have their main motivator, or which of the seven motivators influences them the most, but also have secondary or tertiary motivator which also influences them but not as much as their main motivator.

Your motivators are not associated or affiliated with any other attributes of yourself. So, your gender, race, sexual orientation, or political beliefs have zero effect on what your motivators are.

Therefore, it would be wrong to generalize an entire group as mainly being one type of motivator, because every person is influenced to a different degree by each motivator. The trick to making this information beneficial to your life is to not only find what your motivators are but what are the motivators of the people around you.

Finding yours as well as others will help you better understand why people do what they do.

Finding your personality style is just as important as finding your motivation. Learn more about what your personality style is by reading about DISC.