Learndirect, a major British online learning initiative, has subse-
quently adopted the idea of discovering your hidden talents within
as its trademark slogan after much independent research.
What turns you on to learning? Do you agree with these phrases? If not, what would you prefer?
Understanding your fundamental drives
You have already read about Maslow’s view of our basic emotional
needs and how these have to be satisfied in a logical hierarchy. If
you now move on from this basic view of human nature, there are
a number of important ideas that it will help you to grasp.
The first of these continues to explore the idea of basic needs
but goes deeper into the recesses of our motivation. It draws on
thinking from the science of communications. John Grant is a suc-
cessful advertiser and one of the co-founders of the award-winning
agency St Luke’s. He is also one of the inventors of a new kind of
marketing that assumes that people are intelligent and learn! In his
book, The New Marketing Manifesto: The 12 Rules for Building
Successful Brands in the 21st Century, he argues that to understand
the motivation to buy, we need to understand 16 fundamental
human drives. These are, in alphabetical order:
It is interesting to examine these basic driving instincts from the per-
spective of what motivates us to learn. If you work down the list of
drives, you might conclude that some people avoid learning because
of the distress they associate with it. Many will see community
learning activities, helping with a local club, or clearing up a park as
a chance to become more active citizens. Curiosity, as you have
already seen, is a major element of being ready to learn—and so on.
Switching On Your Mind 57
Avoiding distress
Citizenship
Curiosity
Family
Honor
Hunger
Independence
Order
Physicality
Power
Prestige
Sex
Social acceptance
Social contact
Spirituality
Vengeance
