The BUC(k)ET Model of Core Social Motives

Social psychology is a major branch of psychology that attempts to frame human behavior in the context of the social world. It works to understand how people operate in particular situations and how (real or imagined) others influence one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Susan Fiske is a major figure in the field who developed the core social motive approach to social psychology.¹ Based on much empirical research, it identifies five core motives that can be organized in the acronym BUC(k)ET as follows: Belonging, Understanding, Control, Enhance self, Trust others. This post summarizes these core motives and shows how we might use the framework to understand human social dynamics.

• Belonging: Do you feel loved and cared for by your family? Are you accepted and admired by your peers? Do you feel pride in the institutions you take part in? All of these relate to the concept of belonging. Another key aspect of belonging pertains to conformity and the way that people tend to follow the expectations, norms, and trends of a group.
• Understanding: Have you ever felt frustrated because you were confused and just could not make sense of a situation or of how you were treated? Maybe a romantic partner left you but gave no reason. Or maybe you were given a task you should be able to solve but could not. Or maybe you were even watching a Netflix show that you felt just did not make any sense. All of these negative reactions can be framed by the core motive to understand. Humans are meaning-making creatures that have a strong drive to make sense of their world, share that with others, and have their expectations met. When people lose a sense that the world makes sense and can be predicted, then they feel alienated and frustrated and are motivated to develop new mental models or leave the situation and seek more familiar territory.
• Control: Controlling the flow of resources is crucial to survival and reproductive success. In addition, demonstrating control in social situations is suggestive of someone who has power and can be effective at achieving one’s goals. We can see the motive to control when we flip it and consider how people feel when they feel helpless, incompetent, and inferior.
• Enhancing self: Human beings have significant capacities for self-reflection, and there is much research that people are motivated to think of themselves in as positive light as they can justify. Put differently, it is painful to think of one’s self as weak, foolish, or lesser than other people. In contrast, people feel good about themselves when they have a sense they are growing, improving, and contributing to the world in a positive way. One way the self-enhancement motive shows up is via self-serving biases. Consider, for example, when things go wrong that they are responsible for, people tend to blame others or bad luck or temporary factors that can be changed; however, when things go right, the reason is because the person is a good, competent individual.
• Trust: If everyone lied and no one could be trusted to follow through on anything, society would quickly break down. By framing it in the negative, we can highlight how important trust is for human group relations. As such, it is not surprising that people seek environments where they feel like they can trust in others and be trusted themselves. This shows up in the sense that the group they are a part of is honest, predictable, and will treat them justly, and it shows up in how they trust the ingroup experts that lead their group.

To understand how people are doing, ask about the status of the BUC(k)ET.

What are the situations people thrive in? Conversely, when are people floundering and distressed? The BUC(k)ET framework helps us understand the kind of social relations humans seek and what kinds of environments they will tend to flourish in. It says people do well when they have a deep sense of belonging and trust the institutions and experts that lead them, when they feel like they understand the world and can generate shared meaning-making with important others, when they feel like they can control the flow of resources, and when they can feel good about themselves and have avenues for personal growth and improvement.

We can flip this around and look at modern times and see that, at a societal level, we are experiencing many holes in our BUC(k)ET. This fact was painfully apparent when, recently, Elmo tweeted out a seemingly innocent question regarding how everyone was doing. The response was a deluge of despair and concern. The BUC(k)ET model helps us understand the core issues.

People’s trust in institutions is at an all-time low. Our national identity is fractured, and tensions between groups are high. We are facing a meaning crisis, and are so overloaded with information and change that understanding is very hard. And our lifestyles are in such a state of flux that a sense of control and stable personal growth are difficult to achieve. Perhaps we can use the BUC(k)ET framework to consider the kinds of changes we need to make to get things moving in a better direction.