Psychology 101 for Change Agents: A Practical Model for Understanding Human Motivation and Behavior

 If you really want to change the world, begin by changing yourself.   This is wisdom that is held in common across a wide variety of faith and philosophical traditions.  

As someone with a calling to make the world a better place, deepening your understanding of your own psychological wiring is a building block for more joy and more impact across all the areas of your life.  

This post explores a practical model for understanding human motivation and behavior that is grounded in human needs psychology.   Check out the video for an introduction to this model, as well as the series of 12 self-guided coaching modules that walk you through the practical application of these insights.   

Human Needs Psychology: At the Heart of Your Psychological Operating System

• A great way to understand why we do what we do, and why others act and feel the way they do. 
• Operates on a fundamental premise that we can create a model for understanding human behavior on the basis of shared, universal needs. 
• Asserts that the tremendous variety of human behavior we can observe is rooted  in the different vehicles we choose to meet our needs—while the needs themselves are held in common. 
• Shifting the vehicles you use to meet your needs is a key pathway to personal change
• Alfred Adler laid foundations in early 20th century, Abraham Maslow did famous work on Hierarchy of Needs in 1940s, more recently Chloe Madanes and Tony Robbins developed the 6 Human Needs Framework —this is a super practical way to understand human motivations

Tony Robbins and Chloe Madanes teamed up in the early 2000's to develop their "Six Human Needs" framework, which includes an assessment that helps you discover which of these needs you tend to prioritize the most (note: their framework has 6 needs rather than 7 because it does not separately list the need for self-transcendence).  Thanks to a dedicated student of Chloe Madanes to whom she granted permission to create a free online version, you can take the 6 Human Needs Assessment for yourself here.