The MOTIVES personality system is the macro (wide-angle) companion to the R-Drive personality system which covers a more detailed micro (zoomed in) approach to individual personality. The 14+ R-Drive motivations (as well as pretty much any personality characteristic, or personality model type /Big 5/MBTI/Enneagram/) can all be explained by high-neutral-low preference combinations of the seven MOTIVES drives much the same way that every color can be decoded by it's distinct mix of primary colors. (I recently created a fairly comprehensive chart of the MOTIVES factor loadings of various personality types/traits on this page.)

MOTIVES factor analysis

*sample size 6675 (2308 men, 4367 women)

MOTIVES to Big 5 (TIPI) factor analysis

*sample size 3189, 10 test items from the TIPI Big Five test

MOTIV to Big 5 (BFI) factor analysis

*sample size 2888, 44 test items from the BFI Big Five test

The TIPI is a ten item Big Five test and the BFI is a 44 item Big Five test, both have been used frequently by academic researchers. Based on the correlations, Open-mindedness is analogous with Offbeat, Accommodation is analogous with Interpersonal, Emotional Stability and Extroversion are analogous with Vitality (which explains why the introvert self descriptions are more negative than extrovert self descriptions on this site as discussed in this article), and Conscientiousness is analogous with Thinking. All five Big Five traits show significant correlations to Vitality (except BFI Openness) which I think reflects a misalignment in the Big Five structure.

MOTIV to Myers Briggs / MBTI / Jung factor analysis

*sample size 1200, test items from an MBTI/Jung analog test on SimilarMinds

The MBTI is a forced choice personality test system which presents dichotomies a user has to choose between (I think the forced choice system offers limited personality clarity but I will discuss that in another article). The factor analysis reveals the Extroversion/Introversion dichotomy as a strong analog for MOTIVES Vitality and a medium analog for MOTIVES Materialistic, the Intuition/Sensing dichotomy is a strong analog to MOTIVES Offbeat, the Thinking/Feeling dichotomy is a strong analog to MOTIVES Withholding (i.e. low MOTIVES Interpersonal preference). The Judging/Perceiving dichotomy is a strong analog to MOTIVES Thinking. The standout issue in the above results is that a person can have a high Materialistic orientation and a low Vital orientation but you would not accurately be able to discern that from their MBTI/Jung type because MBTI/Jung Extroversion has a positive loading on Materialistic and Vital traits. This illustrates the central flaw in the MBTI system which is that it conflates unhappiness and introversion and happiness and extroversion (which I discuss at length in this article).

MOTIVES Drive Architecture

Materialistic vs. Ascetic Personality (Vanity vs. Austerity)

The Materialist is oriented towards wanting to be attractive and impressive to others. They are often externally narcissistic, seeking to be whatever the external world deems best. The most efficient way to do this is to be physically attractive to others, so the Materialist values beauty, attractiveness more than anything else. To the degree beauty is not enough or is difficult for them to cultivate, maintain, the less healthy Materialist is more likely to resort to other tricks/enhancements such as makeup, hair coloring, fashion, plastic surgery, etc. to make them appear to be more attractive than they actually are. Fancy cars, houses, baubles, also are used to advertise to other people how valuable and desirable less healthy Materialists wish to appear. Anything other people might think is valuable Materialists value. A less healthy Materialist might pursue a particular career because of it's prestige in the eyes of others more than because they have authentic internal interest in that career. They are more likely to borrow their taste from the desires of others so they are keen on following the latest trends and fashions.

The Materialist wants to resemble a mirrored reflection of what is considered most ideal/attractive by others, society, or their subculture. Money which is basically a social IOU is naturally prized by the Materialist, the more they have, the more they think they are worth, there value is drawn from the external instead of the internal. The Don Draper character in Mad Men exemplifies a less healthy Materialist personality, attractive, rich, and successful on the outside, something else entirely underneath the surface. This drive taken to an unhealthy extreme is what drives the growing wealth inequality phenomena, why when one person builds something of no practical value to existence like a 200ft super yacht, someone else will want to build an even less practical 300ft one, to appear better, more perfect/desirable. This is why a Depressive Materialist may not want to be friends with anyone so attractive they might attract/steal their significant other (or even just steal attention). Materialists tend to be more attractive than average, but their attractiveness can make them stuck developmentally, less likely to develop other aspects of their personality/life. One only has to think of the image of the prettiest caveman enchanted by their reflection in a river to understand that this personality tendency can overvalue a temporary advantage over others to no benefit to the individual or society in the long run.

On the other hand healthy Materialists can use their superior desirability for the good of the world much like attractive actors and actresses often serve as ambassadors for non profits. While certainly unhealthy Materialists can desire that no one is more attractive than them, the reality is everyone in theory can be more physically attractive. And authentic physical attractiveness reflects better physical health so this is certainly something worthwhile for everyone to aspire to, work towards/on. This personality type is also a core component to many that are in the entertainment industry. So if you enjoy music, movies, comedy, you can see the value in this trait. If people didn't enjoy entertaining others and being applauded for that, then there wouldn't be much of an entertainment industry.

While obviously there are many societal rewards to being higher on social attractiveness, it's telling that one of the few Materialist items that correlates with Vitality is "I'm popular with everyone." Therein lies the problematic nature of this personality type in relation to happiness since being popular with everyone is not an easy nor for many enjoyable long term path to pull off. In fact, people who self rate that most of their happiness is internal tend to self rate as being happy whereas people that self rate that most of their happiness is external tend to self rate as being unhappy.

The counter persona to the Materialist is the Ascetic personality. The Ascetic shuns the material world, external ideals, public opinion, and the need to find validation in their social rank/status, physical beauty. They could thus be considered internally narcissistic, only caring about what they think is valuable. They tend to want to live apart from society, outside of it, in the metaphorical or actual wilderness. Great ideas have come from Ascetic intellectuals (which not all Ascetics are) but Ascetics are not necessarily any less foolish in their life choices than unhealthy Materialist types who lazily, derivative adopt whatever is popular/attractive regardless of whether it is right. A drawback to being Ascetic is illustrated by Aristarchus who figured out the Sun was the center of our planetary system 1800 years before Copernicus readopted the idea and proved it. Had Aristarchus been more social connected, adept, maybe he could have convinced the public of his ideas and the world might be more advanced today as a result. On the other hand you can only convince people of so much, so being fixated on persuading others on ideas they will never understand or agree with is a recipe of futility. This may be why the most intelligent people tend to be ascetics because they inevitably are less capable of enjoying, connecting with, or influencing popular culture.

The whole underlying psychology of this orientation spectrum is how much one values social rank, status, society, and what society deems valuable. Now if you have a more Ascetic orientation then you may cringe at the notion of society (the unwashed masses) having good judgement on what has value. But the idea of the wisdom of crowds has a lot of compelling evidence behind it (the book The Wisdom of Crowds is a good overview). If you compare the dart accuracy of one random person selected at average versus the average of a group of people, the latter will always be more accurate. The larger the group of people shooting you average, the more accurate. This phenomena only breaks down on things that are too complex for most people to grasp, hence why advanced intellectuals tend to be Ascetics more often. While any one individual may possibly exceed society's collective wisdom on one topic, most of the time the collective, averaged intelligence of the group exceeds that of any one individual on most topics. The MOTIVES personality model is basically a refinement of the Big 5 academic personality model which was developed when researchers averaged the data on people's self ratings on a large pool of descriptive adjectives, finding five discrete personality traits. Although, ironically, some of the flaws of the Big 5 involve superficial errors in the collective understanding of personality (such as the problems with Extroversion/Introversion).

Ascetics, more free of social preoccupations, can be better able to focus more on whatever their internal interests might be but their social isolation can impair their cognitive capacity, greatly limiting the universe of ideas they are exposed to (in the same way one computer is less powerful than a network of computers). Also, since they are less connected to others and/or less able to connect to others, attract others, their ideas/work may never reach others / the world. This is why an Ascetic and a Materialist pair can work very well together, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs being a good example.

The dangers of an overly Ascetic existence is the rejection of the material nature of existence and the value of others, society, civilization. Physical attractiveness, physical symmetry does correlate to health to a fair degree, lack of social standing/awareness can endanger one's life, and on many topics society knows more than most individuals, so to shun, not attend to the external compromises your ability to be physically happy, healthy, not to mention harms the quality of society you are choosing to avoid, not contribute to. Having a partner/mate and good friends are a proven variable in being healthy, living longer, according to research studies. There are dangers to the Materialistic orientation too. Sacrificing (failing to develop) an internal identity as a result of focusing too much on external attractiveness/image/popularity, infidelity as the prioritization of the physical best and/or who values you most causes you to sabotage/stray from perfectly workable relationships you already have, having more kids than you or the planet can happily sustain (or even unhappily sustain), the aforementioned growing wealth inequality problem caused by unconsciously or consciously trying to maximize mating attractiveness in oneself or one's descendants. The less healthy Materialist is also more prone to substituting drugs, alcohol, food, shopping, gambling, and/or other external stimulation addictions as a substitute for the dopamine rush of external social validation. Coupled with the Depressive orientation, Materialists can be very controlling and manipulative of whatever the source of their external validation is, as they depend on this. Of course some unhealthy Materialists can be so charming, ideal seeming at first that it's hard to believe how ugly they actually are deep down, but in these cases their charm is merely a lure, their camouflage not the authentic (albeit sometimes generic) beauty you find in healthy Materialists.

Offbeat vs Conventional (New Ways vs. Old Ways)

Evolution / change seems to be the norm in human existence. There are certainly periods of cultural collapse which result in a more primitive existence than before but overall most newer cultural/intellectual/technological peaks exceed previous ones. The chase of the new, innovation, invention, is the driving force of human evolution. The Offbeat mindset seeks to live on the vanguard of existence, to step into the unknown. There are dangers to this approach, astronauts die, inventors explode themselves in their labs, revolutionaries are killed, athletes die from over-training, but there are clearly also rewards. What is the point of living a life that has already been lived before is the ethos of the Offbeat individual, to sacrifice who you were, are, to become something new, different.

The Conventional on the other hand is more likely to fear change and sometimes even desires an older more simple existence. The Amish are an example of a culture of Conventionals. Orthodox versions of any religious or cultural group are another example. The Flat Earth society is a humorous extreme. Someone who celebrates Christmas or any other cultural holiday is a more mainstream example of this mindset. Some conventions have their place and you can't constantly reinvent better ways to do things at every moment but erring on the side of the conventional is inherently stagnant, if not regressive. There is so much that hasn't been figured out, perfected, etc. that to be too conventional is to be against improvement, progress, a better life and a better world. There is nothing admirable in that and that is why no one typically admires the conventional.

So, this spectrum is about knowledge selection and discovery, experimental vs. conventional living. I think the ideal on this spectrum is to be as unconventional as you can be without risking your physical existence. I think it's really cool to watch someone do some physical stunt that no one has ever been able to do before but if they end up dying do it, it's doesn't seem as worthwhile. Maybe Marie Curie would have had an even more enjoyable and productive life had she been a little more cautious around the radium that eventually killed her. Realistically, she had no way of knowing with certainty the fatal risks of radiation based on what was known at the time, which is a danger of living more in the unknown.

Thinking vs. Haphazard (Planned vs. Unplanned)

The Thinker's prime motivation is to have a planned out, orderly life, to know where they are headed. Essentially, they desire predictability, security, certainty, order. It is not enough to understand that something feels good or that something works, the Thinker needs a more rational understanding so they can achieve reliable results in life. This mentality (coupled with an Offbeat orientation) is the foundation of science and has resulted in a much greater understanding of the world, and a vast number of improvements to the world. The only problem with this orientation is getting too stuck in a particular plan, not being open to updating, changing one's life plan based on poor results and/or new information. There is so much yet that we do not know and new information can change what we know as true. A Thinker can be hindered by their need for total certainty, order in what will likely always be a somewhat uncertain, disordered world, their need to understand things that remain indecipherable. A problem with Thinkers is analysis paralysis or simply over-analysis delays where the Thinker spends more time on a decision than the import of the decision merits or the information available on that decision justifies.

The Haphazard shuns or finds it difficult to be structured and orderly, to make and follow long term plans. Consequently, they tend to live a more unplanned, meandering life, relying more on chance. This makes them less stiff, less rigid than thinkers can be (at their worst). But it also makes them basically stuck in the mental development of a child. This is normal when you are a child and your brain is still developing, but a resistance, failure to plan, develop that ability/skill, becomes disabling as an adult. Like children, Haphazards are a bit lost, undifferentiated. They have a more amorphous identity as a result of their aversion or inability to focus, organize. They may prefer environments, situation that allow them to continue living as a child developmentally. They are more likely to be artistic but to the degree they don't plan, substantive artistic achievement is less likely.

This personality spectrum relates to the executive function located in the frontal lobes, the newest part of the human brain. I think like with the Offbeat trait the ideal is to be as Thinking as possible short of being too narrow minded, over-planned.

Interpersonal vs. Withholding (Othercentric vs. Selfcentric)

It is surprising the number of people, who identify as selfless/considerate with people close to them and selfish/inconsiderate with strangers, that consider themselves nice or consider themselves perfectly normal, ideal even. The latter type of people are not Interpersonal types. Interpersonal types care more about others than themselves and would rather hurt them-self than hurt another person. They don't help others to get something back, they help others because they are more wired to the needs/feelings/happiness of others than their own. They feel the hunger, pain, happiness in someone else more than in themself. A lot of good can come out of this orientation. It is the basis for a lot of the charitable and humanitarian causes which make the world a more hospitable place. However, there is also a negative to this orientation. A society of selfless people can be prime fuel for selfish people to take advantage of. Furthermore, you can unwisely avoid developing your own life by being overly devoted to the lives of others. If other people's lives are so worthy of attention, why isn't yours as well?

Withholding types are less common than Interpersonal types (at least in terms of self reports). If Withholding types are not hiding who they are (which they can certainly do) they kind of stand out since they are so much more disagreeable/unaccommodating/selfish than most people. Withholding types like to claim everyone is selfish as they can't imagine anyone not having their selfish orientation (and also use this fake claim as way to excuse their selfishness/inconsideration). An extreme Withholding preference is one aspect of all sociopaths of the world. They lack empathy towards others, which means they are ignorant or inconsiderate of the pain of others. One convicted serial killer murdered his first victim after a one night stand. His motivation was that he thought his victim looked so peaceful and pretty and he didn't want him to leave his bed, so he calmly strangled him to keep him there (interestingly, he, Jeffrey Dahmer, grew up with parents who had no regard for him as well, who basically abandoned him). A more common Withholding type is simply just looking out for their own interests a little more than other people's (sort of like the ideal of modern American capitalism). If you add a Materialistic and Depressive orientation you get fictional characters like Ebenezer Scrooge or Mr. Potter from It's A Wonderful Life.

Intelligence seems to be a limiting factor in people's capacity to want to help others, I think if people were more aware (for example of how everyone is connected, however remotely) they would be more altruistic. But most are not, and most people that are very nice even to strangers typically would still probably save a loved one over a stranger from a sinking boat, even if the stranger had more to offer the world (of course a Withholding type would save them-self over a loved one). This results in the kind of culture of selfishness and enabling selflessness (conscious or unconscious) that idly stands by while a majority of the world lives a far less humane life than most in the west (for now), even though in the long run that can hurt everyone as it destabilizes civilization.

The substance of this personality spectrum is about valuing others, empathy. I think the ideal is to be as Interpersonal as possible without hurting yourself and/or the world. If helping others hurts you (or doesn't even really help others in the case of enabling behavior), the world as a whole doesn't benefit. The wise approach is to look out for your interests and the interests of the world (as you can't survive without a world to live in).

Social scientists interested in game theory have found that a strategy where you always cooperate with others at first and only defect from others if they betray and never apologize is the best socially sustainable strategy Tit for Tat research). You can take consideration too far if you continue to be accommodating to a significant other, family member, offspring or even stranger who doesn't act accommodating to you or others (the principle of reciprocity) as that engenders/reinforces selfish behavior, an entitlement complex, which lowers the quality of the social ecosystem hurting you and everyone else. The healthy version of this behavior is about doing things that actually help others not simply doing whatever others want. Our happiness is more contingent on the health of society than individual health as the healthiest individual would not fair as well in an apocalyptic wasteland. Thus it is essential for the healthiest people to invest in helping others to make for a better society, world and not to live opportunistic selfish lives which is becoming all too common today.

Vital vs Depressed (Optimism/Happiness vs. Pessimism/Apathy)

This is one of the most important drives of the MOTIVES system, the desire to be alive. None of us chose to be born so it understandably makes sense that not everyone is fully on board with being alive. If you have ever been happy, grateful to be alive, even for a moment, then you know what it feels like for people that have a high Vital orientation, except for them, they are like that most of the time. There was an interesting article recently about a small percentage of the population that doesn't need much sleep.

Dr. Jones says he has identified only about 20 true short sleepers, and he says they share some fascinating characteristics. Not only are their circadian rhythms different from most people, so are their moods (very upbeat) and their metabolism (they're thinner than average, even though sleep deprivation usually raises the risk of obesity). They also seem to have a high tolerance for physical pain and psychological setbacks.

"They encounter obstacles, they just pick themselves up and try again," Dr. Jones says.

Some short sleepers say their sleep patterns go back to childhood and some see the same patterns starting in their own kids, such as giving up naps by age 2. As adults, they gravitate to different fields, but whatever they do, they do full bore, Dr. Jones says.

"Typically, at the end of a long, structured phone interview, they will admit that they've been texting and surfing the Internet and doing the crossword puzzle at the same time, all on less than six hours of sleep," says Dr. Jones. "There is some sort of psychological and physiological energy to them that we don't understand." (source)

Vital types self report as liking who they are, enjoying life, being optimistic, having a strong will to live, and being self motivated. Whereas Materialistic types report wanting to be liked the most, Vital types actually report being liked the most.

Depressed types on the other hand hate who they are while also reporting that they don't even know who they are. They lack motivation, feel they have no control over life, think most people are better than them, feel unable to change their circumstances, feel broken, don't like most people, feel that being optimistic leads to disappointment, are self destructive, and have a defeatist outlook on life.

Two of most interesting and highest factor scoring differences between Vital and Depressed types are the following items.

At a certain point in my life my parents distanced themselves from me (and they remain distant).
At a certain point in my life I distanced myself from my parents (and I remain distant).

Since no one chooses to be born, it makes sense that one's parents, one's maker / original propeller, appear to have a profound effect on a person's outlook on life, their will to live (both environmentally and genetically). Being distant is also a personality trait on it's own that's correlated with being Depressive and has a genetic component (source). Another significant item which correlated with being Depressed is "I cannot explain why my parents are they way they are (or were the way they are)." It seems growing up with parents that don't know who they are results in kids who don't know who they are, and as a result, Depression because having no sense of identity is basically a depression of the self. Regardless, unhealthy attachment issues (whether genetic or environmentally caused) appear to be a preeminent feature in whether a person has a Vital or Depressive orientation. Not all unhealthy attachment issues are about parental rejection or genetics, excessive coddling and/or closeness (over-parenting) can also result in a helpless disposition that defines the Depressive personality (as discussed in this article).

If you are someone who thinks they had/have healthy attachments BUT romantic relationship breakups are very difficult for you, break your will, then you need to reexamine your attachment history/reality because an authentic Vital type weathers romantic rejections very well, a Depressive does not. If the loss of a relationship ruins your will to live, you didn't have much of a will to live to begin with.

Serious trauma can also disrupt/injure/break someone's will to live. If something happens to you, like in war, that upsets your entire world view, that can stop the momentum of a person with even a fairly ideal background whose previous motivation was built on a lot of emotional and intellectual influences that have now been overshadowed by the greater impact of their trauma.

Certain behaviors, foremost of them developing/maintaining physical fitness, are essential to maintaining a Vital disposition to life (exercise is one of the few actionable behaviors I've found which correlates to the Vital disposition, which suggests you can improve your Vitality with regular exercise). But if you, in your head (consciously or unconsciously), don't want to be alive, lack a will to live, nothing else really matters. For example, if you are a great driver, as far as capability, but don't voluntarily choose to turn the steering wheel when you need to on a steep mountain road, you will plummet to your death. On a less dramatic level, someone who has less internal will to live won't do, consistently, all the things necessary to maintain a healthy functional life. That's basically what the Depressive personality is for a lot of people, a slow prolonged unpleasant death (often with collateral damage).

Depressives are the people that inspire zombie movies, droning through life, sometimes hungry for life in others and therefore potentially destructive of others, but lacking sufficient authentic life drive inside. Depressives who are also Materialistic and Withholding are the villainous despots of history, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot. They selfishly act out their self destructive death wishes on the whole world. To kill another person (or yourself) is a very easy thing to do if you simply don't value life.

I recently discovered that Depressives self report as being really hard on themselves which is ironic because they also self report as not really putting any effort into things. It would seem that what energy they have is devoted to self nullifying thinking patterns. This makes it particularly important to not be negative with Depressives as they are already too negative, and if you are a Depressive to stop being chronically negative and start putting your energy in actionable behaviors that improve Vitality like exercise and pursuing interests you care about, forming and following plans, and helping others, the world, leaving no mental energy left to be negative, self flagellating.

The historical antecedent to this personality spectrum is Freud's Death instinct. Freud came up with the Death instinct in an attempt to try to explain why trauma victims/survivors (many as a result of WW1) became fixated on self-destructive patterns, specifically they tended to repeat/re-enact their traumatic experiences (unknowingly). He found it connected to another phenomena he noticed in other patients which was a need to repeat past trauma (unhealthy experience) as a contemporary experience instead or remembering that it had actually occurred in the past. I think this repeating of patterns is a function of unhealthy neuropathways that exist due to genetics or unfortunate environment that Depressives by habit adhere to like hikers adhere to a park trail. The solution is to change the pathways/habits and improve energy via exercise so as to embark on, forge, stick to new healthier and more constructive pathways/habits.

Many Depressives are stuck / fixated on unhealthy attachment issues and/or trauma issues (consciously or unconsciously). They don't like most people because all they care about is their destructive course (which often involves re-enacting poor parental relationships), everyone/thing else is invisible / meaningless to them. This is why Depressives can be very inconsiderate (and often not intentionally). Depressives score highly (compared to the average) on wanting to be carried through life which again suggests a need for a replacement parent and/or a broken will. Materialistic Withholding Depressives like Stalin and Hitler managed to coax an entire nation to carry them (although even that wasn't enough, they wanted the whole world to carry them). Some Depressives though, as a result of their genetics, simply are born with a fragile will to live and might not have a particular trauma history. Again, genetics are not destiny, so a Depressive can choose to change their innate behavioral pattern if they want to (realistically, it will just be more difficult for them, and thus, less likely).

Depressives tend to over focus on one or more of the other MOTIVES drives with the notion that if only they are more of something, then they could be happy INSTEAD of focusing on actually living, being more alive.

Materialistic Depressive - focus excessively on being attractive/wealthy/perfect, tends towards narcissism, histrionicism
Offbeat Depressive - focus excessively on unhealthy experiments, paths, tends towards schizotypal behavior
Thinking Depressive - focus excessively on unhealthy plans/routines/systems, tends towards obsessive compulsive behavior
Interpersonal Depressive - focus excessively on serving unhealthy people or serving people in unhealthy ways
Easygoing Depressive - focused excessively on taking it too easy, perma-leisure-mode, i.e. slacker life
Sectarian Depressive - focused excessively on their tribe/nation/culture/race and dislike / hatred of out groups (other cultures, races, etc), i.e. xenophobia

These misperceptions of what will make them happy fuel their repetition of the same dysfunctional patterns. The Depressive thinks they can only be happy if they get that thing that was always missing or became broken and/or replace what their parents can't provide for them anymore (but that they still are dependent on), i.e. a surrogate will to live. Still other Depressives are just resigned to the idea that nothing will ever make them happy, they will never have a sustainable will/reason to live.

The notion of self medication, I think, is all about using external means as a substitute for your own lack of internal motivation, will power. Alcohol (liquid courage) can be a normal occasional fun part of life if you are not a Depressive. But if you are one, then you may not be able to get by without it. Anti-depressants prescribed in unprecedented numbers are nothing more than chemical exercise/motivation (i.e. a means to raise heart rate - source). An individual responded to their test results recently with the following:

Low Vitality score: Little doubt that reflects the fact that I have been diagnosed with depression. I am, however, medicated which ought to have overcome that outcome. Interesting.

As if the solution to happiness is passively ordering it on a menu at the pharmacy. I do think if you are unwilling to exercise, that anti-depressants may be better than the alternative, nothing, which will inevitably lead to more physical/mental deterioration. However, maybe more deterioration would prompt/force the individual to make changes to their behavior and all psychotropic medication does it trap the individual into not getting worse, but not getting better. Further, there's a lot written about serious withdrawal symptoms of anti-depressants which keep patients on them for no other reason than to avoid withdrawal (source). In any case, anything external that you rely on, on a regular basis, that if removed would make you less functional, less motivated, less alive, is an indication of your own fundamental lack of self propulsion. Thus external solutions even when they provide some organic benefit can serve to further weaken a Depressive's already weak internal will to live.

The best solution for the Depressive is to become aware of their unhealthy attachment issues, mindset, and/or trauma history and to give up on the need for an idealized parent/savior/love-interest/external-source-for-motivation, to look to them-self for support/healing. Only then can they begin actively living as a more independent self motivated Vital type (exercising regularly, pursuing a career / authentic interests, etc.) and no longer as a more dependent depressive unhealthy child or victim longing for something that won't sustainably fix their problem, which is that they lack the internal will to live. Only then can they actually have a chance at healthy friendships, romantic relationships, career, life.

Another item that divides Vitals and Depressives strongly is the notion that happiness is something one has control over. Depressives refuse to accept it because they consciously or unconsciously want to be saved by someone/something other than them-self or alternately they think there simply is no hope (which frees them of the responsibility of putting effort into life, i.e. active living). To admit that happiness is something you can have control over undermines their entire emotionally immature psychology, their genetic or learned helplessness. The internal will to live is something that needs to be internally worked for, developed, figured out, as no one is entirely born with it. If the Depressive is otherwise physically healthy, the transition to the Vital orientation won't be so hard. If the Depressive has poor physical health, it will be a longer transition to fix the years of physical neglect, poor habits, but if they move beyond the past unhealthy attachment / dependency issues / trauma fixation there is no reason they can't rebuild themselves in time.

Life is not fair at the start. We are not all created equal. A lot of Vital types merely had/have the fortune of good genes and/or parents which gave them a lot of healthy life momentum/modeling/skills. They may or may not sustain that momentum/modeling/skills, but their lack of unhealthy attachment issues and/or trauma makes it less likely for them to fall into self destructiveness, the grips of the death instinct. Anyone who is Depressive likely had parents who had their own share of problems with likely their own set of Depressive parents and/or trauma, so often there is really no one to blame. Even if there was, it doesn't solve the problem that the Depressive fundamentally lacks sufficient internal will to live. No amount of trauma (short of their own death), can keep someone with sufficient internal will to live permanently down, they will keep picking them-self up no matter what. Ultimately, for the Depressive every problem that occurs in life is a chance for them to choose to keep giving up, being helpless, acting dead, for Vital types it is simply a chance to choose to overcome another hurdle, to be resilient, to act/be alive. (Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, written on scraps of paper in a Nazi concentration camp, is a good read on the topic of the will to live.)

Easygoing vs. Rigid (Calm vs High Strung)

The Easygoing trait is linked to people’s drive to maintain calm, to avoid discord. The Keep Calm and Carry on meme phenomenon was likely because it exemplified this core human drive and thus resonated with lots of people. The Dude from the Big Lebowski is an iconic personification of this trait. People who have 'no chill', the Rigid personality type, are on the other end of this spectrum. The Easygoing trait has far less behaviors associated with it than the other MOTIVES which makes sense since this trait is all about turning things down cognitively and entering, remaining in a more parasympathetic restful state.

This trait has to do with one's capacity and preference in regards to relaxation. Some people are really good at relaxing, really enjoy it, and some people (Rigid types) are horrible at it, don't see the point. While you can certainly over relax, relaxation is an essential part of being a healthy human being as it enables the body to repair itself and it's important to learn to relax as much as you need to (but no more). Rigid types that don't know how to relax are more likely to experience stress related health consequences. Depressive Easygoing types self report spending a lot of time laying around when awake, suggesting you can relax too much. Similarly, Depressive Rigid types self report as never taking it easy.

Sectarian vs. Globalist (Nationalistic/Tribalist vs Cosmopolitan)

While none of the MOTIVES types individually correlate with Vitality (i.e. scoring highly in Materialistic, Offbeat, Thinking, Interpersonal, Easygoing, or Sectarian, does not indicate whether you will score highly on Vitality, on average), there are enough high scoring Materialistic, Offbeat, Thinking, Interpersonal, Easygoing and Sectarian items I have run across that are associated with Vitality that it would appear developing any or all of those traits can make one healthier (for example the item "I am very popular in mainstream society" correlates with Materialistic and Vitality). On the other hand I've found very few to no low scoring Materialistic, Offbeat, Thinking, Interpersonal, Easygoing or Sectarian items associated with high Vitality, suggesting that an Ascetic, Conventional, Haphazard, Withholding, Rigid, or Globalistic personality orientation tends to be detrimental to one's Vitality and thus maybe should be changed, not reinforced. However, when you group people by personality preference subtypes only Offbeat and Thinking groups show a higher average Vitality score. On most other MOTIVES traits groups scoring in the middle of the each spectrum have higher Vitality (despite the fact that when you look at the average of all individual scores, all six traits are orthogonal to Vitality).

Therefore, I speculate that emulating / modeling / reinforcing Offbeat and Thinking traits more often and moderating Materialistic, Interpersonal, Easygoing, Sectarian traits may improve one's chances of happiness.

Vitality is an essential check against exploring doomed paths/plans (if a new idea/plan does not further one's health/happiness/prosperity/life-enthusiam in the long term, it should be abandoned and something new should be tried), maximizing Offbeatness is a check against progressing too slowly, maximizing Planning is a check against disorder, being semi-Interpersonal is a check against being too selfless or too unhelpful. Being semi-Materialistic you avoid being too out of touch, unattractive to the world or too fake, inauthentic, pandering.

Below is a list of personality items which correlate with the XOTXVXX personality orientation (many of which are actualizable)...

I exercise every day.
I am driven by my life path.
I am driven by my life interests.
I am preoccupied with challenging myself.
I refuse to let the fear of failure inhibit my trying.
My life's work makes me happy.
I am making great progress on my life plan.
I accomplish a lot of work.
I am self disciplined and intrinsically motivated.
I have a life purpose.
I tend to select the life path that offers the most learning opportunity.
I develop life plans.
I do everything I can to better myself.
I am determined.
I'm constantly evolving.
I am very focused.
I am very goal oriented.
There is nothing better in life than making a new discovery.
It is more fun to tackle a complicated problem than to solve a simple one.
More than anything I just want to be who I am.
There is really no such thing as a problem that can't be solved.
I am open to new things.
I know exactly what my long term goals are.
I know how to keep myself healthy.
I have a strong desire to pursue whatever benefit my life interests.
I walk a lot.
I am independent.
Exercise is everything.
The best solution to unhappiness is exercise.
I pursue my interests with everything I have.
Every day I work harder on myself than anything else.

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MOTIVES drive descriptions can be found here - http://similarminds.com/motiv/materialist.html
Simplified MOTIVES architecture/key can be found here - http://similarminds.com/motives_key.html

MOTIVES personality tests

normal version - http://similarminds.com/motiv.html
hybrid version - http://similarminds.com/motiv1.html

In any case, understanding the system and determining your own current type introspectively and/or with those that know you well may be more accurate than any test can be.

Reading List

Here are some books which relate, elaborate on the six MOTIVES traits. While I don't agree with everything in these books, they give a more robust overview of what each MOTIVES trait is all about.

Materialistic - Survival of the Prettiest, The Wisdom of Crowds
Offbeat - The Roadless Traveled
Thinking - The Power of Habit
Interpersonal - Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World
Vital - Man's Search for Meaning, The Power of Positive Thinking, Spark ? The Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain
Easygoing - Relaxation Revolution: The Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing


Comprehensive Google doc on the MOTIVES personality system.

Full list of MOTIVES coded items that is updated regularly (every few weeks) with new experimental items can be found on this page.

Comprehensive Google doc on the MOTIVES personality system is available here.