Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsMurray’s Types of NeedsPsychogenic NeedsResearch

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Murray’s Types of Needs

Psychogenic Needs

Research

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American psychologist Henry Murray (1893–1988) developed a theory of personality organized in terms of motives and needs. Murray described needs as a “potentiality or readiness to respond in a certain way under certain given circumstances.” Keep reading to learn about the different types of needs and how they can impact your personality.

According to Murray, these psychogenic needs function mostly on the unconscious level but play a major role in our personality. Murray identified two types of needs:

Murray and his colleagues identified 24 psychogenic needs. According to Murray, all people have these needs, but each individual tends to have a certain level of each need.Each person’s unique level of needs plays a role in shaping their individual personality.

Each need is important in and of itself, but Murray also believed needs can be interrelated, support other needs, and conflict with other needs. For example, the need for dominance may conflict with the need for affiliation when overly controlling behavior drives away friends, family, and romantic partners.

Murray also believedenvironmental factorsplay a role in how these psychogenic needs are displayed in behavior. Murray called these environmental forces “presses.”

The following is a partial list of Murray’s 24 psychogenic needs separated into categories based on important psychogenic needs.

Ambition Needs

Materialistic Needs

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Power Needs

Power needs tend to center on a desire for independence as well as a need to control others. Murray believed autonomy was a powerful need involving the desire for independence and resistance.

Other key power needs he identified include abasement (confessing and apologizing),aggression(attacking or ridiculing others), blame avoidance (following the rules and avoiding blame), deference (obeying and cooperating with others), and dominance (controlling others).

Affection Needs

While most of the affection needs centered onbuilding relationshipsand connections, Murray also recognizedrejectioncan be a need because turning people away and creating boundaries is also an important part of maintaining mental wellness. Unhealthy relationships can be a major detriment to an individual’s well-being, so knowing when to walk away can be important.

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Information Needs

Information needs center around both gaining knowledge and sharing it with others. According to Murray, people have an innate need to learn more about the world around them. He referred to the need to seek knowledge and ask questions ascognizance.

In addition to gaining knowledge, he believed people have a need for exposition. He described exposition as the desire to share what they have learned with other people.

Murray’s psychogenic needs have been researched extensively. For example, research on the need for achievement revealed that people with a need for achievement tend to select challenging tasks for themselves.Studies also found that people who rate high on affiliation needs tend to have larger social groups and spend more time in social interaction. They are also more likely to sufferlonelinesswhen faced with little social contact.

Murray used the psychogenic needs to develop thethematic apperception test(TAT), a tool used to assess personality based on the assumption that psychogenic needs can be seen exerted on an external stimulus. The TAT was not very reliable, but this test and, more generally, the basis of Murray’s psychogenic needs, contributed to the development of modernpersonality testing.

3 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Xu X, Mellor D, Read SJ.Taxonomy of Psychogenic Needs (Murray). In: Zeigler-Hill V, Shackleford TK, editors.Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer International Publishing; 2017.Hollenbeck JR, Williams CR, Klein HJ.An empirical examination of the antecedents of commitment to difficult goals.Journal of Applied Psychology. 1989;74(1):18.Hill CA.Affiliation motivation: People who need people… but in different ways.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987;52(5):1008. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.5.1008Additional ReadingFlett GL.Personality Theory & Research: an International Perspective. Mississauga, Ont.: J. Wiley and Sons Canada; 2008.

3 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Xu X, Mellor D, Read SJ.Taxonomy of Psychogenic Needs (Murray). In: Zeigler-Hill V, Shackleford TK, editors.Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer International Publishing; 2017.Hollenbeck JR, Williams CR, Klein HJ.An empirical examination of the antecedents of commitment to difficult goals.Journal of Applied Psychology. 1989;74(1):18.Hill CA.Affiliation motivation: People who need people… but in different ways.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987;52(5):1008. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.5.1008Additional ReadingFlett GL.Personality Theory & Research: an International Perspective. Mississauga, Ont.: J. Wiley and Sons Canada; 2008.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Xu X, Mellor D, Read SJ.Taxonomy of Psychogenic Needs (Murray). In: Zeigler-Hill V, Shackleford TK, editors.Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer International Publishing; 2017.Hollenbeck JR, Williams CR, Klein HJ.An empirical examination of the antecedents of commitment to difficult goals.Journal of Applied Psychology. 1989;74(1):18.Hill CA.Affiliation motivation: People who need people… but in different ways.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987;52(5):1008. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.5.1008

Xu X, Mellor D, Read SJ.Taxonomy of Psychogenic Needs (Murray). In: Zeigler-Hill V, Shackleford TK, editors.Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer International Publishing; 2017.

Hollenbeck JR, Williams CR, Klein HJ.An empirical examination of the antecedents of commitment to difficult goals.Journal of Applied Psychology. 1989;74(1):18.

Hill CA.Affiliation motivation: People who need people… but in different ways.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987;52(5):1008. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.5.1008

Flett GL.Personality Theory & Research: an International Perspective. Mississauga, Ont.: J. Wiley and Sons Canada; 2008.

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