Interest-Excitement as Fundamental Motivation

Abstract

Chapter 6 presented the case for the postulate that some affect or combination of affects exist in ordinary states of consciousness at all times and that the most frequently involved affect is interest. Among the theories that support this assumption, G. W. Allport’s (1955, 1961) is particularly relevant here. He maintained that human activities that lead to personal growth and creativity are accompanied by a type of tension or excitement. “It is only through risk taking and variation that growth can occur. But risk taking and variation are fraught with new and often avoidable tensions which, however, we scorn to avoid” (1955, p. 6). Allport was describing human beings’ penchant for investigatory and exploratory activity and his well-chosen illustrative material helped document his point that growth motives are characterized by a tension that sustains behavior directed toward distant and sometimes unattainable goals. His description of the key motivational condition involved in personal growth, exploration, and creative endeavor seems quite similar to the Tomkins-Izard definition of the emotion of interest-excitement.