Motivation, Emotion, and Personality: Steps to an Evolutionary Synthesis

In this chapter, I present an emerging evolutionary framework for motivation, emotion, and personality. The framework is composed of three “layers”, each building on the previous ones: (1) a theory of motivational systems; (2) an extended coordination approach to emotion, which describes a hierarchy of coordination mechanisms, from emotions to motivational systems to moods; and (3) the General Architecture of Motivation (GAM)—an abstract model of the mechanisms that underlie motivation and their functional relations, designed to serve as a conceptual foundation for models of human and animal personality. As I describe the main features and assumptions of the framework, I compare and contrast it with Carol Dweck’s alternative proposal for unification, which is similar in scope and direction but based on partially different premises. A coherent, realistic model of motivation is an invaluable asset, not only in basic research but also in clinical psychology and psychotherapy. I believe that an evolutionary synthesis is within reach, and hope that the approach presented in this chapter will foster integration across disciplines and research traditions.