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Henry Murray's Theory of Psychogenic Needs

Henry Murray tried to explain human motivation as a combination of more than 20 psychological needs -- here are some of the most influential ones.

Need for autonomy

A drive to act and make decisions independently, free from others' control or interference. This shows up as a tendency to think and move freely rather than being bound by rules or authority, and a strong version of this need is said to make someone more drawn to independent work than to organizational life.

Need for order

A drive to keep one's surroundings and activities tidy and systematic. It manifests as a preference for organizing, planning, and following consistent procedures, and people high in this need tend to feel more comfortable in predictable, well-organized environments.

Need for exhibition

A drive to reveal yourself to others and receive attention. This shows up as wanting to make an impression or be the center of a story, and people high in this need tend to find satisfaction in activities that put them in front of others.

Need for succorance

A drive to receive help, protection, sympathy, and comfort from others. Rather than solving problems alone, this shows up as a tendency to lean on someone else for a sense of security when facing difficulty, and it is often discussed in connection with attachment and dependent relationship patterns.

Need for nurturance

A drive to take care of and help someone who is weak or in difficulty. This shows up as compassionate behavior toward others, and it's frequently discussed as the complementary counterpart to the need for succorance.

Need for abasement

A drive to acknowledge one's own faults, comply with others, and sometimes accept blame or punishment. This shows up as lowering yourself and deferring to the other party in conflict, and taken to an extreme, it can shade into self-deprecating attitudes.

Need for understanding

A drive to ask questions, analyze, and logically make sense of how the world works. This shows up as intellectual satisfaction from working with abstract ideas and building theories, and it's said to connect closely with the later concept of 'need for cognition.'

Need for play

A drive to act purely for enjoyment and fun, without any particular goal. This shows up as a preference for relaxing, laughing, and having a good time, and it relates to treating play itself as the point rather than a break from obligation.

Need for infavoidance (avoiding failure)

A drive to avoid situations where you might fail, be humiliated, or embarrassed. This shows up as reluctance to take on risky challenges and a preference for safer choices, and taken to an extreme, it can lead to avoiding new attempts altogether.

What Murray's theory of psychogenic needs says

American psychologist Henry Murray argued that human behavior is driven not just by physiological needs like hunger and thirst, but also by psychological needs -- wanting to achieve, wanting recognition, wanting to help others, and so on. He called these "psychogenic needs" and proposed a list of more than 20 of them, including autonomy, order, exhibition, and understanding. He argued that the particular strength and combination of these needs in each person produces the different personalities and behavior patterns we see.

How he studied it, and how McClelland later simplified it

To measure this theory, Murray developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) together with Christiana Morgan. The test shows a person an ambiguous image and asks them to make up a story about it, on the idea that the story will reveal the person's own underlying needs -- a projective testing method still used in a limited way in clinical and research settings today. Murray's student David McClelland later took this large list of needs and condensed it down to just three -- achievement, power, and affiliation -- that mattered most in organizational and workplace settings, effectively turning Murray's broad theory into a more practical, applied sub-theory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Exactly how many needs did Murray identify?

Murray presented a list of more than 20 psychogenic needs in his 1938 book, and later researchers have organized the list somewhat differently. This page covers some of the needs most commonly cited in discussions of personality.

Can these needs conflict with each other?

Yes. Murray believed these needs can clash or pull in opposite directions -- for example, the need for autonomy and the need for succorance can work against each other, and different needs can dominate in the same person depending on the situation.