A framework for social motives

Abstract In any complex social system, the choices of a single person often affect the outcomes of others. When one takes the others' outcomes into account in making choices, we say one is manifesting a social motive. We assume that an individual's social motives are manifested in his social preferences. Any theory of decision or choice requires information about preferences, and so in addition to attempting to clarify definitions of social motives, this study provides a framework for theories of social decision. To begin, we establish operational definitions for the motives of self‐interest, self‐sacrifice, altruism, aggression, cooperation, and competition. These definitions are based on the simple operators of summations and differences. Then we examine some supplementary motives involving proportionality operators. Next we eliminate the assumption that an individual has a fixed preference structure which is applied to all social choices. This leads to a focus on the specific distribution of consequences resulting in conditional motives; conditional motives reflect varying basic motives depending on whether the individual is ahead or behind. All these motives are represented graphically, and a correspondence matrix is given to illustrate the interrelationships among the motives. Finally, we investigate combinations of the motives since such composites are less restrictive and can better account for observed behavior. Linear combinations are interesting but still too restrictive. Conjunctive, disjunctive and lexicographic combinations offer useful possibilities for characterizing particular social motives. Complex combinations involving general nonlinear forms arise and some representative forms are explored.