What drives human behavior? Human behavior is motivated primarily by four main principles. These principles are survival, status, mating, and material resources. Most if not all behavior can be explained by one of these motivators.
Survival is the number one driver of behavior. The other reasons don’t matter if you’re not living. Other individuals are more likely to understand when criminal behaviors are committed, if the criminal does it out of a need for survival over greed or anger.
Resources are another motivator for human behavior, students like us for example. The main reason we are college students, is to obtain a degree and make money, to obtain more resources. Robbery is another, illegal means, of obtaining resources.
Many of us can also admit to certain behaviors we have engaged in order to get the attention of a member of the opposite sex. Mating is a reason that is important not only for reproduction but also for a sense of belonging and love. Impressing another motivates many of our behaviors, especially as young adults.
Status is the final reason one is motivated to act. Everyone wants a title and some feeling of importance. No one wants to be a loser one would do anything to gain status, especially since; usually status can also be gained by the one with the most resources or mates.