AgileBrain Research

Wellbeing as Need Fulfillment: Implications for Theory, Methods, and Practice

J. David Pincus
April 26, 2023

Tags: Employee Wellbeing , Human Motivation , Peer Reviewed Research , Scientific Research

Published in: Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science

Human resource professionals, point solution providers, and the mental health care industry often promote holistic well-being, but the concept lacks a unified theoretical foundation. This paper argues for a more refined approach by anchoring well-being in established psychological theories of human motivation. By examining various definitions of well-being, the authors suggest these can be distilled into a comprehensive model of twelve core human motivations. Adopting a motivational taxonomy can provide clearer theoretical frameworks, more structured methodologies, and practical benefits for defining and enhancing well-being.

Well-being as Need Fulfillment: Implications for Theory, Methods, and Practice

J. David Pincus

J.D. Pincus, Ph.D. is Chief Innovation Officer at Leading Indicator Systems (d/b/a AgileBrain), focusing on emerging methods for measuring emotion and motivation. He developed the unified pyramid model of human motivation and the AgileBrain measurement technique. He published his model in Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, and has gone on to apply the pyramid model to the problems of Human Values, Employee Engagement, Subjective Well-Being, Organizational Culture, Leadership Effectiveness, Team Effectiveness, and Human Goals. His seminal article on the concept of motivation in applied psychology, published in the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, has been cited in 222 subsequent papers. He lives in Massachusetts, with his wife, a Maltipoo puppy named Bean, and a black cat named Salem. His book, The Emotionally Agile Brain: Mastering the 12 Emotional Needs that Drive Us, was recently published by Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury.