Humans are beautifully, gorgeously complex, and that means that communicating with them is perennially challenging.  But every now and then along comes research that helps us get a clearer picture on their motivations, and that aids us in zeroing in on how to connect best with our often-mysterious fellow beings.

The study in this case (Aunger et al., 2024) found fifteen forces that push humans to act or respond in the often puzzling ways they do.  Understanding these forces or drives will make us better leaders, speakers, and teammates as we tailor our communications to correspond to our audiences’ needs.

Before I get into a few specifics of the drives, there are some general conclusions that will help you see how to think about approaching your fellows.

One approach does not fit all.  With some subset of the 15 forces potentially motivating us at any given time, the first thing to understand is that when you have an audience of more than one, you’ve already got at least a dozen things going on – maybe more.  So, Step One is always going to be determining who your audience is and what is driving them.  Are they feeling hungry, haughty, happy, hot-headed, hearty, helpful, hopeful, heavy-hearted, heartbroken, heartened, hopeless, hateful, hesitant, honest, humble, humiliated, harried, horrified, heroic, hangry, hardened, humorous, homesick, hardworking, hospitable, heedless, hostile, homey, hyper, or horny?

As you can see, there are a lot of possibilities.

Meet them where they are.  To connect with an audience, look for ways to tap into their feelings as they are now, rather than trying to begin by changing them.  The journey of a 45-minute speech begins with openness and connection.  Same with a meeting, or a workshop, or whatever the occasion.

But recognize that once you’ve connected with them, they are ready to be moved.  Audiences want speakers to succeed.  They don’t want to waste their time.  They are hoping you will change their world.  They want to walk away smarter, more resilient, or ready to go into battle.  That’s the opportunity waiting for you – to change the world.

The study further found that some of the 15 forces (Hoard, Create, Fear, Disgust, Hunger, Comfort, Lust, Attract, Love, Nurture, Curiosity, Play, Affiliate, Status, Justice) link together strongly.  For example, Love and Nurture are often associated with each other, unsurprisingly.  Perhaps more surprisingly, Play and Status are strongly linked when we are younger, and gradually are replaced by Fear and Comfort as we age.  So take your audience’s age into account when talking to them.  On the other hand, Fear and Curiosity are at opposing ends of the motivational spectrum, so if you want to move an audience off fear, get them curious about something.  And Justice is connected to Curiosity and Nurture, indicating that those who care about Justice probably do so out of a sense of being responsible for the welfare of others – and objecting to anti-social behavior.

Being mindful of these driving forces for human motivation will make you a better communicator.  Being aware of where your audience is located on this map will give you the chance to be a rock star.