MSA® - Background
What you should know about the MSA®
The Motive Structure Analysis MSA® is a personality instrument which is based on personality and motivation research conducted in the past 10 to 15 years. It was developed in association with several German universities as part of a scientific study considering the works and hypotheses of renowned motivational psychologists such as William McDougall, Abraham Maslow, Paul T. Costa and Robert R. McCrae.
It revealed that every individual has permanent, stable features. In everyday language these stable features are also called character, temperament, personality or inner motivation. Today the following fundamental “intrinsic”, i.e. mainly coming from inside the personality, motives are known: knowledge, loyalty to principles, power, status, order, financial security, freedom, relationship, help/care, family, idealism, recognition, competition, risk, food, physical activity, sensuousness and spirituality. The MSA® integrates these core motives, which have mostly been treated separately so far, in one system.
These basic drives or motivators are, to a high degree, inherent in an individual and undergo only minor changes in the course of decades or life. For example, communicative kids and teens will also enjoy talking to others when they are adults, or youngsters who like planning and organizing will also enjoy these activities as grown-ups. A liking for leading and taking action is also discernable at a young age.
The MSA® goes even further. Other than many common personality instruments that address only the behavioural level, the MSA shows why individuals act and behave as they actually do. In addition, the MSA® is the first tool displaying this personal motive structure dynamically, not statically. Every person's individual motives are complementary to each other, which is explained in an easy-to-understand way.