The Meaning Behind IDS's New Logo for the RMP
Many customers have noticed our new logo for the Reiss Motivation
Profile®. Kristen Reiss, an Associate with IDS Publishing
Corporation, led the initiative to develop a new global brand for the
RMP. She was instrumental in choosing the font, the design, and
the color scheme. I contributed the tag line, The Science of Motivation.
I would like to share with you the significance of using three shades of
blue in the underlining of the words. The decision to use this
color scale was based on our intention to highlight a key concept in
Professor Steven Reiss’s theory of motivation – the concept of intensity
of a motive.
While previous motivational theorists spoke in general terms of
motivation and personality, Professor Reiss was the first to devise a
conceptual platform that connects motives to specific traits. According to Professor Reiss, intensity of motivation is central to understanding the development of personality traits.
In the theory of 16 basic desires, each desire is viewed as a continuum
of motivation, and each individual is postulated to have an optimal
level of happiness with regard to the continuum. For the motive of
Social Contact, for example, the continuum ranges from wanting to be
alone all of the time to wanting to socialize for all of one’s waking
hours. To achieve an optimal level of social contact, the
individual develops habits to regulate his experiences toward his
desired amount of socialization with peers.
Professor Reiss assumed that it is relatively easy to satisfy average
desires because society is geared to meet our average needs. In
the example of the motive for Social Contact, a person with an average
striving for this basic desire does not need to develop special habits
to regulate his experiences toward an average amount of
socialization. Individuals with either a strong or a weak desire
for Social Contact, however, must acquire habits that will help them to
satisfy their extreme needs. Someone who wants to spend a lot of
time with peers will need to develop such habits as hosting frequent
parties and actively participating in several clubs – habits that become
associated with the personality traits of friendly and outgoing.
Someone who wants to spend a lot of time alone will need to develop such
habits as declining party invitations and engaging in solitary hobbies –
habits that become associated with the personality traits of serious
and private.
Click here to view the personality traits associated with strong and weak strivings for each of the basic desires.
In the new logo, the color scale is intended to emphasize the critical
role of intensity of motivation in the theory of 16 basic desires.
The light blue shade represents a weak intensity for a motive; the
medium blue color represents an average intensity; and the dark blue
shade represents a strong intensity for a motive.
We hope that the new logo serves as a reminder of Professor Reiss’s
original contribution to the field of motivation – the concept of
motivation as a continuum along which individuals differ in the
intensity to which they experience each of the 16 basic desires.
It is this conceptual framework that allows us to make connections
between motives and specific personality traits.
Maggi M. Reiss, President
IDS Publishing Corporation
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