 3. Toward an Integrative Theory of Motivation, Personality, and Development 87
events and among things in one’s world, 
the need for competence (see Deci & Ryan, 
2000 [competence]; White, 1959 [compe -
tence]; Piaget, 1936/1952 [intelligence]; 
McClelland, 1987 [achievement]; Fromm, 
1955 [effectiveness]) is the desire to build 
one’s skills for acting in or on the world. 
Children’s quest for competence is at the 
heart of many prominent theories (Piaget, 
1936/1952; Vygotsky, 1978; White, 1959), 
and research shows that even the youngest 
children are highly attuned to competence- 
building opportunities. Indeed, the desire 
for an optimal degree of novelty or challenge 
may represent a form of built-in prepared -
ness that supports continued competence 
building over time (see, e.g., Kidd, Piantado -
si, & Aslin, 2012; Gottlieb, Oudeyer, Lopes, 
& Baranes, 2013). Children also learn from 
others, and even very young infants are sen -
sitive to “pedagogical cues”—signals from 
adults communicating that teaching is about 
to take place (R. Cooper & Aslin, 2009; Csi -
bra & Gergeley, 2009). Finally, deprivation 
of competence-  building opportunities leads 
to not only learning deficits but also damp -
ened motivation even to explore (Kreppner 
et al., 2007; Spitz, 1965).
In summary, from the beginning of life, 
infants appear to have three basic needs: 
to engage in positive social interactions, to 
chart the predictability of their world, and 
to build their competence. Moreover, the 
opportunity to fulfill these needs appears 
essential for optimal development and well-
being.
The Four Compound Needs
Four additional needs are proposed to arise 
from combinations of the basic needs: (1) the 
need for trust, arising from the conjunction 
of acceptance and predictability; (2) the need 
for control, representing the conjunction of 
predictability and competence; (3) the need 
for self-  esteem/status, originating from the 
conjunction of acceptance and competence; 
and (4) the need for self-  coherence, which is 
at the intersection of all of the psychological 
needs and represents the need to feel psycho -
logically rooted and intact.
Whereas the basic needs are there at or 
near birth, the compound needs demand more complex schemas or metacognitive 
skills. These include (1) more fully formed 
schemas or mental models for integrat -
ing basic needs (as “trust” integrates ac -
ceptance and predictability); (2) greater 
self- awareness (as in the need for control); 
and (3) greater ability to compare oneself 
to a standard (as in “self-  esteem/status”). 
For example, even though newborns can 
exert  control (they can perform actions to 
obtain a reward), the need  for control does 
not seem to emerge until children become 
aware of themselves as agents (Heckhausen, 
1988). At that point, they may strive to be 
a “player” in their family—  a person with a 
will who exerts control. Similarly, with re -
spect to self-  esteem, infants may have many 
experiences of nonacceptance from caretak -
ers but only later, when they are self-aware 
and can apply standards to the self, might 
they ask, “What do those experiences mean 
about me?” (Kagan, 1981; Stipek, Recchia, 
& McClintic, 1992; see also, Robins, Chap -
ter 26, this volume).
Compound needs are not necessarily less 
important than basic needs and may be just 
as essential for well-being. However, the dis -
tinction between basic and compound needs 
is not just a technicality. It is important to 
know how and when different needs gain 
prominence in order to understand the op -
portunities and vulnerabilities that are pres -
ent at different points in development. This 
can help us understand when the presence or 
absence of certain experiences (e.g., of trust, 
of personal control) might be vital.
The Need for Trust (the Conjunction 
of Acceptance and  Predictability)
As we have seen, very young infants are at -
tuned to acceptance and predictability, but 
they do not appear to integrate them into a 
higher-  order, generalized schema: trust (see 
Stevens & Fiske, 1995 [trusting]; Erikson, 
1950 [trust]; Fonagy, 2001 [epistemic trust]). 
Indeed, studies show that stressful or nega -
tive early experiences, such as living in im -
poverished orphanages, certainly have nega -
tive effects, but, remarkably, do not seem to 
impede the later development of secure at -
tachments if they occur in the first 6 months 
or so (Ames & Chisholm, 2001; see also 
Kreppner et al., 2007). By 8 months of age, 