 3. Toward an Integrative Theory of Motivation, Personality, and Development 93
Matching Needs and  Traits
Although all people are presumed to have all 
needs, some needs may be more focal than 
others for certain individuals. Here I pro -
pose that different traits are rooted in differ -
ent focal needs.
I begin by matching Big Five traits to 
needs within the current model, for brevity 
focusing on the “social traits” (see Dweck, 
2017, for consideration of the competence/
control-  oriented traits of conscientiousness  
and openness to experience .) Three of the 
five traits—  extraversion, agreeableness, 
and neuroticism —appear to be rooted in the 
social needs, that is, in the need for accep -
tance and the social aspects of self-  esteem/
status. When matching Big Five traits with 
Murray’s (1938) 21 “midlevel” needs, Costa 
and McCrae (1988) found that extraversion 
had a high joint factor loading with the need 
for affiliation, and that neuroticism had a 
high joint factor loading with the need for 
social recognition (see also John, Naumann, 
& Soto, 2008). In addition, Leary, Kelly, 
Cottrell, and Schreindorfer (2013) found all 
three traits (extraversion, agreeableness, and 
neuroticism) to be positively correlated with 
the need for social belonging.
Going from Needs and BEATs to Traits
Next, it is possible to propose BEATs that 
could help take one from the social needs to 
the online acts characteristic of the social 
traits. To illustrate this process, I turn to the 
two dimensions of beliefs I briefly noted ear -
lier: goodness (“I believe my world is good/
safe or not”) and controllability (“I feel high -
ly capable/confident/in control of getting im -
portant needs met in my world or not”). I 
focus on these beliefs, because in order for 
people to feel safe and effective, they have 
to decide what their world is like and how 
much they are able to exercise control in it. 
Indeed these are the very kinds of beliefs 
that can form the basis for how people ap -
proach their world and its situations. Of 
course, these are not the only dimensions of 
beliefs or the only dimensions of beliefs that 
are important for personality, but they are 
key ones, and I use them here for illustrative 
purposes. To be clear, I do not claim that 
traits begin with beliefs; rather, I suggest that as beliefs are formed, they can come to 
play a prominent role.
The main point of this section is that traits 
can be seen as the characteristic ways in 
which people try to fulfill their focal needs 
within the parameters set by their accessible 
BEATs.  In our example of traits rooted in 
social needs, this would refer to how people 
fulfill their social needs within the param -
eters set by their prominent beliefs. McCabe 
and Fleeson (2012, 2016) present a compel -
ling case that traits are the ways in which 
people pursue goals. What the current model 
adds is (1) the origin of the trait-  producing 
goals in focal needs and (2) the way in which 
BEATs can constrain and guide the selection 
and pursuit of these goals.
Thus, although all three social traits 
(agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroti -
cism) may be rooted in similar needs (the 
need for acceptance and the social aspects 
of self-  esteem/status) we can distinguish 
them from each other based on their salient 
BEATs.
For people high on the trait of agreeable -
ness,  I suggest that a key underlying BEAT 
that guides goal selection and pursuit in the 
domain of social needs is a belief about the 
goodness of their world—the belief that the 
world they live in is good, safe, and trust -
worthy (see Costa, McCrae, & Dye, 1991). 
(Note that people can believe that the larger 
outside world is unsafe and untrustworthy, 
but that the world that they inhabit and in 
which they try to meet their needs is a good 
and safe one. The latter is the one that should 
carry more weight in everyday personality.) 
Given a strong need for acceptance and a be -
lief in a good world—but not necessarily a 
strong belief in firm, direct, personal control 
(see Costa & McCrae, 1988)—how might 
people best pursue their need-  fulfilling social 
goals? The answer is likely to be through the 
online acts that characterize agreeableness: 
forgiveness, warmth, and kindness (John & 
Srivastava, 1999; Soto & John, 2009). These 
acts serve the need for acceptance and self- 
esteem/status within parameters created by 
the BEATs.
In contrast, for people high on the trait 
of extraversion,  I propose that a key BEAT 
guiding goal selection and pursuit is a strong 
belief in personal control—  the belief that 
one is capable of actively, directly control -