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Ulterior motives raise suspicion

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Peter Honey

19 Aug 2010 | 09:50

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Motives are funny things; they operate in subterranean ways, unseen and mysterious. Perhaps they only exist as figments of our imagination? If you dismantled someone and labelled all the bits, you’d find bones and vital organs but nothing you could confidently claim were their motives.

It is precisely because motives insist on staying invisible that they leave themselves wide open to speculation. The best you can do to ascribe a possible motive is observe someone’s behaviour (what they say and do) and work backwards from there. Even if you quizzed someone about their motive for doing something, their explanation would be highly suspect. They probably wouldn’t know their real motive and, in order not to appear foolish, would offer up a piece of self-justification. The need to square the circle and achieve consonance would override all other considerations.

This is why Tony Blair cannot win. He has decided to donate all the proceeds from his forthcoming memoirs to the Royal British Legion. Viewed as a straightforward piece of behaviour, this is clearly admirably generous. But as soon as you start to speculate about the motives underlying the behaviour, interpretations take over and things get complicated. Victims of the war in Iraq see it as “blood money” and assume that Tony Blair’s motive is to assuage his guilt. Cynical people see it as a way to boost the sales of his book. Others perceive Mr Blair’s motive as recognition of the courage and sacrifice of the armed forces.

We will never know. Motives remain stubbornly subterranean. In the absence of any certainty, I’d rather give recognition to the outward behaviour - the only certainty – and skip all the second guessing. But then I’m a pragmatic behaviourist who has always preferred whats and hows to whys and wherefores!

Is it totally naive to take people’s behaviour at face value, uncontaminated by speculations about motives which, by their very nature, will always be ulterior?

Comments

1. At 14:05 on 19 Aug 2010, Jane wrote:

No, I don't think it's totally naive, and I think people who constantly question others' motives and then choose to assume the worst must have a very depressing view on life.

It's easy to get cynical about people's motives as an HR professional, but I don't believe the majority of people are essentially bad or are trying to rip off their employer. I think we do our employees an enormous disservice by treating them all as if they are. And the likely consequence? - they in turn won't trust the company and that has implications for engagement, performance and the bottom line.
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2. At 14:49 on 19 Aug 2010, Joanna wrote:

Not naive in the face of no other evidence. I was a little saddened at first when I heard that everyone was so negative about this fantastic gift of charity - did it say more about them than about Tony Blair: are these people who cannot see any joy or good deeds in life. Then I wondered why Tony Blair did not give the money anonymously or without publicity (which he could easily have done). As you say, motives are subterranean!
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