The Evolution of Drive: Why We’re Wired to Strive

This article is Part 2 in a series on drive. Part 1 defined “drive” and outlined how psychologists understand the human need to strive as a core engine of leadership. This installment explores the evolutionary roots of drive and how status dynamics shape it.

What Motivates People?

What motivates people? Where does human energy and motivation come from? These are enduring questions philosophers and social scientists have wrestled with for centuries. From Plato to Nietzsche, there’s a long tradition that treats drive as central to being human.

The Evolutionary Function of Drive

In modern psychology, researchers study the evolutionary function of drive - why humans are wired to pursue some things and avoid others. At its most basic, motivation is about how we respond to rewards and punishments.

From a cybernetic perspective (think: goal pursuit inside a system that monitors progress, detects gaps, and adjusts behavior to reduce those gaps), rewards signal that we’re making progress toward a goal or have achieved it; punishments signal that progress has been blocked or derailed.

In response, we typically do one of two things:

  • Approach what moves us closer to the goal (often accompanied by positive emotions).

  • Avoid what threatens the goal (often accompanied by negative emotions).

The Brain’s Motivation Systems

Psychologists have distilled these patterns into three coordinated systems:

  • Behavioral Approach System (BAS): pushes us toward desired goals – which looks like pursuit, initiative, and excitement.

  • Fight–Flight–Freeze System (FFFS): reacts to immediate threats – which can show up as fear, rapid avoidance or defensive action.

  • Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS): manages goal conflict – and is experienced as the internal “hold on” signal when approach and avoidance clash, producing anxiety and caution while we assess risk.

Take a real-world example: You’re striving for a promotion (BAS: approach), but you also fear public speaking, which the role requires (FFFS: fear/avoid). That internal tug-of-war - wanting the role but fearing a key requirement - activates the BIS, generating anxiety until the conflict is resolved (perhaps through skill-building, exposure, or reframing).

Of the three systems, BAS is most associated with drive - the desire to attain goals and take initiative.

Dominance vs. Prestige: Two Routes to Status (and Leadership)

How does personality translate into status in an organization - particularly through goal attainment?

Across human history, access to resources, allies, and mates has depended on one’s position in social hierarchies. Individuals who positioned themselves favorably - and advanced into leadership - often did so through two distinct strategies:

  • Dominance: influence via intimidation, control, and the threat of costs.

  • Prestige: influence granted freely due to competence, know-how, and generosity that benefit others.

Both routes can elevate status and leadership standing depending on context. Personality - and drive - helps explain which route people tend to favor.

How Drive Maps Onto Personality

Drive can be understood as agentic assertiveness toward specific goals - a readiness to move, influence, and achieve. It often tilts toward the dominance route unless tempered by prosocial traits (i.e., being “other-oriented”).

That blend matters:

  • High drive with prosociality looks like confident, ethical leadership.

  • High drive without it can slide into counterproductive dominance.

Harnessing Drive at Work

Taken together, drive is an adaptive engine - energized by rewards, steered by feedback, and expressed through dominance or prestige depending on context and other traits a leader possesses.

In organizations, some individuals feel a strong need to move up the social hierarchy and assert themselves to attain goals. Others prefer to support, enabling different voices to lead - or they fall somewhere between those poles. Drive and assertiveness are deeply human. They have evolved as a functional toolkit for ambition, goal attainment, and survival.

Key References

  • Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., & Henrich, J. (2010). Pride, personality, and the evolutionary foundations of human social status. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(5), 334–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.02.004

  • Corr, P. J., DeYoung, C. G., & McNaughton, N. (2013). Motivation and personality: A neuropsychological perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(3), 158–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12016

  • DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880–896. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.880

  • Henrich, J., & Gil-White, F. J. (2001). The evolution of prestige: Freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22(3), 165–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(00)00071-4

  • Sun, J., Kaufman, S. B., & Smillie, L. D. (2018). Unique associations between Big Five personality aspects and multiple dimensions of well-being. Journal of Personality, 86(2), 158–172. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12301

Ginevra Drinka