Book Summary: Driven
Paul Lawrence’s book, Driven, looks at the four primary drivers behind why we do what we do. Why these specific traits evolved in humans and how we can use the knowledge of their existence to benefit our everyday lives.
Related Book Summaries to Driven:
The Charisma Myth – Olivia Fox Cabane
Get Some Headspace – Andy Puddicombe
Driven Book Summary Notes:
The Great Leap Forward
Around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago we underwent a huge shift in our evolution. This period of time is referred to as the Great Leap Forward and marks the change from simple to far more complex for quite a few areas of our lives. Tools and dwellings became more complex, we also developed more advanced hunting techniques. During the same period of time it’s believed that our brains also grew, eventually giving us brains up to three times as large as other similar ape species of the time.
Along with the increased brain power came our four representational memory systems:
- Episodic – basics of memory
- Mimetic – allows us to mimic what we see
- Mythic & Theoretic – what mostly sets us apart from our closest relatives, these developed alongside language use.
The Four Drives
We humans are ultimately driven by four things; the drive to acquire, bond, learn and defend. These four drives are thought to be responsible for most of mans actions. Even during the Great Leap Forward we were thought to be driven primarily by bonding and learning. At most other times it’s acquiring and defending that have been our primary drivers.
The Drive to Acquire
Typically the strongest of our four drivers, the drive to acquire can even overpower our rational thinking at times. The drive to acquire spans more than just physical goods, it also causes us to want higher social status and perceived wealth.
The drive to acquire is not just about more things in general, more specifically we are driven to want more than those around us have. This could be a throwback to a more primitive time when scarcity meant that having more guaranteed better odds of survival.
The Drive to Bond
The desire to bond has helped us to advance, primarily because it has increased the survival chances of our children. Our bonding desire makes it more likely we will have children, which in turn allows our species to continue. Child rearing takes a huge amount of time and effort though and the same bonding effects mean that parents are more likely to share the work.
The desire to bond also comes into play when we are in small groups, such as teams. We want to feel like we belong, like we are apart of the team or group and don’t like to feel like we’re on the outside.
The Drive to Learn
Our drive to learn has two main advantages, the first is that when we recognise an information gap, we strive to fill it. This internal drive makes us uncomfortable when we realise that a gap in our knowledge exists. Because of this we frequently “just have to know!” It will bug us until we find out what it is we’re missing.
The second and possibly more important feature of our drive to learn, is that we can take in and process our mistakes and learn from them. A great example exists in the world of video games, you’ll do something that will cause you a game over, then moments later be back in the same situation. This time however you know what the outcome of that first choice will be and can choose differently.
