The Reiss Motivation Profile® - What motivates us? "When we get to know our life motives, we think we have learned something important about human character, whereas in reality, we have learned something about ourselves." Steven Reiss. What determines our lives? What is truly important to us? What makes us successful? What makes us happy? The American psychologist Steven Reiss, after many years of research with thousands of test subjects, discovered that not just one or two motives determine our existence, but 16 fundamental needs and values - our so-called life motives. Consequently, every person has a distinctive life motive profile, just like an individual fingerprint. The Reiss Motivation Profile® is the first empirically developed test that provides a complete picture of motivation.