Mal Adaptive Need Fusion: Needs that normally produce conflicting behavior when synchronically evoked in a particular dimension are sometimes combined or fused despite resulting conflicts. Mal adaptive fusion creates frustrations and problems. For example, in the combative dimension, when the aggression and succorance needs are synchronically activated, the fused behavioral expression may take the form of whining and complaining that does not effectively express either the aggression need or the succorance need.

The Affiliation Need
(The need to be friendly and sociable)

The word "affiliation" is used to indicate almost any kind of relationship between people. Webster's primary definition for the term is "to take in as a member or branch." The PIT definition combines feelings of warmth and closeness with social joining.

To satisfy the affiliation need a person must be engaged in an activity that develops a direct relationship between the person and others. There are several kinds of group behavior that do not develop relationships of this sort. People crowd together in buses, trains, and planes. They sit next to each other in classes or theaters, and they may join together to ward off an attacker. The purpose of such non-affiliative groupings is to cope or exist with things or events external to the group. In affiliative relating, each person is personally relating to each other person.

Some animals high on the evolutionary scale develop affiliative family organizations due in part to the dependency of the young on the parents for food, protection, and learning. Some animals form herds, flocks, packs, etc., for protection, breeding, and other affiliation related needs. Bonds of loyalty, care, and affection within such groups create direct relationships between the members, at least until the young are grown. Some birds and mammals remain mated for life. Domesticated animals such as dogs and cats also develop strong affiliative ties with people as well as with their own kind.

The Function of the Affiliation Need

In the course of evolutionary development the original motivation for joining with others may have been based on impersonal survival needs. At some point, however, new motivational factors that develop personal bonds of loyalty and trust were added. In humans and some animals, pleasure and playfulness have become closely associated with affiliation. Affiliation has thus become, to a large extent, recreational, comforting, and pleasurable. Thus, affiliation functions to restore our physical and psychological resources that are constantly being depleted by combativeness and competitiveness.

Problems Related to the Affiliation Need

Loneliness and feelings of alienation are perhaps the most common problems related to the affiliation need. Being around people does not necessarily prevent loneliness. We can be lonely in a crowded theater, air terminal, or restaurant. Workers may be engaged with others on an assembly line and never establish personal relationships since their activities are primarily oriented toward competitive production goals rather than interpersonal relationships. Good affiliators avoid loneliness by engaging in activities involving needs such as play, sentience, sex, nurturance, and succorance (all located in the personal area of the personal-social dimension).

Some people are over-affiliators. Over-affiliators constantly seek companionship and thus neglect their competitive responsibilities. Their dependency on companionship tends to make their affiliative relationships one-sided and immature. They are often anxious about loneliness since they find that being alone for even short periods of time is disturbing. They are oriented toward the present and often seek contact with others as a distraction from responsibilities. They need to be freed from their need to "win friends and influence people."

Good affiliators develop intuitive perceptual processes to guide their social-personal interactions. They do not attempt to control social interchange by calculation and rational analysis. Complete rational control of an affiliative relationship is like trying to dance by a set of rules. After learning the basic principles, good dancers are creative and learn to respond intuitively to each other's movements. Imposing too much order and rational control over affiliation makes the results mechanical, unresponsive, and unsatisfying.

When the affiliation need is not sufficiently differentiated from combative needs (aggression, defendance, rejection, dominance), social interactions can become abrasive and personally hostile. A criticism may be expressed with hostility and over generalization (e.g., "you are stupid") rather than expressed specifically and impersonally (e.g., "I think that is a bad idea.")

Dimension Locations of the Affiliation Need (see The Picture Identification Test Target Model)

The affiliation need is normally located in the noncombative area of the combative dimension. We cannot be truly friendly at the same time we are being combative. Because of this incompatibility, friendliness can sometimes "disarm" combative people who may switch from aggression to affiliation when approached in a genuinely friendly way.

The affiliation need is normally located very high in the personal area of the personal dimension. The desire to be friendly and sociable and to relate to people on an equal basis promotes strong, positive personal relationships. Affiliation usually involves pleasure and relaxation as well as closeness, warmth, caring, trust, and intimacy. Its strong location in the personal area indicates that people feel that the affiliation need is very different from and opposed to needs requiring impersonal, objective, analytic, and aggressive actions.

The affiliation need is normally located in the mid competitive area of the competitive dimension. In this location, friendliness can combine effectively with some competitive activities such as learning, mildly competitive sports, games, team work, etc. In an extremely competitive situation where the emphasis is on dominance and recognition, people may not be so friendly (dominance and exhibition, located at the top of the competitive area, are the strongest motives in competitive striving).

Affiliation Dislocated in the Combative Area of the Combative Dimension

Affiliation does not combine well with combative needs. When it is dislocated in the combative area of the combative dimension it can create conflicts in which the person finds it difficult to be forcefully assertive because they want to be sociable and friendly. Affiliation can mal adaptively fuse with the combative needs and motivate the person to seek friendship in an aggressive way. Such a person feels closer to others when they argue and disagree with them (this trait is sometimes learned from family interactions). Affiliation may also be used as a cover or mask for underlying hostility when it is associated with combative needs.

Affiliation Dislocated in the Extreme Periphery of the Non-Combative Area

When a person feels that affiliation is extremely opposed to combativeness they may hold an unrealistic belief that they should never take issue or disagree with someone they like and love.

Affiliation Dislocated in the Impersonal Area of the Personal Dimension

It is unusual for the affiliation need to be located in the impersonal area. This location may make it difficult for social and personal relationships to be close and friendly. It may also mean that the person has difficulty resolving personal conflicts in an impersonal, objective way. It may reflect a belief that social activities are usually performed for the sake of convention rather than for companionship.

Affiliation Located Too High in the Personal Dimension

It is unusual for the affiliation need to be located in the extreme periphery of the personal area. Such a location suggests that the person over emphasizes companionship at the expense of needs such as play, nurturance, autonomy, and sex that broaden and enrich personal relationships.

Affiliation Dislocated in the Noncompetitive Area of the Competitive Dimension

Location of the affiliation need in the noncompetitive area of the competitive dimension may reflect a belief that one cannot be competitive in a friendly way. Another possible meaning of such a location is that the person seeks friends who lack skills and abilities. It could mean that their desires to be friendly inhibit them from striving for superiority and excellence. It could also reflect a belief that competitive activity makes people anti-social and unfriendly.

Affiliation Located Too High in the Competitive area of the Competitive Dimension

When a person locates the affiliation need extremely high in the competitive dimension, it may indicate a belief that the ultimate in competitive success is to "win friends and influence people." It could also mean that they use friendliness and sociability to gain status and recognition. Their strong need to affiliate in competitive situations may cause them to focus too much on social-personal interactions in competitive situations at the expense of their desires to seek competitive excellence.