SCARFing

I was at a meeting a few days ago in which the presenter asserted that Maslow's hierarchy of needs has pretty much been abandoned in terms of figuring out human motivation. While, yes, we need food and safety, she said there are other factors that drive our urges and behaviors.

Enter SCARF, not a descriptor of the Thanksgiving melee at our house, but rather an acronym for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. We took a cute picture quiz, answered a couple of questions, and voila -- out came our primary human motivation.

Me? Fairness, which surprised me (I think I'm more of a certainty and autonomy kind of girl, but okay). Because I was only one of two people in the room with that result, my boss, in trying to make me feel less like a freak, said, "Then you must love To Kill a Mockingbird."

Before I continue my story, it must be said that To Kill a Mockingbird is standard fare for teachers of English in pretty much all western civilizations, not to mention that Oprah says it's a must-read for every U.S. citizen.

So it was in anticipation of much ridicule that I hung my head and said, as quietly as I could, "Never read it."

Only because my butt is broken did my colleagues not run me out of the room.

Fast forward two days. I was in another meeting when my boss busted in and said, "Quick! Oscar Wilde fans! What's the name of that play of his that's used to teach satire?" Ah, a chance to redeem myself. "Well, sir," I smugly replied, "The Importance of Being Ernest?" He smiled appreciatively.  So I asked if I'd been forgiven for my Mockingbird blunder. He crossed his arms, leaned back, and said, "Well, it's just that, in my personal opinion, Mockingbird is ..."

"Wait," I interrupted. "I don't let my students use that phrase." His eyebrows shot up. "'In my personal opinion'?  I don't let my students write or say that." His eyebrows remained up.  I lamely finished, "Because it's ... redundant."

As I stood in the breeze of Scott's departure, I pondered ... What is the primary human motivation for jackass-edness?