What are the cultural themes reported by Motivbase?

Over the course of 9+ years pioneering the study of culture on the internet, our team has studied millions of consumers online and identified 17 broad cultural constructs (or themes) that help simplify the results of an ethnography.

Cultural constructs provide a layer of simplification to the results of MotivBase's instant ethnographic analysis, serving as fodder for creative thought.

When you run a search, MotivBase evaluates the connections between thousands of ethnographic factors. Then, MotivBase scores and ranks the 17 themes based on that analysis, serving them alongside descriptors of each theme.

This theme refers to individuals who are focused on appearances, which is manifested through how they connect their self-worth to how well they measure up to mainstream standards of beauty, attractiveness, and desirability. This can be achieved via a focus on both the appearance and lifestyle decisions they make, which they believe make them more desirable (as a partner, friend, co-worker etc.).

This theme refers to individuals who seek to have all of the pieces in their lives (i.e. work, family, leisure, exercise, health) together, in order and harmony. Aiming for this order is purposeful and intentional, whereby individuals within this theme seek to project an image of someone who has the ability to know exactly when and how to go about bringing and maintaining a sense of balance in their lives.

This theme refers to individuals who are preoccupied with the ability to express artistry and individuality in life's endeavors. Often, within this theme are people who seek recognition for individual expression that is imaginative and original. This expression can come in the form of art pieces, decor, fashion, and taste in design, food, and overall cultural trends.

This theme refers to individuals who are imminently concerned with protecting (and even saving) the planet from environmental harm as a result of human consumption. They have varying levels of commitment. Some people seek to alert others to the earth's inevitable decay, while others are intent on dismantling the current economic system in order to save humanity; all, however, share a preoccupation with the environment when it comes to the products and solutions they buy.

This theme refers to individuals who seek out activities and experiences that maximize pleasure in their day to day life. Moreover, should something impede how these individuals experience pleasure in their lives, they seek to remove this impediment via quick solutions and remedies. Here, pleasure can be derived from anything, including the process of buying or consuming something.

This theme refers to people who are focused on achieving a meaningful connection to other human beings. Underlying this theme is a shared anxiety in the loss of humanity occurring as a result of the isolation and individualism spreading in modern society.

This theme refers to individuals who have a preoccupation with making sense of, understanding and/or associating a higher meaning in the variety of experiences they have in their everyday life. These experiences can be related to food, exercise, nature, their relationships, etc. For these people, finding a spiritual connection to such life experiences is paramount.

This theme refers to individuals who are committed to stepping outside the mainstream. These people aim to reimagine or redefine how they live and who they are - this applies to their ideas of gender, race, class, their home, and even notions of success. On the whole, their ways of being, doing, and thinking, do not follow that of the majority and occur on their own terms.

This theme refers to people who are intent on accessing and displaying all of their capabilities at every turn, aiming to feel a constant sense of improvement. Within this theme, we find individuals who are focused on optimizing their achievements by using their bodies, their intellect, their skills, and their connections as tools to outdo themselves and their peers.

This theme refers to individuals who share a preoccupation with the state of their physical health. Their beliefs are often centered around how best to make improvements to their health in their daily lives, or how best to avoid illness or discomfort. Overall, however, whether focused on optimization or improvement people who fall within this theme tend to focus on tangible/measurable aspects of their health (i.e. physical over emotional).

This theme refers to individuals who find a deep sense of security in knowing what to expect next (in their lives). Routine is paramount in these people's daily lives, wherein they thrive on consistency and tend to avoid situations that might threaten this feeling of predictability.

This theme refers to individuals who support or advocate for the improvement of society through reform, which is manifested in political positions towards social and economic issues (i.e., support for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, criminal justice reform, equal pay for equal work, affordable housing, etc.).

This theme refers to individuals who see their identity connected to how well they provide for and protect their families, financially, emotionally and even physically. They seek to take care of their loved ones and want the world to see and acknowledge their hard work and sacrifice on the road to protection and provision.

This theme refers to individuals who maintain that science and innovation will continue to provide solutions to all of our problems in this world, whether they be ones of climate change or health and illness. They are therefore automatically driven to try new solutions that they consider innovative in a particular industry.

This theme refers to individuals who are committed to the idea that the better you are and the more you can achieve and accumulate (wealth and/or social status), the better off you will be in the future. As a result, they often consider aspirational products and solutions because they're constantly investing in their own future.

This theme refers to individuals whose identity revolves around their need to defend and maintain their way of life and worldview, which was likely passed on to them from a previous generation. These people worry that if they give up on their traditions, they will lose them forever to a rapidly changing world.

This theme refers individuals who are concerned with their overall health as human beings, which is manifested by way of considerations around health and being healthy in a holistic sense (i.e., mind, body, soul). Their focus on any health-related issue is comprehensive in that it evaluates one's mental, physical and spiritual existence.