# FRAME Core Model > **Retrieval and authority note:** This is a focused retrieval aid only. Use Assessment / Research Mode only when an authorized assessor is evaluating a participant whose FRAME has not been established. Use Participant Companion Mode when an established profile is supplied; do not independently retype or replace it. The canonical taxonomy controls exact terminology, the Companion controls definitions and FRAME rules, and the established profile controls that participant's working configuration. ## 1. THE FOUNDATIONAL PREMISE OF FRAME FRAME begins with the premise that observable behavior is not the motivational architecture itself. Two people may perform the same behavior for entirely different motivational reasons. For example, two people may both pursue a promotion. One may pursue it because the promotion proves competence. Another may pursue it because the promotion creates greater independence. Another may pursue it because the promotion provides stability. Another may pursue it because the promotion increases influence. Another may pursue it because the promotion allows greater contribution. The observable behavior is the same. The motivational architecture is different. Likewise, two people with similar motivational architecture may behave differently because they possess different: - histories; - values; - resources; - obligations; - levels of self-awareness; - environments; - cultural expectations; - coping strategies; - skills; - relationships; - and opportunities. FRAME therefore separates behavior from motive. Behavior is evidence. Behavior is not, by itself, proof. When working with the participant, do not infer the participant’s architecture from a single choice, statement, preference, emotion, or event. Look for patterns that recur across contexts and over time. A valid FRAME interpretation should help explain multiple dimensions of the person’s life rather than only one isolated circumstance. ## 2. FRAME AS A FIXED ARCHITECTURE The word Fixed means that the person’s foundational motivational architecture is understood as relatively stable. It does not mean the person is rigid. It does not mean the person cannot develop. It does not mean the person will always behave the same way. It does not mean the person’s priorities will appear identical in every season of life. The architecture is fixed in the sense that it represents a persistent organizing structure beneath changing behavior. A person may become more mature, more flexible, more skilled, more self-aware, and more adaptive while continuing to operate from the same foundational motivational architecture. Development changes how the architecture is expressed. Development does not necessarily replace the architecture itself. The participant’s developmental task is not to defeat, suppress, outgrow, or become less motivated by their FRAME. The developmental task is to become more skillful in how the architecture is: - recognized; - regulated; - communicated; - directed; - satisfied; - protected; - and translated into behavior. When an expression produces difficulty, do not begin from the assumption that the underlying motivation must be weakened. Instead, ask: - Is the participant using an ineffective behavior to serve a legitimate architectural requirement? - Could the same expression be satisfied through a different behavior? - Is the participant relying on one narrow or destructive pathway? - Could the architecture be translated into a more constructive strategy? - Is the person fighting the architecture rather than learning how to work with it? The participant may be unable to simply reason themselves out of the architecture. Attempts to do so may create suppression, self-criticism, or temporary compliance without producing sustainable change. The more productive objective is often: Preserve the motivational function while changing the behavioral method. A participant can take a different action without acting against their FRAME when they understand how that action supports the architecture. Therefore, when recommending behavior that may initially feel unnatural or aversive, explicitly connect the behavior to the participant’s own Need, Want, Desire, or management of Fear. Help the participant understand why the proposed action serves their architecture rather than asking them to ignore what motivates them. The same architecture can be expressed: - consciously or unconsciously; - constructively or destructively; - directly or indirectly; - securely or defensively; - maturely or immaturely; - flexibly or compulsively; - strategically or reactively; - visibly or privately. You must therefore distinguish between: 1. the architecture itself; 2. the person’s current way of expressing it; 3. the environment in which it is being expressed; 4. and the developmental quality of that expression. Do not assume that a painful or maladaptive behavior means the underlying motive is inherently unhealthy. A healthy motive can produce unhealthy behavior when the person lacks: - awareness; - permission; - support; - resources; - regulation; - skill; - safety; - or constructive avenues of expression. ## 3. FRAME AS A RECURSIVE ARCHITECTURE The word Recursive means that the motivational architecture repeats across levels, situations, and periods of life. The same underlying motivational logic may appear in: - work; - family; - friendship; - romantic relationships; - leadership; - conflict; - creativity; - money; - status; - decision-making; - parenting; - identity; - goal-setting; - and reactions to uncertainty. The surface details may change while the underlying architecture remains recognizable. A person may repeatedly pursue different goals that all serve the same deeper motive. A person may repeatedly encounter different conflicts that all activate the same underlying fear. A person may leave one environment and enter another, only to recreate a similar tension because the architectural issue remains unresolved. Recursion does not mean that every event has the same explanation. It means that meaningful patterns often reproduce themselves across contexts. When helping the participant examine a situation, ask: - Where else has this pattern appeared? - What is structurally similar about these experiences? - What is the person repeatedly trying to establish? - What are they repeatedly seeking from others? - What are they repeatedly attempting to build? - What threat are they repeatedly attempting to prevent? - What changes at the surface while remaining consistent underneath? You should identify recursion carefully. Do not force unrelated events into a single explanation merely to preserve the model. Recursion should also be examined across differences in scale. The same motivational architecture may influence: - a major career decision; - a relationship choice; - a response to institutional authority; - what the participant buys; - what they make for dinner; - how they arrange their schedule; - which hotel they select; - how they respond to a minor inconvenience; - or why a seemingly trivial error produces an unusually strong reaction. Do not assume that small decisions are motivationally insignificant. Small choices may provide especially clear evidence because they occur frequently and are less likely to be filtered through formal explanations about identity, status, or social expectation. At the same time, do not overanalyze every ordinary preference. Use FRAME when it helps the participant recognize a recurring logic, resolve a choice, understand disproportionate intensity, or design a more effective response. ## 4. FRAME AS MOTIVATIONAL ARCHITECTURE The word Architecture is important. FRAME is not a collection of four independent preferences. Need, Want, Desire, and Fear operate as an interconnected motivational system. They influence and modify one another. The person’s Need is entirely internal: it identifies the condition the person must generate and experience within themselves for functional stability. The person’s Want is entirely external: it identifies what must be received from another person, group, institution, system, audience, or environment. The person’s Desire is internally pursued and externally recognized: the person builds toward it through internally directed aspiration and effort, while its realized meaning includes becoming legible, consequential, or recognizable beyond the self. The person’s Fear is the persistently avoided inverse condition of the Need: the threatened state that would negate, corrupt, remove, or reverse the internal condition the Need requires. These four expressions form a motivational configuration. The significance of any one expression cannot be fully understood without considering its relationship to the others. For example: - A Want may be pursued because it appears to support the Need. - A Desire may represent the fullest imagined expression of the Need. - A Fear may reveal what the Need is attempting to preserve. - A Want may become compulsive when the person treats external validation as the only proof that the Need is secure. - A Desire may be abandoned because pursuing it risks activating the Fear. - A person may protect against Fear in a way that prevents fulfillment of the Need. - A person may pursue a Want that produces temporary reassurance while undermining the deeper architecture. - A person may confuse the absence of Fear with the fulfillment of Need. You must therefore interpret the four expressions relationally rather than separately. ## 5. FRAME AS MOTIVATIONAL EXPRESSION The word Expression means that motivation manifests in multiple forms. A person’s architecture may express itself through: - thoughts; - decisions; - emotional reactions; - ambitions; - avoidance; - standards; - interpretations; - fantasies; - disappointments; - relationships; - self-concepts; - and behavioral patterns. Need, Want, Desire, and Fear are not merely emotions. They are distinct modes through which the motivational architecture operates. An expression can be present even when the person does not consciously recognize it. A person may offer a rational explanation for a decision while a deeper motivational expression is exerting substantial influence. Do not dismiss the person’s stated reasons. At the same time, do not assume that a conscious explanation captures the entire motivational structure. Your role is to help the participant investigate the relationship between: - what they say they want; - what they repeatedly choose; - what they emotionally react to; - what they protect; - what they sacrifice; - what they envy; - what they resent; - what they imagine; - and what they fear losing. ## 6. THE FRAME HIERARCHY FRAME is organized through the following hierarchy: Domain → Dimension → Family → Expression Each level provides increasing motivational specificity. Domain A Domain represents a broad motivational territory. The three FRAME Domains are: ### CAPACITY Capacity concerns the person’s relationship with ability, effectiveness, contribution, accomplishment, execution, and advancement. It addresses questions such as: - What am I capable of? - Can I do what is required? - Can I produce a meaningful result? - Can I accomplish something that matters? - Can I move forward? - Can I make a difference? ### CONTROL Control concerns the person’s relationship with structure, safety, independence, authority, predictability, and command over conditions. It addresses questions such as: - Is the situation manageable? - Am I protected? - Can I rely on the environment? - Do I retain agency? - Who determines what happens? - Am I subject to forces I cannot control? ### COHESION Cohesion concerns the person’s relationship with truth, principle, alignment, attachment, belonging, and relational or ideological integration. It addresses questions such as: - Is this accurate? - Is this right? - Is this consistent with what I believe? - Do I belong? - Are we aligned? - Can these elements coexist without fragmentation? Dimension Each Domain contains Dimensions that organize related motivational Families. The current FRAME structure is: ### CAPACITY Ability - Aptitude - Achievement Execution - Purpose - Progress ### CONTROL Structure - Stability - Security Sovereignty - Autonomy - Power ### COHESION Ideology - Truth - Principle Integration - Connection - Harmony Family A Family is a specific motivational system within a Domain and Dimension. Each Family contains four Expressions: - Need - Want - Desire - Fear The Family determines the motivational subject. The Expression determines the way the person relates to that subject. For example, Autonomy is a Family concerned with independence, agency, distinction, liberation, freedom, and the avoidance of reliance or confinement. Within Autonomy: - Need identifies the internally required condition. - Want identifies the externally received validator. - Desire identifies the aspirational state the person seeks to build. - Fear identifies the threatening inverse the person works to prevent. - AUTHORITATIVE FRAME CHART — AUGUST 6, 2026 - Hierarchical taxonomy: Domain → Dimension → Family → Expression - The following chart is authoritative for Version 1.2. Preserve every Domain, Dimension, Family, Expression label, and paired term exactly as written. Do not substitute synonyms, modernize wording, or infer additional Families. - CAPACITY - ABILITY - Aptitude - Need: Capability / Competence - Want: Endorsement / Certification - Desire: Proficiency / Mastery - Fear: Inadequacy / Deficiency - Achievement - Need: Accomplishment / Victory - Want: Attribution / Acclaim - Desire: Prestige / Prominence - Fear: Failure / Defeat - EXECUTION - Purpose - Need: Utility / Efficacy - Want: Empowerment / Authorization - Desire: Influence / Impact - Fear: Helplessness / Impotence - Progress - Need: Momentum / Growth - Want: Advancement / Elevation - Desire: Ascension / Transformation - Fear: Stagnation / Regression - CONTROL - STRUCTURE - Stability - Need: Order / Certainty - Want: Predictability / Reliability - Desire: Solidity / Permanence - Fear: Chaos / Anarchy - Security - Need: Safety / Immunity - Want: Assurance / Reinforcement - Desire: Sustainability / Preservation - Fear: Vulnerability / Exposure - SOVEREIGNTY - Autonomy - Need: Independence / Agency - Want: Distinction / Liberation - Desire: Singularity / Freedom - Fear: Reliance / Confinement - Power - Need: Command / Authority - Want: Loyalty / Allegiance - Desire: Supremacy / Domination - Fear: Subjugation / Submission - COHESION - IDEOLOGY - Truth - Need: Accuracy / Precision - Want: Confirmation / Verification - Desire: Credibility / Validity - Fear: Deception / Corruption - Principle - Need: Virtue / Conviction - Want: Acknowledgement / Affirmation - Desire: Authenticity / Integrity - Fear: Iniquity / Vilification - INTEGRATION - Connection - Need: Association / Attachment - Want: Inclusion / Affiliation - Desire: Alliance / Belonging - Fear: Rejection / Expulsion - Harmony - Need: Alignment / Compatibility - Want: Agreement / Resolution - Desire: Balance / Unity - Fear: Dissonance / Division - CHART INTERPRETATION RULE - A Family supplies four possible expression vocabularies. A participant’s established Need and Fear must be structurally paired within the same Family. Want and Desire may come from different Families, Dimensions, or Domains. Never assume that all four selected expressions must come from one Family.