AIM Framework glossary
Composition
Canonical definition
Composition is the relative proportional contribution of each motivational source to a desire's activation — the mix of Appetitive, Intrinsic and Mimetic contributions to the integrated valuation, each the AIM Weight on its source applied to that source's valuation of the Object (wA·UA, wI·UI, wM·UM) — which determines what kind of satisfaction would address the felt deficit. Desires of identical Intensity can have radically different Compositions, and accurate compositional diagnosis, principally of which source led the decision to act, is the necessary precondition for effective intervention.
Explanation
Two wants can feel exactly the same and be made of entirely different things. One is mostly the body, one is mostly genuine interest, one is mostly copying, and the only way to settle a want is to give it what it is made of. Feed a want that is really about position and it will not settle, because nothing was in deficit. Composition answers "what is this made of", which is a different question from "how badly do I want it" — that one is Intensity. An intense Appetitive hunger and an intense Mimetic status panic can feel equally urgent and still need different interventions: food resolves hunger, and no amount of food resolves status panic. Compositional analysis asks whether an urgency is Appetitive, Intrinsic or Mimetic, and answers with behavioural tests (satiation dynamics, audience-removal, model-tracking). Shifting Composition, through diagnostic questioning, visibility reduction or I-domain protection, acts on the source of a desire, while reducing Intensity lowers urgency only temporarily and leaves the compositional mismatch in place. A Composition can be described as I-led or M-dominant without decimal precision, as a colour is described by its dominant hue.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct.
Derivation
Related terms
- AIM Weights (wA
- wI
- wM)
- Intensity
- Decision Hub
- Source Opacity
- Three-Question Diagnostic
- AIM Profile (Individual
- Group
- or System)