Population Control as a Motivational Problem

Abstract

Small-family norms in industrial societies, and large-family norms in developing societies, present quite different motivational problems respecting population control. In the former, means are now more important than motives, while in the latter just the opposite is true. Yet programs of family planning in developing nations continue to operate with the assumption that means are more important than motives. Results of crosscultural research on the social and psychological factors affecting fertility may serve better than clinic-based efforts, in the long run, to reverse the present rapid population growth in developing societies.