Ulterior motives are hidden reasons for actions, often reflecting a person’s true goals and desires. They may be deceptive, but not always. Examples include politicians attending charity events to gain voter support and parties offering assistance in exchange for future help.
A motive is a person’s reason for doing something. An ulterior motive is a reason other than or beyond the expressed or apparent reason. The term generally connotes deception or the intent to hide a person’s true motivation.
While a person may have many reasons for an action, his ulterior motive will reflect the very thing he is trying to accomplish. It is usually the most important of all his reasons and most accurately represents his goals and desires.
For example, a politician’s ulterior motive is often to secure his or her re-election. He may attend a charity event with the ostensible motive of raising money for the cause. His real intent, however, may be to gain support from voters so they are more likely to vote for him. If asked, he is likely to cite his desire to support charity versus his desire to create a positive image.
That doesn’t mean he’s not interested in supporting the event he’s attending. It might interest him a lot. He’s just more interested in winning re-election. Alternatively, a politician may attend such an event simply because he wants to raise money or awareness for the charity. People may suspect that he has an ulterior motive for re-election, even if he doesn’t.
Such a reason usually remains hidden. This can be due to a number of factors. The person may feel that expressing his true motive reflects badly on him or he may feel embarrassed. Alternatively, he may be aware that he will not be given what he needs if others are aware of his true motives for him.
However, the presence of an ulterior motive does not always imply deception. It can, in fact, be clearly stated in advance. One party may offer another party assistance, support or funding and claim that it does so because it will later need the other party’s assistance. This is even further because the first party does not provide assistance purely to help the second party. It does so for a reason beyond the immediate or obvious reason.
An ulterior motive can also be unexpressed without being hidden. For example, both parties in the example above may be aware that the first party is only helping the second to get assistance in the future. There is no need to express the real reason, but neither is the first party trying to deceive the second.
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