The psychological and behavioral performance of student leaders in colleges and universities are closely related to social motivation in psychology.This paper first analyzes the psychological and behavioral char-acteristics of student leaders in colleges and universities,and then explores the role of social motivation in the growth and work of them.The results show that affinity motivation,power motivation,achievement motivation and altruistic motivation greatly affect the psychological and behavioral performance of student leaders in colleges and universities from different aspects.Relevant conclusions are conducive to the theoretical understanding of the psy-chological driving force of student cadres in colleges and universities to devote themselves to student work,and are also helpful to guide them to establish a positive psychological state,establish good values,and improve per-sonal qualities and working abilities.