Publications

No abstract is provided for this article.

No abstract is provided for this article.

The present study used multilevel modeling and measures of the Big Five to test Rogers' prediction that discrepancies between ideal and actual self-concept would be negatively associated with well-being, and to test the prediction drawn from self-determination theory that partners' autonomy support would be associated with smaller discrepancies. Discrepancies and well-being were found to be negatively associated in samples from the USA, Russia, and China, but participants' actual self-concept was closer to their ideal when with autonomy supportive partners. Although there was some moderation by country membership, associations were in the same direction for all countries. Discussion focuses on the cultural and clinical implications.

No abstract is provided for this article.

No abstract is provided for this article.

An extensive literature on ostracism shows clear costs for targets; less clear is whether sources of ostracism also face costs. Further, most ostracism experiments fail to speak to ostracism in “real life.” Two studies informed by self-determination theory (SDT) tested whether ostracizers suffer in comparable ways to targets of ostracism in real-life experiences. Results of a diary study found both ostracizing and being ostracized related to worse psychological health because of thwarted psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness. A follow-up experiment found that ostracizing, even when it felt justified, yielded psychological costs, and all groups involved in ostracism suffered because of thwarted autonomy and relatedness. Findings provide evidence for SDT hypotheses concerning inherent costs of harming others.

Motivational constructs have proliferated in educational psychology, reflecting the complexity of what moves people to engage and learn. In this exploratory research, we focused on students’ motivation for higher education. Our goal was to understand how a wide range of motives are empirically and conceptually related. We also examined how this diversity of motivational content relates to the motivational typology postulated by Self-Determination Theory (SDT). In Study 1, we extracted items from a broad collection of measures, formatted them with a common set of instructions, and administered them to multiple samples of current and former U.S. college students. Using Goldberg’s (2006) Bass Ackward factor-analytic method, we distilled twenty-six distinct facets that capture a wide variety of motivational contents. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) suggested a dimension that resembled SDT’s continuum of relative autonomy, with some facets similar to amotivation and others falling along a range from less to more autonomous or volitional forms of motivation. In Study 2, we administered these provisionally labelled motivational facets alongside SDT’s regulatory styles and a set of external criteria covering multiple outcomes of interest in higher education. MDS analyses replicated the general pattern found in Study 1, recovering a dimension resembling SDT’s continuum of autonomy. Motivational facets were also associated with external criteria in a theoretically coherent manner. We discuss the implications of these exploratory findings for understanding the structure of self-reported motivation and for theory and measurement of student motivation.

The imposition of external constraints on an activity has frequently been shown to undermine intrinsic motivation. Given that limits must often be set upon peoples' activities, especially in parenting and education, the present study addressed the question of whether limits can be set without undermining intrinsic motivation for the activity being limited. Using cognitive evaluation theory, contrasting limit setting styles of either a controlling or informational nature, or no limits, were placed upon forty‐four first‐ and second‐grade children engaged in a painting activity. The intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, creativity, and quality of artistic production were expected to be decreased by controlling limits relative to informational and no‐limits, which were not expected to differ from each other. The results provided substantial support for these predictions, suggesting that limits can be set without undermining intrinsic motivation if they are informational in nature. Support was also found for the consensual assessment of creativity method recently developed by Amabile (1982a). Results of the study are discussed along with the general relation between creativity and intrinsic motivation.

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No abstract is provided for this article.

Vitality, or the energy available to the self, is a salient and functionally significant indicator of health and motivation. Previous models (e.g., Baumeister & Vohs, 2007 ) have suggested how such energy can be depleted but have focused less on how it can be maintained or enhanced. In this article, we describe a model of energy and vitality based on self‐determination theory ( Ryan & Deci, 2000 ). We review substantial evidence that, whereas the self‐controlling regulation of behavior depletes vitality and energy, the autonomous self‐regulation of behavior does not. A growing number of experimental and field studies also suggest that vitality and energy are enhanced by activities that satisfy basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Lifestyles focused on extrinsic goals are less conducive to need satisfaction and thus engender less vitality. We conclude that social psychological factors associated with need satisfaction have important implications for health and vitality and for informing interventions.

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The chapter discusses the empirical exploration of intrinsic motivational processes. Intrinsically motivated behaviors, motivated by the underlying need for competence and self-determination, are investigated in a variety of ways at the physiological, psychological, and operational levels. One of the two general approaches; the incongruity theories and the competence and/or self-determination theories generally guides those focused on the psychological level. The chapter presents the performance-contingent rewards that actually enhance intrinsic motivation when administered in a way that places emphasis on effective performance rather than on reward acquisition. The research literature that explored the nature of intrinsic motivation and the effects of rewards and controls on intrinsic motivation highly support the competence and self-determination formulation of intrinsic motivation and also the propositions of cognitive evaluation theory. The results of individual studies provided the basis for greater understanding of the phenomena and greater specificity of the theory. Understanding of motivational processes is critical for explicating and predicting human behavior as well as a variety of interrelated beliefs, attitudes, and affects, the complex referred to as motivational subsystems. The chapter also describes a field study conducted in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of four elementary schools.

Some of the best current work on the development of motivation is presented in this fortieth volume of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. The diverse approaches for conceptualizing and studying motivational development psychology that extends the traditional area of achievement motivation. Some major themes emerge: the conceptualization of the self, the internal and external factors that affect development of motivations, and the choices that result from one's motivations. Richard Ryan's opening chapter places the entire work in context by describing historical and theoretical perspectives on developmental and psychosocial models used to understand motivation. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly and Kevin Rathunde also focus on intrinsic motivation, but with a greater focus on flow, the experience of full involvement with an activity. Susan Harter discusses the roles of the I-self and the me-self research models. Jacquelynne S. Eccles stresses the link between the social contexts of family and school and the motivational constructs related to achievement and choice of activity. Laura L. Carstensen maintains Eccles's focus on the importance of choice of activity, but concentrates on the later stages in life when social contact declines as a result of changing social and emotional motivations. The volume concludes with a summary analyzing the contributors' descriptions of the diverse but complementary aspects of developmental processes and theory.