PSY 313

MOTIVATION AND SELF-REGULATION

Chapter 6
Psychological Needs
 Psychological Need

An inherent source of motivation that

generates the desire to interact with
the environment so as to advance
personal growth, social development,
and psychological well-being.

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 Self-Determination Theory
Organismic Approach to Motivation

Two Assumptions

People are inherently active

Person-environment dialectic

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Person-Environment Dialectic

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 Self-Determination Theory

Three
Psychological Needs

Autonomy Competence Relatedness

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 Autonomy

Autonomy is the psychological need to

experience self-direction and personal
endorsement in the initiation and
regulation of one’s behavior.

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 Three Subjective Qualities Within
The Experience Of Autonomy

Perceived Autonomy

Internal Perceived
Volition
Perceived Locus Choice over
(Feeling Free)
of Causality One’s Actions

individual is the an unpressured when there is

causal source of his willingness to decision-making
or her motivated engage in an flexibility &
actions activity opportunities to
choose

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 The problem of choıce
Not all choices promote autonomy

“either-or” choice offerings

Choice among options offered by others in a controlling
manner

• True choice over people’s actions

• Meaningful choice that reflects people’s values &
interests

Enhances a sense of Enhances intrinsic motivation,

need-satisfying effort, creativity, preference for
autonomy challenge, and performance
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 Supporting Autonomy
Autonomy-Supportive vs. Controlling Motivating Style

Autonomy Support

identifies, nurtures, and develops inner motivational

resources

Control
pressures toward compliance with a prescribed way of
thinking, feeling, or behaving

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 Supporting Autonomy
Autonomy-Supportive vs. Controlling Motivating Style

ENABLEING CONDITION

Autonomy Support

 Takes the other person’s perspective

 Values personal growth opportunities

Control

 Pressures the other person toward a prescribed outcome

 Targets a prescribed outcome

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 Supporting Autonomy
Autonomy-Supportive vs. Controlling Motivating Style

INSTRUCTIONAL BEHAVIORS

Autonomy Support

• Nurtures inner motivational resources

• Relies on informational language
• Promotes valuing = providing explanatory rationales
• Acknowledges and accepts negative affect

Control
• Relies on outer sources of motivation
• Relies on pressuring language
• Neglects explanatory rationales
• Asserts power to silence negative affect and to
resolve conflict
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 Four Essential Ways of Supporting Autonomy

1. Nurturing Inner Motivational Resources

Autonomy-Supportive Motivators
 Encourage initiative on others by identifying their
interests, preferences, and competences
 Find ways to allow others to behave in ways that
express those interests, preferences, and competencies
•

Controlling Motivators
 Forgo inner motivational resources
 Rely on extrinsic motivators (e.g., incentives,
directives, consequences, and deadlines)
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 Four Essential Ways of Supporting Autonomy

2. Relies on Informational Language

Autonomy-Supportive Motivators
 Treat listlessness, poor performance, and inappropriate
behavior as motivational problems to be solved
 Address the motivational problem with flexible and
informational language
- Diagnose the cause of the motivational problems
- Communicate feedback to identify points of improvement and progress

Controlling Motivators
Use a pressuring and rigid communication style

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 Four Essential Ways of Supporting Autonomy

3. Promotes Valuing

Autonomy-Supportive Motivators
 Communicate the value, worth, meaning, utility, or
importance of engaging in uninteresting tasks
- Using a “because” phrase to explain why the uninteresting activity is worth
the other’s time and effort

Controlling Motivators
 Do not take the time to explain the use of importance in
engaging in these sorts of activities
- E.g., “Just get it done” “Do it because I told you to do it”
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 Four Essential Ways of Supporting Autonomy
4. Acknowledges and Accepts Negative Affect

Autonomy-Supportive Motivators
 Listen to the expressions of negative affect & resistance
and accept them as valid reactions
 Work collaboratively with the other person to solve the
underlying cause of the negative affect & resistance

Controlling Motivators
 Ignore the other’s expressions of negative affect—
consider them as unacceptable

 Try to change the negative affect into something more

compliant
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 Moment- to Moment Autonomy Support
What Autonomy-Supportive and Controlling People Say and Do to Motivate Others

What Autonomy-Supportive What Controlling People

Say and Do
People Say and Do

 Listen carefully
 Show correct answers
 Allow others time to
talk
 Tell correct answers
 Provide rationale
 Speak directives,
commands
 Encourage effort
 Should, must, have to
 Praise progress, statements
mastery
 Ask controlling
 Ask others what they questions
want to do
 Seem demanding
 Respond to questions
 Acknowledge the
other’s perspective
Table 6.2 16
 Benefits From Autonomy Support

Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness
 Intrinsic Motivation
Motivation  Mastery Motivation & Perceived Control
 Curiosity
 Internalized Values
 Engagement
 Positive Emotion & Less Negative Emotion
 Class Attendance
Engagement  Persistence
 School Retention vs. Dropping Out


Self-Worth
Development Creativity
 Preference for Optimal Challenge

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 Benefits From Autonomy Support (Cont.)


Conceptual Understanding
 Deep Processing
Learning  Active Information Processing
 Self-Regulation Strategies


Grades

Performance Task Performance
Standardized Test Scores


Psychological Psychological Well-Being
Vitality
Well-Being 
School/ Life Satisfaction

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 Two Illustrations
Study 1
Teachers’
Autonomy-
Support Students’
Perceived
Autonomy Students’
Self- Students’
Parental
Determined Dropout
Autonomy-
Academic Behavior
Support
Students’ Motivation
Perceived
Competence
Administrators’
Autonomy-
Support

Figure 6.4 Motivational Model of High-School Dropouts, p. 154

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 Two Illustrations
Study 2
Table 6.3 Children’s Motivational Benefits from Autonomy-Supportive
(Rather Than Controlling) Rules-Koestner et al. painting study, 1984)

Dependent Rules Communicated Rules Communicated in a

Measure in a Controlling Way Autonomy-Supportive Way
Enjoyment M 4.87 5.57

Creativity M 4.80 5.34

Technical M 4.88 5.90

Goodness

Quality M 4.84 5.62

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COMPETENCE

A psychological need to be
effective in interactions with
the environment.

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 Involving Competence
Key Environmental Conditions
• Flow: a state of concentration that
1. Optimal Challenge and involves a holistic absorption in an
Flow
activity

2.Interdependency • Setting the stage for challenge

between Challenge and • Performance feedback
Feedback

• Information about the pathways to

desired outcomes
3. Structure • Support and guidance for pursing
these pathways
• Considerable error making is
essential for optimizing learning.
4. Failure Tolerance • Failure produces opportunities for
learning.
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 Involving Competence
Flow

Figure 6.5 Flow Model

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 Supporting Competence

Positive Feedback

Four Sources
 Task itself
 Comparisons of one’s current performance with one’s own
past performance
 Comparisons of one’s current performance with the
performance of others
 Evaluations of others

Pleasure of Optimal Challenge and Positive Feedback

 Harter’s anagram study (1974, 1978b)

Children experience the greatest pleasure following success
in the context of moderate challenge
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 Relatedness

A psychological need to establish

close emotional bonds and
attachments with other people
The desire to be emotionally connected to and
interpersonally involved in warm relationships.

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 RELATEDNESS

Involving Relatedness: • Emotionally positive interactions and

Interaction with Others interaction partners

Supporting • Intimate and high-quality

Relatedness: relationships that involve caring,
Perception of liking, accepting, and valuing
a Social Bond
• People care for the needs of the
Communal vs other, and feel an obligation to
Exchange support the other’s welfare
Relationships • Exchange relationships-Business;
give and take diminishes
• Relationships that provide
relatedness need satisfaction and
Internalization clear and convincing rationale for
the other’s prescriptions and
proscriptions
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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
The Engagement Model Based on Psychological Need
Satisfaction

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What Makes for a Good Day?

Daily
Autonomy

Psychological
Nutriments
for Good
Days
Daily Daily
Competence Relatedness

Psychological Nutriments necessary for

Good Days, Positive Well-Being, and Vitality
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