scholarly journals The correlation between need satisfaction and learning motivation: A self-determination theory perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
HU Ping-ying

Abstract   To examine the relationship between need satisfaction and learning motivation, a survey was conducted in an engineering college in China. Collected data were processed and analyzed via SPSS software; then a confirmatory factor analysis was performed with SEM method. Outcomes of the research indicated that: 1) satisfaction of autonomy and relatedness contributed to autonomous motivation; 2) satisfaction of competence and relatedness helped shift controlled motivation to autonomous motivation; 3) unexpectedly, satisfaction of competence had negative effect on autonomous regulation, as did satisfaction of autonomy on controlled regulation. The outcomes imply that learners’ psychological needs should be satisfied according to their pre-existing types of motivation, and that studies on motivation based on Self-determination Theory (SDT) should take cultural factors into consideration Keywords: SDT, basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation, correlation  

Author(s):  
Shannon S C Herrick ◽  
Meredith A Rocchi ◽  
Shane N Sweet ◽  
Lindsay R Duncan

Abstract Background LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, etc.) individuals experience challenges such as discrimination and marginalization (referred to as minority stressors) that are detrimental to their mental and physical health. Specifically, proximal or internalized LGBTQ+ minority stressors may influence motivation for and willingness to participate in physical activity. Purpose To explore whether proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors relate to the basic psychological needs—motivation—physical activity pathway, as per self-determination theory. Methods An online cross-sectional survey was completed by 778 self-identified LGBTQ+ adults. Structural equation modelling analyses were used to examine how proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors relate to the motivational sequence. Results Findings support that proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors are negatively associated with psychological need satisfaction within physical activity (β = −.36), which in turn is positively associated with autonomous motivation (β = .53) and reported physical activity participation (β = .32). Overall, the final model accounted for 13% of variance in need satisfaction (small effect size), 53% of variance in autonomous motivation (moderate-large effect size), and 10% of variance in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels (small effect size). Conclusions Future research focused on increasing LGBTQ+ participation in physical activity should investigate the effects of (a) reducing proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors and (b) better supporting LGBTQ+ adults’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness within physical activity contexts.


Author(s):  
Richard M. Ryan ◽  
William S. Ryan ◽  
Stefano I. Di Domenico ◽  
Edward L. Deci

Human beings have fundamental psychological propensities toward growth, integrity, and wellness. Yet, historically, many approaches to motivation have ignored these inner propensities, focusing instead on how external contingencies shape expectancies and behaviors. This chapter reviews recent work in self-determination theory, an organismic approach in which people’s intrinsic, growth-oriented propensities are a central focus. Self-determination theory argues that people have basic psychological needs to experience competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others. Satisfaction of these basic needs facilitates autonomous motivation and wellness, whereas the frustration of these needs contributes to ill-being and is associated with lower quality, and often highly controlled, forms of motivation. Autonomous and controlled forms of motivation differ in their antecedents, neurological underpinnings, and outcomes. Although most of the experimentation and evidence base of self-determination theory has focused on proximal relationships (e.g., families, dyads, classrooms, teams, or workgroups), recent research is extending self-determination theory to address pervasive contexts (e.g., cultural or economic systems) and how they both directly and indirectly affect need satisfaction and motivation, thereby impacting people’s development and wellness. Pervasive contexts also influence people’s aspirational horizons and the life goals they pursue, further influencing both individual and community wellness. More need-supportive contexts conduce to more authentic living and intrinsic aspirations, which in turn promote more prosocial attitudes and actions and greater personal and societal wellness.


Author(s):  
Edward L. Deci ◽  
Richard M. Ryan

Self-determination theory maintains and has provided empirical support for the proposition that all human beings have fundamental psychological needs to be competent, autonomous, and related to others. Satisfaction of these basic needs facilitates people's autonomous motivation (i.e., acting with a sense of full endorsement and volition), whereas thwarting the needs promotes controlled motivation (i.e., feeling pressured to behave in particular ways) or being amotivated (i.e., lacking intentionality). Satisfying these basic needs and acting autonomously have been consistently shown to be associated with psychological health and effective performance. Social contexts within which people operate, however proximal (e.g., a family or workgroup) or distal (e.g., a cultural value or economic system), affect their need satisfaction and type of motivation, thus affecting their wellness and effectiveness. Social contexts also affect whether people's life goals or aspirations tend to be more intrinsic or more extrinsic, and that in turn affects important life outcomes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. K. Breitborde ◽  
Cindy Woolverton ◽  
R. Brock Frost ◽  
Nicole A. Kiewel

Self-determination theory (SDT) posits that human well-being depends on the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Although many scholars have suggested that SDT may be relevant to psychotic disorders, only one empirical study of SDT in individuals with psychosis has been completed to date by Breitborde and colleagues (2012). This study revealed that individuals with first-episode psychosis reported lower satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs as compared to individuals without psychosis. Moreover, greater satisfaction of basic psychological needs was modestly associated with lower general symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression), greater social functioning, and better quality of life. Thus, the goal of this project was to replicate Breitborde et al.’s (2012) investigation of basic psychological need satisfaction among individuals with first-episode psychosis. Our results supported the conclusion that individuals with first-episode psychosis report lower autonomy, competence, and relatedness than individuals without psychosis. Moreover, our results comport with the finding that greater need satisfaction was associated with less severe symptomatology and better social functioning and quality of life. In total, the findings lend further credence to the hypothesis that SDT may help to inform the development of improved clinical services for individuals with psychotic disorders.


Author(s):  
Anja H. Olafsen ◽  
Edward L. Deci

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation that utilizes concepts essential for organizational psychology. Among the concepts are types and quality of motivation and basic (i.e., innate and universal) psychological needs. Further, the theory has specified social-environmental factors that affect both the satisfaction versus frustration of the basic psychological needs and the types of motivation. The social-environmental factors concern ways in which colleagues, employees’ immediate supervisors, and their higher-level managers create workplace conditions that are important determinants of the employees’ motivation, performance, and wellness. In addition, SDT highlights individual differences that also influence the degrees of basic need satisfaction and the types of motivation that the employees display. This theoretical framework has gained increasingly attention within the context of work the last 15 years, showcasing the importance of basic psychological needs and type of work motivation in explaining the relation from workplace factors to work behaviors, work attitudes and occupational health.


Author(s):  
Marita M. Heyns ◽  
Marilyn D. Kerr

Orientation: Despite increasing age diversity in the workforce, organisations still know relatively little about how potentially diverging motivational needs of the various generations might influence motivational strategies and organisational performance.Research purpose: To explore the relationship between multigenerational workforces and employee motivation within a South African workplace setting from a self-determination theory perspective.Motivation for the study: The pursuit of performance excellence requires an understanding of the enablers of optimal performance. In South Africa, the workplace landscape is changing fast as younger generations are joining the workforce in rapidly growing numbers. These younger employees are often believed to differ quite drastically from the older generations in terms of their values and priorities, which necessitates a deeper understanding of the motivational drivers of the different cohorts as these manifest within a workplace environment.Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional survey approach and a quantitative research design were used (N = 164). Two questionnaires founded on self-determination theory were administered, namely the Work-Related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale and the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale.Main findings: Findings contradict the popular notion that generational cohorts differ significantly from each other in terms of diverging intrinsic and extrinsic motivational preferences that may influence their behaviour at work. With regard to the degrees of satisfaction of the basic psychological needs that drive autonomous, intrinsically motivated behaviour specifically, no practically significant differences were found either. There was, however, one notable difference, namely in the indicated degree of satisfaction of the psychological need for autonomy between Generation Y and Generation X cohorts.Practical/managerial implications: Management is advised to cultivate a motivational climate that promotes autonomously motivated behaviour in general and to focus on specific known individual motivational preferences that may exist within groups rather than approaching generational cohorts as homogenous groups.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the limited research regarding similarities and differences in the intrinsic versus extrinsic motivational stance of three different generations as these manifest within a workplace setting in an emerging economy country. Findings afford management insight into motivational processes that are most influential among generational cohorts and assist them in adapting suitable motivational strategies that can ultimately improve retention of valued employees.


2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Deci

Successful school reform requires that administrators, teachers, and students internalize the value of improved teaching and learning and of the policies, structures, procedures, and behaviors implicit in the reform. This is most likely to happen when school personnel and students experience satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness while planning and implementing the reform. When the components of a reform are relatively flexible rather than rigid and when the processes through which the reform is introduced and implemented are autonomy supportive, people will experience greater need satisfaction and will be more likely to internalize and endorse the reform. This article focuses on one approach to comprehensive school reform, namely, First Things First, and examines it in terms of self-determination theory principles.


Author(s):  
Abdullah Alamer

Abstract This study examined an integrated process model of second language motivation based on the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). Specifically, this research investigated the extent to which satisfying basic psychological needs (BPN) are related to SDT orientations and, in turn, to the effort expended and how these factors relate collectively to vocabulary knowledge. Revised scales assessing students’ BPN (the Basic Psychological Needs of Second Language Scale) and SDT orientations (the Self-Determination Theory of Second Language Scale) were considered and tested using a higher-order confirmatory factor analysis solution. The results of the structural model showed that BPN were only directly related to vocabulary knowledge, which indicated their direct importance for the attainment of the vocabulary. No other indirect effects through SDT orientations or effort were identified. Nonetheless, SDT orientations were both directly and indirectly linked to vocabulary knowledge over and above the role of expended effort. The results elucidated motivational pathways that yielded pedagogical implications for language learning.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Herrick ◽  
Meredith A. Rocchi ◽  
Shane N. Sweet ◽  
Lindsay R. Duncan

Abstract Background: LGBTQ+ individuals experience challenges such as discrimination and marginalization (referred to as minority stressors) that are detrimental to their mental and physical health. Specifically, proximal or internalized LGBTQ+ minority stressors may influence motivation for and willingness to participate in physical activity. Methods: The purpose of this study was to explore whether proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors, as indicators of the social-environmental context, would relate to the basic psychological needs—motivation—physical activity pathway, as per self-determination theory. An online cross-sectional survey was completed by 778 LGBTQ+ adults. Results: Results from structural equation modelling analyses support that proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors are associated with decreased reported need satisfaction (β = -.36) which, in turn, is associated with autonomous motivation (β = .53) and reported physical activity participation (β = .32). Conclusions: Future research focused on increasing LGBTQ+ participation in physical activity should investigate the effects of (a) reducing proximal LGBTQ+ minority stressors, and (b) better supporting LGBTQ+ adults’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness within physical activity contexts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (16) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Święcicka

The aim of the article is to analyze the concept of a parent’s provision of structure as proposed in the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Basic assumptions and thesis of SDT concerning autonomous motivation are discussed. According to SDT, autonomous motivation develops by internalization of initially externalized motivation. Parents can facilitate this process by responding to a child's basic psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness and competence. The need for competence is satisfied by providing a structure, which allows children to feel in control of their environment. Parental structure promotes development of autonomous motivation only when parental support is present. In the article the concept of providing a structure is linked to other similar constructs: scaffolding, control and setting limits, to show the specificity of the SDT perspective.


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