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Journal ArticleDOI

The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior

01 Jan 2000-Psychological Inquiry (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.)-Vol. 11, Iss: 4, pp 227-268
TL;DR: Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as mentioned in this paper maintains that an understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, emphasizing that needs specify the necessary conditions for psychological growth, integrity, and well-being.
Abstract: Self-determination theory (SDT) maintains that an understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. We discuss the SDT concept of needs as it relates to previous need theories, emphasizing that needs specify the necessary conditions for psychological growth, integrity, and well-being. This concept of needs leads to the hypotheses that different regulatory processes underlying goal pursuits are differentially associated with effective functioning and well-being and also that different goal contents have different relations to the quality of behavior and mental health, specifically because different regulatory processes and different goal contents are associated with differing degrees of need satisfaction. Social contexts and individual differences that support satisfaction of the basic needs facilitate natural growth processes including intrinsically motivated behavior and integration of extrinsic motivations, whereas those that forestall autonomy, competence, or relatedness are associated with poorer motivation, performance, and well-being. We also discuss the relation of the psychological needs to cultural values, evolutionary processes, and other contemporary motivation theories.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. Current research on well-being has been derived from two general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning. These two views have given rise to different research foci and a body of knowledge that is in some areas divergent and in others complementary. New methodological developments concerning multilevel modeling and construct comparisons are also allowing researchers to formulate new questions for the field. This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.

8,243 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors describes self-determination theory as a theory of work motivation and shows its relevance to theories of organizational behavior, which has received widespread attention in the education, health care, and sport domains.
Abstract: Cognitive evaluation theory, which explains the effects of extrinsic motivators on intrinsic motivation, received some initial attention in the organizational literature. However, the simple dichotomy between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation made the theory difficult to apply to work settings. Differentiating extrinsic motivation into types that differ in their degree of autonomy led to self-determination theory, which has received widespread attention in the education, health care, and sport domains. This article describes self-determination theory as a theory of work motivation and shows its relevance to theories of organizational behavior. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

5,816 citations


Cites background from "The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..."

  • ...…motivated behavior can become autonomous, together with research on individual differences in causality orientations (Deci & Ryan, 1985b), led to the formulation of self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 1985a, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000), which incorporated CET but is much broader in scope....

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  • ...Specifically, Deci et al. (1994) found that a ‘meaningful rationale’ is one of the important factors that facilitates integrated internalization, and Latham, Erez, and Locke (1988) found that it facilitates goal acceptance....

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  • ...Many studies guided by SDT have provided support for this perspective (see Deci & Ryan, 2000, for a review)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Authentic Leadership Development (ALD) as mentioned in this paper is an emerging field of research in the field of leadership development, with a focus on transforming, charismatic, servant, and spiritual leadership perspectives.
Abstract: This Special Issue is the result of the inaugural summit hosted by the Gallup Leadership Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004 on Authentic Leadership Development (ALD). We describe in this introduction to the special issue current thinking in this emerging field of research as well as questions and concerns. We begin by considering some of the environmental and organizational forces that may have triggered interest in describing and studying authentic leadership and its development. We then provide an overview of its contents, including the diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives presented, followed by a discussion of alternative conceptual foundations and definitions for the constructs of authenticity, authentic leaders, authentic leadership, and authentic leadership development. A detailed description of the components of authentic leadership theory is provided next. The similarities and defining features of authentic leadership theory in comparison to transformational, charismatic, servant and spiritual leadership perspectives are subsequently examined. We conclude by discussing the status of authentic leadership theory with respect to its purpose, construct definitions, historical foundations, consideration of context, relational/processual focus, attention to levels of analysis and temporality, along with a discussion of promising directions for future research.

3,866 citations


Cites background from "The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..."

  • ...Most similar to our view is Ilies et al.’s (2005) model, the theoretical foundations of which are likewise anchored in part by the work of Kernis (2003) and Deci and Ryan (1995, 2000)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) as mentioned in this paper is a 10-item measure of the presence of, and the search for, meaning in life, which was developed to measure the emotional well-being of counseling patients.
Abstract: Counseling psychologists often work with clients to increase their well-being as well as to decrease their distress. One important aspect of well-being, highlighted particularly in humanistic theories of the counseling process, is perceived meaning in life. However, poor measurement has hampered research on meaning in life. In 3 studies, evidence is provided for the internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, and validity of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), a new 10-item measure of the presence of, and the search for, meaning in life. A multitrait-multimethod matrix demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the MLQ subscales across time and informants, in comparison with 2 other meaning scales. The MLQ offers several improvements over current meaning in life measures, including no item overlap with distress measures, a stable factor structure, better discriminant validity, a briefer format, and the ability to measure the search for meaning.

3,066 citations


Cites background from "The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..."

  • ...pleasant affect, meaning is important, whether as a critical component (Ryff & Singer, 1998) or as a result of maximizing one’s potentials (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 2000; Maslow, 1971)....

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  • ...…American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 53, No. 1, 80–93 0022-0167/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-0167.53.1.80 80 pleasant affect, meaning is important, whether as a critical component (Ryff & Singer, 1998) or as a result of maximizing one’s potentials (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 2000; Maslow, 1971)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a 4-phase model of interest development, which describes four phases in the development and deepening of learner interest: triggered situational interest, maintained interest, emerging (less developed) individual interest, and well-developed individual interest.
Abstract: Building on and extending existing research, this article proposes a 4-phase model of interest development. The model describes 4 phases in the development and deepening of learner interest: triggered situational interest, maintained situational interest, emerging (less-developed) individual interest, and well-developed individual interest. Affective as well as cognitive factors are considered. Educational implications of the proposed model are identified.

3,014 citations


Cites background from "The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..."

  • ...In self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000), a person’s ability to satisfybasic psychological needs is a function of his or her valued outcomes, or goals. est for content (e.g., facilitation), then related new content, opportunities, or challenge provides additional…...

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  • ...…Linnebrink & Pintrich, 2000; Molden & Dweck, 2002; Pintrich, 2000), task value (Eccles et al., 1983; Wigfield & Eccles, 1992, 2002; Wigfield et al., 1997), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1981; Zimmerman, 1989, 2000b), and intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000)....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An analysis of a quarter century of research on intrinsic task interest and creativity revealed that (a) detrimental effects of reward occur under highly restricted, easily avoidable conditions; (b) mechanisms of instrumental and classical conditioning are basic for understanding incremental and decremental effects of Reward on task motivation.
Abstract: Based on seemingly overwhelming empirical evidence of the decremental effects of reward on intrinsic task interest and creativity, the use of reward to alter human behavior has been challenged in literature reviews, textbooks, and the popular media. An analysis of a quarter century of research on intrinsic task interest and creativity revealed, however, that (a) detrimental effects of reward occur under highly restricted, easily avoidable conditions; (b) mechanisms of instrumental and classical conditioning are basic for understanding incremental and decremental effects of reward on task motivation; and (c) positive effects of reward on generalized creativity are easily attainable using procedures derived from behavior theory.

886 citations


"The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..." refers result in this paper

  • ...Parenthetically, this meta-analysis repudiated a widely cited earlier meta-analysis by behaviorists Eisenberger and Cameron (1996) who claimed to show that the undermining effect of rewards was largely a myth, but whose methods and conclusions turned out to be fatally flawed....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The development of women's sense of self is a basic concept in development as mentioned in this paper, and women's self-awareness and self-love are two basic concepts in women's development.
Abstract: Part I, A Developmental Perspective. The Development of Women's Sense of Self, Miller. Women and Empathy: A Basic Concept in Development, Jordan, Surrey & Kaplan. The \"Self-in-Relation: A Theory of Women's Development, Surrey. Empathy and Self Boundaries, Jordan. The Meaning of Mutuality, Jordan. Beyond the Oedipus Complex: Mothers and Daughters, Stiver. Women's Self-Development in Late Adolescence, Kaplan & Gleason. Part II, Applications. The Meanings of Dependency in Female-Male Relationships, Stiver. Relationship and Empowerment, Surrey. The Construction of Anger in Women and Men, Miller. Women and Power, Miller. The \"Self-in-Relation\": Implications for Depression in Women, Kaplan. Work Inhibitions in Women, Stiver. Eating Patterns as a Reflection of Women's Development, Surrey. The Meaning of Care: Reframing Treatment Models, Stiver. Female or male Therapists for Women: New Formulations, Kaplan. Empathy, Mutuality, and Therapeutic Change: Clinical Implications of a Relational Model, Jordan.

873 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper found that the more "origin" the children perceived in their classroom, the higher their perceived self worth, cognitive competence, internal control, and mastery motivation, and the lower their perceived control by unknown sources or powerful others.
Abstract: Two studies examined the significance of children's perceptions of their classroom environment along autonomy versus external control dimensions. Study 1 related a self-report measure of the perceived classroom climate to other self-related constructs. In a sample of 140 elementary children, it was found that the more "origin" the children perceived in their classroom, the higher their perceived self worth, cognitive competence, internal control, and mastery motivation, and the lower their perceived control by unknown sources or powerful others. These relationships were primarily due to individual differences within classrooms rather than average classroom differences. Children also wrote projective stories about an ambiguous classroom scene. Ratings of these stories indicated that, within children's fantasy, origin-like behavior of students was associated with autonomy-oriented teachers and low aggression. Self-report and projective methods converged, particularly for children whose self-reported perceptions were extreme. In a second study (N = 578), relative contributions of classroom and individual difference effects were further examined. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of perceived autonomy and issues in assessment strategies.

871 citations


"The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..." refers background or result in this paper

  • ...However, to ascertain whether these processesdohave relevance in the real world, we examined them in such venues as schools (e.g., Ryan & Grolnick, 1986), clinics (Williams, Grow, et al., 1996), and the workplace (Deci, Connell et al., 1989)....

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  • ...Field studies in schools (e.g., Deci, Schwartz et al., 1981; Ryan & Grolnick, 1986) and work organizations (Deci, Connell, & Ryan, 1989) complemented the laboratory experiments by showing in real-world settings that providing autonomy support, relative to control, was associated with more positive…...

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  • ...For example, Ryan and Grolnick (1986) and Ryan, Stiller, and Lynch (1994) showed greater intrinsic motivation in students who experienced their teachers as warm and caring....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a diary study examined the proposal that satisfaction of two psychological needs, competence and autonomy, leads to daily well-being and found that participants higher in trait competence and trait autonomy tended to have "better" days on average.
Abstract: This diary study examined the proposal that satisfaction of two psychological needs, competence and autonomy, leads to daily well-being. Between-subjects analyses indicated that participants higher in trait competence and trait autonomy tended to have "better" days on average. Independently, within-subject analyses showed that good days were those in which participants felt more competent and autonomous in their daily activities, relative to their own baselines. Other predictors of daily well-being included gender, whether the day fell on a weekend, and the amount of negative affect and physical symptomatology felt the day before. Although past diary studies have tended to focus on threats to daily well-being, the authors suggest that psychological need concepts offer promise for understanding its positive sources.

852 citations


"The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursui..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In one study, Sheldon, Ryan, and Reis (1996) examined daily variations in autonomy and competence experiences....

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  • ...In response to Skinner’s (1953) claim that all learned behaviors are a function of reinforcements, one strand of the definition emphasized that intrinsically motivated behaviors do not depend on reinforcements—that is, they do not require operationally separable consequences—because the doing of an interesting activity is itself intrinsically rewarding....

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