scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal Article•DOI•

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

Edward L. Deci1, Richard M. Ryan•
University of Rochester1
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.

Content maybe subject to copyright    Report

Citations
More filters
Journal Article•DOI•
On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of Research on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being

[...]

Richard M. Ryan1, Edward L. Deci•
University of Rochester1
01 Feb 2001-Annual Review of Psychology
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 Article•DOI•
Self‐determination theory and work motivation

[...]

Marylène Gagné1, Edward L. Deci2•
Concordia University1, University of Rochester2
01 Jun 2005-Journal of Organizational Behavior
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....

    [...]

  • ...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....

    [...]

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

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership

[...]

Bruce J. Avolio1, William L. Gardner1•
College of Business Administration1
01 Jun 2005-Leadership Quarterly
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)....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the Presence of and Search for Meaning in Life

[...]

Michael F. Steger1, Patricia A. Frazier1, Shigehiro Oishi2, Matthew E. Kaler1•
University of Minnesota1, University of Virginia2
01 Jan 2006-Journal of Counseling Psychology
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)....

    [...]

  • ...…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)....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development.

[...]

Suzanne Hidi1, K. Ann Renninger2•
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education1, Swarthmore College2
01 Jun 2006-Educational Psychologist
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…...

    [...]

  • ...…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)....

    [...]

References
More filters
Journal Article•DOI•
The Impact of Behavioural Difficulty on the Saliency of the Association Between Self-Determined Motivation and Environmental Behaviours

[...]

Isabelle Green-Demers1, Luc G. Pelletier, Sophie Ménard•
University of Ottawa1
01 Jul 1997-Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the impact of the perceived level of difficulty of environmental behaviours on the magnitude of the relationship between environmental self-determination and the occurrence of environmental behaviors, and proposed strategies for the promotion of environmental behaviour.
Abstract: The goal of the study is to evaluate the impact of the perceived level of difficulty of environmental behaviours on the magnitude of the relationship between environmental self-determination and the occurrence of environmental behaviours. The participants (n = 444) completed the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale, along with self-report measures of environmental behaviours and perceived difficulty of environmental behaviours. Three types of environmental behaviours are examined: Recycling, purchasing environmentally-friendly products, and educating oneself as to what can be done for the environment. It is hypothesized that the level of self-determination of environmental motivation predicts the occurrence of environmental behaviours significantly. Moreover, the magnitude of the relationship between self-determination and environmental behaviours is expected to increase with the level of perceived difficulty of the behaviours. Data are subjected to structural equation modeling analyzes (EQS). Results support the proposed hypotheses. Self-determination displays a significant relationship with environmental behaviours, and the magnitude of this relationship increases with the difficulty of the environmental behaviour. Current environmental research trends and applied intervention strategies are discussed on the basis of this finding. Strategies for the promotion of environmental behaviours are proposed.

236 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
Esteem threat, self-regulatory breakdown, and emotional distress as factors in self-defeating behavior.

[...]

Roy F. Baumeister1•
Case Western Reserve University1
01 Jun 1997-Review of General Psychology
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined patterns of human self-defeating or self-destructive behavior in relation to several hypothesized causes and found that threatened egotism appears to be a major, pervasive cause.
Abstract: Patterns of human self-defeating or self-destructive behavior are examined in relation to several hypothesized causes. Threatened egotism appears to be a major, pervasive cause: Self-defeating resp...

232 citations

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

  • ...According to Baumeister (1997), such behaviors result either from threats to egotism or breakdowns of self-regulation that entail emotional distress....

    [...]

  • ...An extensive review by Baumeister and Scher (1988) of research on self-destructive behavior patterns among nonclinical adults concluded that there is considerable evidence that normal adults engage in a variety of self-defeating behaviors, often ones that involve some gain, but at serious cost....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
Why Do People Fail to Adopt Environmental Protective Behaviors? Toward a Taxonomy of Environmental Amotivation1

[...]

Luc G. Pelletier1, Stéphanie C. Dion1, Kim M. Tuson1, Isabelle Green-Demers1•
University of Ottawa1
01 Dec 1999-Journal of Applied Social Psychology
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed four types of amotivation: strategy, capacity, effort, and helplessness beliefs, and found that effort beliefs did not display a significant relationship with helplessness belief.
Abstract: Individuals' reasons for their lack of motivation toward environmental protective behaviors were proposed: amotivation because of strategy, capacity, effort, and helplessness beliefs. Confirmatory factor analyses and correlations between the four types of amotivation and constructs related to the environment supported the validity of the constructs. A structural model in which helplessness beliefs could be predicted by the other sets of beliefs, and wherein strategy and ability beliefs resulted from effort beliefs, was tested. All estimated parameters were significant, with the exception of one link: amotivation because of effort beliefs did not display a significant relationship with helplessness beliefs. The importance of understanding why individuals may be amotivated and the strategies liable to help reduce their lack of motivation are discussed.

225 citations

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

  • ...These finding were also consistent with research by Pelletier et al. (1999) on the beliefs associated with amotivation....

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Examination of Reasons for Academic Study based on the Theory of Internalization

[...]

Toshihiko Hayamizu1•
Nagoya University1
01 May 1997-Japanese Psychological Research
TL;DR: In this article, the Stepping Motivation Scale, created by the author, was administered to 483 junior high school students to measure four types of motivation: external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic.
Abstract: In contrast with the view that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are antagonistic, the view proposed in this article is that they are anchors of a continuous variable. According to the theory set out here, intrinsic motivation develops by means of internalization. This gives rise to four types of motivation: external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic. The main purpose of this study was to construct a scale to measure these four types of motivation for academic achievement and then to examine its validity. The Stepping Motivation Scale, created by the author, was administered to 483 junior high school students. Intercorrelations among the four subscales conformed to a simplex structure, and documented a continuum from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. To clarify the distinction among the four types of motivation, relevant variables such as causal attributions and coping behaviors in failing situations, beliefs in links between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and teachers' evaluation of students' motivation were related to motivation types. A difference in motivational types was exhibited in the differential patterns of correlations.

218 citations

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

  • ...Hayamizu (1997) used the self-regulation questionnaire to assess the motivation of junior high school students in Japan and found that the autonomous forms of motivation were associated with positive coping whereas the controlled forms were associated with maladaptive coping....

    [...]

  • ...Hayamizu (1997) and Yamauchi and Tanaka (1998) assessed external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic motives in Japanese students, showing a simplex-like structure to the relations among these regulatory styles and also effects of these styles on attitudes, coping, and outcomes that are similar…...

    [...]

Journal Article•DOI•
The undermining effect is a reality after all—Extrinsic rewards, task interest, and self-determination: Reply to Eisenberger, Pierce, and Cameron (1999) and Lepper, Henderlong, and Gingras (1999).

[...]

Edward L. Deci1, Richard Koestner, Richard M. Ryan•
University of Rochester1
01 Nov 1999-Psychological Bulletin

214 citations

Related Papers (5)
Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.

[...]

01 Jan 2000-American Psychologist
Richard M. Ryan, Edward L. Deci
Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior

[...]

01 Mar 1988-Contemporary Sociology
Karen A. Miller, Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan
Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives

[...]

01 Jan 1999-Structural Equation Modeling
Li-tze Hu, Peter M. Bentler
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

[...]

01 May 1995-Psychological Bulletin
Roy F. Baumeister, Mark R. Leary
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.

[...]

01 Jan 2000-Contemporary Educational Psychology
Richard M. Ryan, Edward L. Deci