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

doi:10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01

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

Journal Article•DOI•

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

Edward L. Deci¹, Richard M. Ryan•Institutions (1)

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.

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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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Journal Article•DOI•

On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of Research on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being

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Richard M. Ryan¹, Edward L. Deci•Institutions (1)

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.

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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.

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8,243 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Self‐determination theory and work motivation

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Marylène Gagné¹, Edward L. Deci²•Institutions (2)

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.

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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.

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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 Article•DOI•

Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership

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Bruce J. Avolio¹, William L. Gardner¹•Institutions (1)

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.

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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.

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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 Article•DOI•

The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the Presence of and Search for Meaning in Life

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Michael F. Steger¹, Patricia A. Frazier¹, Shigehiro Oishi², Matthew E. Kaler¹•Institutions (2)

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.

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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.

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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 Article•DOI•

The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development.

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Suzanne Hidi¹, K. Ann Renninger²•Institutions (2)

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.

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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.

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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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Ann M. Frodi¹, Lisa J. Bridges, Wendy S. Grolnick•Institutions (1)

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TL;DR: Infants whose mothers were supportive of their autonomy displayed greater task-oriented persistence and competence during play than did infants of more controlling mothers; securely attached and avoidant infants tended to exhibit greater persistence at tasks than anxious-ambivalent babies; and ambivalent babies were the most negative in affect.

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Abstract: The present study examined correlates of mastery-related behavior across the infant's second year of life. Maternal control style was quantified on a control to support-of-autonomy continuum, infant-mother attachment was assessed in the Strange Situation, and mastery-related behavior was observed in a toy play session at 12 and 20 months. Infants whose mothers were supportive of their autonomy displayed greater task-oriented persistence and competence during play than did infants of more controlling mothers; securely attached and avoidant infants tended to exhibit greater persistence at tasks than anxious-ambivalent babies, and ambivalent babies were the most negative in affect.

...read moreread less

169 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

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Julius Kuhl, Miguel Kazén

01 Jun 1994-Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

TL;DR: A new paradigm to investigate the tendency to falsely ascribe to oneself assigned goals (misinformed introjection or self-infiltration) and the better memory of self-chosen than of assigned prospective activities (self-choice effect) is explored.

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Abstract: A new paradigm to investigate the tendency to falsely ascribe to oneself assigned goals (misinformed introjection or self-infiltration) and the better memory of self-chosen than of assigned prospective activities (self-choice effect) is explored. In two experiments, state-oriented subjects showed significantly higher rates of false self-ascriptions of assigned activities than action-oriented subjects did (an individual-difference factor related to volitional efficiency; Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994b), whereas all subjects gave evidence of the self-choice effect. Specific manipulations to reduce and to increase the probability of occurrence of false self-ascriptions were also carried out (an intentional-learning instruction and task interruption, respectively). Finally, a first step was taken to examine the relationship between self-infiltration and the tendency to enact more self-chosen than assigned activities (self-determination).

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166 citations

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

...In conditions that thwart need satisfaction, people have, for example, been found to be more prone to introject regulations (Deci, Eghrari et al., 1994; Kuhl & Kazen, 1994), act incongruently (Sheldon, Ryan, Rawsthorne, & Ilardi, 1997), or become amotivated (Boggiano, 1998)....
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...Introjection is often manifested as ego involvements (Ryan, 1982), public self-consciousness (Plant & Ryan, 1985), or false self-ascriptions (Kuhl & Kazen, 1994)....
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