Self-determination Theory

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central focus of Deci and Ryan's (1987) cognitive evaluation theory is the impact of contextual variables on motivation. Their model has been successfully used to predict and explain how events associated with the performance of a particular activity affect motivation to pursue the same activity again. We describe here an extension of Deci and Ryan's model, integrated with notions adapted from deCharms' (1968) discussion of Origin and Pawn states. This extension and integration provides a model for predicting the generalization of motivational effects across different activities.

Deci and Ryan (1987) proposed that intrinsic motivation stems from drive-like human needs to be self-determining and competent, i.e., to be autonomous rather than externally-controlled. In concrete terms, an intrinsically motivated behaviour is that which appears to be spontaneously initiated by the person in pursuit of no other goal than the activity itself. According to Deci and Ryan, events that foster self-determination or competence will enhance or maintain intrinsic motivation, whereas events that weaken self-determination or competence will decrease intrinsic motivation.(1) Supporting research evidence shows that events that enhance self-perceived autonomous functioning produce increased intrinsic motivation for the target activity. The ability to make choices about how to pursue an activity, for example, has been shown to enhance or maintain intrinsic motivation (Enzle, Roggeveen, & Look, 1991; Zuckerman, Porac, Lathin, Smith, & Deci, 1978), as has positive performance feedback (e.g., Enzle & Ross, 1978; Vallerand & Reid, 1988). Externally-controlling events that are antagonistic to self-perceived autonomy, on the other hand, result in decreased intrinsic motivation and perceptions of external causality. Thus, task-contingent rewards (e.g., Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973), negative performance feedback (e.g., Enzle & Ross, 1978), and controlling forms of surveillance (e.g., Enzle & Anderson, 1993) have been shown to undermine intrinsic motivation.

The same body of research that supports Deci and Ryan's model also highlights what may be an artificial limit on the generality of intrinsic motivation effects. Because of the way hypotheses have been framed, the dependent variable in all research to date has been intrinsic motivation to pursue the same activity with which the autonomy-supporting and externally-controlling variables were associated. This makes good sense, of course, when the point of the investigation is to learn how people develop or lose intrinsic motivation to pursue particular activities. Deci and Ryan's theory, however, is not necessarily restricted to this level of specificity. When a person exercises choice with respect to some activity, is the person's sense of self-determination enhanced only as it relates to that activity, or does the effect also contribute to the individual's overall sense of personal autonomy?

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