Autonomous, controlled, and amotivated types of academic motivation: A person-oriented analysis.

The authors investigated students' profiles regarding autonomous, controlled, and amotivated regulation and tested whether profile groups differed on some academic adjustment outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 performed on high school students revealed 3 profiles: (a) students with high levels of both controlled motivation and amotivation but low levels of autonomous motivation, (b) students with high levels of both controlled and autonomous motivation but low levels of amotivation, and (c) students with moderate levels of both autonomous and controlled motivations but low levels of amotivation. These first 2 studies revealed that students in the high autonomous/high controlled group reported the highest degree of academic adjustment. Study 3 performed on college students revealed 3 profiles: (a) students with high levels of autonomous motivations but low levels of both controlled motivation and amotivation, (b) students with high levels of both autonomous and controlled motivation but low levels of amotivation, and (c) students with low to moderate levels of the various motivational components. Study 3 indicated that students in the autonomous group were more persistent than students in the other groups. Results are discussed in light of self-determination theory (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vitality and interest–enjoyment as a function of class-to-class variation in need-supportive teaching and pupils' autonomous motivation.

In 2 quasi-experimental field studies in a real-life physical education (PE) setting, the authors investigated whether the interest–enjoyment and vitality of Greek pupils (age range, 10–12 years) varied from class to class as a function of the class-to-class variation in the manipulated motivational environment (Studies 1 and 2) and pupils' relative autonomous motivation (Study 2). In Study 1, multilevel analyses showed at the within-student level that students (N = 138, 48.6% boys and 51.4% girls) reported, on average, more interest–enjoyment and vitality after a need-supportive, relative to a typical (i.e., control group), PE class. This main effect was replicated in Study 2 (N = 155, 53.6% boys and 46.4% girls), and Study 2 findings further showed at the between-student level that interest–enjoyment was somewhat higher among pupils scoring higher in relative autonomous motivation. Moreover, Study 2 provided evidence for an interaction effect such that pupils with high, as compared with those with low, relative autonomous motivation benefited significantly more from a need-supportive class. Perceived need support was found to fully explain the effects of manipulated need support on interest-enjoyment and vitality. Results are discussed within the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' motivational profiles and achievement outcomes in physical education: A self-determination perspective.

Previous studies in education have inspected the relations between students' autonomous versus controlled motivation and relevant outcomes. In most of those studies a global index of self-determined motivation was created. The purpose of this article was to examine (a) how the different types of motivation proposed by Self-Determination Theory combine into distinct profiles as identified by cluster analysis and (b) the links between those profiles and objective criteria of achievement. In Study 1, motivation toward physical education was assessed at the beginning of a 10-week gymnastics teaching cycle, and performance was assessed at the end of the cycle among a sample of high school students (N=210). Study 2 (N=215) extended Study 1 by controlling students' initial performance, measuring the effort they exerted and recording their grades. Cluster analyses revealed three motivational profiles: self-determined, non-self-determined, and moderate levels of both types of motivation. Path analysis showed that the self-determined profile was related to the highest achievement. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment of students' motivation and the consequences of motivational profiles for educational outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents' motivation toward the environment: Age-related trends and correlates.

From a self-determination perspective, we attempted to replicate previous findings suggesting that higher autonomous environmental motivation (i.e., acting out of choice and pleasure) is associated with the frequency of environmental behaviours such as recycling, paper reuse, and energy conservation. We also compared students' level of autonomous environmental motivation with their level of autonomous academic motivation. We then examined age effects on autonomous environmental motivation and compared them to age effects on autonomous academic motivation. A total of 200 high school students grouped into 5 age cohorts filled out a questionnaire. Results showed that (1) adolescents' autonomous environmental motivation was associated with more frequent environmental behaviours, (2) autonomous motivation was higher in the environmental than the school domain, and (3) autonomous environmental motivation was higher in older than younger students, whereas autonomous motivation toward school was equivalent across age groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exercising self-control increases approach motivation.

The present research tested the hypothesis that exercising self-control causes an increase in approach motivation. Study 1 found that exercising (vs. not exercising) self-control increases self-reported approach motivation. Study 2a identified a behavior—betting on low-stakes gambles—that is correlated with approach motivation but is relatively uncorrelated with self-control, and Study 2b observed that exercising self-control temporarily increases this behavior. Last, Study 3 found that exercising self-control facilitates the perception of a reward-relevant symbol (i.e., a dollar sign) but not a reward-irrelevant symbol (i.e., a percent sign). Altogether, these results support the hypothesis that exercising self-control temporarily increases approach motivation. Failures of self-control that follow from prior efforts at self-control (i.e., ego depletion) may be explained in part by increased approach motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Latent Motivational Change in an Academic Setting: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study.

This research examined changes in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation during the transition from junior to senior high school as well as the impact of motivational changes on various educational consequences (i.e., dropout intentions, absenteeism, homework frequency, and educational aspirations). A total of 646 participants completed a questionnaire in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade. Using the true intraindividual change modeling technique (R. Steyer, I. Partchev, & M. J. Shanahan, 2000), the authors reached results revealing that students' intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation decreased gradually from 8th to 10th grade. Furthermore, less educational adjustment was observed for students experiencing a decline in external regulation during the transitional year and students experiencing a decline in intrinsic motivation and identified regulation during the year after the transition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient.

Self-determination theory posits that the degree to which a prosocial act is volitional or autonomous predicts its effect on well-being and that psychological need satisfaction mediates this relation. Four studies tested the impact of autonomous and controlled motivation for helping others on well-being and explored effects on other outcomes of helping for both helpers and recipients. Study 1 used a diary method to assess daily relations between prosocial behaviors and helper well-being and tested mediating effects of basic psychological need satisfaction. Study 2 examined the effect of choice on motivation and consequences of autonomous versus controlled helping using an experimental design. Study 3 examined the consequences of autonomous versus controlled helping for both helpers and recipients in a dyadic task. Finally, Study 4 manipulated motivation to predict helper and recipient outcomes. Findings support the idea that autonomous motivation for helping yields benefits for both helper and recipient through greater need satisfaction. Limitations and implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Boredom in achievement settings: Exploring control–value antecedents and performance outcomes of a neglected emotion.

The linkages of achievement-related boredom with students' appraisals and performance outcomes were examined in a series of 5 exploratory, cross-sectional, and predictive investigations. Studies 1 and 2 assessed students' boredom in a single achievement episode (i.e., state achievement boredom); Studies 3, 4, and 5 focused on their habitual boredom (i.e., trait achievement boredom). Samples consisted of university students from two different cultural contexts (North America and Germany). In line with hypotheses derived from Pekrun's (2006) control–value theory of achievement emotions, achievement-related subjective control and value negatively predicted boredom. In turn, boredom related positively to attention problems and negatively to intrinsic motivation, effort, use of elaboration strategies, self-regulation, and subsequent academic performance. Findings were consistent across different constructs (state vs. trait achievement boredom), methodologies (qualitative, cross-sectional, and predictive), and cultural contexts. The research is discussed with regard to the underdeveloped literature on achievement emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conscious and nonconscious processes: Implications for self-determination theory.

According to Bargh's Auto-Motive model (Bargh, 1990, 1997a, 1997b; Bargh & Chartrand, 1999), automatic motivational processes are those that are consistently and frequently engaged when environmental cues and contexts similar to that of the past arise. For example, achievement and affiliation have been primed and have been shown to affect behaviour and perceptions in ways similar to conscious activation (e.g., Lakin & Chartrand, 2003). Emerging evidence now suggest that motivational processes related to self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), such as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can be nonconsciously primed and then influence perceptions and behaviours (e.g., Burton, Lydon, D'Alessandro, & Koestner, 2006; Levesque & Pelletier, 2003; Ratelle, Baldwin, & Vallerand, 2005). These nonconscious effects are shown to parallel the conscious effects of motivational processes. These findings challenge researchers interested in SDT and other humanistic theories to think about whether all behaviours and forms of regulation can be nonconsciously determined. In the present paper, the authors argue that automatic nonconscious processes are not always maladaptive and that autonomous (self-determined) as well as controlled forms of motivation can be automatically and nonconsciously activated. However, the authors also argue that conscious processes are essential to our daily experiences and necessary to modulate the manifestation and expression of nonconscious processes that are negative or detrimental to growth or well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Motivational Science Perspective on the Role of Student Motivation in Learning and Teaching Contexts.

A motivational science perspective on student motivation in learning and teaching contexts is developed that highlights 3 general themes for motivational research. The 3 themes include the importance of a general scientific approach for research on student motivation, the utility of multidisciplinary perspectives, and the importance of use-inspired basic research on motivation. Seven substantive questions are then suggested as important directions for current and future motivational science research efforts. They include (1) What do students want? (2) What motivates students in classrooms (3) How do students get what they want? (4) Do students know what they want or what motivates them? (5) How does motivation lead to cognition and cognition to motivation? (6) How does motivation change and develop? and (7) What is the role of context and culture? Each of the questions is addressed in terms of current knowledge claims and future directions for research in motivational science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Should students have a gap year? Motivation and performance factors relevant to time out after completing school.

Increasingly, school leavers are taking time out from study or formal work after completing high school—often referred to as a “gap year” (involving structured activities such as “volunteer tourism” and unstructured activities such as leisure). Although much opinion exists about the merits—or otherwise—of taking time out after completing school, relatively little research has sought to understand the gap year from a psychoeducational perspective. Harnessing the theories of planned behavior and reasoned action and using structural equation modeling, the author examines the academic factors that predict gap year intentions among 2,502 high school students (Study 1) and the academic profile in respect to gap year participation of 338 students in university or college (Study 2). Findings in Study 1 show that postschool uncertainty and lower levels of academic motivation predict gap year intentions, that lower motivation and lower performance predict postschool uncertainty, and that these effects are significant over and above the effects of demographic (gender, age, ethnicity) covariates. Findings in Study 2 show that gap year participation positively predicts academic motivation and that this effect is significant over and above the effects of demographic covariates. The present investigation centrally positions psychoeducational theorizing in relation to the potential yields of a gap year in resolving problematic motivation and performance profiles that may have precipitated students' postschool uncertainty and interest in taking a year out after completing school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stereotyped task engagement process: The role of interest and achievement motivation.

Competence-based stereotypes can negatively affect women's performance in math and science (referred to as stereotype threat), presumably leading to lower motivation. The authors examined the effects of stereotype threat on interest, a motivational path not necessarily mediated by performance. They predicted that working on a computer science task in the context of math-gender stereotypes would negatively affect undergraduate women's task interest, particularly for those higher in achievement motivation who were hypothesized to hold performance-avoidance goals in response to the threat. Compared with when the stereotype was nullified, while under stereotype threat an assigned performance-avoidance (vs. -approach) goal was associated with lower interest for women higher in achievement motivation (Study 1), and women higher (vs. lower) in achievement motivation were more likely to spontaneously adopt performance-avoidance goals (Study 2). The motivational influence of performance-avoidance goals under stereotype threat was primarily mediated by task absorption (Study 3). Implications for the stereotyped task engagement process (Smith, 2004) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations of motivational traits with workplace deviance.

The authors developed and tested new theoretical relations between approach and avoidance motivational traits and deviant work behaviors. Approach motivation was divided into 3 traits: personal mastery (i.e., desire to achieve), competitive excellence (i.e., desire to perform better than others), and behavioral activation system (BAS) sensitivity (i.e., responsiveness to rewards). Avoidance motivation, which reflects one's sensitivity to negative stimuli and the desire to escape such stimuli, was conceptualized as a unitary construct. Using structural equation modeling, the authors examined the relations of these 4 motivational traits with interpersonal and organizational deviance in a sample of primarily part-time employees. For the approach motivation traits, results showed that personal mastery was negatively related to interpersonal and organizational deviance, BAS sensitivity was positively related to interpersonal and organizational deviance, and competitive excellence was unrelated to both types of workplace deviance. Finally, avoidance motivation was positively related to organizational deviance and interacted with organizational constraints to predict interpersonal deviance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model of contextual motivation in physical education: Using constructs from self-determination and achievement goal theories to predict physical activity intentions.

Assessing the motivational responses of 328 secondary school students, this study examined a model of student motivation in physical education that incorporated constructs from achievement goal and self-determination theories. The focus was on the prediction of students' intention to partake in physical activity outside of physical education. Structural equation modeling analysis supported a model in which an autonomy-supportive climate, and to a lesser extent perceptions of a mastery climate, positively impacted hypothesized mediating variables (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) to foster self-determined motivation. Self-determined motivation was found to positively predict, whereas amotivation was a negative predictor of leisure-time physical activity intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Workaholic and work engaged employees: Dead ringers or worlds apart?

Building on Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory and Meijman and Mulder's Effort-Recovery Model, the present study examined the nature, antecedents, and consequences of working hard (i.e., workaholism and work engagement) in a Dutch convenience sample of 1,246 employees. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that workaholism and work engagement were two largely independent concepts. Crossing these two concepts yielded four types of workers: workaholic employees, engaged employees, engaged workaholics, and nonworkaholic/nonengaged employees. MANOVA and subsequent ANOVAs were used to compare these four groups regarding their motivation, working hours, and levels of burnout. As expected, study results revealed that workaholic employees were driven by controlled motivation, whereas engaged employees were driven by autonomous motivation. Engaged workaholics were driven by both controlled and autonomous motivation. In addition, the results revealed that engaged workaholics spent most time on working. Unlike workaholic employees, engaged workaholics did not experience the highest levels of burnout, suggesting that high engagement may buffer the adverse consequences of workaholism. The present study emphasizes the importance of differentiating among at least three categories of employees who work hard: workaholic employees, engaged employees, and—for the first time—engaged workaholics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perspective taking as a means to overcome motivational barriers in negotiations: When putting oneself into the opponent's shoes helps to walk toward agreements.

Previous negotiation research predominantly focused on psychological factors that lead to suboptimal compromises as opposed to integrative agreements. Few studies systematically analyzed factors that impact the emergence of hurtful partial impasses (i.e., nonagreements on part of the issues). The present research investigates negotiators' egoistic motivation as a determinant for the emergence of partial impasses. In addition, the authors seek to demonstrate that perspective taking serves as a powerful tool to avoid impasses and to overcome egoistic impediments. Specifically, it was predicted that within an integrative context perspective-takers succeed to exchange concessions on low- versus high-preference issues (i.e., logroll), thereby increasing their individual profits without inflicting hurtful losses upon their counterparts. Three studies were conducted to test these predictions. Study 1 reveals that whereas negotiators' egoistic motivation increases the risk of partial impasses, perspective taking alleviates this risk. Study 2 demonstrates that this beneficial effect of a perspective-taking mindset is limited to integrative negotiations and does not emerge in a distributive context, in which negotiators are constrained to achieve selfish goals by inflicting hurtful losses on their counterparts. Study 3 confirms the assumption that in an integrative context egoistic perspective-takers overcome the risk of impasses by means of logrolling. The findings of the present studies are discussed with respect to their contribution to research on negotiations, social motivation, and perspective taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Favoriser la motivation optimale et la santé mentale dans les divers milieux de vie.

Self-determination theory (SDT) differentiates motivation, with autonomous and controlled motivations constituting the key, broad distinction. Research has shown that autonomous motivation predicts persistence and adherence and is advantageous for effective performance, especially on complex or heuristic tasks that involve deep information processing or creativity. Autonomous motivation is also reliably related to psychological health. Considerable research has found interpersonal contexts that facilitate satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to enhance autonomous motivation, which comprises intrinsic motivation and well-internalized extrinsic motivation. SDT has been applied in varied cultures and in many life domains, and research is reviewed that has related autonomous and controlled motivation to education, parenting, work, health care, sport, and close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational “spill-over” during weight control: Increased self-determination and exercise intrinsic motivation predict eating self-regulation.

Objective: Successful weight management relies on at least two health behaviors, eating and exercise. However, little is known about their interaction on a motivational and behavioral level. Based on the Hierarchical Model of Motivation the authors examined whether exercise-specific motivation can transfer to eating regulation during a lifestyle weight control program. The authors further investigated whether general, treatment-related, and exercise motivation underlie the relation between increased exercise and improved eating regulation. Design: Overweight/obese women participated in a 1-year randomized controlled trial (N = 239). The intervention focused on promoting physical activity and internal motivation for exercise and weight loss, following Self-Determination Theory. The control group received general health education. Main Outcome Measures: General and exercise specific self-determination, eating self-regulation variables, and physical activity behavior. Results: General self-determination and more autonomous exercise motivation predicted eating self-regulation over 12 months. Additionally, general and exercise self-determination fully mediated the relation between physical activity and eating self-regulation. Conclusion: Increased general self-determination and exercise motivation seem to facilitate improvements in eating self-regulation during weight control in women. These motivational mechanisms also underlie the relationship between improvements in exercise behavior and eating regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Different strokes for different folks: How individual interest moderates the effects of situational factors on task interest.

Individual interest was examined as a moderator of effects of situational factors designed to catch and hold task interest. In Study 1, 96 college students learned a math technique with materials enhanced with collative features (catch) versus not. Catch promoted motivation among participants with low individual interest in math (IIM) but hampered motivation among those with high IIM. In Study 2 (n = 145), catch was crossed with a hold manipulation, emphasizing utility. Effects of each manipulation depended on IIM. The catch results were similar to those in Study 1. Hold promoted motivation among participants with high IIM and undermined it among participants with low IIM. Discussion centers on the intersection of individual and situational interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new decisional balance measure of motivation to change among at-risk college drinkers.

In this study, an open-ended decisional balance worksheet was used to elicit self-generated pros and cons of current drinking and reducing drinking, which were then quantified to create a decisional balance proportion (DBP) reflecting movement toward change (i.e., counts of pros of reducing drinking and cons of current drinking to all decisional balance fields). This study’s goal was to examine the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the DBP as a measure of motivation to change. Participants were college students (N = 143) who reported having engaged in weekly heavy, episodic drinking and who had participated in a larger randomized clinical trial of brief motivational interventions (K. B. Carey, M. P. Carey, S. A. Maisto, & J. M. Henson, 2006). Findings indicated partial support for convergent and discriminant validity of the DBP. Compared with Likert scale measures of decisional balance and readiness to change, DBP scores reflecting greater movement toward change best predicted reductions in heavy drinking quantity and frequency and experience of alcohol-related consequences, although some of these effects decayed by the 12-month follow-up. Findings suggest that the DBP is a valid measure of motivation to change among at-risk college drinkers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)