self determination theory presentation

Self Determination Theory and How It Explains Motivation

Traditionally, self-determination has been more used in this diplomatic and political context to describe the process a country undergoes to assert its independence.

However, self-determination also has a more personal and psychology-relevant meaning today: the ability or process of making one’s own choices and controlling one’s own life.

Self-determination is a vital piece of psychological wellbeing; as you may expect, people like to feel control of their own lives.

In addition to this idea of controlling one’s own destiny, the theory of self-determination is relevant to anyone hoping to guide their live more.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

This Article Contains

What is the meaning of self-determination theory, self-determination theory and goals, self-determination theory in (special) education and disability, self-determination theory and work motivation, self-determination theory in social work, self-determination theory in sports, self-determination theory in nursing and healthcare, how to promote and encourage self-determination skills, recommended books, 11 quotes on self-determination, a take-home message, frequently asked questions.

Self-Determination Theory, or SDT, links personality, human motivation, and optimal functioning. It posits that there are two main types of motivation—intrinsic and extrinsic—and that both are powerful forces in shaping who we are and how we behave (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

It is a theory that grew out of researchers Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan’s work on motivation in the 1970s and 1980s. Although it has grown and expanded since then, the basic tenets of the theory come from Deci and Ryan’s seminal 1985 book on the topic.

Relevant reading: Intrinsic Coaching: What Is It and How to Apply It?

Deci and Ryan’s Theory of Motivation (1985)

According to Deci and Ryan, extrinsic motivation is a drive to behave in certain ways based on external sources and it results in external rewards (1985). Such sources include grading systems, employee evaluations, awards and accolades, and the respect and admiration of others.

On the other hand, intrinsic motivation comes from within. There are internal drives that inspire us to behave in certain ways, including our core values, our interests, and our personal sense of morality.

It might seem like intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are diametrically opposed—with intrinsic driving behavior in keeping with our “ideal self” and extrinsic leading us to conform with the standards of others—but there is another important distinction in the types of motivation. SDT differentiates between autonomous motivation and controlled motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2008).

Autonomous motivation includes motivation that comes from internal sources and includes motivation from extrinsic sources for individuals who identify with an activity’s value and how it aligns with their sense of self. Controlled motivation is comprised of external regulation —a type of motivation where an individual acts out of the desire for external rewards or fear of punishment.

On the other hand, introjected regulation is motivation from “partially internalized activities and values” such as avoiding shame , seeking approval, and protecting the ego.

When an individual is driven by autonomous motivation, they may feel self-directed and autonomous; when the individual is driven by controlled motivation, they may feel pressure to behave in a certain way, and thus, experience little to no autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2008).

The Self-Determination Model, Scale, and Continuum

We are complex beings who are rarely driven by only one type of motivation. Different goals, desires, and ideas inform us what we want and need. Thus, it is useful to think of motivation on a continuum ranging from “non-self-determined to self-determined.”

At the left end of the spectrum, we have amotivation , in which an individual is completely non-autonomous, has no drive to speak of, and is struggling to have any of their needs met. In the middle, we have several levels of extrinsic motivation.

One step to the right of amotivation is external regulation , in which motivation is exclusively external and regulated by compliance, conformity, and external rewards and punishments.

The next level of extrinsic motivation is termed introjected regulation , in which the motivation is somewhat external and is driven by self-control, efforts to protect the ego, and internal rewards and punishments.

In identified regulation , the motivation is somewhat internal and based on conscious values and that which is personally important to the individual.

The final step of extrinsic motivation is integrated regulation , in which intrinsic sources and the desire to be self-aware are guiding an individual’s behavior.

The right end of the continuum shows an individual entirely motivated by intrinsic sources. In intrinsic regulation , the individual is self-motivated and self-determined, and driven by interest, enjoyment, and the satisfaction inherent in the behavior or activity he or she is engaging in.

Although self-determination is generally the goal for individuals, we can’t help but be motivated by external sources—and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are highly influential determinants of our behavior, and both drive us to meet the three basic needs identified by the SDT model:

• Autonomy : people have a need to feel that they are the masters of their own destiny and that they have at least some control over their lives; most importantly, people have a need to feel that they are in control of their own behavior.
• Competence : another need concerns our achievements, knowledge, and skills; people have a need to build their competence and develop mastery over tasks that are important to them.
• Relatedness (also called Connection): people need to have a sense of belonging and connectedness with others; each of us needs other people to some degree (Deci & Ryan, 2008).

According to the developers of SDT, Deci and Richard M. Ryan, individual differences in personality result from the varying degrees to which each need has been satisfied—or thwarted (2008). The two main aspects on which individuals differ include causality orientations and aspirations or life goals .

Causality orientations refer to how people adapt and orient themselves to their environment and their degree of self-determination in general, across many different contexts. The three causality orientations are:

• Autonomous : all three basic needs are satisfied.
• Controlled : competence and relatedness are somewhat satisfied but autonomy is not.
• Impersonal : none of the three needs are satisfied.

Aspirations or life goals are what people use to guide their own behavior. They generally fall into one of the two categories of motivation mentioned earlier: intrinsic or extrinsic. Deci and Ryan provide affiliation, generativity, and personal development as examples of intrinsic life goals, while they list wealth, fame, and attractiveness as examples of extrinsic life goals (2008).

Aspirations and life goals drive us, but they are considered learned desires instead of basic needs like autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

SDT presents two sub-theories for a more nuanced understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. These sub-theories are Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) and Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) which help explain intrinsic motivation with regards to its social factors and the various degrees of contextual factors that influence extrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Let’s take a deeper look:

Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET)

According to CET intrinsic motivation can be facilitating or undermining , depending on the social and environmental factors in play. Referring to the Needs Theory, Deci & Ryan (1985,2000) argue that interpersonal events, rewards, communication and feedback that gear towards feelings of competence when performing an activity will enhance intrinsic motivation for that particular activity.

However, this level of intrinsic motivation is not attained if the individual doesn’t feel that the performance itself is self-determined or that they had the autonomous choice to perform this activity.

So, for a high level of intrinsic motivation two psychological needs have to be fulfilled:

• The first is competence so that the activity results in feelings of self-development and efficacy .
• The second is the need for autonomy that the performance of the chosen activity was self-initiated or self-determined.

Thus for CET theory to hold true, motivation needs to be intrinsic and have an appeal to the individual. It also implies that intrinsic motivation will be enhanced or undermined depending on whether the needs for autonomy and competence are supported or thwarted respectively.

It is believed that the use of the needs for autonomy and competence are linked to our motivations. Deci conducted a study on the effects of extrinsic rewards on people’s intrinsic motivation.

Results showed that when people received extrinsic rewards (e.g., money) for doing something, eventually they were less interested and less likely to do it later, compared to people who did the same activity without receiving the reward.

The results were interpreted as the participants’ behavior, which was initially intrinsically motivated, became controlled by the rewards which lead to an undermined sense of autonomy. This concept is beautifully explained in this video by RSA Animate.

Organismic Integration Theory (OIT)

The second sub-theory is Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) that argues that extrinsic motivation depends on the extent to which autonomy is present.

In other words, extrinsic motivation varies according to the internalization and integration of the value of the activity. Internalization is how well the value of an activity is felt while integration explains the process of individual transformation from external regulation to their own self-regulated version (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

For instance, school assignments are externally regulated activities. Internalization here could be if the child sees the value and importance of the assignment; integration in this situation is the degree to which the child perceives performing the assignment as their own choice.

The OIT thus offers us a greater perspective on the different levels of extrinsic motivation that exist and the processes of internalization and integration, which could eventually result in the autonomous choice of performing the activity for its intrinsic perceived joy and value.

Examples of SDT in Psychology

To understand self-determination theory, it can be useful to see some examples of people who are high in self-determination, or thinking and acting in an autonomous and intrinsically motivated fashion.

The best description of a self-determined individual is someone who:

• Believes she is in control of her own life.
• Takes responsibility for her own behavior (taking credit and blame when either is warranted).
• Is self-motivated instead of driven by others’ standards or external sources.
• Determines her actions based on her own internal values and goals.

For example, imagine a high school student who fails an important test. If she is high in self-determination—feels responsible for her actions, believes she is in control of her behavior, etc.—she might tell her parents that she could have spent more time studying and that she plans to carve out some extra time to study.

Her plan of action would be the same whether her parents were upset or apathetic, because she herself is motivated by an internal desire to be competent and knowledgeable.

If this same student is low in self-determination—feels that she is not in control of her life and that she is a victim of circumstance—she might blame the teacher for giving a tough test that students were not ready for. She may blame her parents for not helping her study or her friends for distracting her.

If she does care about her grade, it is not due to an internal desire to do well, but a desire to win her parents’ approval, or perhaps bolster her self-image by getting the best grade in the class or impressing her teacher with her knowledge.

The man who decides to start a new hobby because he thinks he’ll enjoy it is exhibiting self-determination, while the man who begins a new hobby because it seems prestigious or impressive, is not.

Similarly, the woman who blames all of her ex-lovers for ruining their relationships is not displaying self-determination; the woman who takes responsibility for her part in contributing to unhappy past relationships is showing self-determination.

You may have spotted the theme here: those who take responsibility for their actions and do things because they align with their own personal values and goals are self-determined. Those who blame others, see themselves as constant victims and do things solely for external approval or recognition, are not.

Self-Determination Theory Questionnaires

Feel free to use any of them for academic or research purposes, but please note that to use any of the scales for commercial purposes, you will need to seek permission from Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan.

They list 17 questionnaires that are either directly or indirectly related to self-determination theory. These questionnaires are listed below.

Aspiration Index

This scale measures the extent to which seven broad goal domains motivate the individual, including wealth, fame, image, personal growth, relationships, community contribution, and health. Respondents rate the importance of each aspiration, their beliefs about the likelihood they will attain each, and the degree to which they have already attained each. You can find the complete packet for this scale here .

Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Scale (BPNSS)

This scale was developed to assess the extent to which the individual feels each of the three basic needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—have been satisfied in his or her life. This scale has been developed for several contexts, like work and relationships, but there is a more general form as well. You can learn more about this scale or download a version for your own use here .

Christian Religious Internalization Scale (CRIS)

The CRIS, also known as the Religion Self-Regulation Questionnaire or SRQ-R, can determine the reasons why an individual engages in religious behavior. The scale is divided into two subscales: Introjected Regulation, representing the more externally motivating factors, and Identified Regulation, representing the more internally motivation factors.

There is a long form version with 48 items and a shorter, psychometrically sound 12-item version. Click here to learn more about the CRIS.

General Causality Orientations Scale

The General Causality Orientations Scale, or GCOS, can determine the degree to which the respondent embodies the three orientations: the autonomy orientation, the controlled orientation, and the impersonal orientation. The GCOS presents vignettes, or descriptions of common social or achievement-oriented situations, and asks respondents to indicate how typical each of three responses is for them on a 7-point Likert scale.

It is also available in a long form (17 vignettes and 51 items) and a short form (12 vignettes and 36 items). You can learn more about the GCOS or download it at this link .

Health-Care SDT Packet (HC-SDT)

The HC-SDT is comprised of three scales that measure self-regulation (SRQ), perceived competence (PCS), and perceived autonomy supportiveness of healthcare climate (HCCQ), three self-determination constructs related to health behaviors. The scales target four health behaviors: smoking cessation, diet improvement, exercising regularly and drinking responsibly. Click here to learn more about the HC-SDT.

Index of Autonomous Functioning (IAF)

The IAF measures trait autonomy based on three subscales: authorship/self-congruence, interest-taking, and low susceptibility to control. The first subscale assesses the degree to which the individual views his behavior as under his control and the consistency among his behaviors, attitudes, and traits .

The second assesses his ongoing insight into himself and his experiences in an open-minded manner, and the third assesses the absence of internal and external pressures as motivators for his behavior. You can download the scale at this link .

Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI)

This scale was developed for use in experiments, and measures the extent to which respondents found an activity interesting or enjoyable, their perceived competence at the task, the effort they put into the task, how valuable or useful they found it, how much tension or pressure they felt, and how much choice they felt they had while completing it.

The interest/enjoyment subscale is considered the individual’s self-reported level of intrinsic motivation in the experiment. Click here to download the scale and learn more.

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)

The MAAS may be familiar to you if you’ve read any of our pieces on mindfulness. It provides a measure of “receptive awareness and attention to present-moment events and experience.” It consists of 15 items, all of which comprise a single factor. SDT co-developer Richard M. Ryan developed this scale with another colleague in 2003. Click here to learn more about the MAAS scale and see suggested reading on mindfulness .

Motivators’ Orientation

The Motivators’ Orientation set of questionnaires measures the extent to which an individual in a supervisory capacity tends to be autonomy-supportive versus controlling. There are two questionnaires designed for specific contexts: the Problems in Schools Questionnaire (PIS) is designed for teachers, while the Problems at Work Questionnaire (PAW) is designed for managers in a work environment.

Each questionnaire requires respondents to read eight vignettes and rate four behavioral options on appropriateness for the situation. The four options represent four tendencies: Highly Autonomy Supportive (HA), Moderately Autonomy Supportive (MA), Moderately Controlling (MC), and Highly Controlling, (HC). You can learn more about these scales here .

Motives for Physical Activity Measure (MPAM-R)

The MPAM-R assesses the strength of five different motivations for participating in a physical activity like team sports, aerobics, or weight lifting: (1) fitness, (2) appearance, (3) competence/challenge, (4) social, and (5) enjoyment. The results of this scale can reliably predict behavioral outcomes like attendance, persistence, and maintained participation, as well as constructs like mental health and wellbeing. You can find more information on this scale at this link .

Perceived Autonomy Support

This is a set of scales that measures the individual’s perceptions of the extent to which a particular social context is autonomy-supportive or controlling. It includes the aforementioned health care climate questionnaire (HCCQ) as well as scales on the learning climate (LCQ), the work climate (WCQ), the sports climate (SCQ), and the parental autonomy support climate (P-PASS).

Respondents rate the autonomy supportiveness of the context on a 7-point scale, with higher scores indicating greater autonomy support. There are two versions for each scale: a long, 15-item version and a short, 5-item version. Click here to learn more about these scales.

Perceived Choice and Awareness of Self Scale (formerly the Self-Determination Scale [SDS])

This scale, which was previously known as simply the Self-Determination Scale (SDS), measures individual differences in perceived choice, or the feeling that one has choices in how to behave, and awareness of self, or the awareness of one’s own feelings and sense of self. The PCASS is only 10 items long and is composed of two 5-item scales (one for each construct). Follow this link to learn more about the PCASS.

Perceived Competence Scale (PCS)

The PCS is a short questionnaire that measures perceived competence in a specific behavior or area. It is only 4 items long, and it is intended to be adapted for the specific behavior or area being studied. Click here to learn more about the PCS.

Perceptions of Parents

This scale for children was designed to measure how autonomy-supportive or controlling they perceive their parents to be. There are two versions of this scale: a 22-item version for children 8 years or older, and a 42-item version for college students. You can learn more about this scale and the two versions here .

Self-Regulation Questionnaires (SRQ)

The SRQ scales measure individual differences in regulation or motivation of behavior. There are seven self-regulation questionnaires listed on the website: the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A) and the Prosocial Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-P), both of which are intended for children, and the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire (TSRQ), the Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L), the Exercise Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-E), the Religion Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-R), and the Friendship Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-F), which are all intended for adults.

You can find these questionnaires at this link .

Subjective Vitality Scale (VS)

The Subjective Vitality Scale, or VS, assesses the extent to which an individual feels alive, alert, and energetic—a vital aspect of wellbeing. There are two versions, one of which considers individual differences (vitality as a trait or characteristic), while the other measures vitality as a more transitory experience (vitality as a state).

The items are generally the same, only the timeframe differs (long-term and stable for the trait version vs. short-term and fluctuating for the state version). The original scale consisted of 7 items, but a shorter, 6-item version has proven to be even more sound than the original. You can learn more about the scale here .

Treatment Motivation Questionnaire (TMQ)

Finally, the TMQ is used to assess motivation for receiving treatment. It measures the strength of four types of motivation on treatment attendance and compliance behaviors: intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, and external regulation. You can download the scale or learn more about it here .

If you’re interested in assessing more traits and behaviors, please see our piece on mindfulness scales and questionnaires .

SDT has a lot to say about goals and goal striving.

The theory proposes that not only is the content of our goals (i.e., what we strive for) important for our need satisfaction and wellbeing, the process of our goals (i.e., why we strive for them) is just as influential on our wellbeing.

The degree to which behavioral regulation of goal striving is autonomous (or self-directed) versus controlled is a significant predictor of wellbeing outcomes.

In other words, we are more satisfied and successful when we can pursue goals in “our own way” rather than according to a strict, external system of regulation. Even when pursuing extrinsic rewards like wealth or fame, we are more satisfied and self-actualized when we pursue them autonomously, for our own reasons and with our own methods (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Further research on SDT and goals has confirmed the connection between success and autonomy and supported the idea that success is also more likely when our goals are intrinsic and intended to satisfy our basic needs. Success in goal-striving is more likely when we are supported by empathetic and supportive people, rather than controlling or directive people (Koestner & Hope, 2014).

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It’s easy to see how SDT applies to education: students are more likely to learn and succeed in school when they are intrinsically motivated by their need for competence than when they are extrinsically motivated by teachers, parents, or the grading system.

SDT is doubly important for children in special education and those with disabilities. These students are often struggling with meeting their need for autonomy, as many decisions are made for them and they may not have the physical or intellectual ability to be truly autonomous.

Their disability may interfere with their need for competence, as it can hamper their efforts to master tasks and develop their knowledge. Finally, those with disabilities—physical, mental, or both—often find it difficult to connect with their peers. All of these extra struggles explain why it’s vital for students with disabilities to have a sense of self-determination.

Although they may not be able to satisfy their needs in the most straightforward or common ways, special education students can gain a sense of self-determination in other ways. For example, research has suggested that programs designed to improve the following skills and abilities can boost a student’s self-determination:

• Self-awareness
• Decision-making
• Goal-setting
• Goal attainment
• Communication and relationship skills
• Ability to celebrate success and learn from mistakes
• Reflection on experiences (Field & Hoffman, 1994).

Enhancing the self-determination of students with disabilities has been shown to result in many positive outcomes, including a greater likelihood of gainful employment and a higher chance of living independently in the community (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1997; Wehmeyer & Palmer, 2003).

While there are many theories about work motivation and engagement, SDT is unique in its focus on the “relative strength of autonomous versus controlled motivation, rather than on the total amount of motivation” (Gagné & Deci, 2005).

Although the overall amount of motivation is certainly a factor, it’s important not to lose sight of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators; for example, SDT is correct in its assumption that extrinsic rewards are related to reduced intrinsic motivation.

There is also evidence for a positive relationship between a manager’s autonomy support and their employees’ work outcomes. A manager’s autonomy leads to greater levels of need satisfaction for their employees, which in turn boosts job satisfaction , performance evaluations, persistence, acceptance of organizational change, and psychological adjustment.

Finally, there is a link between managerial autonomy and subordinate autonomy, performance, and organizational commitment, as well as a link between transformational or visionary leadership and followers’ autonomous (vs. controlled) goals (Gagné & Deci, 2005).

Clearly, SDT has some vital applications in the workplace, namely:

• Extrinsic rewards should be considered with caution; too few can lead to a sense that employees are not appreciated or fairly compensated and recognized, but too many can inhibit intrinsic motivation.
• Managers should support their employees’ need for satisfaction, especially autonomy; this can lead to happier and more competent employees as well as better organizational outcomes.
• When managers are themselves high in autonomy, their subordinates are likely to be high in autonomy as well, leading to better performance and higher organizational commitment.
• Good leadership encourages employees to set their own, autonomously conceived and regulated goals, which are more motivating and more likely to end in success than goals assigned to them by management.

SDT is a foundational idea in social work: the idea that every person has a right to determine his or her own direction and make her or her own decisions in life. Although every person has a right to self-determination, marginalized, disadvantaged, and disenfranchised people may struggle with finding their own self-determination (Furlong, 2003).

Hence, it is vital for those in the social work profession to incorporate the principle of self-determination into their work.

The National Association of Social Workers holds this principle as a central tenet to the profession:

“Social workers respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals. Social workers may limit clients’ right to self-determination when, in the social workers’ professional judgment, clients’ actions or potential actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others.”

Guidelines related to self-determination require a constant commitment to allow clients to make their own decisions, with ample support and information from the social worker rather than direction and control. It also requires that a social worker be aware of their own values and beliefs to ensure that they are not influencing clients towards a direction they did not choose for themselves (Fanning, 2015).

It’s a fine line to walk between looking out for the client’s best interests and allowing them to find their own way, which is one reason why social work is a challenging and demanding profession!

Unsurprisingly, intrinsic motivation is a far more impactful driver of behavior in terms of goal attainment than extrinsic rewards, and in no context is this fact easier to see than in sports.

Research has shown that:

• Those who are amotivated (not motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic factors) or motivated by external regulation and meeting external standards are more likely to drop out of sports teams or leagues.
• Those who are amotivated or externally motivated are generally lower in need satisfaction, specifically the needs of relatedness and autonomy (Calvo, Cervelló, Jiménez, Iglesias, & Murcia, 2010).

Further, in work on SDT and general exercise or physical activity, findings have included:

• Those who are autonomously motivated are more likely to adhere to exercise over time and enter the state of flow (a la Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow).
• Those who are autonomously motivated have a higher perceived competence and psychological wellbeing.
• Autonomous support from others encourages individuals’ autonomous motivation related to exercise.
• An internal locus of causality (versus external) promotes greater success in exercise endeavors (Hagger, & Chatzisarantis, 2008).

As with self-determination in many other contexts, those with a high sense of it are more likely to stick with their goals and eventually achieve them.

Likewise, self-determination theory can explain trends in nursing and healthcare. For example, intrinsic motivation and autonomy drive patient compliance with medical instructions, but motivation to comply with standards is also significant for patients (Kofi, 2017).

Another recent study provided support for the hypothesis that a health care practitioner’s autonomy support encourages patients to engage in healthier behavior, boosts their perceived competence in those behaviors, and can even enhance their sense of mindfulness in addition to helping them meet the three basic needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness; Martin, Byrd, Wooster, & Kulik, 2017).

Just as self-determination is vital for students in educational settings, it is vital for patients in healthcare settings. When patients feel they have little control over their lives and they are not supported in their decision-making by healthcare professionals, they will likely struggle to get their needs met and have worse health outcomes.

Healthcare professionals should keep these findings in mind when interacting with their patients if they have an interest in encouraging healthy behavior outside of the examination room.

It may be difficult to think about how self-determination skills can be taught or encouraged in others. This might feel like a trick question, since self-determination is, by definition, not directed by others!

However, there are some things you can do to help children and young adults develop self-determination.

Specifically, it can help to enhance and encourage their:

• Self-awareness and self-knowledge
• Goal-setting ability
• Problem-solving skills
• Decision-making skills
• Ability to self-advocate
• Ability to create action plans to achieve their goals
• Self-regulation and self-management skills (Wehmeyer, 2002).

For some practical suggestions on how to go about encouraging self-determination, check out our Self-Determination Skills and Activities article .

If you’re interested in learning more about SDT, you’re in luck! There are many resources out there that can help you become more familiar with this theory, including some great books. Some of the most popular and influential books on SDT include:

• Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness by Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci ( Amazon )
• Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward L. Deci and Richard Flaste ( Amazon )
• Self-Determination Theory in the Clinic: Motivating Physical and Mental Health by Kennon M. Sheldon, Geoffrey Williams, and Thomas Joiner ( Amazon )
• Handbook of Self-Determination Research by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan ( Amazon )
• The Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation, and Self-Determination Theory by Marylene Gagne ( Amazon )
• Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan ( Amazon link )
• The Theory of Self-Determination by Fernando R. Tesón ( Amazon )
• Self-Determination Theory in Practice: How to Create an Optimally Supportive Health Care Environment by Jennifer G. La Guardia ( Amazon )

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If you’re the type of person that loves a good quote, we’ve got some great ones related to self-determination for you. See if any resonate with your personal view on self-determination.

“Stay focused and stay determined. Don’t look to anyone else to be your determination—have self-determination. It will take you very far.”

Justice Smith

“My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it’s very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do.”

Ani DiFranco

“America was born out of a desire for self-determination, a longing for the human dignity that only independence can bring.”

Maurice Saatchi

“Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.”

“Know what you want and reach out eagerly for it.”

Lailah Gifty Akita

“We each possess the capacity for self-development. We also possess the capacity for self-destruction. The path that we chose to take—to pursue lightness or darkness—is the story that we take to our graves.”

Kilroy J. Oldster

“We are condemned to be free people, liberated people who must make life-defining decisions. Freedom requires choices and all choices entail value decisions.”

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”

Nora Ephron

“Let every man be master of his time.”

William Shakespeare

“Self-determination is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril.”

Woodrow Wilson

“Control your own destiny or someone else will.”

I hope you enjoyed this piece on Self-Determination Theory. It’s a great theory if you plan to have any career in the helping industry (e.g., counselor, coach, teacher, healthcare professional), and it’s also a great theory to understand regardless.

Although this theory has the impressive ability to predict outcomes of behavior based on motivations for that behavior (at least in part), the real value for the individual comes in the form of understanding the self better. When we know our core values and the intrinsic goals aligned with those values, we may be happier.

This method may even help people make better choices that satisfy their own needs rather than strive towards extrinsic goals.

If you take one thing away from the piece, let it be that you—like all people—are fully capable of making choices and finding your own way. As long as you pursue goals guided by your authentic values and desires, you have a great chance of success.

What do you think about self-determination theory? Do you think intrinsic motivation is always more effective than extrinsic motivation? Which do you find drives you more? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free .

Self-Determination Theory proposes that there are three fundamental psychological needs that are essential for human flourishing:

• autonomy – to feel in control of one’s own life and choices
• competence – to feel capable and effective in one’s actions
• relatedness – to feel connected to and cared for by others.

These needs are considered universal and innate, and fulfilling them promotes wellbeing and optimal functioning in individuals.

Self-Determination Theory was defined by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, two psychologists who proposed the theory in the 1980s as a framework for understanding human motivation and personality.

Self-Determination Theory is based on two key assumptions:

First – humans have innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Second – individuals who satisfy these needs will experience greater wellbeing, personal growth, and optimal functioning.

• Calvo, T. G., Cervelló, E., Jiménez, R., Iglesias, D., & Murcia, J. A. M. (2010). Using self-determination theory to explain sport persistence and dropout in adolescent athletes. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 13, 677-684.
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Self-Determination Theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 49, 182-185.
• Fanning, J. (2015). If I were my client I would… (Social work and self-determination). MSW Online Programs. Retrieved from https://mswonlineprograms.org/2015/if-i-were-my-client-i-would-social-work-and-self-determination/
• Field, S. & Hoffman, A. (1994). Development of a model for self-determination. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 17, 159-169.
• Furlong, M. A. (2003). Self-determination and a critical perspective in casework: Promoting a balance between interdependence and autonomy. Qualitative Social Work, 2, 177-196.
• Gagné, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 331-362.
• Hagger, M., & Chatzisarantis, N. (2008). Self-determination theory and the psychology of exercise. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1 , 79-103.
• Koestern, R., & Hope, N. (2014). A self-determination theory approach to goals. In M. Gagne (Ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation, and Self-Determination Theory.
• Kofi, O. (2017). Patient participatory behaviours in healthcare service delivery: Self-determination theory (SDT) perspective. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27, 453-474.
• Martin, J. J., Byrd, B., Wooster, S., & Kulik, N. (2017). Self-determination theory: The role of the health care professional in promoting mindfulness and perceived competence. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research [Online first posting].
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY, US: Plenum Press.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being .
• Wehmeyer, M. L. (2002). Self0determination and the education of students with disabilities. ERIC EC Digest #E632. Retrieved from http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/e632.html
• Wehmeyer, M. L. & Schwartz, M. (1997). Self-determination and positive adult outcomes: A follow-up study of youth with mental retardation or learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 63, 245-255.
• Wehmeyer, M. L. & Palmer, S.B. (2003). Adult outcomes for students with cognitive disabilities three years after high school: The impact of self-determination. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 38 , 131-144.

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I’m delighted to read your article which seems to very helpful. Appreciate your hard work and clear way of defining the points.

Thank you for this article on SDT. Reading how this is viewed differently according to situations, people, and careers has been very much enlightening to me and I found myself looking forward to reading more on this theory. Again, thank you.

Very much appreciated. Thank you for this excellent article.

Hi, I enjoyed reading this article. how to cite this article?

Glad you enjoyed it! Here’s how you’d cite it in APA 7th:

Ackerman, C. E. (2018, June 21). Self-determination theory of motivation: Why intrinsic motivation matters. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/self-determination-theory/

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– Nicole | Community Manager

Very Interesting! When was the article published? I would like to reference some information from this article and it’s necessary to put the year!

Glad you liked the article. It was published the 21st of June, 2018.

Can SDT be applied into fields such as shopping and consumer decision making? If so is there any existing research within these fields you could suggest? Many thanks

Yes, there is a wealth of research looking at SDT in the domains of marketing and consumer behavior. It’s therefore hard to recommend a starting point, but perhaps this review by Gilal et al., (2019) would be one.

Do you have an survey instrument to evaluate mission motivation of seminary students? or to evaluate the work motivation of an organization? Could you please guide me to that.

I’m afraid I’m not aware of any scales for measuring mission motivation of the type I assume you’re interested in. You might need to custom-develop something for this purpose. As for work motivation, are you interested in organization-level motivation? Or like the motivation of a team or workgroup or department (as opposed to the individual)? Let me know and I should be able to point you in the right direction 🙂

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Self-Determination Theory: How It Explains Motivation

Gabriel Lopez-Garrido

Undergraduate at Harvard University

Political Science and Psychology

Gabriel Lopez-Garrido is currently in his final year at Harvard University. He is pursuing a Bachelor's degree with a primary focus on Political Science (Government) and a minor in Psychology.

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Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Key Takeaways

• Self-determination refers to the ability of individuals to make choices and determine their own actions.
• Self-determination is a theory of human motivation and personality that suggests that people can become self-determined when their needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy are fulfilled.
• The presence versus absence of environmental conditions that allow satisfaction of these basic needs (in people’s immediate situations and in their developmental histories) is a key predictor of whether or not people will display vitality and mental health.
• People tend to become happier when pursuing things that are intrinsically motivated and aligned with their own goals – it not only makes them feel more responsible about the outcomes, it also helps them to really focus their time on what they want to be doing.
• Self-determination theory itself can be helpful in understanding the things that might motivate a given individual’s behavior. Feeling like one has both the autonomy and the capabilities required to make choices on their own is something that most, if not every, individual would want to have.

What is Self-Determination?

The term self-determination was first introduced by Deci and Ryan in their 1985 book Self-Determination and Intrinsic Motivation in Human Behavior .

The term self-determination refers to a person’s own ability to manage themselves, to make confident choices, and to think on their own (Deci, 1971).

Self-determination is a macro theory of human motivation and personality. It is a theory that deals with two huge factors: people’s inherent growth tendencies and the innate psychological needs of these same individuals.

Given how self-determination can help with achieving independence, this concept plays an essential role not only in the overall well-being of the individual, but also their overall psychological health.

Because self-determination puts the individual in the driving seat, it makes the person both responsible and potentially culpable for whatever happens.

Given this, self-determination also has a large impact on motivation. If the individual themselves believe they can manage themselves properly, they would more than likely find more motivation in whatever task they wish to carry out.

Theoretical Assumptions

The need for growth drives behavior.

The first assumption of self-determination theory is that a need for growth as a human being drives behavior. People are always actively seeking to grow and improve (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

Gaining mastery over challenges (both new and old) is essential for developing a sense of self or, at the very least, a cohesive one.

Autonomous motivation is important.

Self-determination theory focuses on the interplay between the extrinsic forces acting on persons and the intrinsic motive and needs of human beings. People can generally be motivated by outside factors such as money, acclaim, and fame, and this type of motivation is known as extrinsic . 

Self-determination theory focuses primarily on internal sources of motivation (known as intrinsic motivation), such as learning to gain independence and wanting to prove yourself.

According to Lepper et al. (1973), if the behavior is purely self-determined, there is a very high chance that it will be both intrinsically driven and that the behavior is done not for the reward or the prize, but rather for self-satisfaction, interest, and enjoyment for the behavior itself.

Non-self-determined behaviors are only performed only because they have to get done – not out of enjoyment or because it fulfills the individual, rather because the individual has little to no choice on whether they want to partake in said behavior. This leads to a lack of control given that this behavior is not done willingly.

Basic Needs

Self-determination theory posits that people are driven by three innate and universal psychological needs, and that personal well-being is a direct function of the satisfaction of these basic psychological needs (Deci & Ryan, 1991;Ryan, 1995),

Competence (need to be effective in dealing with the environment)

Competence is a term utilized to describe someone who has sufficient qualities to perform a given task or to describe the state of having sufficient intellect, judgment, skill, and/or strength.

When an individual feels competent, they feel able to interact effectively within their environment, and they have the skills needed for success to ensure that their goals are achieved. A competent person feels a sense of mastery over their environment.

If tasks are too challenging or a person receives negative feedback, feelings of competence can decrease. Alternatively, feelings of competence are enhanced when the demands of a task are optimally matched to a person’s skills, or positive feedback is received.

Relatedness (need to have close, affectionate relationships)

Relatedness is the ability to feel a sense of both attachment to other people and a sense of belonging amongst other people.

Relatedness involves feelings of closeness and belonging to a social group.

Without connections, self-determination is harder to achieve because the individual would lack access to both help and support.

Feelings of relatedness are enhanced when individuals are respected and cared for by others, and are part of an inclusive environment. Alternatively, feelings of relatedness are undermined by competition with others, cliques, and criticism from others.

Autonomy (need to feel self-governing and independent)

Autonomy is the ability to feel in control of one’s behavior and destiny, and involves self-initiation and self-regulation of one’s own behavior.

Autonomy involves being able to make your own decisions and is associated with feelings of independence.

Feelings of autonomy are enhanced when individuals are given choice and are able to govern their own behavior, and when other people acknowledge their feelings.

Alternatively, the individual lacks autonomy if they feel controlled or threatened by others, or have to operate according to deadlines.

Tangible rewards can also reduce feelings of autonomy. If one were to give someone an extrinsic reward for already intrinsically motivated behavior, then the likelihood that autonomy is undermined (given that the extrinsic reward is likely to draw attention away from autonomy) is fairly large.

It gets even worse if the behavior is repeated: as the behavior becomes increasingly controlled by external rewards rather than by autonomy. Thus, intrinsic motivation is diminished, and people start to feel both a different source for their motivation and less belief in their own personal qualities.

Research on self-determination theory has shown the importance of the three basic needs in real-world settings, such as the workplace, education, and sports.

In the Classroom

• Researchers have found that students show a greater intrinsic motivation towards learning when teachers encourage a culture of autonomy in the classroom (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). Students experience autonomy when they feel supported to explore, take initiative and develop and implement solutions for their problems.
• Teachers should provide prompt feedback and stretch and challenge students to promote a sense of competence. If done correctly, feedback not only works because it provides an insight into how that student is doing, but because when students perform well and they are given positive feedback, it makes them feel good about the work they have achieved.
• Students experience relatedness when they perceive others listening and responding to them. When these three needs are met,
• It is fine to reward a student for their success, but avoiding excessive external rewards for actions students already enjoy is essential if one wants to improve their internal desire for motivation (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999) Students who are more involved in setting educational goals are more likely to experience intrinsic motivation, and are more likely to reach their goals.

In the Workplace

People who feel that they can have a positive effect at work tend to feel more engaged and motivated. How else can employers build self-determination in their workers?

• Organizations should encourage autonomy in the workplace as this can enhances employees’ well-being, productivity, and personal growth, and contributes to organizational effectiveness (Strauss & Parker, 2014).
• One way that managers and leaders can help their employees with developing self-determination is by putting them in leadership roles. For example, let’s say that the company needs to prepare a presentation for a huge client.
• A manager who wants to build his employer’s sense of self-determination will take steps to ensure that the each of the team members working on the presentation take an active role. One could be in charge of designing the graphs, while the other is in charge of the marketing strategy.
• Constructive feedback works wonders for building self-determined behaviors like competence.Feedback helps individuals understand what they are doing wrong and how they can improve doing said task. It helps people feel as if their work has actual value, which is key in trying to build motivation.
• Employers should be careful not to offer one too many extrinsic rewards as this can diminish a sense of autonomy. If extrinsic rewards are in the picture, it is likely to become the case that – at some point – the work will stop being about loving what one does and become about simply obtaining the reward.

In Competition

Fostering a sense of self-determination is one of the many things that can inspire certain individuals to excel – this is especially true in competitive settings -such as sports and athletics – where the stakes are sometimes so high.

• It surely is a given that athletes are driven to perform better in their designated sport if they themselves believe that they are capable of overcoming the hurdles that may arise along the way (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2008).

In a Social Setting

If an individual attempts to forge close, and affectionate relationships with other people – the likelihood that self-determination behaviors improve (or are seen more often) is high. What are some specific ways that people can build self-determination in social settings?

• One specific way to build self-determination in these types of settings is by actively seeking positive relationships with people that promote a positive environment.
• When seeking social relationships, an individual who wants to work on their self-determination should look for individuals who will support them in the pursuit of their goals.

How to Improve Self-Determination

People who are high in self-determination tend to believe in their own innate ability and that they have control over their own lives.

People who practice self-determined behaviors have an internal locus of control , and this makes them feel that their behaviors will have an influence on outcomes.

More importantly, it makes them understand that in order for other people to start believing in this individual’s abilities, the same individual must first believe in themselves.

People who believe in themselves- when faced with a difficult scenario feel that they can overcome anything they set their minds on through the use of diligence, good choices, and hard work.

Without an individual believing in themselves, chances are that individual is likely less to give 100% of his effort when trying to achieve any task (after all, why would said individual give so much time and effort to a cause they think they are bound to already fail)?

People who are high in self-determination tend to have high self-motivation.

People who demonstrate self-determined behaviors tend not to rely on external rewards as a means for them to do a task. Often, times completing the task properly is its own reward.

To improve motivation, it is essential to remove external rewards and punishments as a reason for completing a task. Self-determined individuals set goals and work to reach them because they feel enough motivation to know that their effort will produce a finished product.

People who are high in self-determination tend to take responsibility for their behaviors.

The biggest difference between someone who is self-determined and someone who isn’t is that highly self-determined people take credit for their success but also hold their heads high up in the face of failure. They have no problem with taking responsibility, because they know they can do better.

Conversely, individuals who lack self-determination will attempt to put the blame on someone or something else in an attempt to take of the pressure from themselves.

Taking responsibility is important for learning how to become self-determined as it helps the individual accept that they are human (meaning, that they are capable of failure) and also that they are capable of owning up to their mistakes (which is a sign of confidence).

It puts the individual in a situation where they appreciate that things happen to them even more because – at the end of the day – the person who is responsible for putting the individual in that situation is the individual themselves.

Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 18, 105–115.

Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation . Psychological Bulletin, 125 (6), 627.

Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality”. In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: Vol. 38. Perspectives on motivation (pp. 237–288). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Motivation, personality, and development within embedded social contexts: An overview of self-determination theory. In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 85-107). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Hagger, M., & Chatzisarantis, N. (2008). Self-determination theory and the psychology of exercise . International review of sport and exercise psychology, 1 (1), 79-103.

Lepper, M. K., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “over justification” hypothesis . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28 (1), 129–137.

Niemiec, C. P., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice . Theory and research in Education, 7 (2), 133-144.

Pritchard, R.; Campbell, K.; Campbell, D. (1977). Effects of extrinsic financial rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62 (1), 9.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being . American Psychologist, 55 (1), 68–78.

Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness . New York: Guilford Publishing.

Strauss, K., & Parker, S. K. (2014). Effective and sustained proactivity in the workplace: A self‐determination theory perspective . In M. Gagné (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of work engagement, motivation, and self‐determination theory (pp. 50–72). Oxford: Oxford University Press .

Further Reading

• Deci, E. L., La Guardia, J. G., Moller, A. C., Scheiner, M. J., & Ryan, R. M. (2006). On the benefits of giving as well as receiving autonomy support: Mutuality in close friendships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32 (3), 313–327.
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The” what” and” why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11 (4), 227-268.
• Reis, H. T., Sheldon, K. M., Gable, S. L., Roscoe, J., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Daily well-being: The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26 (4), 419–435.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55 , 68-78.

Which psychological need in the self-determination theory (sdt) is described as the basic need to feel effective and capable in one’s actions?

In Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the psychological need described as the basic desire to feel effective and capable in one’s actions is referred to as ‘Competence.’ This need represents an individual’s inherent desire to engage in challenges and to experience mastery or proficiency in their endeavors.

According to self-determination theory, people’s behavior and well-being are influenced by what three innate needs?

According to Self-Determination Theory, people’s behavior and well-being are influenced by three innate needs: Autonomy, the need to be in control of one’s actions and choices; Competence, the need to be effective and master tasks; and Relatedness, the need to have meaningful relationships and feel connected with others.

These needs are universal, innate, and psychological, and are essential for an individual’s optimal function and growth.

What is self-determination?

Self-determination refers to the process by which a person controls their own life. It involves making choices and decisions based on personal preferences and interests, the freedom to pursue goals, and the ability to be independent and autonomous.

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What Is Self-Determination Theory?

How Self-Determination Influences Motivation

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

• How It Works
• Self-Determined vs. Non-Self-Determined
• How to Improve

Self-determination refers to a person's ability to make choices and manage their own life . Being self-determined means that you feel in greater control, as opposed to being non-self-determined, which can leave you feeling that your life is controlled by others.

It states that people are motivated to grow and change by three innate (and universal) psychological needs. The concept of intrinsic motivation , or engaging in activities for the inherent reward of the behavior itself, plays an important role in this theory.

Self-determination is an important concept in psychology since it plays a role in psychological health and well-being . Promoting self-determination is also an emerging best practice when working with certain populations, such as individuals with intellectual disabilities .

Self-determination theory seeks to explain how being self-determined impacts motivation—that people feel more motivated to take action when they think that what they do will have an effect on the outcome. Learn more about how this theory works, as well as what you can do to improve your self-determination skills.

Self-determination theory suggests that people can become self-determined when their needs for competence, connection, and autonomy are fulfilled.

Self-determination theory grew out of the work of psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, who first introduced their ideas in their 1985 book Self-Determination and Intrinsic Motivation in Human Behavior . They developed a theory of motivation that suggests people tend to be driven by a need to grow and gain fulfillment.

Assumptions of Self-Determination

Self-determination theory makes two key assumptions:

The need for growth drives behavior. The first assumption of self-determination theory is that people are actively directed toward growth. Gaining mastery over challenges and taking in new experiences are essential for developing a cohesive sense of self .

Autonomous motivation is important. While people are often motivated to act by external rewards such as money, prizes, and acclaim (known as  extrinsic motivation ), self-determination theory focuses primarily on internal sources of motivation such as a need to gain knowledge or independence (intrinsic motivation).

Components of Self-Determination

According to self-determination theory, people need to feel the following to achieve psychological growth:

• Autonomy : People need to feel in control of their own behaviors and goals. This sense of being able to take direct action that will result in real change plays a major part in helping people feel self-determined.
• Competence : People need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills . When people feel that they have the skills needed for success, they are more likely to take actions that will help them achieve their goals.
• Connection or relatedness : People need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people.

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How Self-Determination Theory Works

It's important to realize that the psychological growth described by self-determination theory does not happen automatically. While people might be oriented toward such growth, it requires continual sustenance.

Ryan and Deci have suggested that the tendency to be either proactive or passive is largely influenced by the social conditions in which we are raised.  Social support is key. Through our relationships and interactions with others, we can foster or thwart well-being and personal growth.

Other factors that also help or hinder the three elements needed for growth include:

• Extrinsic motivators can sometimes lower self-determination. According to Deci, giving people extrinsic rewards for intrinsically motivated behavior can undermine autonomy. As the behavior becomes increasingly controlled by external rewards, people begin to feel less in control of their behavior and intrinsic motivation is diminished.
• Positive feedback can boost self-determination. Deci also suggests that offering unexpected positive encouragement and feedback on a person's task performance can increase intrinsic motivation. This type of feedback helps people feel more competent, which is a key need for personal growth.

Example of Self-Determination

Imagine a person who fails to complete an important project at work. If this person is high in self-determination, they will admit their fault, believe that they can do something to fix the problem, and take action to correct the mistake .

If that same person was low in self-determination, they might instead look for other things that they can blame. They might make excuses, assign blame elsewhere, or refuse to admit their own role in not completing the project on time.

Most importantly, perhaps, is that the person low in self-determination won't feel motivated to fix the mistake. Instead, they might feel helpless to control the situation and believe that nothing that they do will have any real effect.

Self-Determined vs. Non-Self-Determined Behaviors

Motivated by intrinsic rewards

Driven by enjoyment, interest, or satisfaction

Feel in control

Motivated by extrinsic rewards

Driven by obligation or responsibility

Feel a lack of control

Rather than thinking of motivation as being driven by either extrinsic or intrinsic rewards, it is often helpful to view it as a continuum between self-determined and non-self-determined behaviors.

• On one end of the continuum are purely self-determined behaviors that tend to be intrinsically driven and done for the enjoyment of, interest in, and inherent satisfaction for the action itself.
• On the other end are non-self-determined behaviors, which are performed only because they must be done. There is a complete lack of control on this extreme end of the scale.

If you are training to compete in a marathon, for example, you might be extrinsically motivated by a desire to gain approval from others. At the same time, you may also be intrinsically motivated by the satisfaction you gain from the activity itself. In most cases, behaviors tend to lie in the middle of the continuum.

There is also often a varying amount of external motivation, which can fuel the degree of internal motivation. People may engage in actions because they feel they have some level of personal control and the behaviors ultimately align with something that is important for their self-concept.

Most actions are not purely self-determined or non-self-determined. Instead, actions often rely on a certain degree of self-determination that may also be influenced by extrinsic motivations.

Impact of Self-Determination

The concept of self-determination has been applied to a wide variety of areas including education, work, parenting, exercise, and health. Research suggests that having high self-determination can foster success in many different domains of life.

In the Workplace

People with self-determination feel more satisfied at work while also playing a key role in that organization's success. How can employers build self-determination in their workers?

• By allowing team members to take an active role
• Not overusing extrinsic rewards since this can undercut intrinsic motivation, a phenomenon known as the overjustification effect
• Offering employees greater responsibilities
• Offering support and encouragement
• Providing employees with meaningful feedback

In Competition

In competitive settings, such as sports and athletics, fostering a sense of self-determination can motivate people to excel. Some suggest that it works, at least in part, by increasing a person's level of mental toughness .

Athletes who feel that they are capable of achieving their goals and overcoming challenges are often driven to perform better. Excelling allows them to gain a sense of competence and build mastery in skills that are enjoyable and important to them.

Researchers have also found that people with an internal sense of control are more likely to stick to a healthy diet and regular exercise regimen .  

In Social Settings

Self-determination can also play an important role in social relationships. For instance, when people are new to an online group , if their needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence (the three components of self-determination) are fulfilled, it impacts their social identity which, in turn, affects their participation behaviors.

To forge close, affectionate relationships with others, thus potentially improving self-determination:

• Seek positive relationships with people who will support you in the pursuit of your goals.
• Offer support and feedback to people who are part of your social circle.

In School Settings

Self-determined students are more likely to feel motivated to achieve. They also tend to feel greater levels of competence and satisfaction. Educators can help students foster a sense of self-determination and intrinsic motivation by:

• Providing unexpected positive feedback when students perform well to help improve their feelings of competence
• Avoiding excessive external rewards for actions students already enjoy, which helps improve their internal motivation

Self-determination can play an important role in how people function in many different areas of their lives. Feeling in control and intrinsically motivated can help people feel more committed, passionate, interested, and satisfied with the things that they do.

Traits of Self-Determined People

If you are interested in strengthening your self-determination, it is helpful to think about what a highly self-determined individual might look like. People high in self-determination tend to:

• Believe that they have control over their own lives . Self-determined people have an internal locus of control and feel that their behaviors will have an influence on outcomes. When confronted with challenges, they feel that they can overcome them through diligence, good choices, and hard work.
• Have high self-motivation . Someone with high self-determination doesn't rely on external rewards or punishments to motivate them to take action. Instead, they engage in behaviors because they are motivated intrinsically. They have an internal desire to set goals and work toward them.
• Base their actions on their own goals and behaviors . In other words, people with self-motivation intentionally engage in actions that they know will bring them closer to their goals.
• Take responsibility for their behaviors . Highly self-determined people take credit for their success but they also accept the blame for their failures. They know that they are responsible for their actions and don't shift blame elsewhere.

How to Improve Your Self-Determination

Do you want to be more self-determined? There are a few steps you can take to improve your own self-determination skills.

Improve Your Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is associated with self-determination and can even help prepare you to make more purposeful decisions. Meditation, seeking regular feedback, and writing down your thoughts and feelings are all ways to improve self-awareness.

Engage in Self-Regulation

Developing a higher level of self-determination involves also working on your self-regulation skills. Strategies that can help you better regulate yourself include being more mindful of how you feel mentally and physically, along with practicing cognitive reframing to better regulate your emotional responses.

Find Social Support

Strong social relationships can foster motivation and well-being. Seek people who make you feel welcome and cared for. This may be a family member or friend, or it could be a member of your church, a counselor, or anyone else who provides a sense of support and belonging.

Gain Mastery

Becoming skilled in areas that are important to you can help build your sense of self-determination. Whether you have a strong interest in a hobby , sport, academic subject, or another area, learning as much as you can about it and improving your skills can help you feel more competent.

The more you learn and practice, the more skilled and self-determined you will likely feel.

A Word From Verywell

Self-determination theory can be helpful in understanding what might motivate your behaviors. Being self-determined, feeling like you have the autonomy and freedom to make choices that shape your destiny, is important for each person's well-being.

When you pursue things that are intrinsically motivated and aligned with your goals, you will feel happier and more capable of making good choices.

Wehmeyer ML, Shogren KA. Self-determination and choice . In Singh, N. (eds) Handbook of Evidence-Based Practices in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities . 2016. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26583-4_21

Ryan RM, Deci EL. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions . Contemp Educ Psychol . 2020;61:101860. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860

Rigby CS, Ryan, RM. Self-determination theory in human resource development: New directions and practical considerations . Adv Develop Human Resourc . 2018;20(2):133-147. doi:10.1177/1523422318756954

Mahoney J, Ntoumanis N, Mallett C, Gucciardi D. The motivational antecedents of the development of mental toughness: a self-determination theory perspective . Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol . 2014;7(1):184-197. doi:10.1080/1750984X.2014.925951

Cobb-Clark DA, Kassenboehmer SC, Schurer S. Healthy habits: The connection between diet, exercise, and locus of control . J Econ Behav Organiz . 2014;98:1-28. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2013.10.011

Tsai HT, Pai P. Why do newcomers participate in virtual communities? An integration of self-determination and relationship management theories . Decision Supp Systems . 2014;57:178-187. doi:10.1016/j.dss.2013.09.001

Vasconcellos D, Parker PD, Hilland T, at al. Self-determination theory applied to physical education: A systematic review and meta-analysis . J Educ Psychol . 2020;112(7):1444-1469. doi:10.1037/edu0000420

Burke KM, Raley SK, Shogren KA, et al. A meta-analysis of interventions to promote self-determination for students with disabilities . Remedial Spec Educ . 2020;41(3):176-188. doi:10.1177/0741932518802274

Schultz PP, Ryan RM. The 'why,' 'what,' and 'how' of healthy self-regulation: Mindfulness and well-being from a self-determination theory perspective . In: Ostafin B, Robinson M, Meier B (eds) Handbook of Mindfulness and Self-Regulation . doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2263-5_7

Hagger M, Chatzisarantis N. Self-determination Theory and the psychology of exercise .  Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol . 2008;1(1):79-103. doi:10.1080/17509840701827437

Niemiec CP, Ryan RM. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice .  Theory Res Educ . 2009;7(2):133-144. doi:10.1177/1477878509104318

Ryan RM, Deci EL. Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness . Guilford Press. 2017. doi:10.1521/978.14625/28806

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Introduction to Self-Determination Theory: An approach to motivation, development and wellness

Taught in English

Some content may not be translated

Financial aid available

67,037 already enrolled

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals

Instructor: Richard Ryan

Included with Coursera Plus

(486 reviews)

What you'll learn

Students will be able to define Self-Determination Theory.

Students will be able to explain how motivational strategies can impact engagement and performance.

Students will be able to summarize applications of SDT in a number of social contexts.

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There are 5 modules in this course

Self-determination theory (SDT) is an empirically based theory of motivation and psychological development that is especially focused on the basic psychological needs that promote high quality motivation and wellness, and how they are supported in social contexts. SDT details how the styles and strategies of motivators such as parents, teachers, coaches, managers, and health-care professionals can promote or undermine engagement and the positive consequences that follow from it.

In this course, Professor Richard Ryan, co-founder of the theory, will provide an overview of SDT with special emphasis on how autonomy, competence, and relatedness supports and facilitates behavioral persistence, quality of relationships, and healthy developmental processes, among other topics. He will also discuss the convergence of behavioral phenomenological and neuropsychological aspects of autonomy within SDT research. In addition, he will illustrate practical applications of SDT, with emphasis on educational, work, sport, healthcare and psychotherapy settings.

The first module of this course begins with an introduction and overview of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This includes a discussion of the basic and historical principles of SDT as well as definitions of key terms. Module 1 continues with an introduction to one of SDT’s mini-theories, Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) and the core concept of intrinsic motivation. The impact of rewards on intrinsic motivation and the role of intrinsic motivation in video gaming are also discussed.

What's included

6 videos 4 readings 1 quiz

6 videos • Total 53 minutes

• 1: Welcome to Self Determination Theory • 5 minutes • Preview module
• 2: What is Motivation? • 10 minutes
• 3: Intrinsic Motivation • 10 minutes
• 4: Rewards & Intrinsic Motivation • 11 minutes
• 5: More Fun With Intrinsic Motivaton: The Example of Video Games • 8 minutes
• 6: Optional Bonus Video: An Organismic Perspective • 7 minutes

4 readings • Total 130 minutes

• Lectures 1-3: Introduction to SDT & Intrinsic Motivation • 30 minutes
• Lecture 4: Rewards & Intrinsic Motivation • 40 minutes
• Lecture 5: More Fun with Intrinsic Motivation: The Example of Video Games • 40 minutes
• Lecture 6 (optional): An Organismic Perspective • 20 minutes

1 quiz • Total 60 minutes

• Module 1 • 60 minutes

Week 2 focuses on two additional mini-theories within SDT: Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) and Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT). The first four lectures in this module discuss OIT —describing the different types of motivation, organizing them along the continuum of relative autonomy, discussing what is meant by internalization, and describing the factors that facilitate and undermine autonomous motivation and internalization. Additionally, lectures in this module cover well-being and basic psychological needs theory (BPNT)—delving into what these basic needs are and providing evidence for their importance to well-being across cultures and in explaining day-to-day variations in happiness.

6 videos 6 readings 1 quiz

6 videos • Total 42 minutes

• 7. Extrinsic Motivation and the Continuum of Relative Autonomy • 6 minutes • Preview module
• 8. Everyday Examples of Different Forms of Motivations • 9 minutes
• 9. How to Facilitate Autonomous Motivation and Internalization • 7 minutes
• 10. The impact of Internalization: Three Examples • 8 minutes
• 11. Well-being: An Introduction • 6 minutes
• 12. Universal Impact of Basic Psychological Needs on Well-being • 5 minutes

6 readings • Total 150 minutes

• Lecture 7: Extrinsic Motivation & the Continuum of Relative Autonomy • 20 minutes
• Lecture 8: Everyday Examples of Different Forms of Motivation • 20 minutes
• Lecture 9: How to Facilitate Autonomous Motivation & Internalization • 10 minutes
• Lecture 10: The Impact of Internalization: Three Examples • 20 minutes
• Lecture 11: Well-Being: An Introduction • 20 minutes
• Lecture 12: The Universal Impact of Basic Psychological Needs on Well-Being • 60 minutes
• Module 2 • 60 minutes

Week 3 delves deeper into people’s well-being and life goals…examining what makes us happier from one day to the next. The second lecture in this module introduces Goal Contents Theory (GTC), or the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic life goals on well-being. These lectures focus on how the pursuit of goals like money, fame, and image is associated with poor well-being even when these goals are achieved. Lectures in this module also center on mindfulness and the role of awareness in cultivating autonomy and on vitality -- or the energy available to the self, a central component of well-being and the role of nature in supporting vitality.

6 videos • Total 48 minutes

• 13. People's Daily Variations in Well-Being • 6 minutes • Preview module
• 14. Life Goals and Happiness, Part I • 8 minutes
• 15. Life Goals and Happiness, Part II: Be Careful What You Wish For • 9 minutes
• 16. Life Goals and Happiness, Part III • 8 minutes
• 17. Mindfulness and Motivation • 6 minutes
• 18. Vitality & Nature • 8 minutes

6 readings • Total 170 minutes

• Lecture 13: People’s Daily Variations in Well-Being • 30 minutes
• Lecture 14: Life Goals & Happiness, Part I • 20 minutes
• Lecture 15: Life Goals & Happiness, Part II • 30 minutes
• Lecture 16: Life Goals & Happiness, Part III • 30 minutes
• Lecture 17: Mindfulness & Motivation • 30 minutes
• Lecture 18: Vitality & Nature • 30 minutes
• Module 3 • 60 minutes

Module 4 focuses on the importance of basic psychological need fulfillment in several areas of life. The first lecture covers research demonstrating that doing good for others and contributing to one’s community are associated with greater well-being. The next lecture centers on one of the most important ingredients to well-being -- meaningful relationships and the fundamental importance of psychological need support to building quality relationships. Next, discussion turns to some of the most formative relations in one’s life -- the relation between parents and children. This lecture covers research demonstrating that need support from parents is associated with optimal growth and development in children. The next lecture focuses on the process of identity formation, or how one comes to understand and develop one’s identities, roles, and interests. Also, in this module, a lecture dedicated to the application of SDT to education. Specifically, this lecture covers the importance of motivation to learning and how teacher styles impact students’ motivation and learning outcomes. Finally, the last lecture examines work and organizations and discusses how need support from managers and the work environment impacts outcomes like retention, job satisfaction, corporate citizenship, and work engagement.

6 videos • Total 49 minutes

• 19. Pro-social Behavior and Need Satisfaction • 7 minutes • Preview module
• 20. Close Relationships • 7 minutes
• 21. Parenting and the Support of Autonomy in Development • 10 minutes
• 22. Identity Formation • 7 minutes
• 23. Education: Intrinsic Motivaton in the Classroom • 7 minutes
• 24. Work and Thriving: Facilitating Positive Engagement Using Self-Determination Theory • 9 minutes

6 readings • Total 140 minutes

• Lecture 19: Pro-Social Behavior & Need Satisfaction • 30 minutes
• Lecture 20: Close Relationships • 20 minutes
• Lecture 21: Parenting & the Support of Autonomy in Development • 20 minutes
• Lecture 22: Identity Formation • 20 minutes
• Lecture 23: Education: Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom • 30 minutes
• Lecture 24: Working & Thriving • 20 minutes
• Module 4 • 60 minutes

Module 5 focuses on the application of SDT in several different domains. The first lecture covers SDT’s application in the healthcare domain, including motivational predictors of weight loss, medication adherence, smoking cessation, and dental hygiene. The next lecture focuses on mental health and the importance of basic need support in psychotherapy, including examples of how therapists can support their clients’ needs. Next, we turn to the application of SDT to sports again including examples of research supporting the importance of autonomy support and how parents and coaches can facilitate athletes’ intrinsic motivation for sport. The next lecture discusses the ways in which culture influences people’s motivation and wellness and how culture acts as a pervasive influence on our need fulfillment. We continue to examine pervasive social influences in the following lecture by looking at the impacts of political and economic structures on motivation and need satisfactions…asking questions like how wealth disparities impact wellness. This will take us to our concluding lecture with final remarks on the importance of basic psychological need support in predicting quality motivation and positive outcomes. Last but not least, the final lecture provides practical takeaways to satisfy your own psychological needs.

6 videos • Total 44 minutes

• 25. Supporting Health and Wellness: Research and Interventions Using Self-determination Theory • 9 minutes • Preview module
• 26. Motivation and Autonomy in Psychotherapy, Counseling, and Behavior Change • 6 minutes
• 27. Sports, Physical Activity and Coaching • 9 minutes
• 28. Basic Psychological Needs Across Cultures • 8 minutes
• 29. Basic Psychological Needs Across Economic and Political Systems • 6 minutes
• 30. Final Remarks • 3 minutes

6 readings • Total 160 minutes

• Lecture 25: Supporting Health & Wellness: Research & Interventions Using Self-Determination Theory • 20 minutes
• Lecture 26: Motivation & Autonomy in Psychotherapy, Counseling, & Behaviour Change • 30 minutes
• Lecture 27: Sports, Physical Activity, & Coaching • 40 minutes
• Lecture 28: Basic Psychological Needs Across Cultures • 30 minutes
• Lecture 29: Basic Psychological Needs Across Economic & Political Systems • 30 minutes
• Lecture 30: Closing Remarks • 10 minutes
• Module 5 • 60 minutes

Instructor ratings

We asked all learners to give feedback on our instructors based on the quality of their teaching style.

The University of Rochester is one of the nation's leading private universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University provides exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by its Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.

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Learner reviews

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486 reviews

Reviewed on Jun 24, 2022

Great course that reflect on Self determination, Intrinsic motivation that lead to one's development and wellness as well.

Reviewed on May 9, 2021

This course is absolutely interesting and very informative! Everyone should know more about this theory and apply it in their everyday life :)

Reviewed on Mar 21, 2019

I thank the mentor wholeheartedly for explaining how motivation affects various facets of life. His style of explanation is engaging and helps in introspecting oneself thoroughly.

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1 Self-Determination Theory: Metatheory, Methods, and Meaning

Richard M. Ryan, Professor, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University

Maarten Vansteenkiste, Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent University

• Published: 23 February 2023
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Self-determination theory (SDT) represents a comprehensive framework for the study of human motivation, personality development, and wellness as evidenced by the breadth and variety of chapters in this Handbook . This introductory chapter provides a review of the basic assumptions, philosophy of science, methods, and mission of SDT. It also includes a brief history of SDT, linking various developments within the theory to the contributions found in this volume. Finally, discussion focuses on the place of SDT within the landscape of past and contemporary theoretical psychology, as well as its relations with modern historical and cultural developments, in part explaining the continued growth of interest in SDT’s basic research and real-world applications.

Over the history of psychology there have been periodic attempts to provide overarching theories of human behavior. Within the behaviorist tradition the associationist views of Watson, the drive theory of Hull, the operant approach of Skinner, and the social-cognitive framework of Bandura are prominent examples. Within the humanistic perspective, both Rogers and Maslow presented comprehensive views. And for over a century the psychodynamic thinking of Freud and his followers has supplied both a method of analysis and a worldview for many. Each of these perspectives has shed light on important phenomena, opened up unique lines of inquiry, used distinctive research methods, and spawned applied practices. Each has also, by making their assumptions and predictions explicit, helped to illuminate what is within their theoretical horizons, as well as what they cannot, or will not in principle, explain.

Self-determination theory (SDT) represents a general framework for understanding why we do what we do, and what leads to flourishing versus degradation in a human life. As a broad, evidence-based, theory of motivation and personality development, it aims to supply an integrative yet open framework for a truly human behavioral science, using a set of concepts and assumptions that make sense philosophically, phenomenologically, empirically, mechanistically, and historically. It is also intended to be a practical theory, with direct and meaningful implications for familial, educational, organizational, healthcare, and clinical contexts.

The Oxford Handbook of Self-Determination Theory is comprised of chapters presenting both basic and applied research on SDT, authored by current experts in the field. Our purpose in this introduction will therefore not be to comprehensively review SDT research, as the chapters that follow will accomplish that task. Instead, our primary aim will be to articulate the theory’s basic assumptions, its unique framing of questions central to human motivation and wellness, and the methods and criteria it uses to establish its knowledge base. We then briefly describe its development and, in doing so, connect the varied chapters in this Handbook to that history of inquiry and practical applications. Suggesting that SDT cuts across traditional subfields of psychology, we distinguish SDT from related or overlapping movements or approaches in the field such as humanistic psychology, positive psychology, and “third wave” cognitive behaviorisms, all of which share some important sensibilities. Finally, we discuss the social significance of building a broad theory focused on meeting human needs, both as levers for personal change and as criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of social contexts and institutions in promoting human flourishing.

Self-Determination Theory: Some Basic Assumptions

Why have a theory at all.

SDT is unabashedly a theory , which is to say, a framework for organizing ideas, observations, reflections, and inquiries. It is a broad theory because in addressing the most central of human concerns such as motivation and well-being it carries implications across developmental periods, cultures, and life domains. It is also a theory with depth, as its cumulative knowledge base allows for ongoing refinement in terms of both specificity and underlying mechanisms.

Attitudes toward broad theory vary within behavioral sciences, with many recent commentators describing the field as facing a theory crisis ( Muthukrishna & Henrich, 2019 ). The claim is that new broad theories have not taken root, with the result that there is an absence of cumulative and actionable knowledge. Hastings, Michie, and Johnston (2020) argue that, contributing to this, too few theories make explicit their ontological and epistemological tenets, making them difficult to coordinate with other theories and bodies of knowledge in other disciplines. Eronen and Bringmann (2021, p. 785) suggest that solid theory construction has been hindered because “not enough attention is paid to defining and validating constructs.” This absence of deep theory and careful validation of constructs is also accompanied by an academic culture that rewards publishing “new” phenomena (or rebranding old ones) rather than the pursuit of what Kuhn (1970) called the “normal science” of slowly extending extant theory. Finally, Berkman and Wilson (2021) suggest that contemporary theories can rarely pass a “practicality test”; too often they are simply not useful in real-world settings and have meaning and significance only within academia.

In large part we agree with these critiques, which apply to many theories and models in the current psychological landscape. In fact, these are all pitfalls that SDT scholars and researchers have been navigating by making explicit the theory’s assumptions, carefully validating constructs, focusing on meaningful themes, and doing research and interventions with translational value. In contrast to most current approaches, SDT’s formal theory has been built “brick by brick” ( Ryan & Deci, 2019 ; Vansteenkiste, Niemiec, & Soenens, 2010 ), with newer SDT theorizing being iteratively scaffolded upon already well-validated constructs and findings, leading to an ever-widening space for hypotheses. In this way the theory has grown from a more restricted focus on the dynamics of intrinsic motivation ( Deci & Ryan, 1980a ) to address the wider spheres of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and then further to the study of values, personality development, emotion regulation, and the social supports necessary for wellness and flourishing ( Ryan et al., 2021 ). Applied research in education, parenting, organizations, sport, health, and other areas has followed from this theory building, with more and more intervention studies and randomized trials.

We see theory as critically important to both basic science and evidence-based, effective practice. As a scientific theory, SDT supplies constructs that serve to coordinate its empirical observations and formal propositions to organize its cumulative knowledge. A theory also constrains and sharpens hypotheses, which must fit within its logic and established knowledge base to be seriously proposed. This rules out flashy yet anomalous ideas that too often are headlining as psychology yet fail to stand up across time or situations. Good theory reduces the uncertainty space in exploring new problems or applications, while providing clear hypotheses in novel situations. It also yields principles that are generalizable, crossing domains and types of inquiry. In addition, a truly scientific theory must connect with empirical observations at every level of analyses, locating its own body of knowledge within the larger disciplinary and interdisciplinary spaces. It must be compatible within the systems of science, including both evolutionary and biological perspectives on the reductive side and broader political and economic perspectives on the societal side.

SDT’s Organismic Metatheory

As a theory of human motivation and flourishing, SDT has from its outset been explicitly formulated as an organismic approach (see Deci & Ryan, 1985b ; Ryan & Deci, 2017 ). Organismic approaches are focused on the qualities associated with living entities, including their active tendencies to expand and express themselves while maintaining their integrity ( Mayer, 1982 ). Organismic approaches are distinctive in conceptualizing living things as open systems that must actively sustain themselves through exchanges with an environment. In these exchanges every organism has needs, and its environment presents affordances and challenges that meet or thwart those needs.

Organismic thinking emerged as a resolution of century-long debates within biology between vitalists and reductionists . Vitalists championed something unique and special about life that would escape mechanistic and determinist thinking, whereas reductionists posited that all processes observed in living things could be reduced to basic chemical-physical causes. Organismic perspectives arose as neither an endorsement of vitalism, which failed to provide researchable hypotheses, nor a vindication of reductionism, which had difficulties explaining the coordination and ordered behaviors of living systems (see Jacob, 1973 ). Instead, organismic thinking acknowledges that living beings, while material, exhibit properties that distinguish them from inanimate nature and which are essential to understanding their activities.

Organization.

Among these attributes, the most general is that of organization . As per the etymology of that term, living entities actively and systematically work in the direction of maintaining and extending themselves. Such organization entails the hierarchical coordination of multiple parts into a relative unity that manifests as adaptive behavior. In social organisms this organization is reflected within the individual through increasing self-regulation and congruence, and by the anchoring and integration of the individual within a social network. Angyal (1965) described these as the dual trends toward autonomy (integration within the self) and homonomy (integration of the self within a larger social group).

Organismic frameworks are also inherently developmental , as living things are assumed to unfold and grow their inherent capabilities over time. Healthy development involves increasing differentiation and hierarchical integration, as new learning and abilities are brought into coherence, unity, and control. In this developmental view, adaptation and wellness at later stages are built on earlier foundations of support and nurturance, whereas developmental harms and threats often produce cascading negative effects across age ( Vansteenkiste & Ryan, 2013 ; Soenens & Vansteenkiste , this volume).

Person-centered and psychologically focused.

Another key assumption underlying organismic perspectives is that individual living things, rather than merely being objects of external forces, are centers of activity and experience ( Polanyi, 1958 ). They are purposive entities ( Walsh, 2015 ). Behavior is therefore analyzed and understood not only from an external point of view but also, and we think more effectively, by taking an internal frame of reference . In this perspective even what we call an environment is defined by the individual insofar as the parts of an environment that they act toward and react to are most often those related to their interests, needs and goals, variables located at a psychological level of analysis. It is in this sense that SDT’s organismic view is by definition person-centered , understanding motivational dynamics from the psychological viewpoint of the actor ( Ryan et al., 2021 ).

Personhood is an emergent feature of the human organism, entailing not only self-consciousness but also agency. Because we can reflect on our own behaviors and can evaluate alternative pathways for action, we can exert top-down influences upon behavior; that is, we can self-regulate actions and experiences. This means that we can distinguish and enact behaviors we value and can experience volition and ownership of actions via personal knowledge and awareness ( de Charms, 1968 ). At the same time, as social beings we are influenced and even controlled at times by external factors, which engenders phenomenal experiences distinct from those underlying self-regulated action. SDT captures this with its distinctions between autonomous and controlled forms of motivation.

Psychologists have often argued against notions of both autonomy and self-determination because, they suggest, these have biological causes or neurological sources (see Ryan & Deci, 2004 ). But when understood from a person-centered perspective, autonomy describes an experiential quality of behavior that is not in any way at odds with a biological view of organismic functioning (see chapters in this volume by Arvanitis & Kalliris ; Lee ; Sheldon & Goffredi ). Research has so far revealed that the neurological underpinnings of autonomy and control reflect networked processes with meaningful patterning, including the striatal responses expected with satisfactions, mechanisms reflective of initiation (e.g., insula) and oversight (e.g., medial prefrontal cortex), and most generally interconnectivity ( Di Domenico & Ryan, 2017 , this volume). Autonomous motivation also involves physiological processes reflected in cardiac responses and variability in oxygen intake. Again, the goal of SDT’s organismic thinking is to coordinate observations at this biological level with psychological, behavioral, and social accounts of events, as these are mutually informative and complementary analyses.

Persons are unique among living things not only in their self-awareness and capacity for autonomy, but also in their awareness that others are similarly self-aware and potentially agentic. This inner recognition that other persons have their own perspectives and motives shapes all of our social experiences and behaviors, and it is this phenomenal world within which we lawfully act and react and about which SDT is concerned. For example, it is not merely the magnitude of rewards that motivates people but also their functional significance or meaning as being controlling or as conveying competence information that determines their effects (e.g., Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999 ). Similarly, emotions such as guilt, resentment, admiration, and gratitude all entail an assumption of the potential autonomy of others, as when we feel more gratitude when help is autonomously provided ( Weinstein, DeHaan, & Ryan, 2010 ). In the phenomenal realm within which people actually live and act, reasons and motives most often supply the relevant explanations for behavior. To put it briefly, psychology matters.

SDT’s person-centered perspective redirects inquiries in empirical psychology toward the dynamics of agency and need satisfaction, affording new avenues of understanding. For most of empirical psychology’s history the central question has been: How do external factors control people’s behavior? This locution stems from long-standing Baconian traditions in experimental science of manipulating external variables to look for causal effects on behavioral “outputs.” Although this is a powerful method, it mainly tells us how external factors “can” alter behaviors; it tells us much less about what people spontaneously do, what motivates them in the absence of such external impositions, or how external controls impact people’s motivations from within. SDT thus asks instead: What are people volitionally motivated to do? and What internal and external factors facilitate, hinder, or even undermine that motivation to act? This reframing starts from the assumption that organisms are active and open systems: they are “already” motivated to act in ways that are neither random nor reactive as operant theory suggested ( Skinner, 1953 ), but rather are organized by inherent physical and psychological needs.

This organismic perspective was apparent even in SDT’s earliest focus on intrinsic motivation, which describes people’s spontaneous propensities to explore, assimilate, and master their worlds ( Deci & Ryan, 1985b ). Healthy development in humans is universally characterized by this active, synthetic nature described by interest, curiosity, and desire to learn. Across the lifespan intrinsic motivation supplies an engine of growth and learning. SDT also sees this synthetic propensity expressed in people’s proactive internalization of practices and values. As people take in and endorse new regulations and acquire new skills, they gain increasing control over outcomes, greater autonomy in the regulation of their behavior, and greater homonomy within their families, communities, and social groups, satisfying competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs, respectively. These integrative tendencies can also be discerned at the emotional level in people’s tendency to be receptive to and interested in their inner emotional world, finding meaning in it and using it as an informational resource for action ( Roth, Shane, & Kanat-Maymon, 2017 ). Overall, then, the organismic approach sees healthy human functioning as becoming increasingly complex yet more integrated and coordinated over time, expressing inherent capacities to grow, quest, connect, and ultimately flourish.

The assumption of such an internal propensity for growth and integration has significant ramifications for real-world practice and applications, as it speaks to the sensibilities and aims of practitioners. When practitioners such as teachers, managers, and mentors assume an inner growth propensity and respect the importance of volition, their attention goes to ideas about facilitating and nurturing that inner resource of development. In the absence of such an assumption, attention goes instead to controlling, shaping, and training people to act in specific ways. For instance, an organismic approach suggests that schools support and nurture students’ active inquiry to grow their knowledge from within, whereas an external approach prescribes contingent control using rewards and punishments to shape predetermined learning outcomes. We shall see throughout this volume how the very tenets of organismic theory inform SDT perspectives on supportive environments in various life domains.

Basic Needs as Organismic Foundations

Even though an organismic approach is built upon the assumption of an active, growth-oriented nature, this natural growth propensity, like all developmental processes, requires specific affordances and supports. SDT thus inquires into the conditions within which these inherent organismic propensities are facilitated and under what conditions they are undermined. It is these questions that led to the specification of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as satisfactions essential to thriving.

These three needs inductively emerged as central to SDT across its first two decades of research. In keeping with its organismic orientation, SDT was initially focused on intrinsic motivational processes, with intrinsic motivation defined as activity that is motivated (energized and directed) by its inherent satisfactions. Through experiments and field research it became clear that intrinsic motivation for any given activity requires a sense of both autonomy and competence ( Deci & Ryan, 1980b ; Reeve , this volume). Subsequently, SDT research showed that supports for autonomy, competence, and relatedness also described the conditions under which internalization and integration of social regulations were most likely ( Pelletier & Rocchi , this volume). Beyond these motivational phenomena, SDT research was increasingly confirming that as these psychological need satisfactions are enhanced, people demonstrate not only more intrinsic motivation and internalization but also more wellness, meaning, and vitality, ultimately leading to SDT’s basic psychological needs theory ( Vansteenkiste, Soenens, & Ryan , this volume).

Notably, these three basic needs also have a deductive rationale within SDT’s organismic theorizing; that is, they can be derived from what is meant by a vitally functioning living being. A general principle is that organisms actively move in a direction of self-regulation, where possible, and away from heteronomy, relating to our deeply evolved sensibilities about autonomy and control. Organisms are also oriented toward increasing effectiveness in their behavior and toward moving in a direction of competence and efficacy when possible. Finding satisfaction in experiences of mastery and progress is undoubtedly related to this propensity. As social organisms we are equipped with inherent propensities toward social integration and are accordingly extremely sensitive to inclusion and rejection. From an organismic perspective, these living propensities toward autonomy, competence, and relatedness pervade activities, life domains, and developmental phases.

Reductionist scholars may argue that there is no such “thing” as a basic psychological need. They would be correct. SDT instead specifies these basic needs are not things but rather are organizing constructs that can be used to coordinate observations that have functional import such as those described above. This functional view specifies and gives expression to the salient factors supporting integrity and wellness, which are robustly captured by SDT’s trio of autonomy, competence, and relatedness and their various constituting facets.

These three basic needs have also been found to have a dual nature, their satisfaction associated with personal flourishing and psychological health and their frustration being predictive of degradation and even psychopathology ( Vansteenkiste & Ryan, 2013 ). In other words, these needs are essential not only for enhancing growth, integrity, and wellness; they are also essential for staving off illness and dysfunction.

Recognition of this dual process is critical both metatheoretically and functionally. At the metatheoretical level, it implies that apart from our growth-based inclinations we also have a vulnerable nature, as this natural growth–oriented course of development can be disrupted by environments and events that thwart psychological needs ( Ryan, Deci, & Vansteenkiste, 2016 ). Interests and curiosity can be crushed by controlling environments or even devastated by suppression and abuse. Chronic or severe frustrations of autonomy and relatedness can translate directly to compensatory defenses, and sometimes into psychopathology and antisocial attitudes and activities (e.g., Ryan & Moore , this volume; van der Kaap-Deeder , this volume). Understanding the social-contextual elements that nourish human psychological development and those that are toxic to our inherent growth and wellness capacities is thus an inherent feature of an organismic approach and a mission of SDT research ( Vansteenkiste & Ryan, 2013 ).

Full functioning.

This organismic approach also allows for a refreshing and well-delineated view of what psychological health and wellness involves. Unlike hedonic approaches, SDT’s concept of full functioning implies more than the presence of positive affect and the absence of negative affect. Instead, awareness, subjective vitality, autonomy, and meaning are all critical indicators of maturation and psychological health. Autonomous persons are those who can be receptively and nondefensively aware of what is occurring, both internally and externally, can reflectively evaluate their choices, and can act in ways that are congruent with their needs and abiding values ( Ryan et al., 2021 ; Shepard & O’Grady, 2017 ). Such full functioning is captured in the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia , or the pursuit of activities comprising a good life ( Martela , this volume; Ryan, Huta, & Deci, 2008 ).

The Methods of SDT

SDT is an empirical approach to the questions of human flourishing, with an epistemology based on testing, refining, and integrating SDT’s formulations using convergent evidence . Given its organismic philosophy, SDT’s methodologies are varied and eclectic, drawing from biological, behavioral, phenomenological, and clinical inquiries. This methodological valuing of consilience is consistent with the holistic viewpoint in which behavior and experience can be examined at all levels of analysis, bringing more clarity to what is, after all, a single living process. SDT is thus concerned with how biological mechanisms, social influences, and experiential reports interconnect in describing and predicting behavior.

Rather than writing off human experience as irrelevant, trivial, or epiphenomenal, as reductionists do, or ignoring mechanisms and their implications, as some humanists do, SDT’s organismic view posits that descriptions of human functioning at all levels of analysis can, and in principle should, be integrated. In this organismic perspective we expect variations in experiences of autonomy, relatedness, and competence to be manifest in distinct brain and physiological processes, as well as different functional outcomes.

Psychological focus and mechanism without reductionism.

This interest in integrative knowledge across levels of analysis in no way detracts from the central psychological focus of SDT. When it comes to intentional behavior, SDT argues that psychological processes are most often the regnant level of analysis because they are the level where behavior is often initiated and where intervention that changes the course of events can actually take place ( Deci & Ryan, 2011 ). For such behaviors, reductionistic explanations are, in contrast, often the least relevant to a causal analysis. For the question “Why did that individual visit her mother?,” the most meaningful answers lie in motives and reasons rather than the neurological processes supporting them. However, for other reactions and events, such as why that person flinched when startled, psychological explanations may be the least regnant or relevant level of analysis.

Neuroscience research based in SDT can therefore best be characterized as mechanism without reductionism . Neuroscience studies are helping to refine the theory’s process models associated with variations in autonomy and organization (e.g., Di Domenico & Ryan , this volume; Lee , this volume). Thus, within the SDT perspective, neuroscience is being used to characterize and understand more deeply, rather than explain away, the motivational dynamics we study at the psychological level of analysis.

Tapping diverse methods.

Much of the early work in SDT was experimental, a methodological tradition that continues today, as reviewed in many of these chapters. But SDT as a psychological theory also draws heavily on other methods, including observational studies, qualitative inquiries, and interventions as strategies of research.

As a theory that embraces the importance of psychological experiences, SDT research has also from its outset utilized self-report survey ( Deci et al., 1981 ) and interview (e.g., Grolnick & Ryan, 1989 ) strategies. There is today a rather strong bias against self-report in behavioral science, often one that is not well thought through or empirically justified. In fact, self-report measures often have much greater construct validity than so-called hard variables such as regions of interest activations assessed with fMRI, biological assays, or external observers’ ratings. People’s internal experience is, in fact, quite predictive of many outcomes precisely for the reasons we stated: most intentional behaviors and often unintentional reactive ones are influenced or determined by their attributions, needs, reasons, and motives. For instance, perceiving a mentor as controlling in fields as divergent as music ( Evans , this volume) and medicine ( Kusurkar , this volume), no matter what one’s culture or age, predicts diminished persistence and wellness. At the same time our methods of tapping perceptions and motives often rely on self-reports, which must themselves be understood as behaviors, with their own motivational and cultural dynamics. This is just a part of what must be interpretively considered in evaluating evidence.

SDT also uses methods that vary in time perspective, from experience sampling to long-term longitudinal research. For example, motivation and vitality can vary from moment to moment in ways that are not random but are specifically tied to fluctuations of basic need satisfactions at a within-person level, as diary research within and across life domains has shown (e.g., Flunger et al., in press ; Reis et al., 2000 ; Ryan, Bernstein, & Brown. 2010 ). But research can also target experiences over time or across a field of activity, with directional changes again predicted by fluctuations in need-supportive versus need-thwarting social conditions. Longitudinal research thus shows how general need supports enhance developmental outcomes over time (e.g., see Joussemet & Mageau , this volume), whereas controlling and need-thwarting environments present risk factors for maladjustment and behavioral problems (e.g., van der Kaap-Deeder , this volume).

The Unfolding of SDT: A Brief History Connecting Theory to Current Research

SDT’s broader theory evolved from an empirically driven approach allowing a “brick by brick” expansion of theory based on reliable and converging evidence ( Ryan & Deci, 2019 ). As such, SDT represents a body of work that has gradually unfolded over time, resulting in the multifaceted framework of SDT today, represented by the highly varied chapters of this Handbook . Having described some of SDT’s basic assumptions, we next provide a brief history of the theory’s unfolding, itself reflecting an organic process of differentiation and integration of ideas. The purpose of this quasi-historical, bird’s-eye view is not only to briefly introduce the framework, but also to connect the chapters within this volume with the various strands of SDT’s inquiries.

Cognitive evaluation theory.

The initial work in SDT began in the early 1970s with experiments by Deci ( 1971 , 1972 ) focused on intrinsic motivation . Intrinsic motivation describes a class of behaviors energized by their inherent satisfactions, such as in activities one finds interesting or enjoyable. Intrinsic motivation is seen across the lifespan, from the play and curious exploration of early childhood to the avocations and interests of adults, supplying a major source of learning and of revitalization. But beyond this, intrinsically motivated behaviors are an expression of an active organism, actions not dependent on external reinforcements for their occurrence.

Deci’s early studies (e.g., 1971 , 1972 ) were provocative in showing that contingent extrinsic rewards could have negative effects on subsequent interest and persistence (see Ryan, Ryan, & Di Domenico, 2019 ). These “undermining” effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation did not occur invariantly but were conditional. As summarized in Deci and Ryan (1980a) , rewards have negative effects on intrinsic motivation when used in controlling ways, that is, when applied in order to externally pressure or induce people to perform certain behaviors or meet certain standards. Such controlling reward contingencies can undermine the experience of autonomy essential to intrinsic motivation. In contrast, rewards can have more positive, or at least no negative, effects on intrinsic motivation when experienced as informational —when conveying a sense of progress, mastery, or competence. Ryan, Mims, and Koestner (1983) subsequently created and experimentally tested a taxonomy of reward contingency types, specifying the extent to which each was likely to have controlling or informational significance, and thus differed in their effects on intrinsic motivation. This cognitive evaluation theory (CET) taxonomy was later refined, and its major predictions confirmed, in a well-known meta-analysis by Deci et al. (1999) .

Beyond rewards, other events that were experienced as controlling, such as deadlines, surveillance, and forceful language, also showed negative effects on subsequent intrinsic motivation, whereas those positively impacting autonomy (e.g., provision of choice) and competence (e.g., positive feedback) enhanced motivation, with basic need satisfactions playing an explanatory (mediating) role (e.g., De Muynck et al., 2017 ; Peng et al., 2012 ). Also, in what became preliminary work on introjection , Ryan (1982) showed that when people were ego-involved (feeling self-esteem pressure to perform), their intrinsic motivation was diminished, extending the undermining effect to “internally controlling” states. These findings were summarized in CET ( Deci & Ryan, 1985b ), which became the first of SDT’s formal mini-theories.

Reeve (this volume) provides a fresh review of CET, emphasizing its importance within SDT as a whole, and the idea that it seeded the five mini-theories that followed. He specifically highlights CET’s formulations concerning the functional significance of events, or what they mean to the recipient in terms of affordances to get their basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness met. Various authors in this volume discuss the central importance of intrinsic motivation in diverse life domains, including in school ( Ryan, Reeve et al. , this volume) music learning ( Evans , this volume), sports ( Standage , this volume), and physical education ( Taylor & Lonsdale , this volume), among others.

Organismic integration theory.

Having seen the importance of experiences of autonomy and competence experiences for maintained intrinsic motivation, the next step was to understand extrinsic motivation. Within SDT extrinsic motivation represents a broad category that encompasses all instrumental behaviors—all actions the goal of which is separable from or not inherent in the satisfactions of the activity itself. Recognizing that instrumental activities can be varied in their autonomy or perceived locus of causality (PLOC), Ryan, Connell, and Deci (1985) presented an early taxonomy of extrinsic motivations, organized along a continuum of autonomy. On the controlling end of that continuum was external regulation, being controlled by external rewards and punishments. Less controlling was introjection , when a person partially internalizes a goal or value and controls themselves using “shoulds” and “mustifications.” Still more autonomous was identification , in which a person acts because they personally value the behavior or the outcomes achieved. Finally, intrinsic motivation represented another highly autonomous form of motivation. Testing their model, they found a “simplex” pattern consistent with this idea of a continuum of autonomy, which (after many rejections) was finally published ( Ryan & Connell, 1989 ). However, by then the model was already well in use (e.g., Grolnick & Ryan, 1987 ; Vallerand et al., 1989 ). This simplex statistical pattern and evidence for the underlying continuum of autonomy have since been found in hundreds of studies and confirmed in meta-analytic reviews ( Howard, Gagné, & Bureau, 2017 ; Howard , this volume).

This taxonomy and continuum of motivations became the basis for SDT’s second mini-theory, organismic integration theory (OIT; Ryan, Connell, & Deci, 1985 ). The differentiated viewpoint on extrinsic motivation within OIT is both necessary and illuminating, as not all subtypes yield similar correlates and effects. Whereas more internalized and thus autonomous motivations predict greater persistence, performance, and wellness, more controlled motives (i.e., introjection, external regulation) have less positive and sometimes even negative effects on outcomes. In light of these findings, OIT stresses that it is the type or source rather than the quantity of motivation that matters most ( Vansteenkiste et al., 2018 ).

OIT further posits that people are most apt to internalize the practices or values of people with whom they feel (or wish to feel) related and are more apt to identify with values if they have had support for autonomy and are able to volitionally process, evaluate, and integrate the value or behavior. Pelletier and Rocchi (this volume) provide an overview of the basic tenets of this mini-theory, which is used as a basis for articulating the motivational dynamics that apply in various life domains.

Although the original model of the OIT continuum did not include amotivation , amotivation had been conceptualized within SDT as a state in which a person lacks either competence or reason to act ( Deci & Ryan, 1985b ). Vallerand and colleagues (e.g., 1989) began to measure this state alongside measures of intrinsic and extrinsic subtypes, confirming its largely negative relations with optimal outcomes in domains such as work or education. Subsequent research has further differentiated amotivational states and their varied consequences, (e.g., see Otis, Grouzet, & Pelletier, 2005 ) including the recognition that there are sometimes volitional amotivational states, where a person willingly abstains from acting ( Vansteenkiste, Lens, et al., 2004 ), and more controlled amotivational states, as when a person feels pressured and unable to partake in an activity ( Aelterman et al., 2016 ).

Clearly there are many angles and nuances to the dynamics of motivation as viewed through OIT. The postulation of varied types of motivation that differ in their sources and qualities, and which can co-occur, but that are nonetheless systematically arrayed along a continuum of autonomy poses many analytic possibilities. This complexity within OIT has also led to a diversity of statistical models and profiling approaches, and this continues to be a lively area of investigation and debate, as described by Howard (this volume). In addition, because OIT apples to all types of internalization, we see unique applications of this mini-theory to domains as diverse as police bias ( Legate & Weinstein , this volume) and sustainability behaviors ( Legault , this volume).

Causality orientations theory.

Deci and Ryan (1985a) presented a third mini-theory, causality orientations theory (COT). Causality orientations attempt to characterize individual differences in the global regulation of behavior by considering how a person orients to encountered opportunities, challenges, and obstacles and what they focus on and react to in new situations. In a controlled orientation , people focus on the rewards, punishments, and social pressures in a situation and are likely to react by complying or defying. In an autonomy orientation the person is focused on opportunities for value enactment and the pursuit of interests that might be afforded. Finally, an impersonal orientation (reflecting Heider’s 1958 terminology) describes amotivation, in which the person focuses foremost on potential obstacles, threats, and competence concerns. The General Causality Orientation Scale (GCOS; Deci & Ryan, 1985a ) was created as a preliminary instrument to test these hypotheses and has been used since, although causality orientations have been otherwise assessed or induced via priming procedures. Koestner and Levine (this volume) review the history and current status of COT, described as SDT’s “forgotten” mini-theory, since this mini-theory has received, comparably speaking, less research attention over the past few years.

The three mini-theories of CET, OIT, and COT were part of Deci and Ryan’s (1985b) first formal statement of SDT. Although SDT research was still in its infancy at that time, the book contained applied chapters in clinical, educational, sport, and organizational domains reflecting the efforts of a number of early contributors. Even in this early statement, the organismic perspective discussed above was at the heart of SDT, including the idea that healthy human functioning is dependent upon basic need satisfactions.

Parent nurturance model.

The organismic approach leads directly to a series of developmental postulates, and in the 1980s SDT’s developmental research began in earnest. To support children’s development and growth, parents and other socializers optimally assume a nurturing and facilitating orientation instead of a shaping and controlling role. This insight led Grolnick and Ryan (1989) to begin assessing three dimensions of parenting that they saw as nurturing of self-development in children: support for autonomy , structure , and involvement . They reasoned that these three dimensions in conjunction help to provide a differentiated picture of parenting, capturing its different forms better than previous parent models. In particular they argued that in optimal parenting there is both support for autonomy but also scaffolding for development that allows a child to feel supported, confident, and agentic.

These parenting dimensions of SDT are revisited and reviewed by Grolnick and Lerner in this volume, and their critical role in diverse domains of children’s functioning is further discussed by Mageau and Joussemet in this volume. These three dimensions matter across different life periods, as noted by Soenens and Vansteenkiste, with Joussemet and Mageau reviewing work in early childhood and Ratelle and Guay focusing on emerging adulthood (all in this volume). In addition, Kanat-Maymon, Assor, and Roth (this volume) review research on conditional regard , a variable which first emerged within SDT as a specific type of controlling parent behavior but which is now recognized as a dynamic aspect of close relationships across the lifespan.

These dimensions of structure and autonomy support also were relevant to educational environments, as early studies showed (e.g., Connell & Wellborn, 1991 ; Grolnick, Ryan, & Deci, 1991 , Skinner & Belmont, 1993 ). The relation and interplay between dimensions of autonomy support and structure have been studied as critical dimensions of facilitating environments within SDT ever since (e.g., see Jang, Reeve, & Deci, 2010 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2012 ), many of these findings summarized by Ryan, Reeve et al. (this volume) in their chapter on education. This interplay between autonomy support and structure is specifically assessed within the circumplex model described by Aelterman and Vansteenkiste (this volume), a model that provides a fine-grained insight in the way these two foundational dimensions of autonomy support and structure relate to each other.

SDT’s early research in parenting also led us to an important conceptual differentiation between autonomy and independence that has become critical not only to the theory’s developmental models but also to its cross-cultural theorizing. Autonomy is, in SDT, about volition and willingness, whereas independence describes self-reliance, or not relying on others for guidance or support. In a SDT perspective, within a nurturing parent-child relationship there can be volitional dependence on the parent, a willing acceptance of the parent’s guidance or help, a healthy processes facilitated by autonomy support ( Ryan & Lynch, 1989 ; Ryan et al., 2005 ). Yet at other times, autonomy-supportive parents offer their offspring the necessary room and freedom to explore, discover, and make their own decisions, thereby fostering volitional independence . What matters most is not whether parents promote independence or dependence, but how they do so. Both controlled dependence and controlled independence yield fewer socioemotional benefits compared to their autonomous equivalents ( Soenens, Vansteenkiste, & Sierens, 2009 ).

Basic psychological needs theory.

By the middle of the 1990s SDT researchers were already using a model of basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness as an organizing principle, although basic psychological needs theory (BPNT) as a fourth mini-theory was not formally presented until Ryan and Deci (2002) . The purpose of BPNT was to make explicit the propositions that were already inductively apparent, namely that there were specific psychological needs or essentials for psychological growth, wellness, and integrity ( Vansteenkiste, Soenens, & Ryan , this volume).

Once making the claim that something is a basic psychological need, the need for cross-cultural validation becomes necessary. As basic needs are assumed to play an essential role in individuals’ well-being, it logically follows that this dynamic applies universally. The cross-cultural validity of SDT’s basic psychological needs was supported in early studies, including a project predicting Bulgarian and U.S. workers’ well-being based on these need satisfactions ( Deci et al., 2001 ). Since then, many studies have confirmed that basic needs assessments similarly predict well-being across culturally diverse populations. For example, Chen et al. (2015) found both need satisfactions and frustrations account for variations in Chinese, Belgian, Peruvian, and U.S. students’ well-being and ill-being, and Yu, Levesque-Bristol, and Maeda (2018) showed equivalent benefits of autonomy across East Asian and North American samples.

The very nature of SDT’s assumptions make cross-cultural work particularly important to it. While cross-cultural work is often relativist in focus and searches for differences between cultures, SDT’s focus is on fundamental and universal needs underlying human psychological thriving, which are seen as being variously expressed ( Soenens, Vansteenkiste, & Van Petegem, 2015 ). In fact, SDT’s embrace of an etic claim of common needs also allows for emic differences, insofar as these basic needs can be satisfied or undermined in ways that are differentially shaped and constrained by cultural norms (e.g., see Sayanagi & van Egmond , this volume). Lynch (this volume) reviews past cross-cultural work in BPNT and emphasizes that SDT can be applied to understand the specific ways in which cultures express and fulfill basic needs, as well as cultural variations in how they compensate for those needs that remain unfulfilled.

The criteria of being essential and being universally relevant are just two of the attributes that characterize basic psychological needs. Vansteenkiste, Soenens, and Ryan (this volume) list nine criteria and their corollary implications for research and practice in their review of the growing empirical work on BPNT. They note that need candidates such as morality, benevolence, security, and nature exposure have been proposed as potentially additional basic psychological needs. Yet, they maintain, autonomy, competence, and relatedness remain the most pervasive and robust predictors of thriving-related outcomes, whereas these other candidate needs may yield more contextualized and specific effects. For example, benevolence and nature seem to be important wellness enhancers ( Martela & Ryan, 2020 ), whereas security and self-esteem appear to operate primarily as deficit motives (important particularly when lacking; Vermote et al., 2022 ; Sheldon et al., 2001 ). How fundamental any given candidate need will be to full functioning remains open to empirical investigation, but whether or not considered “basic” these additional need candidates have shown some importance in their own right.

Subjective vitality.

SDT’s notion of subjective vitality grew out of early investigations in sport and exercise by Frederick and Ryan (1993) . They found many participants reported that physical activity brought them enhanced vitality and vigor, which seemed central to their overall feeling of wellness. Intrigued by this idea, Ryan and Frederick (1997) developed and validated a measure called the Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS). The SVS taps a sense of aliveness and of having energy and is a unique and core indicator of a fully functioning organism. Subjective vitality is affected by both physical (e.g., sleep) and psychological (e.g., need satisfactions/frustrations) factors and their interactions. In this volume, Frederick and Ryan report on the 25 years of research on the SVS since showing its variation with need satisfaction and individual autonomy, among other dynamics.

The physical self.

Research in sport and physical activity has been a generative source of observations and theory within SDT from its very beginnings. In part this is because as an organismic perspective, SDT has a holistic view in which psychological needs affect physical needs and vice versa. The dynamic interface between psychological and physical needs in relation to individuals’ experienced vitality and fatigue is explored by Campbell and Vansteenkiste (this volume), who examine the reciprocal influences of sleep quality and quantity with basic need satisfactions and frustrations and energy level.

More generally SDT’s rich tradition of studying the physical self is well reviewed in this volume in chapters by Wang and Hagger on physical activity , Taylor and Lonsdale on physical education , and Standage on sport . These chapters all speak to the active human nature assumed by SDT, in which people have an inherent propensity to exercise their skills and grow in their mastery.

Mindfulness and motivation.

From its outset, SDT has argued that awareness is essential to exercising autonomy (Deci & Ryan, 1980b , 1985b ). With awareness of both the internal and the external environment a person is better able to make adaptive choices in terms of actions and reactions. However, investigation of the role of awareness in both autonomy and need satisfaction really began with a series of studies by Brown and Ryan (2003) to validate a measure of mindfulness and study its relations with autonomy. They found that greater mindfulness predicted more autonomous motivation at both trait (between-person) and state (within-person) levels of analysis. This is important in showing how mindfulness is a resource in self-regulation ( Rigby, Schultz, & Ryan, 2014 ), an idea supported in a meta-analysis by Donald et al. (2020) . This meta-analysis showed that mindfulness was increasingly positively correlated with more autonomous motivations within SDT’s taxonomy. Beloborodova and Brown (this volume) revisit this interface between mindfulness and behavioral regulation, reviewing mindfulness as an inner resource associated with greater autonomy.

Goal contents theory.

During the 1990s SDT was developing in multiple directions, with continuing work on intrinsic motivation and internalization and with experiments and field studies looking at ego involvement, introjection, and other internal dynamics that interfere with autonomy. There was more work on parenting, looking at the positive developmental effects of parental autonomy support. There was also extension of applied studies beyond organizations, parents, and schools to healthcare and physical activity.

It was also at this time that research began that would eventually become goals content theory (GCT). It began with work by Kasser and Ryan ( 1993 , 1996 ) on the “dark side of the American dream,” showing that the more people focus on intrinsic goals such as close relationships, community, and personal growth, the happier they are, whereas a focus on extrinsic goals such as money, fame, and image yields less positive effects. These effects, though controversial, withstood numerous replications. Vansteenkiste, Simons, et al., (2004) extended this work to goal framing —that is, presenting learning tasks as instrumental for attaining intrinsic or extrinsic goals, finding that intrinsic goal framing fosters more sustained engagement and better learning.

GCT was initially presented as a subpart of BPNT (see Ryan & Deci, 2002 ), but because of the growing amount of research using this model it was subsequently differentiated as GCT ( Ryan, 2009 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2010 ). Different goal-contents related differently not only to well-being—the central outcome within BPNT—but also to a variety of social, moral, and societal outcomes (e.g., prejudice; Duriez et al., 2007 ). Bradshaw (this volume) reevaluates both past evidence and future directions of this important area of work on human aspirations.

SDT’s eudaimonic orientation.

At the turn of the 21st century there was a surge of interest in well-being, one manifestation of which was the start of the positive psychology movement ( Sheldon & Ryan, 2011 ). Yet some of the conceptions of well-being fielded by positive psychologists (e.g., Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz, 1999 ), when considered from SDT’s organismic point of view, were at best incomplete, as they primarily focused on hedonic outcomes such as happiness and pleasure. Responding to this trend, Ryan and Deci (2001) argued that the study of wellness required a less narrow conception of thriving, one that included eudaimonic perspectives. In eudaimonia a person is fully functioning, aware, authentic, and pursuing what really matters to them, and in the process finding basic need fulfillment ( Ryan et al., 2008 ). Having a eudaimonic view broadens SDT’s considerations of the conditions for and outcomes of human flourishing, because that requires nurturing our excellences and virtues as people. Martela (this volume) and Curren (this volume) take up the topic of eudaimonia, reviewing the latest conceptualizations within SDT, especially as they apply to societal wellness.

Among expressions of eudaimonia, the virtues of giving to and caring for other people loom large. But how does giving result in greater wellness in the giver? SDT research shows that the act of giving can itself engender basic need satisfactions because in such acts one is expressing values (autonomy) having an effect (competence) and connecting with others (relatedness). Martela’s chapter also reviews this work on giving and benevolence and the prosocial focus of human nature under conditions of support.

Emotion regulation.

Recently SDT’s functional approach has been applied to emotion integration, and the regulation of experience at the “internal boundary” of the self ( Ryan, Deci, & Vansteenkiste, 2016 ). Emotions can carry a charge which itself can be regulated in different ways, from direct suppression of emotional experiences to applying strategies to down-regulate and “manage” them. But theory and, more recently, research within SDT suggest that emotions are organismic phenomena that can be adaptively used when approached and processed as informational inputs (rather than being suppressed or down-regulated, as in some coping theories). Within SDT this process is called integrative emotion regulation ( Roth, Vansteenkiste, & Ryan, 2019 ; Roth & Benita , this volume). Like intrinsic motivation and internalization, integrative emotion regulation is a way of assimilating emotion-laden experiences. Similar to other integrative processes, integrative emotion regulation is facilitated by basic need supports, both developmentally ( Brenning et al., 2015 ) and situationally ( Roth et al., 2017 ). This focus on the integrative processing of experiences rather than compartmentalization or suppression is also reflected in the memory research reviewed by Philippe (this volume).

Related to emotion regulation is increasing work within SDT on solitude. As it turns out, people have varied experiences when they are alone with themselves, and one’s quality of experience is predicted by basic need satisfactions and motives for being alone. Given that time alone can for some be distressing and for others a time for reflection and growth, the chapter in this volume by Weinstein, Nguyen, and Hansen presents a clarifying model on solitude and its dynamics.

Relationships motivation theory.

The most recently added formal mini-theory of SDT is relationships motivation theory (RMT; Ryan & Deci, 2017 ), which is reviewed in detail by Knee and Browne (this volume). At the core of RMT is the claim that essential to high-quality close relationships is support for autonomy. Whereas positive regard and warmth can come in many forms, when love or regard is contingent, or the giving of care controlling, the experience of both autonomy and relatedness is compromised. In contrast, autonomy-supportive partners facilitate authenticity, disclosure, emotional reliance, security, trust, and an array of well-being benefits associated with relatedness satisfaction.

Other currents in SDT today.

SDT also is a framework from which many other phenomena can be studied and from which varied models can be constructed. Examples in this Handbook include the dualistic passion model ( Vallerand & Paquette , this volume), which explores motivational dynamics and need satisfaction among people who are highly engaged in an activity. Sheldon and Goffredi (this volume) present the self-concordance model , which focuses on the congruence and authenticity of people’s goals, as well as how they might self-regulate their own growth and integrity. The inner compass model ( Assor, Benita, & Geifman , this volume) examines the internalized sources of people’s value-driven behaviors and decisions and how we develop an identity and abiding values that can guide ongoing life decisions. Holding and Koestner (this volume) present their goal life cycle model , which addresses not only goal adoption and maintenance but also the process of relinquishing goals as circumstances, capacities, or demands change. Each of these models draws upon basic premises from SDT even while applying them in unique ways. They share with SDT the spirit and aims of enhancing motivational quality and wellness within individuals, using basic need satisfactions as key leverages.

Positioning SDT within Psychology’s Landscape

Sdt and psychology’s subdisciplines.

SDT aims to fulfill all the criteria for a broad theory of behavior, including explanations of processes underlying personality development, situational and individual variations in behavior, and differential outcomes in experience and adaptation. This means it must cross social, developmental, and clinical specialties within psychology.

Social psychology.

Insofar as social psychology is the science of how social and interpersonal contexts impact human behavior, SDT is clearly a social psychology. From its beginnings, a strong suit for SDT has been its experimental approach, built on varying external conditions associated with autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs and examining their impact on behavioral and experiential outcomes. This has included the study of proximal social contexts, especially how day-to-day social environments can support or thwart basic psychological needs, with robust effects on both behavioral and wellness-related outcomes. SDT has also expanded to consider broader or pervasive influences on both motivation and wellness such as political rights, economic resources, and cultural and religious proscriptions and regulations (e.g., Curren , this volume; Lynch , this volume; Ryan & DeHaan , this volume). These pervasive influences exert both direct and indirect effects on human flourishing in ways largely mediated by basic psychological needs.

Developmental psychology.

These social effects and impacts vary in both their nature and meaning within age, as Soenens and Vansteenkiste (this volume) highlight. As a developmental psychology , SDT is concerned not merely with change over time but also with the unfolding of the individual in directions of greater differentiation and integrity. In SDT this unfolding is seen as palpably expressed in people’s inherent propensities to learn, exercise their abilities, and find meaning within their worlds. These integrative propensities drive psychological development and are an inherent part of our living nature. But unlike structural theories that focus on the regularities in outcomes of development, SDT is more focused on what facilitates and undermines the unfolding process itself. This means that it takes an interest in changes in the outcomes of need supports, from early expressions of intrinsic motivation in exploration and play ( Mageau & Joussemet , this volume) to the struggles to attain an authentic identity ( Ratelle & Guay , this volume; Ryan & Moore , this volume) and all the way to the generativity and ego integrity found in older adults who have pursued intrinsic goals and values ( Soenens & Vansteenkiste , this volume). It also explains SDT’s always strong emphasis on parenting and child-care environments ( Grolnick and Lerner , this volume), which provide the foundation for the integrative processes of intrinsic motivation, internalization, and emotion regulation.

SDT also subscribes to the developmental psychopathology perspective ( Cicchetti, 2010 ) in which perturbations to needs impact subsequent functioning and integrity. Mental health represents an outcome of the dialectic interplay between that active unfolding core self of the individual with social contexts that are either more or less need-supportive. Frustration of basic psychological needs, for example, hinders the emergence of capacities for curiosity, empathy, awareness, and executive functioning, among others, thus harming full functioning. Severe or chronic frustration of needs is further implicated in the etiology of psychological disorders ( Ryan et al., 2016 ), which, once emerging, themselves interfere with the need satisfactions needed to thrive ( van der Kaap-Deeder , this volume).

Clinical and health psychologies.

Beyond contributing to our understanding of flourishing versus ill health, SDT has importance in the delivery of both medical and psychological treatments. Autonomy support is critical wherever maintenance of outcomes (i.e., internalization) is a treatment goal ( Ryan, Lynch, et al., 2011 ). However, this requires an authentic attitude of facilitation: an orientation toward the client or patient that is open, nonjudgmental, and noncontrolling. These qualities play a significant role not only in creating therapeutic alliance but in facilitating openness, transparency, a sense of safety, and readiness for internalization of change.

We see support for autonomy as central to the effective implementation across strategies of behavior change, from psychodynamic to behavioral interventions. For example, recent innovations in “third wave” behaviorist approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy ( Hayes & Hofmann, 2021 ) and motivational interviewing ( Markland et al., 2005 ; Vansteenkiste & Sheldon, 2006 ) involve a strong focus on autonomy support (see Ryan, 2021 ). Evidence for SDT’s relevance across varied clinical settings and methods is presented in several chapters in this Handbook , including those by Ntoumanis and Moller on health interventions, Besel and Williams on medical practice, Halvari and Halvari on dental health, and Zuroff and Koestner on psychotherapy, counseling, and behavior change.

Personality psychology.

Sheldon and Prentice (2019) argued that SDT provides a general framework for personality psychology , as it contains elements that potentially unify inquiries across many of the disparate models we see in the field. Their special issue in Journal of Personality was dedicated to this theme. Certainly, SDT does have explanations for variabilities in both trait and state behavior and experience and measures of individual differences that emerge within development in the form of causality orientations ( Koestner & Levine , this volume). It also has a dynamic view of need fulfillment and the compensatory and defensive responses to need frustration. Indeed, it has the classic elements of a broad personality perspective, including philosophical anchoring, testable hypotheses, and capacity to organize findings across a wide range of phenomena.

Applied fields.

As we stated earlier, a problem with many of the models and theories in psychology today is their lack of applied value or “practicality” ( Berkman & Wilson, 2021 ). This is clearly not the case for SDT. For example, in the field of organizational psychology SDT has become an increasingly central perspective and is influencing leadership ( Van den Broeck & Slemp , this volume), compensation ( Gagné, Nordgren-Selar, & Sverke , this volume), and overall strategies (e.g., Forest et al. , this volume) to enhance employee productivity and wellness. In education, SDT is being applied to general classroom learning at all ages ( Ryan, Reeve et al. , this volume) and to specific fields such as music education ( Evans , this volume), medical education ( Kusurkar , this volume), and second-language learning ( Noels , this volume). It is also importantly central to creating a facilitating and empowering environment to those with special needs (see Wehmeyer , this volume). Perhaps especially timely are applications of SDT to media ( Adachi & Rigby , this volume) and technology use ( Peters & Calvo , this volume; Rigby , this volume), in which we can see the need satisfactions and frustrations presented by the virtual worlds in which we increasingly spend time. In fact, there seems to be no area of applied behavioral science in which SDT is not potentially involved, as the diverse set of applied chapters in this Handbook attests.

SDT and the Three “Forces” of 20th-Century Psychology

When SDT emerged there were famously “three forces” dominating the landscape of psychology: behaviorism/cognitive behaviorism, psychodynamic psychology, and humanistic psychology. SDT did not fit neatly within any of these dominant movements.

With behaviorist and cognitive behaviorist colleagues we shared an empirical approach and an emphasis on a reliable evidence base. However, the metapsychological assumptions of both operant behaviorism and social learning theory are contradictory to our organismic approach. For instance, Skinner (1953) and Bandura (1995) both explicitly deny the relevance of autonomy to understanding behavior. Moreover, as Ryan (2021) points out, even as new “third wave” behaviorisms embrace more recognition of agency, awareness, and inner motivation as important to treatment success, these concepts do not easily fit into their behaviorist foundations and would more easily find meaning within an organismic framework.

In contrast, within both psychodynamic and humanistic movements are theorists who have embraced the organismic tenets that SDT shares (see Ryan & Deci, 2017 , Chapter 2). However, they differ in other regards. Psychodynamic theories have classically involved a motivational theory based in drives that is mismatched with SDT’s focus on intrinsic motives and integrative tendencies as primary, although ego psychologists like White (1963) and Loevinger (1976) express some similar sentiments that influenced our own thinking.

SDT also shares sensibilities with many humanistic psychologists, and with Rogers (1963) in particular, as he explicitly embraced an organismic perspective. We also focus on basic needs, which was a central focus of Maslow (1954) . But it is important to recognize that humanistic psychology is a movement under which many flags have flown rather than being a specific theory. That movement has at times veered away from the empirical grounding SDT’s approach relies upon, and it includes under its umbrella some themes, theories, and issues that lie outside SDT’s scope. That said, we do believe that SDT research is relevant to many of the central issues that occupy humanistic psychologists, especially by providing a specific and evidence-supported approach to issues surrounding self-actualization, personal development, and authenticity (e.g., DeRobertis & Bland, 2018 ; Ryan & Ryan, 2019 ; Sheldon & Kasser, 2001 ).

Positive Psychology and SDT

In the 21st century another movement within psychology has been the emergence of positive psychology ( Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000 ). SDT is often identified with positive psychology because of its emphasis on human flourishing ( Deci & Vansteenkiste, 2004 ; Sheldon & Ryan, 2011 ), but there are a number of differentiators as well. First, SDT precedes positive psychology by a couple of decades and so is neither derived from nor based in that idea. Second, we see positive psychology (like humanistic psychology) as a movement rather than a theory, and it is comprised of a number of models, not all of which are congruent with SDT’s premises or propositions. Third, in SDT we are especially wary of techniques focused on cognitive or behavior change that is not well-integrated, and positive psychology techniques and ideas vary in this regard. Fourth, and perhaps most important, while SDT is focused on flourishing, it is equally focused on harms and hazards and thus has both “positive” and “negative” psychological processes and outcomes in its focus.

SDT in the 21st Century

As a final thought on placing SDT within an intellectual landscape we note that all theories reflect their historical periods; they are outgrowths of their times and cultural origins. In this regard SDT is not exception. SDT has arisen within an age of rising individualism, spurred by escalating globalism ( Franck, 2001 ), modern economic dynamics ( Phelps, 2013 ), and unprecedented access to information from sources outside one’s community ( Cohen-Almagor, 2021 ). On the positive side, trends toward individualism have been associated with increased human rights and freedoms ( Friedman, 1999 ), and individualistic societies appear to yield increased individual well-being ( Welzel, 2013 ) and even altruism ( Rhoads et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, individualism is often seen as a threat to traditional social structures and to some group values ( Santos, Varnum, & Grossman, 2017 ). The fear is that individualistic pursuits and values will override and erode these traditional sources of societal organization.

These dynamic features of our current historical epoch give special relevance to a theory of human autonomy , because people everywhere are increasingly faced with the freedom, and the burdens, of choosing identities, lifestyles, and group affiliations rather than simply engaging in those transmitted to them via family or tradition. SDT, with its emphasis on the different qualities of internalization, is uniquely positioned to look at how individuals assimilate or reject the values and practices of their ambient groups, cultures, and institutions. In this regard it speaks to internalization dynamics within both individualistic and collectivistic cultures, as they to varying extents and in different ways meet or frustrate basic human needs.

This is not to say that the behavioral principles SDT details concerning the benefits of human autonomy and the harms of excessive control, or the relevance of basic psychological needs to wellness, are merely modern phenomena—they are not. Throughout history oppression, punitive external control, and heteronomy have harmed people, and people have ever sought freedom from controls and emancipatory opportunities. But the issues of autonomy, identity, and choice are particularly salient in modern times, as well as being issues that prior behavioral and cognitive theories have largely either skirted, ignored, or denied. It thus is not surprising that the issues addressed by SDT have attracted the global attention that they have.

Coda: The Text Ahead

If you have gotten this far in this chapter you will have learned about SDT but have not yet seen much of what this body of work actually is . That is the purpose of the rest of this Handbook . In what follows we begin with six chapters, each reviewing one of SDT’s core mini-theories. We move from there to chapters on specialized topics within SDT from vitality to solitude, and mindfulness to memory. Included are models of development, parenting, and identity. From such substantive areas and models, we transition to applied work in areas including organizations, educational institutions, physical activity, clinical practice, and media. We end with a section addressing broader societal issues such as the influences of cultures, groups, governments, and economies on people’s capacities to satisfy basic needs and realize a life worth living. Indeed, the 83 authors of these 57 chapters present a wide array of refinements, extensions, and applications of this organically developing organismic, psychological, person-centered, evidence-based theory.

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Self-Determination Theory

Sep 06, 2014

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Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has grown out of the research on motivation performed by Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci both of the University of Rochester (Ryan and Deci , 2000a). SDT establishes three internal needs that we seek to satisfy: competence, relatedness and autonomy.

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• intrinsic motivation
• instructional design
• determination theory
• external motivation ryan
• verbal rewards positive feedback

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Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has grown out of the research on motivation performed by Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci both of the University of Rochester (Ryan and Deci, 2000a). • SDT establishes three internal needs that we seek to satisfy: competence, relatedness and autonomy. • SDT considers both internal and external motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Self-Determination Theory

We are intrinsically motivated to satisfy our needs of competence, relatedness and autonomy. • Extrinsic factors can have positive or negative effects on our intrinsic motivation based on the effect the extrinsic factors have on these needs (Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 2001). • Verbal rewards (“positive feedback”) can increase a student’s sense of competence • Tangible rewards such as grades or prizes can decrease a student’s sense of autonomy (control over their work) and have a negative impact on motivation. Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation in SDT

Students wish to fulfill three primary needs. When instructional design leads to activities that fulfill these needs then learning can be more successful. • Competence • Students will be intrinsically motivated to perform if they feel they are competent and understand the material at hand. • This is best illustrated by the proper scaffolding of lessons so that students can master tasks and feel successful before moving on to more difficult work. (Dirksen, 2012) • Relatedness • Student engagement is enhanced when the instructional material covered has direct relevance to them (Deci, 2009) • Autonomy • Student success can be improved when activities allow students a sense of choice and control over the purpose and outcome of their education (Deci, 2009; Cavendish, 2013). SDT in Instructional Design

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Motivation as Understood Through Self-Determination Theory

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National Self-Determination

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Self Determination

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Self-Presentation Theory: Self-Construction and Audience Pleasing

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• Roy F. Baumeister &
• Debra G. Hutton  

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Self-presentation is behavior that attempts to convey some information about oneself or some image of oneself to other people. It denotes a class of motivations in human behavior. These motivations are in part stable dispositions of individuals but they depend on situational factors to elicit them. Specifically, self-presentational motivations are activated by the evaluative presence of other people and by others’ (even potential) knowledge of one’s behavior.

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Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 13210, Syracuse, New York, USA

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Baumeister, R.F., Hutton, D.G. (1987). Self-Presentation Theory: Self-Construction and Audience Pleasing. In: Mullen, B., Goethals, G.R. (eds) Theories of Group Behavior. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4634-3_4

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