A neuroscientific perspective on basic psychological needs

Health simulation through the lens of self-determination theory - opportunities and pathways for discovery

Health simulation is broadly viewed as an appealing, impactful, and innovative enhancement for the education and assessment of health professions students and practitioners. We have seen exponential and global growth in programmes implementing simulation techniques and technologies. Alongside this enthusiasm and growth, the theoretical underpinnings that might guide the efficacy of the field have not always been considered. Many of the principles that guide simulation design, development and practice have been intuited through practical trial and error. In considering how to retrofit theory to practice, we have at our disposal existing theories that may assist with building our practice, expertise, identity as a community of practice, authority and legitimacy as a field. Self-determination theory (SDT) is an established and evolving theory that examines the quality of motivation and human behaviours. It has been applied to a variety of contexts and provides evidence that may support and enhance the practice of health simulation. In this paper, SDT is outlined, and avenues for examining the fit of theory to practice are suggested. Promising links exist between SDT and health simulation. Opportunities and new pathways of discovery await.

Motivated with joy or anxiety: Does approach-avoidance goal framing elicit differential reward-network activation in the brain?

Psychological research on human motivation repeatedly observed that approach goals (i.e., goals to attain success) increase task enjoyment and intrinsic motivation more strongly than avoidance goals (i.e., goals to avoid failure). The present study sought to address how the reward network in the brain-including the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex-is involved when individuals engage in the same task with a focus on approach or avoidance goals. Participants reported stronger positive emotions when they focused on approach goals, but stronger anxiety and disappointment when they focused on avoidance goals. The fMRI analyses revealed that the reward network in the brain showed similar levels of activity to cues predictive of approach and avoidance goals. In contrast, the two goal states were associated with different patterns of activity in the visual cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum during success and failure outcomes. Representation similarity analysis further revealed shared and different representations within the striatum and vmPFC between the approach and avoidance goal states, suggesting both the similarity and uniqueness of the mechanisms behind the two goal states. In addition, the distinct patterns of activation in the striatum were associated with distinct subjective experiences participants reported between the approach and the avoidance conditions. These results suggest the importance of examining the pattern of striatal activity in understanding the mechanisms behind different motivational states in humans.

Differential influence of basic psychological needs on burnout and academic achievement in three southeast European countries

Several studies show the importance of basic psychological needs (BPN) for decreasing burnout and increasing grade point average (GPA), but, to our knowledge, no prior study has explored the potential contextual differences in Southeastern European countries. Moreover, even less is known about how this relationship may differ during stressful (exam) and less stressful (beginning of the semester) periods. Measures of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey and BPN Satisfaction and Frustration Scale were translated and adapted. The study included a cross-sectional sample of students from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia during beginning of the semester and exam period. Across all countries and both contexts, students with high autonomy need satisfaction showed the strongest decrease in burnout, followed by those with high competence need satisfaction. Students with high academic achievement showed an increase due to competence need satisfaction. Competence and autonomy need satisfaction were higher beginning of a semester, while burnout was higher during the exam period. BPN play an important role in educational settings-satisfaction of the need for autonomy and competence protects students from burnout, and the need for competence predicts greater academic achievement regardless of culture or time of the semester.

Latent profile analysis of psychological needs thwarting in Chinese school teachers: longitudinal associations with problematic smartphone use, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support

Introduction

In light of the significant impact that teachers have on education quality and student growth, their mental health warrants special attention. With the increasing popularity of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the rise of online teaching during the pandemic, teachers have become a group prone to developing problematic smartphone use (PSU). Psychological need thwarting (PNT) has been shown to be closely related to PSU, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support. However, most previous studies have adopted a variable-centered approach, which may overlook the possibility that the three basic needs are not closely associated and could form distinct profiles. Therefore, this study aims to apply latent profile analysis to identify different PNT profiles and their associations with PSU, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support.

Methods

A longitudinal survey was conducted using convenience and purposive sampling methods. The survey involved 1,642 primary and middle school teachers working in China over a two-month interval, with the first assessment in November 2021 (Time 1) and the second in January 2022 (Time 2).

Results

The results indicate that a three-profile model, intricately based on the PNT data gathered at Time 1, is most optimal: Class 1 is labeled as 'High autonomy-High competence and Moderate relatedness thwarting', Class 2 as 'High autonomy-High competence and High relatedness thwarting', and Class 3 as 'Low psychological needs thwarting'. Distinct associations were observed among the three profiles concerning PSU, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support. Specifically, in terms of PSU, the score of Class 2 was higher than Class 1, with that of Class 3 being the lowest at Time 1, while at Time 2 no significant difference was found between any two of these three groups; in terms of distress, the scores of the three profiles were arranged from high to low as Class 2, 1, and 3 at both time points; and in terms of perceived administrative support, the order was just the opposite, with 3, 1, and 2 from high to low at both Time 1 and Time 2.

Conclusion

Notably, the consistent ranking of the three classes in terms of psychological distress and administrative support suggests a lasting influence of PNT. Future studies should explore this enduring impact further by employing additional longitudinal data sets and examining potential mediators or moderators beyond the current study's scope.

Learning without contingencies: A loss of synergy between memory and reward circuits in schizophrenia

Motivational deficits in schizophrenia may interact with foundational cognitive processes including learning and memory to induce impaired cognitive proficiency. If such a loss of synergy exists, it is likely to be underpinned by a loss of synchrony between the brains learning and reward sub-networks. Moreover, this loss should be observed even during tasks devoid of explicit reward contingencies given that such tasks are better models of real world performance than those with artificial contingencies. Here we applied undirected functional connectivity (uFC) analyses to fMRI data acquired while participants engaged in an associative learning task without contingencies or feedback. uFC was estimated and inter-group differences (between schizophrenia patients and controls, n = 54 total, n = 28 patients) were assessed within and between reward (VTA and NAcc) and learning/memory (Basal Ganglia, DPFC, Hippocampus, Parahippocampus, Occipital Lobe) sub-networks. The task paradigm itself alternated between Encoding, Consolidation, and Retrieval conditions, and uFC differences were quantified for each of the conditions. Significantly reduced uFC dominated the connectivity profiles of patients across all conditions. More pertinent to our motivations, these reductions were observed within and across classes of sub-networks (reward-related and learning/memory related). We suggest that disrupted functional connectivity between reward and learning sub-networks may drive many of the performance deficits that characterize schizophrenia. Thus, cognitive deficits in schizophrenia may in fact be underpinned by a loss of synergy between reward-sensitivity and cognitive processes.

Self-service technology recovery: the importance of psychological need support

Purpose

The service recovery literature provides little guidance to firms on how users of self-service technology (SST) perceive assistance provided by human and non-human service agents following a service obstacle. This research responds by addressing two important research questions about SST recovery: (1) how are perceptions of assistance provided following a service obstacle influenced by a customer's psychological needs? and (2) does supporting the psychological needs of customers positively impact continuance intentions following a service obstacle?

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected to address the research questions via five experiments that explore how assistance provided by a non-human (vs human vs no assistance) service agent contributes to perceptions of psychological support and continuance intentions following a service obstacle while volitionally using SST.

Findings

The results show that while users of SST would prefer to do so without an obstacle requiring intervention of a service agent, if assistance is required then the psychological need support elicited from a non-human service agent was vital to an effective recovery. Further, the findings highlight some boundary conditions for this relationship, with the impact of customer perceived need support on continuance intentions found to be sensitive to fit between the task and assistance provided and the complexity of the task being completed.

Originality/value

Much of the prior service recovery literature has emphasized the different types of tactics that can be used (e.g. apologizing, monetary compensation and explaining what happened), failing to appreciate the role of different types of service agents or the underlying psychological process that explain the relative merit of such tactics. The present research shows that for these tactics to influence continuance intentions, they must be provided by a relevant service agent and support a customer's psychological need for autonomy, competence and relatedness. The hypothesized impact of psychological need support on continuance intentions was also observed to be contingent upon the fit between the task and the type of assistance provided, where the level of task complexity attenuated this fit.

Theory of brain complexity and marital behaviors: The application of complexity science and neuroscience to explain the complexities of marital behaviors

The extant theories on the quality and stability of marital relationships have some difficulties in explaining some of the complexities of marital behaviors. The present article is an initial attempt to explain the complexities of marital behaviors based on the science of complexity and neuroscience. This article proposes a new theoretical framework relying on this simple argument that marital behaviors, as one of the most complex human behaviors, are the product of one's brain's complex adaptive system (CAS). Hence, to understand the complexities of marital behaviors, a movement toward familiarity with the brain's CAS involved in marital behaviors needs to be started. The article presents the theory of brain complexity and marital behaviors (BCM) and outlines its assumptions, concepts, and propositions. Then, BCM is compared with the extant theories on happy and stable marriage, and finally, it was concluded by discussing the testability and the potential application of the theory. This article might inspire interdisciplinary studies of marital relationships, complex systems, and neuroscience and may have considerable practical implications.

Need strength, perceived need support, stress symptomatology, and performance in the context of oral exams: A typological approach

Introduction

Based on self-determination theory, we investigated whether examinees are classifiable into profiles based on basic need strength and perceived need support that differ in stress parameters and achievement in the context of a standardized oral exam.

Methods

92 students reported their basic need strength before and perceived need support provided by the examiner once after the exam. Students indicated their emotions and stress perception at four measurement points and we measured their saliva cortisol concurrently, analyzing stress-related changes over time.

Results

Latent class analyses revealed two higher-quality (low/high, high/high) and two lower-quality (low/low, high/low) need strength/need support classes. Physio-affective stress development was typical of exam situations. Higher-quality classes that met or exceeded the needs displayed more beneficial stress and emotion response patterns than lower-quality classes. Gain-related emotions mediated achievement in the higher-quality classes.

Discussion

Need-supportive examiners can promote student well-being and achievement when they succeed in providing high need satisfaction.

Basic psychological needs in gambling and gaming problems

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Need frustration was related to the severity of gambling and gaming problems.

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Need satisfaction was not related to the absence of gambling or gaming problems.

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Higher mental health problems were related to the risk of any gaming problems.

Background and Aims

Studies on self-determination theory (SDT) have placed satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) at the core of well-being, whereas frustration of these needs results in multiple potentially unhealthy mental and behavioral patterns. This study analyzed how need satisfaction and frustration relate to the severity of gambling and gaming problems.

Methods

A survey study with 18–75-year-old Finnish participants (N = 1530; 50.33% male) was conducted in April 2021. Basic psychological needs were measured with the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale, mental health issues with the five-item Mental Health Inventory, gambling problems with the Problem Gambling Severity Index, and gaming problems with the Internet Gaming Disorder Test. Zero-inflated negative binomial analyses were conducted to examine how satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs, together with mental health issues, are associated with gaming and gambling problems.

Results

Mental health issues were associated with gambling and gaming problems, but this association became nonsignificant when basic psychological needs were added to the model. However, better mental health still was associated with the absence of gaming problems. While need satisfaction had no association with the absence of gaming or gambling problems, need frustration was associated with increases in the severity of both gaming and gambling problems.

Discussion

Frustration of basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence is associated with both gambling and gaming problems and should be considered when developing treatment and support for those who experience such problems.

Validation of the motivation scale towards Health-Oriented physical activity (EMAPS) in Spanish Population

The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the motivation scale towards health-oriented physical activity (EMAPS) in the Spanish Population. A sample of 808 participants (Mage = 33.90; SD = 12.91; 366 men and 440 women), participated to ensure the structural, methodological, and external correlates of EMAPS scale validation. Results of the structural stage of analyses confirmed 6 dimensions of EMAPS (i.e., intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation). In conclusion, results provided evidence for the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the EMAPS scores. Thus, this instrument may serve to provide a measure of the motivation towards health-oriented physical activity purposes in the Spanish population.

Law Enforcement Officers’ Ability to Recognize Emotions: The Role of Personality Traits and Basic Needs’ Satisfaction

Background: This study intended to explore the role of personality traits and basic psychological needs in law enforcement officers’ ability to recognize emotions: anger, joy, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, and neutral. It was significant to analyze law enforcement officers’ emotion recognition and the contributing factors, as this field has been under-researched despite increased excessive force use by officers in many countries. Methods: This study applied the Big Five–2 (BFI-2), the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS), and the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces set of stimuli (KDEF). The data was gathered using an online questionnaire provided directly to law enforcement agencies. A total of 154 law enforcement officers participated in the study, 50.65% were females, and 49.35% were males. The mean age was 41.2 (age range = 22–61). In order to analyze the data, SEM and multiple linear regression methods were used. Results: This study analyzed variables of motion recognition, personality traits, and needs satisfaction and confirmed that law enforcement officers’ personality traits play a significant role in emotion recognition. Respondents’ agreeableness significantly predicted increased overall emotion recognition; conscientiousness predicted increased anger recognition; joy recognition was significantly predicted by extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness. This study also confirmed that law enforcement officers’ basic psychological needs satisfaction/frustration play a significant role in emotion recognition. Respondents’ relatedness satisfaction significantly predicted increased overall emotion recognition, fear recognition, joy recognition, and sadness recognition. Relatedness frustration significantly predicted decreased anger recognition, surprise recognition, and neutral face recognition. Furthermore, this study confirmed links between law enforcement officers’ personality traits, satisfaction/frustration of basic psychological needs, and emotion recognition, χ2 = 57.924; df = 41; p = 0.042; TLI = 0.929; CFI = 0.956; RMSEA = 0.042 [0.009–0.065]. Discussion: The findings suggested that agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism play an essential role in satisfaction and frustration of relatedness needs, which, subsequently, link to emotion recognition. Due to the relatively small sample size, the issues of validity/reliability of some instruments, and other limitations, the results of this study should preferably be regarded with concern.

Emotion Regulation as a Transdiagnostic Risk Factor for (Non)Clinical Adolescents' Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology: Investigating the Intervening Role of Psychological Need Experiences

This study investigated emotion regulation (i.e., emotional integration, suppression and dysregulation) as a transdiagnostic process underlying adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Basic psychological need experiences were investigated as a possible underlying mechanism explaining this association. A heterogeneous sample of non-clinical and clinically-referred adolescents reported upon emotion regulation, basic psychological needs (i.e., need satisfaction and frustration), and both internalizing and externalizing problems. Results indicated that dysfunctional emotion regulation was positively linked to internalizing as well as externalizing problems. Need frustration was a partial mediator in this relation between emotion regulation and psychopathology. The findings suggest that both emotion regulation and basic psychological needs may play a transdiagnostic role in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Desire for Success Awakens: Proof of Competence Restoration in a Non-competitive Environment

Pioneering studies reported that individuals who worked on a highly difficult task and experienced competence frustration beforehand would activate a restorative process and show enhanced autonomous motivation in a subsequent irrelevant activity. In this follow-up study, we explored the effect of prior competition outcome on one’s autonomous motivation in a subsequent non-competitive environment. According to our experimental manipulation, participants were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (a winning group and a losing group) and a control group. The experiment lasted for three sessions. Participants in the control group completed a single-player stop-watch (SW) task all along, while those in both treatment groups worked on a competitive SW task and competed for monetary rewards during Session 2 only. Electrophysiological data in Session 1 serve as the baseline and measure one’s trait-level autonomous motivation towards the SW game. For participants in the losing group, more pronounced difference wave of feedback-related negativity was observed in Session 3 compared with Session 1, suggesting enhanced autonomous motivation in Session 3. Such a pattern was observed in neither the winning group nor the control group. These results suggested that failure in a prior competition would activate one’s competence restoration in a subsequent non-competitive environment. Task difficulty and social competition are varied sources of competence frustration. Thus, our findings advanced understanding of the competence restorative process and helped clarify the dynamics between competition and human motivation.

From the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction to Intrinsic Motivation: Mediating Effect of Academic Integration

The studies show a positive and direct relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation of the students. However, there is a lack of studies that analyze the psychological processes that affect these relationships. For this reason, the purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of academic integration on the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation of Chilean university students. The participants were a total of 580 students from a university in northern Chile, 359 women and 221 men. The mediation analysis was performed by structural equations modeling, using the maximum likelihood method and the bootstrapping procedure with 10,000 iterations. The results indicated that academic integration partially mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation of the students. Therefore, the basic psychological needs satisfaction had an indirect effect on the intrinsic motivation of the students through academic integration. It is concluded that the academic integration constitutes a psychological process that promotes the development of intrinsic motivation for learning. The practical implications are discussed along with the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.

Trait self-control mediates the association between resting-state neural correlates and emotional well-being in late adolescence

Trait self-control (TSC), defined as the capacity to alter predominant response to promote desirable long-term goals, has been found to facilitate emotional well-being (EWB). However, the neural correlates underlying this association remain unclear. The present study estimated resting-state brain activity and connectivity with amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) among late adolescents. Whole-brain correlation analysis showed that higher TSC was associated with increased ALFFs in regions within the executive control network (inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) and the salience network (anterior insula, AI) and decreased ALFF in regions (e.g. medial frontal gyrus, MFG; posterior cingulate, PC) within the default-mode network (DMN). TSC was also linked with the integration (e.g. increased IFG-PC connectivity) and segregation (e.g. decreased AI-MFG connectivity) among brain networks. Mediation analysis indicated that TSC totally mediated the links from the IFG and the precuneus, FC of the AI and regions of the DMN (e.g. bilateral PC and MFG), to EWB. Additionally, ALFF in the IFG and the MFG could predict negative affect in the pandemic through TSC. These findings suggest that TSC is involved in several regions and functional organizations within and between brain networks and mediated the association between neural correlates and emotional wellness in adolescence.

Differences in basic psychological needs-related resting-state functional connectivity between individuals with high and low life satisfaction

Basic psychological needs including autonomy, competence, and relatedness can be affected by the level of life satisfaction. The current research aimed to elucidate differences in the association of these needs and functional connectivity of reward processing and emotion regulation between individuals with high and low life satisfaction. A total of 83 young adults were divided into the high life satisfaction (HLS) and low life satisfaction (LLS) groups and were scanned for 5-min resting-state fMRI. A seed-to-voxel analysis was performed using the seeds of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), medial orbitofrontal cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), insula, and amygdala. Analysis of covariance was conducted to test differences in the association of basic psychological needs and functional connectivity between the two groups. Connectivity strengths between the NAcc and right ventromedial prefrontal cortex and between the sgACC and left ventromedial prefrontal cortex were higher in the HLS group as the autonomy and relatedness scores increased, respectively, whereas in the LLS group as they decreased. Connectivity strengths between the NAcc and right midcingulate cortex and between the sgACC and left fusiform gyrus were higher in the HLS group as the competence and relatedness scores decreased, respectively, but in the LLS group as they increased. These findings suggest that individuals' perceived life satisfaction affects the relationship between the neural mechanism for reward processing and emotion regulation and basic psychological needs support. Psychological need satisfactions seem to have an emotional impact by acting as a contradictory brain mechanism between individuals with high and low life satisfaction.

Man's Pursuit of Meaning: Unexpected Termination Bolsters One's Autonomous Motivation in an Irrelevant Ensuing Activity

Meaningfulness has been suggested as one of the fundamental psychological needs, as one would actively pursue meaning in both his/her work life and personal life. Previous studies consistently showed that a lack of meaning in work would reduce one's autonomous motivation in the current job, which is the motivation to engage in self-determined activities driven by one's own interests or personal beliefs. However, researchers overlooked the fact that in work settings, it is not uncommon that people work on multiple tasks in a row. As a result, the cross-task effect of work meaningfulness remains understudied. Based on the meaning maintenance model (MMM) and the suggested fluid compensation strategy, we predicted that the disappearance of the meaning of work may induce a compensatory response and thus enhance one's autonomous motivation in an irrelevant ensuing activity. To test this hypothesis, we invited participants to work on an encyclopedic knowledge quiz in Session 1 and a StopWatch (SW) task in Session 2. A between-subject design was adopted. While participants in the control group successfully completed their tasks in Session 1, those in the experimental group encountered unexpected program quits by the end of the quiz, and their previous efforts suddenly became futile and meaningless. Electroencephalography was recorded during the experiment to measure reward positivity (RewP). In Session 2, a more pronounced RewP in the win-lose difference wave was observed in the experimental group in contrast to the control group, suggesting that the disappearance of the meaning of work enhanced one's autonomous motivation in an irrelevant activity that follows. Therefore, results of this study provided preliminary electrophysiological evidence for one's pursuit of meaning and the compensation effect induced by the disappearance of the meaning of work.

Cognition and Reward Circuits in Schizophrenia: Synergistic, Not Separate

Schizophrenia has been studied from the perspective of cognitive or reward-related impairments, yet it cannot be wholly related to one or the other process and their corresponding neural circuits. We posit a comprehensive circuit-based model proposing that dysfunctional interactions between the brain's cognitive and reward circuits underlie schizophrenia. The model is underpinned by how the relationship between glutamatergic and dopaminergic dysfunction in schizophrenia drives interactions between cognition and reward circuits. We argue that this interaction is synergistic: that is, deficits of cognition and reward processing interact, and this interaction is a core feature of schizophrenia. In adopting this position, we undertake a focused review of animal physiology and human clinical data, and in proposing this synergistic model, we highlight dopaminergic afferents from the ventral tegmental area to nucleus accumbens (mesolimbic circuit) and frontal cortex (mesocortical circuit). We then expand on the role of glutamatergic inputs to these dopamine circuits and dopaminergic modulation of critical excitatory pathways with attention given to the role of glutamatergic hippocampal outputs onto nucleus accumbens. Finally, we present evidence for how in schizophrenia, dysfunction in the mesolimbic and mesocortical circuits and their corresponding glutamatergic inputs gives rise to clinical and cognitive phenotypes and is associated with positive and negative symptom dimensions. The synthesis attempted here provides an impetus for a conceptual shift that links cognitive and motivational aspects of schizophrenia and that can lead to treatment approaches that seek to harmonize network interactions between the brain's cognition and reward circuits with ameliorative effects in each behavioral domain.

Multiplicative effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on academic performance: A longitudinal study of Chinese students

OBJECTIVE

For Chinese students, learning is seen as their duty and obligation to the society and their parents. Thus, in contrast to the Western students, the effects of extrinsic motivation on academic performance may not necessarily be always negative. The present study examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as their multiplicative effect among Chinese students.

METHOD

A total of 13,799 students in China were followed longitudinally in three waves (Grade 10, beginning of school year, midyear, and end-of-year; 5-month interval each). The main and multiplicative effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were used to predict academic growth in a latent growth model.

RESULTS

The multiplicative effect between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations showed that extrinsic motivation was detrimental to academic performance for students with high intrinsic motivation. For students with low intrinsic motivation, however, the extrinsic motivation helped to improve academic performance. Worth noting, intrinsic motivation also had a moderate positive effect on academic performance.

CONCLUSIONS

For Chinese learners, interest is not the only key motive to learn. Extrinsic reasons could facilitate students' learning when they are not interested in the subject. Extrinsic motivation harms only for highly intrinsically motivated students.

Toward a Social Psychology of Authenticity: Exploring Within-Person Variation in Autonomy, Congruence, and Genuineness Using Self-Determination Theory

Authenticity entails autonomy, congruence, and genuineness. In this article, we use a self-determination theory framework to discuss a critical aspect of social environments that facilitates these aspects of authenticity, namely the experience of autonomy support. Although authenticity is often studied as a trait or individual difference, we review research demonstrating that authenticity varies within individuals and predicts variations in well-being. Next, we show that perceiving autonomy support within a relational context is associated with people feeling more authentic and more like their ideal selves and displaying constellations of Big 5 personality traits indicative of greater wellness in that context. To explore another important part of authenticity, being genuine in interactions with others, we review evidence linking autonomy support to situational variation in identity disclosure among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. This research suggests that perceiving autonomy support within a context or relationship helps lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals be more open about their sexual orientation and identity, which in turn affords greater opportunities for the satisfaction of not only autonomy, but competence and relatedness needs as well, facilitating well-being. We conclude by highlighting future directions in the study of authenticity’s dynamic nature, and the importance of the situation in its expression and its relation to well-being.

Reflections on self-determination theory as an organizing framework for personality psychology: Interfaces, integrations, issues, and unfinished business

OBJECTIVE

This special issue focuses on self-determination theory (SDT) as an integrative framework for the wider field of personality research. In this commentary our aims include: reflecting on the utility and strengths of SDT as such a general framework and responding to the various contributions in this issue regarding their use of SDT as a guiding, complementary, or contrasting framework.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We describe how SDT has developed organically and conservatively from "within" based on the emerging patterns of evidence, as well through the ongoing challenges from other models and frameworks. We then discuss each of the various contributions to this special issue, addressing themes that include SDT's breadth of methods, and its relevance to topics such as narcissism, wisdom, individual differences, Big-Five traits, and the neuropsychology of motivation, among others. Across these discussions, we highlight fruitful avenues for research and cross-fertilization across the fields of personality, development, motivation, and neuroscience. At the same time, we counter some claims made about SDT, and forward certain cautions regarding the integration of SDT and other personality frameworks and models.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude by revisiting the value of broad theory, and SDT in particular, for coordinating complex research findings concerning motivation, personality development and wellness across multiple levels of analysis and, perhaps more importantly, for pointing researchers to the right questions within today's prolific empiricism.

A Surprising Source of Self-Motivation: Prior Competence Frustration Strengthens One's Motivation to Win in Another Competence-Supportive Activity

According to self-determination theory (SDT), competence is among the three basic psychological needs essential for one’s well-being and optimal functioning, and the frustration of these needs is theoretically predicted to induce a restorative response. While previous studies have explored the restoration process of autonomy and relatedness, empirical evidence for such a process is still lacking for competence. In order to explore this process and to examine the effect of prior competence frustration on one’s motivation to win in a subsequent competence-supportive task, we adopted a between-group experimental design and manipulated one’s competence frustration through task difficulty in an electrophysiological study. Participants in both groups were instructed to work on the time-estimation task and the stop-watch task in two successive sessions respectively. Participants in the experimental group were asked to complete a highly difficult task in the first session and a task of medium difficulty in the second session, while those in the control group were instructed to work on tasks of medium difficulty in both sessions. In the second session, an enlarged feedback-related negativity (FRN) loss-win difference wave (d-FRN) was observed in the experimental group compared to the control group, indicating that the competence-frustrated participants have an enhanced motivation to win in a subsequent competence-supportive task. Thus, results of the present study provided original neural evidence for the restoration process of frustrated competence, which provided important guidelines for the managerial practice.