Can intergroup behaviors be emitted out of self-determined reasons? Testing the role of group norms and behavioral congruence in the internalization of discrimination and parity behaviors

Bringing self-determination theory to understand why intergroup behaviors are emitted, two studies were conducted to investigate how group norms and individuals' congruence with these norms predicted self-determination to pursue two types of intergroup behaviors (parity and discrimination). Experiment 1 (N = 97) manipulated ingroup norms in favor of parity versus of discrimination and assessed the behavior participants displayed (congruent or incongruent with the norm) and their motivations for emitting this behavior. The manipulated norms significantly influenced group members' behaviors. When the ingroup norm was parity, participants whose behavior was congruent with this norm reported more self-determination to emit this behavior. When the ingroup norm was prodiscrimination, participants whose behavior was congruent with this norm were less self-determined. Experiment 2 (N = 139) replicated and extended these findings in a more conflictual intergroup setting. Results are discussed in light of motivational and intergroup theories.     

Why Do You Regulate What You Eat? Relationships Between Forms of Regulation, Eating Behaviors, Sustained Dietary Behavior Change, and Psychological Adjustment

In 3 studies, the authors examined how autonomous and controlled forms of motivation for the regulation of eating behaviors were related to self-reported eating behaviors, and sustained dietary behavior change. Studies 1 and 2 supported the factorial structure and the psychometric properties of a scale designed to measure different forms of regulation as defined by Self-Determination Theory. A motivational model of the regulation of eating behaviors suggested that an autonomous regulation was positively associated with healthy eating behaviors whereas a controlled regulation was positively associated with dysfunctional eating behaviors and negatively associated with healthy eating behaviors. In Study 3, long-term adherence to healthier dietary behaviors in a population at risk for coronary artery disease was examined over a 26-week period. A general measure of self-determined motivation assessed at week 1 was found to be a reliable predictor of the level of self-determination for eating behaviors 13 weeks later. In turn, self-determination for eating behaviors was a significant predictor of dietary behavior changes at 26 weeks. Finally, the dietary behavior measures were related to improvements in weight and blood lipid parameters (LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides). Results are discussed in terms of their implication for the integration and maintenance of a successful healthy regulation.     

Uncovering hockey fans' motivations behind their derogatory behaviors and how these motives predict psychological well-being and quality of social identity

ObjectiveThis article tested whether hockey fans' selfdetermined and non self-determined motivation for engaging in derogatory behaviors against an outgroup team predicted the frequency of these behaviors, fans' psychological well-being, and the quality of their social identity as a fan of their team. The two psychological theories we employ in the current research (i.e., self-determination theory and social identity theory) have different assumptions concerning the motivation behind derogatory fan behavior.DesignThree correlational studies were conducted among hockey fans.MethodsFans of rival hockey fans (Study 1; N = 45), fans of the Montreal Canadiens (Study 2; N = 181), and fans of NHL teams (Study 3; N = 105) completed measures of selfdetermination to engage in derogatory behaviors, frequency of these behaviors, psychological well-being, and quality of social identity. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test if the frequency, well-being, and quality of social identity variables were predicted by the self-determined and non self-determined motivations to engage in derogatory behaviors.ResultsAs expected based on self-determination theory (SDT), the more hockey fans engage in derogatory behaviors for non self-determined reasons, the lower their well-being and the less frequently they report engaging in the derogatory behaviors. Moreover, as expected based on social identity theory (SIT), the more hockey fans engage in the derogatory behaviors for self-determined reasons, the higher their well-being, the frequency of these behaviors, and the more positive their social identity.ConclusionsTheses results are interpreted in light of SDT and SIT's theoretical propositions. Comparisons are made with prior studies conducted on this topic.     

The links between self-determined motivations and behavioral automaticity in a variety of real-life behaviors

The different motivations postulated by the Self-Determination Theory have proved to be meaningful to predict the level of engagement in a wide variety of life domains. The present research examines the relation between the different forms of self-determined motivation and behavioral automaticity of 12 behaviors associated with different life domains. Following 1743 measurements of self-determination (using a short version of the situational motivational scale, SIMS8), behavioral automaticity (using the self-reported behavioral automaticity index, SRBAI), and behavioral frequency (self-reported number of executions in a unit of time) for 12 various common behaviors collected on 315 young adults (M_age = 20.60?±?2.87 years) through an online survey, the results of crossed linear mixed models indicated that self-determined motivations are more associated with behavioral automaticity than non-self-determined motivations (intrinsic motivation: β?=?0.13, p?<?.001, identified extrinsic motivation: β?=?0.13, p?<?.001; external extrinsic motivation : β?=?0.08, p?<?.001; amotivation: β?=?0.02, p?=?.433). Furthermore, self-determination played a moderating role between the repetition of behaviors and behavioral automaticity (β?=?0.06, p?<?.002) suggesting that self-determination facilitated automatization, as high level of behavioral automaticity was achieved with less frequent behaviors when behaviors were performed for highly self-determined (β?=?0.41, p?<?.001) than weakly self-determined reasons (β?=?0.29, p?<?.001). The applications of these findings for learning and habit formation are discussed.     

Machiavellianism,Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Goals,and Social Interest: A Self-Determination Theory Analysis

We employ Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory of motivation in three studies to examine the goals and motivational orientation associated with Machiavellianism (MACH). Goals were classified as either extrinsic (e.g., financial success) or intrinsic (e.g., community feeling). The two types of goals are generally associated with different motivational experiences. Extrinsic goals are typically experienced as externally controlled, whereas intrinsic goals are experienced as self-determined. We predicted that MACH would be associated with an emphasis on the extrinsic goal of financial success specifically, and on a control motivational orientation in general. These predictions received support. Additional findings indicate that MACH is positively associated with alienation and antisocial behavior, but inversely associated with social interest (i.e., Adler, 1964/1938) and prosocial behavior.     

Associations Among Perceived Autonomy Support,Forms of Self-Regulation,and Persistence: A Prospective Study

According to self-determination theory, when the social context is autonomy supportive, people are motivated to internalize the regulation of important activities, and whereas when the context is controlling, self-determined motivation is undermined. A model that incorporates perceptions of coaches' interpersonal behaviors (autonomy support vs. control), 5 forms of regulation (intrinsic motivation, identified, introjected and external regulation, and amotivation), and persistence was tested with competitive swimmers (N = 369) using a prospective 3-wave design. Analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that experiencing relationships as controlling fostered non–self-determined forms of regulation (external regulation and amotivation). Greater levels of self-determined motivation occurred when relationships were experienced as autonomy supportive. Individuals who exhibited self-determined types of regulation at Time 1 showed more persistence at both Time 2 (10 months later) and Time 3 (22 months later). Individuals who were amotivated at Time 1 had the highest rate of attrition at both Time 2 and Time 3. Introjected regulation was a significant predictor of persistence at Time 2 but became nonsignificant at Time 3. External regulation was not a significant predictor of behavior at Time 2, but became negatively associated with persistence at Time 3. The findings are discussed in light of the determinants of the internalization process and the consequences of different forms of self-regulation for psychological functioning.     

Relationships Between Self-Determined Motivation and Developmental Outcomes in Sport-Based Positive Youth Development

Building on self-determination theory, this study examined the relationships between self-determined motivation toward sport participation and developmental outcomes in sport-based positive youth development. One hundred twenty participants in a sport-based positive youth development program designed to engage youth through running completed a postprogram survey measuring their self-determined motivation toward running and achievement of developmental outcomes. The results of regression analyses indicated that participants with higher self-determined motivation toward running reported higher general self-efficacy, more positive attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle, and lower engagement in threatening behavior. On the other hand, self-determined motivation was unrelated to self-reported academic performance.     

Behavior analysts in the war on poverty: A review of the use of financial incentives to promote education and employment

Poverty is a pervasive risk factor underlying poor health. Many interventions that have sought to reduce health disparities associated with poverty have focused on improving health‐related behaviors of low‐income adults. Poverty itself could be targeted to improve health, but this approach would require programs that can consistently move poor individuals out of poverty. Governments and other organizations in the United States have tested a diverse range of antipoverty programs, generally on a large scale and in conjunction with welfare reform initiatives. This paper reviews antipoverty programs that used financial incentives to promote education and employment among welfare recipients and other low‐income adults. The incentive‐based, antipoverty programs had small or no effects on the target behaviors; they were implemented on large scales from the outset, without systematic development and evaluation of their components; and they did not apply principles of operant conditioning that have been shown to determine the effectiveness of incentive or reinforcement interventions. By applying basic principles of operant conditioning, behavior analysts could help address poverty and improve health through development of effective antipoverty programs. This paper describes a potential framework for a behavior‐analytic antipoverty program, with the goal of illustrating that behavior analysts could be uniquely suited to make substantial contributions to the war on poverty.     

Variations in Self-Determination Across the Stages of Change for Exercise in Adults

This study explored the relationship between self-determination in the regulation of exercise behavior and stage of change for exercise. Deci and Ryan (1985, 1990) outlined a continuum of behavioral regulation that ranges from non-self-determined regulation (external regulation) to completely self-determined regulation (intrinsic regulation). Prochaska and DiClemente (1984) outlined five stages of behavior change that range from no thoughts of changing (precontemplation) to maintenance of change (maintenance). In our study, 314 individuals completed measures of regulation in exercise behavior and stage of change for exercise. Discriminant function analysis revealed that those in the latter stages of change were more self-determined in their behavioral regulation than those in the early stages of change. An analysis of variance indicated that self-determination increased from the lower to the upper stages of change. Results endorse the importance of motivational considerations in understanding the change process.     

Cooperative learning in the classroom: Contingencies,group interactions,and students with special needs

Cooperative learning activities play a significant role in the schools. As such, these activities should be of interest to applied behavior analysts concerned with educational interventions. A number of factors appear to contribute to the impact of cooperative group activities, including the level of individual accountability, group contingencies, and the types of interactive behaviors in which students engage during group activities. This paper reviews current research on cooperative learning, focusing on the relationships between student behaviors, contingencies of reinforcement and group outcomes. The social and academic skills with which students enter cooperative learning activities, and the impact of these skills on students' behavior within groups and on the social and academic outcomes of groups is considered. Problems associated with the failure of cooperative groups are also addressed. The research potentials for applied behavior analysts are discussed.     

Behavior analysis and education: An unfulfilled dream

This paper presents the author's view of why the promise for education visualized by early behavioral researchers is as yet unrealized. It points out that behavior analysis has had an important impact on special education but has had much less influence on teaching practice in regular classrooms. This is not seen as the fault of educators who have failed to embrace procedures developed by behavior analysts. Rather, the author contends, behavior analysts have failed to develop procedures that fit the ecology of the regular classroom. Those developed often require too much additional effort thereby punishing those who attempt their use. Another factor hindering widespread adoption is that behavior analysts have failed to disseminate their procedures and have not participated widely in undergraduate training of teachers. The paper concludes by noting that our success in special education provides a model for behavior analysts interested in regular education. By developing procedures that result in increased academic performance for entire classrooms without punishing the teachers who implement them, by making those procedures available commercially and by publishing in journals teachers read, and finally by participating more widely in undergraduate training, the unfulfilled dream of what behavior analysis has to offer education can be achieved.     

Social and Emotional Processes in the Classroom Setting: A Goal Approach

Goals can be defined as cognitive- and as value-related motivational constructs. Consequently, both goal elaboration and personal valuing of goals are emphasized as critical determinants of motivated action. From this perspective, it is argued that goals play an influential role in students' cognitions, and in their social and emotional processes. I explore students' strategies for dealing with potentially stressful classroom circumstances in relation to their goals by examining students' reactions to imagined specific academic stressors, focusing on their emotions, behavior, and goals. Four distinct strategies were defined: strategic flexible action, strategic rigid action, passive behavior, and disorganized behavior. It is suggested that (a) goals play a major role in articulating and integrating behaviors and emotions within a whole strategy, (b) particular combinations of goal characteristics - goal-setting, personal goal valuing, and goal difficulty - are required for successful coping, and (c) both productive behavior and emotional regulation are predicted by specific goal characteristics.     

Modeling Customer Loyalty from an Integrative Perspective of Self-Determination Theory and Expectation–Confirmation Theory

Purpose  This research conceptualizes and tests an integrative model of customer loyalty by linking two important theories: expectation–confirmation theory and self-determination theory. Design/Methodology/Approach  The model is examined using data obtained from 207 part-time students who have encountered the service of a skincare and beauty salon in Taiwan. These students work as full-time professionals in a variety of industries during the daytime and are financially independent for their daily consumption. Findings  The empirical results of this study indicate that loyalty is positively influenced by both intrinsic regulation and identified regulation, while introjected regulation and external regulation are insignificantly related to loyalty. Affected positively by service expectation and service confirmation, satisfaction has positive influences on all four dimensions of self-determined motivation—namely, intrinsic regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, and external regulation. Implications  The findings of this study show that the proposed model helps to learn about loyalty formation and its mediating mechanism in service contexts. Intrinsic regulation and identified regulation may be applied as two potential checkpoints for management to learn the actual status of customer loyalty based on a constant service quality offered by the service provider. Originality/Value  This study is one of the earliest to integrate expectation–confirmation theory and self-determination theory to explore loyalty. Besides, this study transplants the traditional application of self-determination theory from educational service to commercial service in general so that efficient strategies can be made for boosting loyalty.     

Can we really do without self-esteem? Comment on Crocker and Park (2004)

Because self-esteem plays a central role in managing anxiety and provides a superordinate goal that organizes much human behavior, the authors conclude that it would be extremely difficult and probably impossible for people to stop pursuing self-esteem. Although they agree that investment in others' welfare may circumvent some of the negative consequences of self-esteem pursuit, the authors argue that the self-esteem implications of other-oriented behavior will inevitably be a powerful motivating force. Finally, the authors propose that self-esteem derived from self-determined standards of value may reduce defensiveness, closed-mindedness, and indifference to others, as well as promote personal growth, but they acknowledge the daunting barriers to the attainment of such self-determined bases of self-worth.     

Why Are You Doing Things for the Environment? The Motivation Toward the Environment Scale (MTES)1

This paper presents 4 studies which were conducted for the purpose of constructing and validating a new measure of people's motivation for environmental behaviors, namely the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale (MTES). The MTES consists of subscales that measure an individual's level of intrinsic, extrinsic, and a motivation for environmental behaviors. These subscales correspond to the different forms of motivation identified by Deci and Ryan in their self-determination theory (SDT, 1985, 1991). Results from the first study supported the factor structure of the scale and revealed a satisfactory level of internal consistency. Consistent with the SDT, the more self-determined forms of motivation were associated with more positive responses on the related variables. Implications for the manner in which the public could be encouraged to do environmental behaviors are discussed.     

Motivational clusters in a sample of British physical education classes

Objectives: Based on recommendations from a recent review of self-determination theory (Vallerand, R. J. (1997). In: M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 271–360). New York: Academic Press) the present study aimed to uncover the different motivational profiles in physical education. It was expected that at least two motivational profiles would emerge: a self-determined profile and a controlling motivation/amotivation profile.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Method: Questionnaires were administered to 428 British students, aged between 14 and 16 years, from two schools in the Northwest of England.Results: A cluster analysis produced three motivational profiles in the first school, which were replicated in the second school. The first was named the ‘self-determined profile’ because the students displayed high self-determined motivation, effort, enjoyment, and cooperative learning, and low controlling motivation, amotivation, boredom, and unequal recognition. The second profile was the ‘moderate motivation profile’ with moderate scores on all variables measured. The third was named the ‘controlling motivation/amotivation’ profile because the students demonstrated high controlling motivation, amotivation, boredom, and unequal recognition, and low self-determined motivation, effort, and enjoyment.Conclusions: The results demonstrate the importance of developing self-determination in physical education, as it is associated with desirable behavioural and affective outcomes.     

A Test of Self-Determination Theory in the Exercise Domain

In accordance with self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985 ), this study examined the relationship between autonomy support, psychological need satisfaction, motivational regulations, and exercise behavior. Participants ( N =369) were recruited from fitness, community, and retail settings. Fulfillment of the 3 basic psychological needs (i.e., competence, autonomy, and relatedness) related to more self-determined motivational regulations. Identified and introjected regulations emerged as positive predictors of strenuous and total exercise behaviors. Competence need satisfaction also predicted directly—and indirectly via identified regulation—strenuous exercise. For participants engaged in organized fitness classes, perceptions of autonomy support provided by exercise class leaders predicted psychological need satisfaction. Furthermore, competence need satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between autonomy support and intrinsic motivation. These findings support SDT in the exercise domain.     

A Multivariate Analysis of the Self-Determination of Adolescents

Self-determination is a general psychological construct within the organizing structure of theories of human agentic behavior. People who are self-determined act volitionally to serve as the causal agent in their lives. To provide a fuller understanding of the self-determination of adolescents, this study collected data on self-determination, quality of life, self-efficacy, and assertiveness for more than 1,400 Italian adolescents. We conducted a series of Multivariate Analyses of Variance to examine the relationships among, differences between, and associations with self-determination, including any differences as a function of age and gender as well as differences in quality of life, self-efficacy, and assertiveness as a function of level of selfdetermination. We also examined which quality of life factors were associated with enhanced self-determination and self-efficacy. Findings support the importance of self-determination to quality of life and enhanced self-efficacy.