The motivational value of listening during intimate and difficult conversations

Outcomes of conversations, including those dealing with controversial, deeply personal, or threatening disclosures, result not only from what is said but also from how listeners receive these messages. This article integrates the motivational framework of self-determination theory (SDT) and the expanding literature on interpersonal listening to explore the reasons why high-quality listening is so impactful during these conversations. We describe why high-quality listening is a specific and distinguishable autonomy-supportive motivational strategy, and argue that there is much to gain by considering that listening can satisfy basic psychological needs, in particular for autonomy and relatedness. We argue that SDT can help explain why high-quality listening is effective, especially in reducing defensiveness, bridging divides, and motivating change. The discussion focuses on ways motivation science can build more effective interventions for behavioral change by harnessing listening as an interpersonal strategy.     

Beauty is in the eye of the psychologically fulfilled: How need satisfying experiences shape aesthetic perceptions of spaces

Individuals perceive beauty as a function of physical attributes paired with the subjective experience of an object or a space. Yet, little or no research has investigated how either relational or emotional experiences shape perceptions of the physical world. Four studies were conducted to address this question using self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci in Psychol Inq 11:319–338, 2000) as a guiding framework. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that satisfaction of the needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in one’s childhood home was linked to perceptions of beauty directly and indirectly through emotions of the past (recollections of happiness) and present (nostalgia). Two additional studies focused on present-day spaces. In Study 3, we found that need satisfaction impacted perceptions of the university campus as beautiful. In a final study, we manipulated needs in the lab to identify a causal model of aesthetic perceptions. Findings are contextualized within the self-determination theory and perceived beauty literatures.     

Infertility and Adjustment in Women: The Effects of Attachment Style and Social Support

The moderating effects of two psychological resources—attachment style and perceived social support—on adjustment were studied in 109 infertile women, examining the effects of duration of infertility and of primary (the woman has no child of her own) versus secondary (the woman already has a child of her own) infertility. Subjects were administered questionnaires measuring marital adjustment, psychological distress, and well-being. A model viewing attachment style and social support as moderators between stress psychological well-being was explored. The results showed that among the objective characteristics, only duration of infertility had any impact on the psychological measures. Furthermore, the psychological resources were highly associated with the adjustment scores in general. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that attachment style and social support both were related to marital quality and to psychological well-being and that these two resources function as stress moderators. It was concluded that attachment style and social support are important resources for individuals in times of stress, as exemplified in the infertility situation.     

Patterns of Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Children with Anxiety Disorders

Emotion dysregulation is believed to be a key factor in anxiety disorders. However, the empirical basis for this view is limited, particularly in children and adolescents. This study aimed to examine whether anxious children display negative emotional hyper-reactivity and deficits in emotion regulation, using a new task that presents ambiguous situations with potentially threatening meanings. Forty-nine children diagnosed with either generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or separation anxiety disorder, were compared with 42 non-anxious controls. Relative to controls, anxious children demonstrated (a) greater intensity and frequency of negative emotional responses, (b) deficits in using reappraisal in negative emotional situations and corresponding deficits in reappraisal self-efficacy, and (c) greater reliance on emotion regulation strategies that increase the risk of functional impairment, intense negative emotion, and low emotion regulation self-efficacy. Implications for the assessment and treatment of childhood anxiety are discussed.     

Typology in procrastination

The relationships of two kinds of behavioral delay, academic and daily life, to concern about delay and personality correlates of delay, were investigated in 138 Israeli university students. Absence of a significant relationship between delay and concern about delay provided an opportunity for assessing a delay × concern typology. Among nonprocrastinators, concerned students were found to be better adjusted (repressor response style, optimistic orientation, and low anxiety) than unconcerned. The opposite was found for procrastinators. Findings were discussed in relation to the differing functions of affective concern about behavioral delay in different behavioral contexts.     

Linking psychological need experiences to daily and recurring dreams

The satisfaction of individuals’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as conceived from a self-determination theory perspective, is said to be conducive to personal growth and well-being. What has been unexamined is whether psychological need-based experiences, either their satisfaction or frustration, manifests in people’s self-reported dream themes as well as their emotional interpretation of their dreams. A cross-sectional study (N?=?200; M age?=?21.09) focusing on individuals’ recurrent dreams and a three-day diary study (N?=?110; M age?=?25.09) focusing on daily dreams indicated that individuals experiencing psychological need frustration, either more enduringly or on a day-to-day basis, reported more negative dream themes and interpreted their dreams more negatively. The contribution of psychological need satisfaction was more modest, although it related to more positive interpretation of dreams. The discussion focuses on the role of dreams in the processing and integration of psychological need-frustrating experiences.     

Motivational determinants of integrating positive and negative past identities

Five studies examined whether quality of motivation (as individual differences and primed) facilitates or thwarts integration of positive and negative past identities. Specifically, more autonomously motivated participants felt closer to, and were more accepting of, both negative and positive past characteristics and central life events, whereas more control-motivated participants were closer to and more accepting of positive, but not negative, past characteristics and events. Notably, controlled motivation hindered participants' acceptance of their own negative identities but not of others' negative identities, suggesting that control-motivated individuals' rejection of negative past identities was an attempt to distance from undesirable parts of themselves. Defensive processes, reflected in nonpersonal pronouns and escape motives, mediated interaction effects, indicating that lower defense allowed fuller integration. Integration of both positive and negative past identities predicted indicators of well-being, namely, vitality, meaning, and relatedness satisfaction.     

Autonomy and control in dyads: effects on interaction quality and joint creative performance

Two studies examined interaction quality and joint performance on two creative tasks in unacquainted dyads primed for autonomy or control orientations. It was hypothesized that autonomy-primed dyads would interact more constructively, experience more positive mood, and engage the task more readily, and as a result these dyads would perform better. To test this, Study 1 primed orientation and explored verbal creative performance on the Remote Associates Task (RAT). In Study 2, dyads were primed with autonomy and control orientation and videotaped during two joint creative tasks, one verbal (RAT) and one nonverbal (charades). Videotapes were coded for behavioral indicators of closeness and task engagement. Results showed that autonomy-primed dyads felt closer, were more emotionally and cognitively attuned, provided empathy and encouragement to partners, and performed more effectively. The effects of primed autonomy on creative performance were mediated by interpersonal quality, mood, and joint engagement.     

Attributing autonomous versus introjected motivation to helpers and the recipient experience: Effects on gratitude,attitudes, and well-being

Three studies examined the effects of motivation attributed to helpers on recipient reactions. Participants read and responded to scenarios depicting various helping events, in which indicators of helpers having autonomous or controlled (introjected) motivations were embedded. Results showed that recipients experienced more gratitude toward autonomous helpers than those helping for controlled motivations. Helping interactions involving more autonomous attributions were also predictive of positive attitudes toward helpers, positive affect, and felt closeness. Gratitude mediated the effects of autonomous versus controlled helping on recipient positive attitude, well-being, and closeness to helpers. Study 3 confirmed that helper autonomous motivation independently predicted gratitude and other positive reactions to receiving help even when controlling for other important attributions, namely, perceived helper empathy, cost to helper, valuing of help, and perceived similarity.