Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness Psychological Needs Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness

Hiking through Badlands CCSU Coach wants to write book about endurance hike. Extremely strenuous. Exhausting but exhilarating. Why do people put themselves through such things? What’s the motivation?

Explanation You chose to do this. Of your own free will. No one made you do it. You had the skills to survive for two week hike. Physically fit. Had the right equipment. You were with friends. Kept each other going through tough times.

Three characteristics of intrinsic motivation: Autonomy Competence Relatedness

Autonomy Key foundation of decision making. We decide for ourselves. Hike was not forced upon him. Hike as part of Army boot camp endured rather than enjoyed.

Three qualities of autonomy Perceived locus of control Perceived choice (of options) Volition (free will)

Perceived locus of control PLOC Individual’s understanding of the cause of action. Top salesman. Why? My effort. Boss gave me best route. Caught a lucky break.

Perceived locus of control 1) My effort = me =internal PLOC 2) Boss gave me best route = powerful others = external PLOC 3) Caught a lucky break = chance = external PLOC

“Only a pawn in their game” Not a great feeling to realize being pushed around by powerful people. Not in charge of one’s life. Stressful situation for most people.

Perceived choice Decision making flexibility to choose. Given options. More than one candidate on ballot. Free to choose course of action. Not pushed towards making one choice.

Volition Exercise free will. Freely choose to participate. “I freely want to do this.” Participation in experiments. Free not to participate. Quit at any time

Application to Counseling Internal Locus of Control: change must come from within. External advice not very helpful. Perceived choice: best to give options of different kinds of therapy or which concerns to talk about Volition: Freely entered. Court mandated clients motivated for wrong reasons.

Application to medicine. Compliance with medical orders. Internal locus of control vs monitoring. Choice of treatments. Point on risks and benefits. Patient must make wishes clearly known. Heroic treatments or No Code.

Langer and Rodin Study Both Yale Professors. Arden House in Hamden. Nursing homes can be decision-free environment. Give patients some control over small decisions in their lives. Responsibility Induced Group.

Responsibility Induced At floor meeting, residents told they had choices on: Arrangement of furniture. Visiting hours. Entertainment. Given small plant to care for.

Control Group Floor meeting. Nurses would take care of every need. Told what entertainment to expect. Visiting hours set. Room layout remains as is. Nurses would care for plants.

Conditions and Measurements One floor for each group. Nurses not aware of other condition (floor). Residents rarely traveled beyond floor. Pre and Posttest on: Locus of control. General Mood. Staff rated patients on alertness and social activity.

Results Responsibility induced group. Better mood. More active. More alert. Jelly bean jar on each floor. Guess the number. 10 entered contest on RI floor. Only 1 on control floor.

Conclusions Small amount of responsibility has impact on mood and activity. Important for people to have some control over their environment. Healthier for people. No info on the health of the plants.

Competence Competence is the ability to perform some task. Incompetence is its opposite. Want to be effective. Have skills to meet challenge. First day of hike discover we don’t have stamina to continue.

Flow: Csikszentmihalyi “How to live life as a work of art, rather than as a chaotic response to external events..."

Discovering Flow He started with artists, or with those that were "creating meaning". Many described an "ecstatic state" or a feeling of being outside of what they were creating with their hands. So a pianist described not noticing the room, his hands, the keys, the score, but rather being conscious of only "being one with the music and expressing emotion".

Measuring Flow Most of his research based on surveying people spontaneously about what the activities they were undertaking and the way they were feeling (along several dimensions) at the time. He used a watch which beeped at random times during each day and required his subjects to immediately complete a standard survey.

Flow experience Completely involved, focused. Sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality. Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going. Sense of serenity - no worries about self. Timeliness - thoroughly focused on present, don't notice time passing. Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces "flow" becomes its own reward.

FLOW Channel high anxiety 4 1 Challenge FLOW 3 2 boredom low low high Personal Skills

Relatedness Maslow’s Need for Belongingness Social interactions with friends. Affectionate relationships with others. Others acknowledge us and care about our wellbeing. Give and take: reciprocal relationships.

Social attachments Relatedness if the need to establish close emotional bonds with other people. Connected and involved with others.

Humans are social animals Like other social animals. Living together in groups improved our survival. Perhaps part of our genetic makeup. Important for our well-being.

Components of happiness Subjective wellbeing (happiness) High correlations of SWB with satisfaction with family and friends. Social support and emotional intimacy. Important for physical and psychological health. Strongest external source of SWB. Social contact better predictor than wealth, education or career.

Marital status and SWB Significant predictor of subjective well being. Make for more: Positive interactions Emotional expressiveness Role sharing For success, trust and intimacy important.

Why are married people happier? Most likely happier people to begin with. Agrees with other SWB research. Same trend is true for health. Marriage has benefits for physical health. Increase longevity. Men gain more benefit from marriage.

Importance of family Rare person who, as his life draws to a close, wishes he had spent more time with at work.