Maarten Vansteenkiste

According to an environmental‐match perspective regarding the content of values (Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000), extrinsic or materialistic values should positively predict well‐being in populations in which extrinsic values match the environmentally promoted values (e.g., among business students). However, other value researchers (Kasser & Ahuvia, 2002) disagree with these claims. Although the present study shows that business students ascribe higher importance to extrinsic values than do education students, the negative relation of extrinsic values with well‐being and the positive relation with internal distress and substance use was not moderated by the department to which students belonged. Finally, mediational analyses revealed that value orientations could account for the fact that business students report lower well‐being and higher substance use in comparison to education students.

Previous unemployment research has directly tested hypotheses derived from expectancy‐value theory (EVT; , 1990), but no comparative analysis has been executed with another motivational framework. In one large study with 446 unemployed people, separate analyses provided good evidence for predictions derived from both EVT and self‐determination theory (SDT; ). Comparative analyses indicated that the type of people's job search motivation, as conceptualized through the notions of autonomous versus controlled motivation within SDT, is an important predictor of people's unemployment experience and well‐being, beyond people's strength of motivation assessed within EVT through expectancies of finding a job and employment value. The importance of simultaneously testing two theoretical frameworks is discussed.

Objective The current study critically reviews the different motivational frameworks that are applied in the study of eating disorders and provides a more comprehensive conceptualization of motivation to change on the basis of self‐determination theory. Method The most important conceptualizations of motivation to change among eating disorder patients are identified. Results Eating disorder patients' motivation to change has been defined very differently, adding confusion to the field and preventing research from being cumulative. On the basis of self‐determination theory we argue (a) that the quality of motivation to change is primarily reflected in the degree of internalization of change rather than by the intrinsic motivation to change; (b) that the internalization of change suggests more than only the change being initiated from within the person (internal motivation) for it requires an acceptance of the personal importance of change; and (c) that, in addition to its quality, the quantity of motivation to change should be considered too. Discussion These three conceptual issues are applied to the study of motivational dynamics in eating‐disordered patients. © 2005 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The present experimental research examined whether framing early adolescents' (11- to 12-year-olds) learning activity in terms of the attainment of an extrinsic (i.e., physical attractiveness) versus intrinsic (i.e., health) goal and communicating these different goal contents in an internally controlling versus autonomy-supportive way affect performance. Both conceptual and rote learning were assessed. Three experimental field studies, 2 among obese and 1 among nonobese participants, confirmed the hypothesis that extrinsic goal framing and internal control undermine conceptual (but not rote) learning, even in comparison with a control group. Study 3 indicated that the positive effect of intrinsic goal framing on conceptual learning was mediated by task involvement, whereas the positive effect of autonomy-supportive communication style on conceptual learning was mediated by relative autonomous motivation.

Two studies (n = 273 and 254) used self‐determination theory (SDT) to examine unemployed people's motivation both to search and not to search for a job. The self‐regulation questionnaire format (Ryan & Connell, 1989) was used to assess participants' autonomous and controlled job‐search motivation (the ‘why’ of job search) as well as their amotivation for searching. Additionally, both autonomous and controlled motivation for not searching (the ‘why not’ of job search) was assessed. Results provide validity for these five motivational constructs and indicate, in line with SDT, that the constructs predicted reports of search behaviour, affective experiences, and well‐being. The addition of autonomous and controlled motivation for not searching contributed additional predictive power beyond the motivational constructs that focused only on searching. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Three field experiments with high school and college students tested the self-determination theory hypotheses that intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) goals and autonomy-supportive (vs. controlling) learning climates would improve students' learning, performance, and persistence. The learning of text material or physical exercises was framed in terms of intrinsic (community, personal growth, health) versus extrinsic (money, image) goals, which were presented in an autonomy-supportive versus controlling manner. Analyses of variance confirmed that both experimentally manipulated variables yielded main effects on depth of processing, test performance, and persistence (all ps <.001), and an interaction resulted in synergistically high deep processing and test performance (but not persistence) when both intrinsic goals and autonomy support were present. Effects were significantly mediated by autonomous motivation.