Psychological Needs: A Study of What Makes Life Satisfying (Report‪)‬

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation that focuses on the degree to which people are intrinsically motivated and internally regulate their behaviors and activities (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994; Deci & Ryan, 1985). SDT is based on organismic meta-theory and assumes that individuals have an innate tendency toward growth. SDT not only helps to identify factors in the social environment that are conducive to satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, but also identifies the factors that are detrimental to this positive growth (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Autonomy is the need to pursue activities in which individuals are motivated internally and experience joy as a result of having personal choice (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Jang, Kim, Reeve, & Ryan, 2009; Reeve, Nix, & Hamm, 2003). Competence is the need to effectively interact with one's environment and maximize challenges, thus gaining more skills (Deci, 1975). Relatedness is the need to establish relationships in which one feels close, cared for, and secure (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Deci & Ryan, 1991).