Motivation and emotion/Tutorials/Psychological needs

Tutorial 04: Psychological needs
This is the fourth tutorial for the motivation and emotion unit of study.

Overview

This tutorial facilitates an interactive discussion about:

1. basic psychological needs
2. taxonomy of motivation (intrinsic-extrinsic motivation)

This is based on self-determination theory.

Needs

Brainstorm and discuss:

What are needs?

Needs are requirements (essential) for surviving and thriving (i.e., physiological and psychological health and well-being_.

How do needs differ from desires, wants, likes etc.?

Needs are essential for survival and well-being whereas desires, wants, likes etc. are motivations for non-essential stimuli (e.g., an umbrella in the rain).

What types of needs are there?

Needs can be classified as physiological, psychological, and implicit (social) (Reeve 2018). Another useful (overlapping) distinction is between deficit-based needs (e.g., thirst, hunger, sleep) and growth-based needs (e.g., autonomy, competence, relatedness). The Alderfer ERG theory refers to existence, relatedness, and growth needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs has five needs: Physiological, Safety, Belonging & love, Esteem, Self-actualisation

What are the basic psychological needs?

According to self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness

Taxonomy of motivation

Discuss:

What characterises extrinsic motivation? Examples?

External (environmental) reasons for behaving. Caused by carrots (incentives and rewards e.g., praise) or sticks (threats and punishments e.g., insults).

What characterises intrinsic motivation? Examples?

Internal reasons for behaving. Involves volition (i.e., I want to) and enjoyment (e.g., hobbies). External influences are absent.

Advantages of the I-E motivation distinction?

Simple and easy to understand. Helps with research designs.

Disadvantages of the I-E motivation distinction?

A dichotomous distinction is overly simplistic. Motivational sources are often complex and dynamic, involving aspects of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Types of motivation described by Deci and Ryan (2000)?

• Amotivation
• Extrinsic motivation
  • External regulation
  • Introjection
  • Identification
  • Integration
• Intrinsic motivation

Exercise: What strategies can motivate healthy behaviours?

Brainstorm ways of motivating health behaviours (e.g., exercise, health eating).

Allocate each of these strategies along the taxonomy of motivation.

Book chapter

Topic development feedback

• Review topic development marks and feedback – follow-up and discuss if you don’t understand
• Align sub-title, focus questions, and headings
• Identify the best psychological science on the topic: Systematic reviews and/or meta-analysis
• Embed links to more information:
  • Other book chapters
  • Wikipedia articles
• Topic development - General feedback

Messy middle

We are now in the "messy middle" of the book chapter development:

• Motivational pattern (consistent with motivational science about the trajectory of motivation)
  • Strong at start (excitement, newness)
  • Strong at end (deadline pressure, completion goals)
  • Dips in middle (novelty fades, finish feels long, distractions increase)
• Strategies for the middle
  • Make small, regular edits → steady progress
  • Use scaffolding → build on topic development feedback and work towwards chapter guidelines
  • Seek clarification; follow up if unsure
• Key idea
  • Keep momentum alive in the “messy middle”—in this case, by doing small edits regularly to move from Topic Development → Book Chapter

Recording

• Tutorial 04 (2025)

See also

• Instructor notes

Additional tutorial material

• Example of SDT: Child cleaning teeth
• Implicit motives
• Models which organise needs
• Self-determination theory

Lecture

• Extrinsic motivation and psychological needs

Tutorials

• Physiological needs (Previous tutorial)
• Functionalist theory and self-tracking (Next tutorial)

References

Deci, R. M., & Ryan, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 54–67. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1020 PDF

External links

• Promoting motivation, health, and excellence (Ed Deci, 2012, TEDx, YouTube 14:05 mins)
• Self-determination theory (selfdeterminationtheory.org)