Research Paper
Psychology
E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 4 | April 2016
BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS SATISFACTION, ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: MEDIATING ROLE OF MOTIVATION 1
Bhasker Malu | Dr. K. Jayasankara Reddy
1
Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore – 560 029, India ABSTRACT The self-determination theory (Ryan &Deci, 2000), states that an individual has innate basic psychological needs, which are constantly moving towards selffulfillment. Self-motivation along with basic psychological needs affect the academic performance of an individual. The focus of this study was to understand whether intrinsic, extrinsic or amotivation played the role of mediators in the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and academic performance. The basic psychological needs satisfaction-general and the academic motivation scale were administered. The academic performance was measured by scores of the participant on the I.C.S.E. The data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The results showed that none of the three motivation sub types, mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and academic performance. However, basic needs satisfaction was positively related to intrinsic motivation and negatively to amotivation, providing partial support to the SDT. KEYWORDS: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic, amotivaiton, and academic performance. Introduction The self determination theory is a macro theory proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985, 2000). The theory in its initial stages considered intrinsic motivation as the only dimension of motivation, but with time and many studies conducted thereafter, the theory evolved and included other dimensions of motivation as well, such as extrinsic motivation and amotivation. The three dimensions of motivation are arranged in a continuum such that amotivation is the lowest form of motivation followed by extrinsic motivation and then, intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Deci & Ryan, 2000). The theory essentially revolves around how socio-cultural aspects affect an individual’s motivation. Socio-cultural aspect of an individual affects the three innate basic psychological needs, the satisfaction or thwarting of these needs impacts the motivation of an individual (Ryan, 1995). The level of satisfaction of basic psychological needs facilitates the growth in the levels of motivation(Podlog, et al., 2015; Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). They also help in the maintenance of the level of motivation of an individual. Basic psychological needs comprises of the needs for autonomy, competence, relatedness (Deci & Ryan, The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self Determination of Behaviour, 2000). Motivation is divided into a continuum; the level of satisfaction of basic psychological needs determines the level of motivation of an individual (Ryan 1995). A higher level of satisfaction of basic psychological needs leads to a higher level of motivation i.e. moving from amotivation to extrinsic motivation and then, to intrinsic motivation (Vansteenkiste, et al., 2007; Edmunds, Ntoumanis, & Duda, 2006;Gagné, Ryan, & Bargmann, 2003; Dickinson, 1995). Self determination theory also lays emphasis on motivation and its relationship with performance. It proposes that levels of motivation, themselves, have an impact on performance. Intrinsic motivation is known to be the best predictor of performance(Edrak, Yin-Fa, Gharleghi, & Seng, 2013; Teixeira, Carraçal, Markland, Silva, & Ryan, 2012) followed by extrinsic motivation and amotivation(Ayub, 2010; Vallerand, et al., 1992).The self determination theory proposes, four types of extrinsic motivation and postulates that if the extrinsic motivation of the student is more autonomous and is more internalized then the student will have a better learning outcome and have a much more effective academic outcome(Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). Therefore, it can be concluded that both intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation positively impacts the academic performance of a student(Ayub, 2010), except that the more autonomous the motivation of the student the longer the duration of motivation. A study was conducted to compare the relationship of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation with academic achievement of Indian adolescents living in Canada and India and the results showed that intrinsic motivation was a predictor of greater academic achievement and that this was higher for the Indian adolescents living in Canada than the Indian adolescents living in India. The results also showed that Indian adolescents were more extrinsically motivated than their counterparts residing in Canada. However, extrinsic motivation was a negative predictor of academic achievement for Indian adolescents living in Canada and it was not a significant predictor of academic achievement for Indian adolescents living in India (Areepattamannil, Freeman, & Klinger, 2011). In the light of these studies we can quite clearly see the gap in literature when it comes to the knowledge of what kind of motivation is required by an Indian student for him/her to perform better at academics and whether extrinsic motivation has a role to play in the relationship.
Basic psychological needs satisfaction, apart from having an influence on motivation, also has an impact on performance. A higher level of satisfaction of basic psychological needs leads to a higher level of performance (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). In the work setting it has been found that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs impacts the performance evaluations and psychological adjustment of the employees (Baard, Deci, & Ryan, 2004). Emotional well-being in daily activities was related to the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (Reis, Kennon, Gable, Roscoe, & Ryan, 2000). The three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness share a significant relationship with academic performance(Hashemian & Soureshjani, 2011; Bao & Lam, 2008)It can be inferred that basic psychological needs satisfaction is related to motivation as well as other variables. The relationship between basic needs satisfaction and academic performance may not be as straight-forward, because basic psychological needs also influences the motivation levels and motivation itself, has an effect on performance. Hence, it is apparent that the two factors, basic psychological needs and motivation affect academic performance and that there exists a relationship between basic psychological needs and motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Therefore, it is of importance to know whether the three types of motivation play the role of mediators in the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and performance of any kind. Podlog, et al., (2015) conducted a study on needs satisfaction, motivation and engagement among high performing youth athletes, the findings of which showed that motivation and its subtypes do play a mediating role in the relationship between needs satisfaction and engagement level. The result is in congruence with the self determination theory. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation play the role of mediators in the relationship between basic psychological needs and academic performance. Operational Definitions Predictor Variable Basic psychological needs are innate needs that are prevalent in every individual. These needs are universal and impact our daily lives such that their satisfaction or thwarting of these needs can lead to better or worse performance, respectively. According to the self determination theory, basic psychological needs are always looking to gain satisfaction and the overall level of satisfaction of basic psychological needs is dependent on the cumulative satisfaction level of its three needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self Determination of Behaviour, 2000). Mediating Variable Motivation is a process where the individual initiates and maintains a behavior that is goal directed. According to the self determination theory, motivation is divided into intrinsic, extrinsic motivation and amotivation. Intrinsic Motivation is defined as the inherent drive to complete a task, or behavior because it is internally satisfying. It is the desire to learn or know about an activity because this experience is internally rewarding. Extrinsic Motivation is defined as the motivation where an individual completes a task because of an outcome or reward that is external to him/her. It is the type of
Copyright© 2016, IERJ. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms.
International Education & Research Journal [IERJ]
75