PDSP and Self-Determination Theory

[Halffull]

Learned about self-determination theory recently in class.

Straight from Wikipedia:

"the three psychological needs motivate the self to initiate behavior and specify nutriments that are essential for psychological health and well-being of an individual. These needs are said to be universal, innate and psychological and include the need for competence, need for autonomy and the need for relatedness"

1. Need for competence: refers to the need to experience oneself as capable and competent in controlling the environment and being able to reliably predict outcomes.
2. Need for autonomy (or self-determination): refers to the need to actively participate in determining own behavior. It includes the need to experience one’s actions as result of autonomous choice without external interference.
3. Need for relatedness: refers to need to care for and be related to others. It includes the need to experience authentic relatedness from others and to experience satisfaction in participation and involvement with the social world (Deci & Ryan).

relatedness = love
autonomy = power
competence = authority

Unfortunately, the basic building blocks don't match up perfectly (I'd much rather competence be related to truth)... but they're close enough to provide some interesting food for thought, and lend some experimental credence to Steve's ideas.

thoughts?