Support for (Competence and Relatedness) of SOCIAL-CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON STUDENTS

According to self-determination theory, supports for competence (e.g., optimal challenges and performance feedback) and for relatedness (e.g., parental involvement and peer acceptance) facilitate motivation. However,

such supports will facilitate intrinsic motivation and integrated internalization only to the extent that they are accompanied by autonomy-supportive rather than controlling interpersonal contexts. Although considerable work remains to be done, several studies that we will now review provide some support for these assertions. The effects of supports for competence and relatedness on motivation and internalization have been investigated in a variety of studies. For example, positive feedback has generally been found to increase intrinsic motivation because it enhances perceived competence (e.g., Blanck, Reis, & Jackson, 1984; Harackiewicz & Larson, 1986; Vallerand, 1983), although studies have shown that this enhancement occurs only when the feedback is accompanied by support for autonomy (Fisher, 1978; Ryan, 1982). When the general context is controlling, controlled forms of extrinsic motivation are more likely to result (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1991). Thus, for example, congratulating students for having done well at a self-initiated educational activity is likely to promote feelings of competence and intrinsic motivation, whereas praising them for doing what they "should" have done or what you told them to do is likely to lead to their feeling controlled, which in turn would reduce intrinsic motivation and strengthen nonautonomous forms of extrinsic motivation. Negative feedback, whether interpersonally administered or selfadministered in the form of failure, has generally been found to decrease intrinsic motivation by decreasing perceived competence (Deci, Cascio, & Krusell, 1973), and some studies indicate that lowered perceived competence can leave people feeling amotivated and helpless (Boggiano & Barrett, 1985).

Vallerand and Reid (1984, 1988) found higher levels of intrinsic motivation after positive than after negative feedback, and path analyses showed  that perceived competence mediated between the feedback and the changes in intrinsic motivation. Field studies have also linked perceived competence to intrinsic motivation and to identified self-regulation in both regular education (Grolnick et al., in press; Vallerand et al., 1989) and special education students (Deci, Hodges, Pierson, & Tomassone, in press).

The effects of adults' interpersonal involvement or relatedness on children's intrinsic motivation and autonomous self-regulation have been explored in only a few studies. There is some evidence that when children are denied the interpersonal involvement they desire, they can lose intrinsic motivation (Anderson, Manoogian, & Reznick, 1976). Field studies on interpersonal involvement, using interview and questionnaire methods, have also indicated that parents and teachers who are more involved with their children have children who are more motivated and self-determined, particularly when the involvement is accompanied by autonomy support (e-g., Grolnick & Ryan, 1989; Grolnick et al., in press).