Martin F. Lynch

Motivation and Autonomy in Counseling, Psychotherapy, and Behavior Change: A Look at Theory and Practice

Motivation has received increasing attention across counseling approaches, presumably because clients’ motivation is key for treatment effectiveness. The authors define motivation using a self-determination theory taxonomy that conceptualizes motivation along a relative-autonomy continuum. The authors apply the taxonomy in discussing how various counseling approaches address client motivation and autonomy, both in theory and in practice. The authors also consider the motivational implications of nonspecific factors such as therapeutic alliance. Across approaches, the authors find convergence around the idea that clients’ autonomy should be respected and collaborative engagement fostered. The authors also address ethical considerations regarding respect for autonomy and relations of autonomy to multicultural counseling. The authors conclude that supporting autonomy is differentially grounded in theories and differentially implemented in approaches. Specifically, outcome-oriented treatments tend to consider motivation a prerequisite for treatment and emphasize transparency and up-front consent; process-oriented treatments tend to consider motivation a treatment aspect and give less emphasis to transparency and consent.

Psychological needs and threat to safety : Implications for staff and patients in a psychiatric hospital for youth

For psychiatric care workers and administrators, physical threat from behaviorally dysregulated patients is an important issue tied to many others, including workers’ job satisfaction, motivation, well-being, and attitude toward patients. Yet, the impact of threats to physical safety may be offset by factors in the clinical environment. The authors tested hypotheses derived from self-determination theory concerning the relations of workplace need satisfaction and perceived threat to motivation, attitudes, and well-being among clinical staff within an adolescent psychiatric inpatient hospital. Also tested were relations between need satisfaction and treatment motivation among adolescent patients. To improve the experience of psychiatric workers and their patients, clinical staff and their administrators must attend to the satisfaction of needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

The Ideal Self at Play: The Appeal of Video Games That Let You Be All You Can Be

Video games constitute a popular form of entertainment that allows millions of people to adopt virtual identities. In our research, we explored the idea that the appeal of games is due in part to their ability to provide players with novel experiences that let them “try on” ideal aspects of their selves that might not find expression in everyday life. We found that video games were most intrinsically motivating and had the greatest influence on emotions when players’ experiences of themselves during play were congruent with players’ conceptions of their ideal selves. Additionally, we found that high levels of immersion in gaming environments, as well as large discrepancies between players’ actual-self and ideal-self characteristics, magnified the link between intrinsic motivation and the experience of ideal-self characteristics during play.

Validation of the important other climate questionnaire: Assessing autonomy support for health related change.

Self-determination theory suggests that autonomy support from others is important in motivating change of various health behaviors. The present research provides initial validation for the Important Other Climate Questionnaire for smoking (IOCQ–S)and for diet (IOCQ–D)in the context of a large (N 1,006)intensive tobacco treatment and dietary intervention trial. These scales are intended to measure the degree of autonomy support patients experience from important others (non-health care professionals)with respect to tobacco abstinence and eating a healthy diet. Results indicate the measures are reliable ( .87 smoking and .95 diet)and valid. Important other support was associated with change in perceived autonomy and perceived competence for target behaviors. Further, the IOCQ–S was associated with 7-day point prevalence cessation and 6-month prolonged abstinence from tobacco. The IOCQ–D was associated with a change in the percentage of calories from fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat. Initial reliability and validity are supported for the IOCQ.

On being yourself in different cultures: ideal and actual self-concept, autonomy support, and well-being in China, Russia, and the United States

The present study used multilevel modeling and measures of the Big Five to test Rogers’ prediction that discrepancies between ideal and actual self-concept would be negatively associated with well-being, and to test the prediction drawn from self-determination theory that partners’ autonomy support would be associated with smaller discrepancies. Discrepancies and well-being were found to be negatively associated in samples from the USA, Russia, and China, but participants’ actual self-concept was closer to their ideal when with autonomy supportive partners. Although there was some moderation by country membership, associations were in the same direction for all countries. Discussion focuses on the cultural and clinical implications.

Do reasons for attending college affect academic outcomes? A test of a motivational model from a self-determination theory perspective.

A survey of 2,520 college students was conducted to test relationships between academic success and college student motivational orientation, conceptualized from a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, while also considering the moderating effects of background characteristics such as gender, socioeconomic status, race/ ethnicity, and institutional type. Findings indicated that going to college to fulfill intrinsic motivation needs for autonomy and competence was positively associated with intention to persist and GPA but that motivation geared toward the fulfillment of relatedness needs had a more nuanced relationship to the outcome variables. Implications for recognizing the importance of motivational orientation in student affair research, theory, and practice are provided.

Testing satisfaction of basic psychological needs as a mediator of the relationship between socioeconomic status and physical and mental health

This research applied self-determination theory to examine the degree to which satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence explained the association between socioeconomic status and physical and mental health outcomes, while controlling for age, exercise, and smoking status. This was a survey research study with 513 full-time employees in professions representative of a hierarchal organization. The results of the structural equation model verify that psychological need satisfaction mediates the inverse association between socioeconomic status and physical and mental health. Self-determination theory contributes to understanding the psychosocial roots of the uneven distribution of health across the socioeconomic gradient.

Autonomy as Process and Outcome: Revisiting Cultural and Practical Issues in Motivation for Counseling:

Three commentators (Carter, 2011; Kim, 2011; Scheel, 2011) concurred with a central proposition of the target article (Ryan, Lynch, Vansteenkiste, & Deci, 2011): that client motivation for counseling is of critical importance to counselors and therapists. In this Reply, we acknowledge and address a number of issues raised by the commentators, including the role of motivation and autonomy in multicultural counseling, the issue of common factors in counseling, and how the continuum of motivation proposed in the target article relates to the experience of practitioners who are engaged with a wide variety of client presentations. We maintain that the autonomous motivation of clients is a legitimate focus in counseling, both as process and outcome, and that an autonomy-supportive stance on the part of the counselor is implicit in the ethical mandate to respect the person of the client.

Using Multilevel Modeling in Counseling Research

This conceptual and practical overview of multilevel modeling (MLM) for researchers in counseling and development provides guidelines on setting up SPSS to perform MLM and an example of how to present the findings. It also provides a discussion on how counseling and developmental researchers can use MLM to address their own research questions.

The Self-Concept in Relationships

After briefly reviewing historical thinking on the self-concept, this chapter considers three contemporary perspectives that seek to understand the link between self-concept and well-being. According to one view, well-being is reflected in consistency of self-concept across contexts, whereas a second view argues that it is authenticity rather than consistency that matters. In a third tradition, well-being is associated with coming closer to one’s personal ideal view of self. Based on self-determination theory (SDT), a model is proposed in which well-being follows when autonomy supportive relationships conduce toward authenticity and convergence between one’s ideal and actual self-concept.