Ithaca College

Psychology Associate Professor Leigh Ann Vaughn has published "Foundational tests of the need-support model: A framework for bridging regulatory focus theory and self-determination theory" in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

The need-support model is about how what people think they are trying to do can affect how well they feel like things are going, and vice-versa. When people want to gain something good, they can inflate how well they think things are going because it helps them stay motivated. In contrast, when people want to maintain something good, they can deflate how well they think things are going because it helps them stay motivated. These effects can also go the other way: when people think things are going great, they are likely to view what they are doing as a hope or aspiration – as a way to gain something good. In contrast, when people think things are going okay but not great, they are likely to view what they are doing as a duty or obligation – as a way to maintain something good.

The new need-support model bridges a gap that has existed between two major psychological theories of motivation: regulatory focus theory and self-determination theory. This gap is important because both theories are applied to fields like management, education, marketing, sports, and the arts. Yet these theories also have tended to focus on different outcomes – more about how people think about information in the case of regulatory focus theory, and more about health and well-being in the case of self-determination theory. The need-support model encourages researchers to see how the ideas in each theory extend the other theory, which could enhance what we know about motivation.