September 20, 2010 by Shannon
September 20th 2010. With unemployment idling near 10%, the negative effect of job loss on mental health has assumed a sharp relevance. Losing work has been linked to depressive symptoms, heavy alcohol use and even long-term psychological damage. But research suggests that loss of income explains only part of this pain. The rest has something...
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August 1, 2010 by Shannon
August 2010. SCIENCEWATCH.COM CORRESPONDENT GARY TAUBES TALKS WITH RYAN ABOUT THE FAR-FLUNG INFLUENCE OF SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY. You’ve been working on Self-Determination Theory for a long time. How did it all begin? I’m a clinical psychologist. The very first motivation project I was involved in, back in the late 1970s, was in schools, and we saw what...
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August 1, 2010 by Shannon
August 2010. Ten years ago, the popular business reporter and author Daniel Pink began researching why an increasing number of people were leaving jobs in large organizations to work for themselves. He encountered—“in a pretty cursory way,” as he explains it—work on human motivation by Rochester experimental psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. Two...
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July 7, 2010 by Shannon
July 7th 2010 As a student of how people change, I think often about an interesting conundrum, particularly as it relates to people choosing to be or not to be in the driver’s seat, living a life that supports health and well-being. Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, professors at the University of Rochester and developers of Self-Determination Theory, the most respected theory...
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June 30, 2010 by Shannon
June 30th 2010. In 1985, with the publication of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior, University of Rochester psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci launched a new theory for understanding what drives humans. Their model maintained that people are motivated by innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others – not, as...
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June 8, 2010 by Shannon
June 8th 2010. It’s refreshing. It’s invigorating. And it leaves you feeling truly alive. No, I’m not talking about a cold shower or a fruit smoothie with a mochachino chaser. I’m talking about nature. Because according to a study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, getting outside—or even just thinking about it—can increase your...
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May 10, 2010 by Shannon
May 15th 2010. 4th International SDT Conference held in Ghent University in Belgium In May, Self-Determination Theory held its 4th international scientific conference in Ghent, Belgium. It was clear that the SDT psychological framework is thriving. The four-day conference attracted 128 papers and 276 posters presented by 550 researchers from almost every country in Europe,...
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April 5, 2010 by Shannon
April 5th 2010. Forget all the things you may currently believe about motivating employees. Cash incentives to stimulate productivity may work in the short term, but are ultimately not sustainable. Threats are also short lived because employee resentment brings about ill will and this is counterproductive in the long run. Such carrot and stick approaches...
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February 5, 2010 by Shannon
February 5th 2010. “The science that Mr. Pink is referring to rests largely on the work of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan at the University of Rochester and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at Claremont Graduate University. These three researchers have found that we do our best work when motivated from within, when we have control over our...
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