Luc Pelletier

University of Ottawa · School of Psychology

The current mixed method study aimed to examine (1) the types of body-related discrepancies that college-aged women face, (2) the association between women's motivation for eating regulation and intent to engage in healthy and disordered eating following such experiences, and (3) the mediating role of affect and compensation strategies in these rel...

Objectives. Action planning promotes physical activity (PA). However, mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood, as are the variables that moderate this link remain unexplored. To fill these gaps, we investigated whether automaticity mediated the association between action planning and PA, and whether autonomous motivation modera...

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a broad theory of psychological growth and wellness that has revolutionized how we think about human motivation and the driving forces behind personality development. SDT focuses on people’s basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and how social environments that support these needs fos...

The goal of this study was to examine whether strategies such as planning and self-monitoring the quality/quantity of eating can explain the relationships between autonomous and controlled motivation and eating in undergraduate female students. Study 1 (n = 456) examined whether the strategies could account for additional variance in eating outcome...

Agriculture being responsible for 35% of gas emission worldwide (Foley, 2011), it is now relevant more than ever before, to adopt more sustainable eating behaviours. Given its nature, ecological eating is considered both an eating and an environmental behaviour. The literature, however, has yet to identify whether ecological eating is primarily ass...

Background Many individuals who experience a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) have long-term deficits in physical activity, balance, and mobility requiring specialized care. New delivery models are being investigated for interventions to address challenges caused by living in remote communities, difficulties with transportation, and/...

Purpose Further investigation into the feasibility of using videoconferencing and activity tracking devices to provide high-intensity home-based exercise programmes for people with a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is needed to inform clinical implementation and patient adoption. This study aimed to (1) determine if home-based teler...

Objectives. To examine whether automaticity mediated the association between action planning and physical activity and whether autonomous motivation moderated this mediation. Methods and measures. Physical activity was measured by accelerometry during seven days among 124 adults. Action planning, automaticity and autonomous motivation were assessed...

Research examining the interpersonal correlates of body talk has primarily focused on the negative consequences of perceiving fat talk on women’s own body talk and eating behaviours; however, little is known about the correlates and effects of positive body talk. This study examined the associations between perceived family and peer negative and po...

Background: According to Self-Determination Theory, the fulfillment of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness plays an important role in one's motivation, engagement, and well-being. How a therapist is perceived to support or thwart these needs can impact adherence to treatment, thus influencing the effectiveness of the...

Using self-determination theory among a sample of student employees, the present cross-sectional study ( N = 358) examines how mentors’ interpersonal behaviors relate to both motivation at work and motivation for a mentoring relationship and how these two contexts of motivation can differentially relate to mentees’ work outcomes. Results revealed t...

Physical activity rates have prevailed as a worldwide health concern. The WHO’s 'Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030' articulated the need to test effective communication strategies that deliver information to enhance physical activity behaviors. The Comprehensive Messaging Strategy for Sustained Behavior Change (CMSSBC) is a promisin...

The aim of the present research is to examine the factor structure of the Interpersonal Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), and the Interpersonal Behavior Questionnaire Self (IBQ-Self), two scales developed for the purpose of measuring supportive and thwarting interpersonal behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the psychometric prop...

In the present cross-sectional study, we adapted and examined the validity of a Portuguese version of the Sport Motivation Scale II (SMS-II-P) within a sample of 1148 Portuguese athletes (women = 546, men = 602) with a mean age of 18.45 years ( SD = 5.36), participating in a variety of sports (i.e., football, basketball, swimming, and athletics). W...

Considerable research guided by the Self Determination Theory has demonstrated that people who are motivated by more self-determined reasons (e.g., enjoyment, core beliefs, or personally meaningful benefits) are more likely to be physical activity. However, far less is known about the role ones’ stage of change (readiness for physical activity) pla...

The study aimed at documenting motivational orientations for the regulation of eatingas defined by self-determination theory and their association with sociodemographic characteristics and overall diet quality. As part of the PREDISE study, French-speaking women (n = 550) and men (n = 547), aged 18–65 years, living in the Province of Québec, Canada...

In this study, we examined the effects of body-focused daily self-compassion and self-esteem expressive writing activities on women’s valuation of weight management goals, body appreciation, bulimic symptoms, and healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors. One-hundred twenty-six women, recruited from the community and a university participant pool (Mag...

Results from feasibility study on the implementation of remotely delivered high-intensity home-based exercise programs for survivors of moderate or severe TBI.

Perceptions of fitness trainers' need-supportive and need-thwarting behaviors have been shown to impact exercisers' psychological need satisfaction and frustration. Currently, it is unknown whether an agreement or disagreement between exercisers' and fitness trainers' reported perceptions of these behaviors leads to the satisfaction and/or frustrat...

The aim of present study was two-fold: i) to translate and adapt the Regulation of Eating Behavior Scale to Portuguese (REBSp), and ii) to analyze its psychometrics properties (factorial validity with gender invariance analyses, reliability and construct validity). The study sample was composed by 471 Portuguese participants (68.4% females) with a...

The research aimed at examining how liking for foods high in salt and fat and for foods high in sugar are associated with overall diet quality and how these associations differ according to individual characteristics (i.e., sex, age, education, income, nutrition knowledge, and energy reporting status) in French-speaking adults from the Province of...

This research examined if planning and self-monitoring could be distinguished in terms of quality and quantity, and if differences in the uses of these strategies were associated with distinct eating outcomes. In Study 1 (n = 355), the structure of a new scale designed to measure planning and self-monitoring in terms of quality (i.e., nutrient inta...

Self-determination Theory differentiates various types of motivation, each of which have different consequences for well-being and behavior. Despite broad agreement concerning the nature of different types of motivation, numerous scoring methods, each of which rely on different assumptions, are commonly practiced. These practices range from a relat...

Purpose To assess how nutrition knowledge is associated with global diet quality and to investigate whether sociodemographic characteristics (ie, sex, age, education, income, marital status, and living with children or not) moderate this association. Design Cross-sectional web-based study. Participants The PREDISE study aims at identifying correl...

Objective: The main objective of the present study was to examine the associations between coach-created task-involving climate and athletes’ intentions to continue practicing sport, through a serial mediation analysis that included basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPN), self-determined motivation (SDM) and enjoyment. Methods: 799 elite swim...

Why do people have better sexual experiences on certain days but not others? In this study, we used self-determination theory (SDT) to examine whether sexual motives that are autonomous (i.e., genuinely self-endorsed) as opposed to controlled (i.e., pressured) were associated with variations in daily sexual well-being. We also sought to identify ci...

Environmental degradation and biodiversity loss are worldwide problems caused by human activities, which can often be classified as a resource dilemma. Across two studies, and using self-determination theory as a framework, we examine the relationships between motivation, goals, sanctioning systems and sustainable behaviour in a resource dilemma. T...

The objectives were to assess whether social support for healthy eating and perceived food environment are associated with diet quality, and to investigate if sociodemographic characteristics moderate these associations. A probability sample of French-speaking adults from the Province of Québec, Canada, was recruited in the context of the PREDISE s...

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may impact an individual physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally. Poor balance, reduced mobility, and low daily physical activity often will require ongoing physical rehabilitation intervention. However, face-to-face specialized physiotherapy is not always accessible for individuals living in rur...

The quality of sexual motives is an important predictor of sexual well-being. However, how sexual motives are integrated to psychological functioning beyond the sexual domain remains poorly understood. In this study, we used self-determination theory, the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and principles of heterarchical conc...

BACKGROUND Traumatic brain injury may impact an individual physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally. Poor balance, reduced mobility and low daily physical activity often will require ongoing physical rehabilitation intervention. Face-to-face specialized physiotherapy is not always accessible for individuals living in rural settings. OBJEC...

This study examined whether the motivational climate, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation, and enjoyment could explain why swimmers persisted for a period of six years and whether it could predict their intentions to continue practicing swimming one more year. Multigroup analysis across gender, age-groups and y...

With increasing incidence rates of eating disorders and sub-clinical symptoms in community samples, online interventions may be the most cost-effective and efficient method of prevention and treatment. Online expressive writing interventions have been shown to improve body image and decrease disordered eating; however, the heterogeneity of these in...

This study examined whether pursuing intrinsic versus extrinsic goals was associated with distinct motivational processes in eating regulation and with healthy versus unhealthy eating. Path analysis demonstrated that appearance goals were associated with fat talk, whereas health goals were associated with self-compassion. Fat talk was positively as...

Interpersonal conflict and interpersonal distress are highly prevalent among individuals with eating disorders. These interpersonal deficits are present during and prior to the disorder, which suggests that interpersonal behaviors from key socializing agents (e.g., parents and peers) play a major role in shaping personality characteristics and cult...

Most of the world’s population in developed regions lives in urban areas, with this proportion growing annually. A key question regarding this trend is the effects that reduced contact with nature may have on human well-being and functioning. In this paper, we propose to evaluate, using the empirical literature, the hypothesis that human beings hav...

This study explored how the coaching context influences coaches' psychological needs, motivation, and reported interpersonal behaviors, using self-determination theory. In Study 1, 56 coaches identified how contextual factors influence their coaching experience. Coaches identified administration, athlete motivation, colleagues, parents, professiona...

The purpose of this research was to explore the coach–athlete relationship through the lens of self-determination theory. Specifically, this study examined coaches’ (n = 53) reported supportive and thwarting interpersonal behaviors, as well as their female athletes’ (n = 250) perceptions of these behaviors. The first objective was to determine the...

The different motivations postulated by the Self-Determination Theory have proved to be meaningful to predict the level of engagement in a wide variety of life domains. The present research examines the relation between the different forms of self-determined motivation and behavioral automaticity of 12 behaviors associated with different life domai...

Health promotion programs represent a salient means through which physical activity promoters can cultivate positive health behavior change and maintenance. The messages communicated within these programs serve as an essential component as they are often used to convey valuable information, resources, or tools that facilitate health behavior initia...

This study tested a longitudinal model examin-ing the roles of motivation and perceived competence in the prediction of physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) in individuals with cardiovascular diseases, and the effects of adopting these behaviors on individuals’ health. Partici-pants completed measures of global motivation (baseline), conte...

Objective: Hunger indirectly triggers unhealthy high-calorie food consumption through its positive effect on the incentive value (or "wanting") for food. Yet, not everyone consumes unhealthy food in excess, suggesting that some individuals react differently when they are exposed to unhealthy high-calorie food, even when they are hungry. The purpos...

We report on the development, the adaptation, the validation, and the utility of the French version of the revised Sport Motivation Scale (SMS-II), namely the EMS-II (Échelle de Motivation dans les Sports), a scale developed originally in English to measure the six motivation subtypes (intrinsic motivation, integrated, identified, introjected, and...

This study used Self-Determination Theory to examine the motivational processes involved in individuals’ engagement in fat talk and its association with unhealthy eating behaviors. Female undergraduate students (N = 453) completed an online questionnaire, which assessed general and contextual motivation, importance placed on goals, fat talk, and un...

The objectives of the present studies were to design and validate the Interpersonal Behaviours Questionnaire (IBQ and IBQ-Self). The IBQ assesses perceptions of interpersonal behaviours of others according to Self-Determination Theory in the context of autonomy-supportive, competence-supportive, and relatedness-supportive behaviours , as well as au...

Background. Promoting regular physical activity (PA) and lessening sedentary behaviors (SB) constitute a public health priority. Recent evidence suggests that PA and SB are not only related to reflective processes (e.g., behavioral intentions), but also to impulsive approach-avoidance tendencies (IAAT). This study aims to test the effect of a compu...

Using cognitive dissonance theories and self-determination theory, we explored the role of individual differences in global and contextual motivational orientations on dissonance arousal processes following spontaneous attitude–behaviour inconsistencies (ABIs). Study 1 (N = 382) showed that individual differences in global motivation relate to the...

According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), basic psychological needs will be influenced by other individuals’ interpersonal behaviors. The objective of the present research is to extend the validity of the Interpersonal Behaviors Questionnaire (IBQ and IBQ-Self) to the sport context. The measure was designed to assess perceptions of interpersona...

Undergraduate research participant pools play an essential role in facilitating research, and many universities rely on them for participant recruitment. There is an abundance of information about those who do elect to participate in research through these recruitment systems but very little about those who do not. The present study examines both u...

Past research has shown that as proenvironmental behaviors (PEBs) become more difficult, the level of self-determined motivation becomes a more powerful predictor of behavior participation. The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the perceived difficulty of transportation PEB in two contexts using self-determination theory and (2) examine the...

This investigation examined the psychometric properties of the Sexual Motivation Scale (SexMS), a scale measuring the different types of self-regulation proposed by SDT in the context of sexual relationships: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. We analyzed the construct validity of the SexMS in two studies (Study 1: N=. 107...

In his article, ‘Homeostatic theory of obesity’, Marks suggested that imbalances in homeostatic processes could explain weight gain and obesity. He proposes that over-consumption of high-caloric, low-nutrient and low satiating foods, combined with a stressful environment, is the origin of weight gain. Once weight gain occurs, individuals may develo...

Teachers’ motivation plays an important role in promoting a healthy teaching environment. Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) can provide important insight into the understanding of teachers’ motivation, including the reasons they do their work, continue to teach, experience success, and enjoy what they do. The purpose of this chapte...

This study tested a longitudinal motivation model for healthy eating in patients with cardiovascular disease, using self-determination and social-cognitive theories. A total of 513 patients completed measures of eating habits, global motivation, motivation for eating, self-efficacy for eating and life satisfaction, immediately after a major cardiac...

Understanding the determinants of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is crucial, given its extensive health benefits. Some scholars have assumed that a proneness to react differently to environmental cues promoting sedentary versus active behaviors could be responsible for inter-individual differences in NEAT. In line with this reflection a...

Objectives: Poor adherence to regular exercise is a documented challenge among people with heart disease. Identifying key determinants of exercise adherence and distinguishing between the processes driving short- and long-term adherence to regular exercise is a valuable endeavor. The purpose of the present study was to test a model of exercise beh...

This study analyzed the cross-cultural adaptation of the Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II). To this end, three studies were conducted. The first consisted of translating SMS-II to the Portuguese language and adapt its content to the Brazilian context. In the second, 364 athletes from a range of individual and team sports responded to the adapted v...

Controlling instructions typically undermine intrinsic motivation. However, in line with an autonomy restoration process, we hypothesized that prior exposure to a controlling context could increase intrinsic motivation displayed in a subsequent task if this second task is devoid of autonomy threats. A correlational study in educational context prov...

Cet article présente les résultats de trois études qui avaient pour but de construire et de valider un nouvel instrument mesurant la motivation vis-à-vis des loisirs. Cet instrument, l'Échelle de Motivation vis-à-vis des Loisirs (EML), s'inspire de la théorie de l'autodétermination (Deci & Ryan, 1985). L'EML comprend 7 sous-échelles mesurant trois...

Like other fundamental needs, recent studies have shown that the need for autonomy elicits goal-ori- ented behaviors that aim to its restoration when it is thwarted. However, no research has yet examined the factors that moderate the restoration process. In the present studies, we investigated the moderating role of perceived competence in the rest...

This study examines whether motivation can be primed through unattended speech. Study 1 used a dichotic-listening paradigm and repeated strength measures. In comparison to the baseline condition, in which the unattended channel was only composed by neutral words, the presence of words related to high (low) intensity of motivation led participants t...

Past research has examined the link of eudaimonic and hedonic motives with personal well-being, but less is known about their link with the well-being of close others. Also, empirical data on the link with the well-being of close others would address an ongoing debate regarding whether eudaimonia is egoistic and possibly detrimental to others. Part...