Yael Geifman’s research while affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and other places

Motivation science has advanced tremendously in the past decade. However, it is now clear that future progress is going to be stalled by the extent of disagreement among motivation scientists to some basic, yet controversial, questions. To help move motivation science toward greater coherence, the editors recruited prominent scholars to debate their contrasting perspectives. Such debate is not only interesting, but it also makes future research, discoveries, collaborations, and applications more fruitful. Because many excellent handbooks on motivation exist, the editors wanted to try something different—be provocative. They wanted to provoke creative ideas among the authors and readers. To achieve that end, they asked 10 thought-provoking questions that define contemporary motivation science’s most important, controversial, and provocative ideas. The questions deal with the nature of motivation, cultural differences in motivational processes, evidence-based strategies to enhance motivation, unresolved controversies, predictions of the future, and more. This volume features 67 individual author responses to these questions. Multiple authors shared their current thinking and insights to the same controversial question. This volume provides readers with a rare opportunity to see how different theorists and researchers recognize, evaluate, and prescribe solutions to the same motivation problem. By sharing current thinking and providing innovative insights into the important questions and controversies in the study of motivation, this volume informs readers about cutting-edge theory and research in motivation that they can use to generate fresh and effective applications and interventions.

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 foster more volition, vitality, and full functioning. SDT has supplied the basis for new and more effective practices in parenting, education, business, sport, healthcare, and other areas of life, fostering higher-quality motivation, engagement, and satisfaction. Drawing on over four decades of evidence-based research and application, The Oxford Handbook of Self-Determination Theory delivers a truly integrative volume by the top researchers and experts within the field of SDT. Edited by SDT co-founder Richard M. Ryan, this Handbook not only provides the theory’s historical and scientific underpinnings but also draws together the latest research and insights, covering topics from the social and biological underpinnings of motivation and wellness to practical applications in all aspects of life. This volume will be an invaluable resource for both researchers and practitioners, as well as any student of human nature, with practical research and guidance.

Motivation science has advanced tremendously in the past decade. However, it is now clear that future progress is going to be stalled by the extent of disagreement among motivation scientists to some basic, yet controversial, questions. To help move motivation science toward greater coherence, the editors recruited prominent scholars to debate their contrasting perspectives. Such debate is not only interesting, but it also makes future research, discoveries, collaborations, and applications more fruitful. Because many excellent handbooks on motivation exist, the editors wanted to try something different—be provocative. They wanted to provoke creative ideas among the authors and readers. To achieve that end, they asked 10 thought-provoking questions that define contemporary motivation science’s most important, controversial, and provocative ideas. The questions deal with the nature of motivation, cultural differences in motivational processes, evidence-based strategies to enhance motivation, unresolved controversies, predictions of the future, and more. This volume features 67 individual author responses to these questions. Multiple authors shared their current thinking and insights to the same controversial question. This volume provides readers with a rare opportunity to see how different theorists and researchers recognize, evaluate, and prescribe solutions to the same motivation problem. By sharing current thinking and providing innovative insights into the important questions and controversies in the study of motivation, this volume informs readers about cutting-edge theory and research in motivation that they can use to generate fresh and effective applications and interventions.

Ample research has demonstrated the benefits of basic autonomy supportive practices (e.g., perspective-taking, choice, minimizing-control) for adolescents’ psychosocial functioning. Herein, we posit that there is one additional autonomy supportive practice with specific importance for adolescents’ development: Reflective Authentic Inner Compass facilitation. This practice is posited to contribute to the formation of an Authentic Inner-Compass: An action-guiding schema, informing youth on what they truly value, need, and want, and consisting of two parts: (1) A foundation including authentic values, interests, and life-aspirations, and (2) Autonomous commitment to future-oriented goals and decisions, based on the foundation. A longitudinal study of 18–19 year-old Israeli adolescents showed that perceived Reflective Authentic Inner Compass Facilitation by instructors uniquely predicted (beyond Basic Autonomy Support) adolescents’ experience of having an authentic inner-compass in the military domain, which then predicted autonomous engagement in plan-promoting activities. A cross-sectional study with 16−18 year-old Belgian adolescents showed that perceived Reflective Authentic Inner Compass Facilitation by parents uniquely predicted (beyond Basic Autonomy Support) the experience of having an authentic inner-compass, which then related positively to well-being. Implications of the notion of the authentic inner compass for the conceptualization of autonomy support and the experience of autonomy are discussed.

This paper focuses on a recently conceptualized construct—sense of authentic inner-compass (AIC)—and two parenting practices promoting it: basic autonomy-support (BAS) and inherent valuedemonstration (IVD). Rooted in self-determination theory, sense of AIC refers to the perception that we have self-guiding values, aspirations, and goals, which function like an ‘authentic innercompass’ that informs us on what we truly value and need. The utility of this construct for understanding morality-related phenomena also in cultures not emphasizing autonomy and authenticity, is demonstrated by a study conducted in two widely different cultures: Bedouin and Jews in Israel. As expected, across cultures, the practices of BAS and IVD were associated with sense of AIC, which then predicted adolescents’ resistance to peer-pressure to engage in antisocial behaviors. Invariance analysis showed a similar pattern across cultures. Discussion focuses on implications of the AIC concept for various moral behaviors, and for value-oriented parenting and moral education.