What Really Motivates Us? 60 Meta Analysis Studies Say Self Determination Theory Has the Answers

This article is about Self-Determination Theory (SDT)—a big idea in psychology that explains what motivates people and how they can feel happier and healthier. SDT says that all people have three basic psychological needs:

Autonomy – the feeling of being in control of your own choices.

Competence – the feeling of being good at something.

Relatedness – the feeling of being connected to others.

When these needs are met, people usually feel better and do better. But when these needs are blocked or frustrated, people can feel worse—sad, unmotivated, or even mentally unwell. This article reviewed 60 different studies (called meta-analyses, which are studies that combine the results of many others) to see if SDT’s ideas hold up. It found strong evidence that SDT is a useful way to understand motivation and well-being across many areas of life, like school, parenting, health care, and workplaces. The research showed that SDT does a good job of explaining how people thrive or struggle based on whether their basic needs are supported or ignored. Even though the theory is strong, the authors also mention that there are still some gaps in the research and limits in how the studies were done.

Self-determination theory remains one of the most powerful tools for understanding what drives us and helps us grow.

Ryan, R. M., Duineveld, J. J., Di Domenico, S. I., Ryan, W. S., Steward, B. A., & Bradshaw, E. L. (2022). We know this much is (meta-analytically) true: A meta-review of meta-analytic findings evaluating self-determination theory. Psychological Bulletin, 148(11-12), 813-842. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000385