According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017), humans are inherently proactive  organisms whose development is characterized by increasing levels of synthesis and integration.  Although SDT holds the claim that people are by nature proactive and display an innate urge to grow,  research on fostering motivation mainly focused on the role of contextual supporting and thwarting  behaviors. The question of whether individuals can mobilize their inner motivational resources to  maintain or enhance their own motivation has received relatively little prior attention (e.g., Sansone  et al., 1992; Wolters, 2003). The present project aims to address this gap by exploring the concept of  Motivational Self-Regulation (i.e., MSR or self-motivation) within the theoretical framework of the SDT.

Self-motivation refers to the process by which one attempts to maintain the level and the type of  motivation needed to optimally pursue some goal, including the removing, reducing or overcoming of  disruptive factors (Miele & Scholer, 2017; Wolters, 2003). It thus represents a set of coping strategies  wherein individuals make cognitive and behavioral efforts to motivate themselves when facing a drop in their motivation (Wolters & Benzon, 2013). Consistent with SDT’s distinction between autonomous and controlled motivation, self-motivation can also take on both autonomous and controlled forms. Autonomous strategies focus on making the task at hand more interesting, enjoyable, or personally relevant (e.g. enhancement of situational interest or personal significance (Schwinger & Otterpohl, 2017)). In contrast, controlled strategies rely on internal or external pressures to initiate, persist in, or 
complete the task (e.g., self-consequating (Wolters & Benzon, 2013)).

Main goals

1. To identify and measure the different components of autonomous and controlled self motivation (i.e., motivational awareness and action).
2. To examine the effects of autonomous and controlled self-motivation on one’s functioning 
   (e.g., motivation, well-being, behavior) above and beyond the role of contextual factors.
3. To study the factors contributing to the development of one’s self-motivating capacity, 
   including personal (e.g., mindfulness, emotion-regulation strategies) and contextual factors 
   (e.g., parental self-motivation, (de)motivating teaching styles) (Aelterman et al., 2019).
4. To develop online interventions aimed at fostering the self-motivation capacity of students.

This project will focus on the self-motivating capacity of students in higher education (+18 years old), and pupils in secondary education. Participants will be recruited through university courses, online advertising, and  already established partnerships with schools and the online platform Moodspace. The objectives will be pursued through a series of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental intervention studies, using a variety of measurement methods.