Sport Psychology: New Publication on Human Motivation

Paper on implicit motives and basic needs published in the Journal of Personality.

The present paper stems from a collaboration of Julia Schüler with colleagues from the University of Trier (Germany), and the University of Tilburg (Netherlands), who are all experts of "human needs". Human needs (e.g., implicit motives, basic psychological needs) are critically and controversially discussed in motivation psychology. In this paper, Schüler et al. state that this is due to different, however somehow theoretically-related perspectives that are taken by different research traditions (Motive Disposition Theory, McClelland, 1980; Self-Determination Theory, Deci & Ryan, 1980). They discuss how parts of these perspectives can be integrated, but also show aspects that still diverge from each other. They conclude by highlighting the potential for areas in which further integration is possible, which provides a foundation for comprehensive and exciting research on human motivation. 

At the chair of sport psychology, we do not only empirically examine motivational and volitional processes (although experiments are the focus of our research), but also aim to contribute to the field of research by discussing theoretical and methodological strengths and weaknesses of conceptualizations of motives, motivation and self-control, in order to initiate further development of theories and measuring methods.