Motivational profiles from a self-determination perspective: The quality of motivation matters.

Abstract

The present research complements extant variable-centered research that focused on the dimensions of autonomous and controlled motivation through adoption of a person-centered approach for identifying motivational profiles. Both in high school students (Study 1) and college students (Study 2), a cluster analysis revealed 4 motivational profiles: a good quality motivation group (i.e., high autonomous, low controlled); a poor quality motivation group (i.e., low autonomous, high controlled); a low quantity motivation group (i.e., low autonomous, low controlled); and a high quantity motivation group (i.e., high autonomous, high controlled). To compare the 4 groups, the authors derived predictions from qualitative and quantitative perspectives on motivation. Findings generally favored the qualitative perspective; compared with the other groups, the good quality motivation group displayed the most optimal learning pattern and scored highest on perceived need-supportive teaching. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.Keywords: motivational profiles, autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, self-determination theory, quality of motivation Most motivation psychologists, teachers, and parents would agree that students' study behavior is multidetermined. Multiple reasons might drive study behavior, such as a spontaneous interest in the learning material, a desire to prove oneself by getting high grades, external expectations, or future professional goals. Nevertheless, some motives might be more dominant for some students, whereas different motives might be of greater importance to others. Also, some students might combine some motives in a relatively unique manner, so that they, for instance, study both because they need to meet external demands and because they find learning enjoyable as such. Thus, different groups or types of students might exist that are characterized by different motivational profiles.To identify motivational profiles, one must adopt a personcentered approach (Magnusson, 1998). Such an approach complements the dimensional or variable-centered approach that is typically used in motivational research (but see Csizér & Dörnyei, 2005;Pintrich, 2000; Ratelle, Guay, Vallerand, Larose, & Senécal, in press;Wang & Biddle, 2001). Whereas the primary aim in person-centered analyses (e.g., cluster analysis; Gore, 2000) is to categorize individuals into groups whose members have similar motivational profiles, the focus of the variable-centered approach is on the effects of motivational dimensions on students' learning and performance. The two approaches are likely to yield complementary information (Fortunato & Goldblatt, 2006), but little prior attention has been devoted to the person-centered approach by motivational researchers. Our aims in the present research were (a) to map out the motivational profiles of students on the basis of their scores for autonomous and controlled study motivation, as distinguished within self-determination theory (SDT; Vansteenkiste, Lens, & De...

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