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Mindfulness

Psychological needs

A key theory of wellbeing that focuses on the satisfaction of psychological needs is Deci and Ryan’s Self-determination Theory (SDT).    

 

It’s a complex theory made up of six sub-theories*.  One focuses on basic psychological needs that are universal (i.e., they apply no matter what the context).  Vansteenkiste and colleagues* define these as:

 

  • Autonomy – ‘the experience of volition and willingness. When satisfied, one experiences a sense of integrity as when one’s actions, thoughts, and feelings are self-endorsed and authentic’ (this is what I mean when I refer to being one's 'preferred-self')

  • Belongingness (or relatedness) – ‘the experience of warmth, bonding, and care, and is satisfied by connecting to and feeling significant to others’ 

  • Competence – ‘the experience of effectiveness and mastery. It becomes satisfied as one capably engages in activities and experiences opportunities for using and extending skills and expertise.

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In the workplace, Maslach and Banks* suggest that there are additional psychological needs/states that contribute to workplace psychological wellbeing.  These are:

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  • Positive emotions – opportunities to feel emotions such as happiness, hope, optimism and resilience 

  • Fairness – the perception that decisions are just, and people are being treated with respect 

  • Meaning – work provides a sense of purpose in life and motivation towards something which is personally valued 

  • Psychological safety – feeling able to be one’s preferred-self without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status or career.

 

Due to a focus in my research being exposure to others' adversity and trauma, in my initial framework, I also added compassion satisfaction as an eighth need.  However, when analysing the data that I'd collected from teachers, I found that there was considerable overlap between these eight psychological needs, and that it was helpful to organise some of these as sub-dialectics under the basic psychological needs given in SDT.  This supports a deeper understanding of the needs as it allows greater detail and nuance which was necessary as sometimes there was conflict within the basic needs that couldn't be explained without reference to the sub-dialectics at play.  It was also necessary to add needs which the basic needs fed into.  In my model, I use the following psychological needs and sub-categories**:

 

  • Autonomy – meaningfulness – coherence, purpose, significance; volition; preferred self/motivation/action/goal congruence (ethical, moral, intrinsic (altruism and egoism)

  • Belongingness – cared for; collective efficacy; compassion; fairness - equity norm, social comparison, balance redress; psychological safety; solidarity

  • Competence – agency; self-efficacy; technical proficiency; mastery; personal/professional development

These feed into the creation of:

  • Positive emotions

  • Psychological availability - defined here as the sense of having sufficient personal physical, emotional and cognitive resources to engage in the task at hand

All of these feed into:

  • Self-acceptance - defined here as having a positive attitude toward self and what career has amounted to; acknowledges and accepts multiple aspects of self, including good and bad qualities or past behaviour and choices.

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Most of these are self-explanatory or obvious to those in the workplace but the aspects which are likely to be less familiar, or may be used differently in different theories, are defined or explained briefly in the section below the framework to show how they are used here.  Greater detail and an explanation of how they might be manifested in the context of the English education sector can be found in my thesis (click here), or for more information, please use the contact details below so that we can arrange a chat.  

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Unfortunately for wellbeing, satisfying all these psychological needs isn't always possible because:

  • Needs are often in conflict with each other

  • Meeting our needs can conflict with meeting others' needs/wants

  • Environmental factors stop us doing what we want to do (see areas of work-design).

So, we need to make choices.  Motivation then becomes an important factor.  See the section below for information on motivation and its relevance to educators' workplace psychological wellbeing.

 

 

 

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*References:

More information on this theory can be found at selfdeterminationtheory.org

Maslach, C. and Banks, C. (2017) Psychological connections with work. In: C. Cooper and M. Leiter, eds (2018) The Routledge Companion to Wellbeing at Work. pp.37–54.

Vansteenkiste, M., Ryan, R. and Soenens, B. (2020) Basic psychological need theory: Advancements, critical themes, and future directions. Motivation and Emotion, 44, pp.1-31.

** More detail about each of these can be found in my thesis available here

motivation

Multiple wellbeing theories recognise the importance of motivation to wellbeing (again, as a dialectical relationship).  But according to Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, it’s the type of, rather than amount of, motivation that is central to psychological wellbeing.

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Deci and Ryan's motivation types are*:

  • Autonomous motivation - comprising both the things that we do for their own sake because we find them enjoyable, and things we do because we personally value them

  • Controlled motivation - consisting of external regulation, where behaviour is driven by external contingencies of reward or punishment or by factors such as an approval motive and avoidance of guilt/shame

  • Amotivation - a lack of motivation and intention, stemming from a perceived lack of ability to make a difference to outcomes or not seeing any point to participating in an activity.

 

Although both controlled and autonomous motivation drive behaviour, autonomous motivation is more closely associated with increased vitality, performance and psychological wellbeing than controlled motivation.  My research corroborated this. 

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Spending time engaged in activities which rely on controlled motivation (also called need substitutes or compensatory preferences) can reduce the time we have to spend on activities which we enjoy and value or that are important/relevant to us at the time.  This means that need satisfaction may be thwarted (blocked so that there is a lack of need fulfilment). In my framework, I also added 'need violation' to suggest an even greater risk to wellbeing, as I found that often, for self-protection, we can feel forced to engage in activities which violate our needs, or those of others, by doing things that we profoundly disagree with or that we believe are seriously detrimental to others.  If severe or recurring, this can cause moral stress which is extremely detrimental to wellbeing and can have long-lasting effects.  In addition to the direct detriment from feeling like a perpetrator or having our own needs violated by another's conduct, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts undertaken by others (particularly those in positions of authority where we have heightened expectations of moral and ethical conduct) that violate our deeply held moral beliefs and expectations can create moral injury. This is associated with a loss of trust in oneself or others, existential dread, and deep demoralisation. This means that when thinking about wellbeing it’s important to consider historical events (sometimes they may be subdued but can be triggered later), the cumulative impact of such experiences and how they impact on present and future expectations, as well as the design of the current work-environment.  More information on the sub-categories of psychological needs can be found below the framework section.

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*More information on this sub-theory can be found at selfdeterminationtheory.org

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more detail on sub-categories of psychological needs

As suggested above, most of the sub-categories are self-explanatory; however, sometimes the same words are used in different theories to mean different things.  To support with clarity of meaning, the way that I use some terms in my framework, which may otherwise be unfamiliar or ambiguous, is outlined below.  Also, as previously stated, there is an assumption that where wording is positive, there is a continuum ending with the opposing negative, and vice versa (i.e., there is a dialectic relationship at play).

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Autonomy

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  • Meaningfulness, comprising:

    • Significance - sense of life’s inherent value and having a life worth living  

    • Purpose - sense of core goals, aims and direction in life  

    • Coherence - sense of comprehensibility and one’s life making sense

  • Preferred-self/motivation/action/goal congruence - a state in which an employee’s preferred way of being (e.g. goals, actions and motivations) is closely aligned with what the employee actually does in practice.  The opposite would be a state of dissonance, where there is conflict between actual (goals, actions and motivations) and preferred-selves.

    • Ethical – motivation to act according to set standards based on externally expected 'rules'/standards of right and wrong

    • Moral – motivation to act according to personal beliefs of what is right or wrong/good or bad

    • Altruistic - the focus is on improving others’ situations/welfare as a key motivator or goal (e.g., children make progress and achieve).  This does not assume that acting for the benefit of others has to be to the detriment of oneself (although this may be an outcome)

    • Egoistic – the focus is on improving personal situations/welfare as the key motivator or goal (e.g., I get a buzz out of ...).  N.B. This is not the same as being egotistical (self-absorbed, selfish and excessively conceited).

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Belongingness

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  • Collective efficacy – a shared belief in the combined capability of a group to create favourable outcomes and environments through its actions

  • Compassion - defined and described in detail on the compassionate acting pages

  • Fairness - based on Adams' Social Inequity Theory

    • Equity norm – the expectation of a fair return for the effort put into a task/work role

    • Social comparison – the fair return for task/role contribution when evaluated against the contribution to return ratio of comparable others

    • Balance redress – actions taken in an attempt to balance what are perceived as unsatisfactory input to return ratios related to equity norm and social comparison

  • Psychological safety (based on Kahn*) - the feeling of being safe to show and enact one’s ‘preferred-self’ without fear of negative consequences to self-image (i.e., feeling safe: to make mistakes and learn from them; to contribute; and to challenge without fear of embarrassment or punishment)

  • Solidarity – unity resulting from shared values, interests and purpose with the community/communities to which one belongs.

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Competence

 

  • Agency – the belief that one’s actions can influence outcomes

  • Self-efficacy – personal belief in one’s own competence and ability to cope with and control situations/environments to create favourable, or personally valued outcomes

  • Technical proficiency – the ability to carry out activity competently when judged against a set of externally imposed criteria

  • Mastery – possessing a high-level of skill and expertise

  • Personal/professional development - opportunities to engage in activities that promote learning and growth (i.e., not just attending a course where there is limited opportunity to extend skills or understanding beyond what the employee already knows or can do). 

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To discuss these further, please use the contact details below, or for information on training or support related to psychological need satisfaction - 

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‌*Kahn, W. (1990) Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), pp.692–724.

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