Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation from Self-Determination Theory

Jul 13, 2026

Review of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and its implications for education, focusing on how autonomy, competence, and relatedness need support shape students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Need satisfaction promotes intrinsic motivation, internalization, higher achievement, and students’ psychological well-being, while attempts to control behavior through rewards, sanctions, and evaluations can backfire. The review also emphasizes autonomy support for inclusive environments and the role of teachers’ need satisfaction, highlighting gaps between policies and evidence-based needs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Contemporary Educational Psychology xxx (xxxx) xxxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Contemporary Educational Psychology journal [homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cedpsych](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cedpsych) | Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions Richard M. Ryana,⁎, Edward L. Decib
a Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Australia b University of Rochester, United States | | --- | | A B S T R A C T | | Self-determination theory (SDT) is a broad framework for understanding factors that facilitate or undermine intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation, and psychological wellness, all issues of direct relevance to educational settings. We review research from SDT showing that both intrinsic motivation and wellinternalized (and thus autonomous) forms of extrinsic motivation predict an array of positive outcomes across varied educational levels and cultural contexts and are enhanced by supports for students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings also show a dynamic link between teacher and student motivation, as teachers are themselves impacted and constrained by controlling mandates, institutional pressures, and leadership styles. Ironically, despite substantial evidence for the importance of psychological need satisfactions in learning contexts, many current educational policies and practices around the globe remain anchored in traditional motivational models that fail to support students’ and teachers’ needs, a knowledge versus policy gap we should aspire to close. | 1. Introduction Twenty years ago, in a special issue of Contemporary Educational Psychology, we reviewed definitions and research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000), which at that time was still an emerging field of study. In the two decades since, the field has rapidly matured and much has been learned about these two major types of motivation, especially within the framework of self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017), a broad theory of human development and wellness, with strong implications for education. SDT has been part of a“Copernican turn” in the field, as unlike behavioristic approaches, which attempt to shape and control motivation from the outside, SDT places its emphasis on people’s inherent motivational propensities for learning and growing, and how they can be supported. In this brief review of SDT, we discuss the current status of the theory, its methods, its practical utility, and its future directions both as a framework for basic sciences in motivation, and as an evidence base for 21st century educational policies and practice. As an organismic theory, SDT assumes people are inherently prone toward psychological growth and integration, and thus toward learning, mastery and connection with others. However, these

Jul 13, 2026

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