Feelings Of Personal Expressiveness Research Articles

Identity Contributions to a Life Well-Lived: A Study of the Relationship of Eudaimonic Well-Being to Intrinsic Motivation for Identity-Related Activities

ABSTRACT Within Eudaimonic Identity Theory, a central question pertains to what criteria can be used to determine which, among the potential identity-related goals, values, beliefs, and roles a person might choose, represent the “better” choices that one can enact. Eudaimonic Identity Theory proposes that one such criterion is the extent to which identity-related activities are intrinsically motivated. In the present study, a sample of 607 adults completed brief forms of the Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being and the Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire. The former is a person-level measure of well-being, whereas the latter assesses aspects of the identity-related activities in which the person engages. Four predictors of intrinsic motivation were assessed: (a) self-determination, (b) the balance of the challenges presented by an activity with the skills one brings to it, (c) self-realization values, and (d) engaged performance in the form of effort. In addition, four types of subjective experiences associated with intrinsic motivation were assessed: (a) interest, (b) flow experiences, (c) feelings of personal expressiveness, and (d) enjoyment. Using multilevel modeling, findings provided consistent support for the hypothesis that eudaimonic well-being was predictive of intrinsic motivation, in terms of both the conditions leading to such motivation and the associated subjective experiences. In addition, the greater the number of predictor variables present at a high level, the higher the level of eudaimonic well-being reported.

Resolving the paradox of work: Generalization of the roles of self-determination, the balance of challenges and skills, and self-realization values in intrinsic motivation across activity domains

ABSTRACT The present study was conducted to replicate and resolve the paradox of work. This paradox makes it appear that intrinsic motivation functions differently based on the type of activity being performed, with productive activities having different patterns of relationships among predictor and subjective experience indices of intrinsic motivation than found in other life domains. Variables were drawn from three theoretical perspectives – self-determination theory (self-determination and interest), flow theory (balance of challenges and skills and flow experiences), and eudaimonic identity theory (self-realization values and feelings of personal expressiveness). A sample of 637 college students completed the Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire. The paradox of work was replicated and, as hypothesized, relationships among the predictor and subjective experience variables were demonstrated to be similar across all activity domains including productive activities. The paradox of work appears to be an artifact of particularly low levels of self-determination associated with productive activities.

Feelings of personal expressiveness predict future increases in life satisfaction and meaning in life: A four-wave longitudinal study

Feelings of personal expressiveness predict future increases in life satisfaction and meaning in life: A four-wave longitudinal study

Changing interests: A longitudinal study of intrinsic motivation for personally salient activities

The present longitudinal study extends the findings of earlier cross-sectional studies ( Waterman, Schwartz, Green, Miller, & Philip, 2003) on the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation. University students generated lists of personally salient (identity-related) activities at the beginning of an academic semester and were asked to evaluate these activities at three points during the semester. Drawing on theories of intrinsic motivation, three subjective indices of intrinsic motivation (interest, flow experiences, and feelings of personal expressiveness) and three theoretically derived predictor variables (self-determination, the balance of challenges and skills, and self-realization values) were used in the present study. Cross-sectional relationships between the predictors and subjective experience indices at each timepoint replicated those observed in previous research. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to demonstrate that, as hypothesized, increases or decreases in the predictor variables between timepoints were associated with corresponding increases or decreases in the subjective experience indices. Implications for the study of intrinsic motivation are discussed.

When Effort Is Enjoyed: Two Studies of Intrinsic Motivation for Personally Salient Activities

Distinctions between two philosophical conceptions of happiness, hedonism and eudaimonism, were applied to the study of intrinsic motivation. Modified versions of the Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire (PEAQ) were used in two studies to contrast activities, all of which were enjoyed, but which differed in the level of effort involved. In Study 1, 173 college students were free to choose any type of activity that met the selection criteria. In Study 2, the activities chosen by 95 undergraduates were limited to activities associated with a particular leisure time or hobby activity in which the respondents engaged on a regular basis. Consistent results across the two studies indicate that High Effort–Liked activities, in comparison to Low Effort–Liked activities, were associated with greater interest, flow, and feelings of personal expressiveness, greater perceived competence, and higher scores for both self-realization values and importance. These differences are discussed for their implications for the conceptual understanding of intrinsic motivation.

Finding Someone to Be: Studies on the Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Identity Formation

In resolving an identity crisis, how can better identity choices be distinguished from less promising alternatives? Waterman (1990) proposed that intrinsic motivation, in the form of "feelings of personal expressiveness," serves as a third defining dimension of identity, along with the dimensions of exploration and commitment. Foundations for this perspective can be traced in philosophy to the work of the eudaimonists (e.g., Aristotle, 1985) and the existentialists (e.g., Heidegger, 1927/1962), and in psychology to the work of Horney (1950), Erikson (1958), and Maslow (1968), among others. Findings from a program of research on personal expressiveness are reviewed in terms of their potential for understanding the quality of outcomes to the process of identity formation.

Predicting the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation: the roles of self-determination, the balance of challenges and skills, and self-realization values.

A series of studies was conducted to investigate the contributions of self-determination, perceived competence, and self-realization values to the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation. Using varying sets of instructions in these studies, college undergraduates generated and subsequently evaluated panels of identity-related activities. Three measures of the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation were used as outcome variables: (a) interest, (b) flow experiences, and (c) feelings of personal expressiveness. These subjective experience measures were strongly intercorrelated. Across studies, self-determination was found to be strongly associated with all of the subjective experience measures. In contrast, self-realization values made larger contributions to flow experiences and to personal expressiveness than to interest. Perceived competence, although significantly correlated with all subjective experience measures, played a considerably smaller role in the prediction of intrinsic motivation.