Doing Well vs. Doing Better: Preliminary Evidence for the Differentiation of the “Static” and “Incremental” Aspects of the Need for Competence

According to self-determination theory, competence is a basic psychological need that contributes to optimal human functioning and happiness. Classic theories of competence suggest that essential to the conceptualization of competence is the perception of not only “doing well” but also “doing better...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of happiness studies 2022-03, Vol.23 (3), p.1121-1141
Main Authors: Yu, Shi, Zhang, Fengjiao, Nunes, Ludmila D., Levesque-Bristol, Chantal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Competence
Control theory
Economics
Environmental impact
Happiness
Literature reviews
Motivation
Personality and Social Psychology
Philosophy
Positive Psychology
Psychological needs
Psychological theories
Quality of Life Research
Quantitative psychology
Research Paper
Self determination
Skills
Social Sciences
Well being
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Summary:According to self-determination theory, competence is a basic psychological need that contributes to optimal human functioning and happiness. Classic theories of competence suggest that essential to the conceptualization of competence is the perception of not only “doing well” but also “doing better”, that is, experiencing a sense of stretching one’s limits, gaining new skills and abilities, and improving one’s effectance while interacting with the environment. However, the “doing better” aspect has largely been neglected or undifferentiated from the “doing well” aspect. The goal of the current research is to demonstrate that the “doing better” aspect can be differentiated from the “doing well” aspect. Two sub-studies using American and Chinese samples show preliminary support for the psychometric differentiation (using multidimensional scaling) between these two aspects, and both studies provide consistent support for differential predictive effects of the two aspects on motivation, well-being and growth outcomes. Unexpected findings such as the unique effect of frustrated incremental competence on amotivation are also reported.
ISSN:1389-4978
1573-7780
DOI:10.1007/s10902-021-00442-w