Virtuous Motivation Survey

Human behavior is complicated and may be based on conflicting drives and emotions. For example, an individual may donate to a charity in order to help the poor and/or to receive recognition. Similarly, a student may work hard to master calculous out of love for the subject and/or to receive an exemplary grade. We are interested in uncovering children's motivation for acting virtuously, both within and outside of school. By examining the antecedents of virtue, we empower educators to deeply embed character and virtue into their academic programs.   

Our methodology is framed by self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), a meta-theory that operates across contexts, such as competitive athletics, performing arts, healthcare, the workplace, parenting, and education. Building upon DeCharms’ (1968) concept of personal causation, SDT posits three universal human needs: 1) Autonomy represents a manifestation of a perceived internal locus of control for actions. 2) Competence represents a perceived expectation of performing activities at a prescribed level. 3) Relatedness concerns how individuals develop emotional connections with significant others. Social factors, such as parenting and education, can either support or thwart quality motivation. During the past 40 years, SDT researchers have shown how the quality of motivation diminishes when those in charge (parents, teachers, managers) use controlling rather than autonomy-supportive techniques. They pressure, demand, cajole, coerce, and seduce us to behave in ways that benefit them, undermining a more genuine or intrinsic form of motivation. Self-determination explains the process of internalizing extrinsic goals from amotivation to external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, integrated regulation, and intrinsic motivation.

To extend the SDT categories, we posit our own construct called virtuous motivation, which involves doing things not just for enjoyment, but also for their own sake, for self-development, and to benefit others. Through our research, we explore the antecedents of moral behavior and how habituated virtue becomes internalized into the child's sense of self. Drawing on the framework adopted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues and previous SDT research on self-regulation and prosocial behavior, we seek to determine the antecedents of children’s moral behaviors and how cultural factors, including parenting and schooling, foster or impede the internalization of virtue. In our new survey, we assess for dimensions of virtue, including intellectual, moral, civic, and performance. In addition, we include items on incentivized environment and school culture, allowing us to leverage the research in a pre-test post-test intervention model.