The free will capacity: A uniquely human adaption.

Herein, I characterize free will (FW) is an evolved functional capacity within the mature human mind, which provides us with numerous adaptive benefits. The FW capacity was selected for because it enables us to respond effectively to momentary contingencies, via on-the-spot deliberation. But FW also extricates us from the present moment, enabling us to generate and decide between imagined long-term futures.

The Glow Still Shows: Effects of Facial Masking on Perceptions of Duchenne Versus Social Smiles.

Facial expressions of emotion have important communicative functions. It is likely that mask-wearing during pandemics disrupts these functions, especially for expressions defined by activity in the lower half of the face. We tested this by asking participants to rate both Duchenne smiles (DSs; defined by the mouth and eyes) and non-Duchenne or "social" smiles (SSs; defined by the mouth alone), within masked and unmasked target faces.

Duchenne Smiles as Honest Signals of Chronic Positive Mood.

Chronic positive mood (CPM) has been shown to confer a wide variety of social, functional, and health benefits. Some researchers have argued that humans evolved to feel CPM, which explains why most people report better than neutral mood (the "positivity offset bias") and why particularly happy people have particularly good outcomes. Here, we argue that the Duchenne smile evolved as an honest signal of high levels of CPM, alerting others to the psychological fitness of the smiler.

Using Social Network Sites to Boost Savoring: Positive Effects on Positive Emotions.

Research has demonstrated that positive interventions (PIs) can be effective in enhancing well-being. Our study used Facebook to conduct a PI based on savoring. Sixty-one university students in Taiwan were randomly assigned to undergo a three-week savoring PI, and 61 participants were assigned to a no-treatment control group.

I am the chosen one: Narcissism in the backdrop of self-determination theory.

Objective: This theoretical article discusses the relevance of self-determination theory (SDT) for narcissism, a classic topic in self-theory.

Method And Results: The trait of narcissism reflects a self-aggrandizing, dominant, and manipulative interpersonal orientation that feeds on exaggerated perceptions of agency, but not communion. The article embeds narcissism in the five mini-theories of SDT (organismic integration, causality orientations, basic needs, cognitive evaluation, and goal contents) and considers research directions that can explore synergies between key constructs from SDT and narcissism.

Feeling Interpersonally Controlled While Pursuing Materialistic Goals: A Problematic Combination for Moral Behavior.

We created a life-goal assessment drawing from self-determination theory and achievement goal literature, examining its predictive power regarding immoral behavior and subjective well-being. Our source items assessed direction and energization of motivation, via the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic aims and between intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for acting, respectively. Fused source items assessed four goal complexes representing a combination of direction and energization.

Chinese adolescents with higher social dominance orientation are less prosocial and less happy: A value-environment fit analysis.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and subjective well-being among Chinese adolescents (N = 4246), and to examine the mediating role of prosocial behaviour in this relationship. The structural equation model's results showed that SDO was negatively associated with prosocial behaviour and subjective well-being, that prosocial behaviour was positively associated with subjective well-being, and also that (low) prosocial behaviour partially mediated the negative relationship between SDO and subjective well-being. Multi-group analyses showed that the mediation model was generally similar between boys and girls, but that the negative relationship between SDO and prosocial behaviour was somewhat stronger among girls than boys.

Self-determination theory as a foundation for personality researchers.

In this introductory article, we first describe the impetus for this special issue. What made us think that self-determination theory (SDT) might provide a sort of foundation for the rest of personality psychology? For readers unfamiliar with SDT, we then provide a historical overview that covers the evolution of the six "mini-theories" that currently compose SDT: cognitive evaluation theory, causality orientations theory, organismic integration theory, basic psychological needs theory, goal contents theory, and relational motivation theory. Following each section are preliminary suggestions about how each mini-theory might be useful or informative in other branches of personality.

Evaluating the Dimensionality of Self-Determination Theory's Relative Autonomy Continuum.

We conducted a theoretical and psychometric evaluation of self-determination theory's "relative autonomy continuum" (RAC), an important aspect of the theory whose validity has recently been questioned. We first derived a Comprehensive Relative Autonomy Index (C-RAI) containing six subscales and 24 items, by conducting a paired paraphrase content analysis of existing RAI measures. We administered the C-RAI to multiple U.

Openness to experience predicts intrinsic value shifts after deliberating one's own death.

Individual differences that might moderate processes of value shifting during and after deliberating one's own death remain largely unexplored. Two studies measured participants' openness and relative intrinsic-to-extrinsic value orientation (RIEVO) before randomly assigning them to conditions in which they wrote about their own death or dental pain for 6 days, after which RIEVO was assessed again up to 12 days later. When participants confronted thoughts about their own death over a sustained period, high openness to experience helped them shift toward intrinsic values.

Personality, effective goal-striving, and enhanced well-being: comparing 10 candidate personality strengths.

In a three-wave, year-long, large-sample dataset (N = 755), 10 candidate "personality strengths" (Grit, Gratitude, Curiosity, Savoring, Control Beliefs, Meaning in Life-Presence, Strengths Use, and Engagement, Pleasure, and Meaning-Based Orientations Toward Happiness) were compared as predictors of 6-month increases in goal attainment, and as moderators of goal attainment effects upon boosted subjective well-being (SWB). Seeking internal replication, we tested our models twice, both during T1-T2 and during T2-T3. We also examined whether any Personality × Attainment moderator effects upon change in SWB at T2 still persisted at T3.

Priming effects on cooperative behavior in social dilemmas: considering the prime and the person.

ABSTRACT. We test whether people with a relatively more intrinsic vs. extrinsic value orientation (RIEVO) are particularly likely to enact cooperative behavior in resource dilemmas when they are primed with relatedness goals.

Do Some People Need Autonomy More Than Others? Implicit Dispositions Toward Autonomy Moderate the Effects of Felt Autonomy on Well-Being.

The present studies examined whether implicit or explicit autonomy dispositions moderate the relationship between felt autonomy and well-being. Study 1 (N = 187 undergraduate students) presents an initial test of the moderator hypothesis by predicting flow experience from the interaction of autonomy need satisfaction and autonomy dispositions. Study 2 (N = 127 physically inactive persons) used vignettes involving an autonomy (un)supportive coach to test a moderated mediation model in which perceived coach autonomy support leads to well-being through basic need satisfaction.

Becoming oneself: the central role of self-concordant goal selection.

Pursuing personal goals is an important way that people organize their behavior and mature as individuals. However, because people are typically unaware of their own implicit motivations and potentials, they may pick goals that do not serve them well. This article suggests that "self-concordant" goal selection is a difficult self-perceptual skill, with important ramifications for thriving.

The challenge of staying happier: testing the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention model.

The happiness that comes from a particular success or change in fortune abates with time. The Hedonic Adaptation Prevention (HAP) model specifies two routes by which the well-being gains derived from a positive life change are eroded--the first involving bottom-up processes (i.e.

Wanting, having, and needing: integrating motive disposition theory and self-determination theory.

Four studies explored the motivational and experiential dynamics of psychological needs, applying both self-determination theory and motive disposition theory. In all 4 studies, motive dispositions toward achievement and affiliation ("wanting" particular experiences) predicted corresponding feelings of competence and relatedness ("having" those experiences). Competence and relatedness in turn predicted well-being, again indicating that these 2 experiences may really be "needed.

Integrating behavioral-motive and experiential-requirement perspectives on psychological needs: a two process model.

Psychological need theories offer much explanatory potential for behavioral scientists, but there is considerable disagreement and confusion about what needs are and how they work. A 2-process model of psychological needs is outlined, viewing needs as evolved functional systems that provide both (a) innate psychosocial motives that tend to impel adaptive behavior and (b) innate experiential requirements that when met reinforce adaptive behavior and promote mental health. The literature is reviewed to find support for 8 hypotheses derived from this model: that certain basic psychosocial motives are present at birth; that successful enactment of these motives supports the functioning and wellness of all humans; that individual differences in these motives develop in childhood; that these strong motive dispositions tend to produce the satisfying experiences they seek; that motive dispositions do not moderate the effect of motive-corresponding need satisfaction on well-being but do moderate the effect of assigned goal-type on rated self-concordance for those goals; that need dissatisfaction and need satisfaction correspond to the separable behavioral-motive and experiential-reward aspects of needs; and that motives and needs can become decoupled when chronic dissatisfaction of particular requirements warps or depresses the corresponding motives, such that the adaptive process fails in its function.

Antecedents and trajectories of achievement goals: a self-determination theory perspective.

Background: Research has shown that both achievement goal theory and self-determination theory (SDT) are quite useful in explaining student motivation and success in academic contexts. However, little is known about how the two theories relate to each other.

Aim: The current research used SDT as a framework to understand why students enter classes with particular achievement goal profiles, and also, how those profiles may change over time.

Becoming happier takes both a will and a proper way: an experimental longitudinal intervention to boost well-being.

An 8-month-long experimental study examined the immediate and longer term effects of regularly practicing two assigned positive activities (expressing optimism and gratitude) on well-being. More important, this intervention allowed us to explore the impact of two metafactors that are likely to influence the success of any positive activity: whether one self-selects into the study knowing that it is about increasing happiness and whether one invests effort into the activity over time. Our results indicate that initial self-selection makes a difference, but only in the two positive activity conditions, not the control, and that continued effort also makes a difference, but, again, only in the treatment conditions.

A longitudinal experimental study comparing the effectiveness of happiness-enhancing strategies in Anglo Americans and Asian Americans.

Growing evidence suggests that well-being interventions can be effective. However, it is unclear whether happiness-increasing practices are equally effective for individuals from different cultural backgrounds. To investigate this question, Anglo Americans and predominantly foreign-born Asian Americans were randomly assigned to express optimism, convey gratitude, or list their past experiences (control group).

A two-process view of Facebook use and relatedness need-satisfaction: disconnection drives use, and connection rewards it.

Does using Facebook help people to meet their relatedness needs? Study 1 shows that more frequent Facebook usage paradoxically correlates with more relatedness satisfaction (connection) and more relatedness dissatisfaction (disconnection). Study 2 supports a 2-process explanation of this finding, showing that disconnection motivates greater usage as a coping strategy, whereas connection results from greater usage. Study 3 examines the effects of depriving participants of Facebook use for 48 hr.

Motivation and diabetes self-management.

Objective: To examine the relationship between autonomous motivation and diabetes self-care activities among individuals with diabetes.

Methods: Seventy-seven individuals recruited from outpatient clinic registries (64% female, 77% Caucasian, mean age 63 years) completed measures of diabetes-related self-care (Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities), motivation (Treatment Self-regulation Questionnaire), health literacy (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, Newest Vital Sign), health (SF-36v2), social support (Social Support Survey) and self-efficacy (Perceived Competence Scale).

Results: Autonomous motivation was the only variable significantly associated with maintaining diet (p<0.

Life balance and well-being: testing a novel conceptual and measurement approach.

Although a balanced life has always been viewed as desirable, there are problems with extant conceptualizations and measures of this construct. Here we introduce 2 new life-balance measures, based on time-use profiles, that address these problems. One defines life balance as objectively equitable time use across multiple life domains, and the other defines life balance as low subjective discrepancy between actual and ideal time-use profiles.