Conceptual Rethinking Self-Determination Theory: The Project of Constructivist SDT

The article examines the contours of the constructivist version of SDT, based on a unified approach to the formation of motivation using various regulatory styles; within its framework, motivation is formed and changed under the influence of emotionally charged mental images. At the same time, the quality of motivation differs depending on the ratio of internal / external content used in the formation of the relevant regulatory construct. This approach logically leads to the introduction of externalization continuum by analogy with the internalization continuum in traditional SDT. Within this continuum, it is proposed to distinguish three regulatory styles – projective, causal-attributive, and categorized (externally integrated) styles. In real life, values and behaviors may be repeatedly externalized and internalized, which leads to the impossibility of distinguishing between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in many cases. It is proposed to designate motivation corresponding to external regulation as “relatively external”. Motivation, in the formation of which the last regulatory style was one of the externalized ones, can be labeled as “externally mediated”. If the latter involved one of the internalized styles, one can talk about “internally mediated” motivation. The personality appears as a self-constructing system, in the formation of which all regulation styles take part.