Who Makes the Choice?: Rethinking the Roles of Self-determination and Relatedness in Chinese Children's Motivation

This dissertation, "Who Makes the Choice?: Rethinking the Roles of Self-determination and Relatedness in Chinese Children's Motivation" by Xuehua, Bao, 包雪華, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author.Abstract of thesis entitled "Who makes the choice? Rethinking the roles of self- determination and relatedness in Chinese children's motivation"Submitted byBao Xuehuafor the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in August 2005The importance of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000b) in motivation is questionable despite previous research support. Although numerous studies have showed that self-determination facilitates motivation in various cultures (e.g., Chirkov & Ryan, 2001; Deci, 1971; Grolnick, Deci & Ryan, 1997; Hayamizu, 1997; Lam, Cheng, & Bao, 2004), Iyengar and Lepper (1999) think otherwise. They found that Asian children, compared with Western children, were more motivated to do the tasks chosen by in-group others (i.e., mother or classmate). Their findings challenge the importance of self- determination in the motivation of children who grow up in Asian societies that cherish collectivism rather than individualism. The present research aimed to address this controversy by investigating the moderating role of socio-emotional relatedness in the relation between self-determination and Chinese children's learning motivation. The research consisted of four studies exploring both mother-child and teacher-student dyads. Studies 1 and 2 examined mother-child dyads by employing correlational design and experimental manipulation respectively. In Study 1 (n=56), participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire about decision making in extracurricular activities, mother-child relatedness, and learning motivation. In Study 2 (n=58), participants were asked to work on an experimental task, either in the child choice condition or mother choice condition. Study 3 (n=99) and Study 4 (n=48) investigated teacher-student dyads with similar research designs as those in Studies 1 and 2. Results of the four studies consistently showed that self-determination predicted participants' learning motivation. However the relation depended on the socio-emotional relatedness between participants and in-group others (i.e., mother or teacher). Given close relationships, self-determination was not decisive in motivation. In the case of low self- determination, participants still showed high motivation in the activities chosen by their mothers or teachers who had good relationships with them. In contrast, if the participants did not have satisfactory relationships with mothers or teachers, self-determination would be decisive in their learning motivation. Participants were motivated only when they had high degree of self-determination. The results also indicated that mother-child and teacher-student relatedness played a compelling role in learning motivation. In particular, the effect of relatedness on motivation was stronger in participants who experienced less self-determination than in those who had the freedom to make personal choice. In summary, the findings provide an answer to the controversy about the roles of self-determination and socio-emotional relatedness in Asian children's motivation. Depending on the level of socio-emotional relatedness, self-determination plays different roles in motivation.(395 words) 10.5353/th_b3642941Autonomy in children - China - Hong KongMother and child - Psychological aspects - China - Hong KongTeacher-student relat