A Review of Autonomous-Controlled Motivation

Abstract

Self-determination theory is a new cognitive theory of motivation. Unlike previous motivation theories, self-determinism pays more attention to the quality of motivation than the quantity of motivation. It divides motivation into two categories: autonomous motivation and controlled motivation. Both belong to a one-dimensional continuum, on which there are five different types of motivation from low to high according to the autonomy of motivation. Many studies have verified the effects of different motivation types and their differences. In terms of application, autonomous support has been proved to be an effective way to promote motivation internalization. In the future, more localization research should be carried out to enrich the applicability of autonomous- controlled motivation and expand the application research of autonomous-controlled motivation.