Item Details

title

Morality as a Basic Psychological Need

author

Prentice, M.

author

Jayawickreme, E.

author

Hawkins, A.

author

Hartley, A.

author

Furr, R.

author

Fleeson, W.

abstract

We investigate the long-standing yet understudied assumption that feeling moral is a basic psychological need, perhaps like the needs to feel autonomous, competent, and related (ACR). We report an empirical “entrance exam” on whether morality should be considered a need. Specifically, we applied to morality a pioneering method from which Sheldon and colleagues provided evidence that ACR are basic psychological needs. In two studies and four samples, participants recalled events in which they felt un/satisfied, meaningful, pleasurable, at their best, and at their worst. They rated how much candidate psychological needs were satisfied during them. Morality was frequently as or more satisfied than ACR during peak events. Further, it was positively related to indices of positive functioning. These findings suggest feelings of being moral may help people identify times when life is going well. Further, they suggest that morality may be a fundamental psychological need and warrants further investigation.

subject

morality

psychological needs

well-being

self-determination theory

date

2020-03-09T15:26:05Z (accessioned)

2020-03-09T15:26:05Z (available)

6/8/18 (issued)

identifier

Prentice, M., Jayawickreme, E., Hawkins, A., Hartley, A., Furr, R. M., & Fleeson, W. (2019). Morality as a Basic Psychological Need. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(4), 449–460. (citation)

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96039 (uri)

identifier

https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618772011 (doi)

language

en (iso)

publisher

SAGE

rights

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (uri)

source

Social Psychological and Personality Science

type

Article