Center for Climate Action and Social Transformations (4CAST), Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Psychological Sciences, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 16;19(8):e0309079. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309079. eCollection 2024.
Research on the extent to which people believe that people can change (incremental beliefs) suggests that incrementalist beliefs are positively related to well-being, whereas entity beliefs (people cannot change) are not. One explanation for this relationship is that incremental beliefs are associated with a mastery orientation, whereas entity beliefs are not. If this is the case, then autonomous and competence motives should mediate relationships between incrementalism and well-being because these motives reflect different aspects of mastery. The present study examined the possibility that autonomous and competence motives mediate relationships between self-theories and well-being. Participants were adult community members (n = 428) who completed the Life Engagement Test (eudaimonic well-being), the Satisfaction with life Scale (hedonic well-being), the Mental Health Continuum Scale (eudaimonic, subjective, and psychological well-being), the Basic Needs Satisfaction scale (autonomy, competence, relatedness), and a measure of implicit theories of the self (incremental and entity beliefs). Regression analyses found that incremental beliefs were significantly related (positively) to all three measures of well-being, whereas entity beliefs were not significantly related to well-being. Regression analyses also found that incremental beliefs were positively related to satisfaction of autonomy and competence needs but were not related to satisfaction of relatedness needs. Entity beliefs were not related to the satisfaction of any of the three basic needs. A series of mediational analyses found that competence and autonomy motives mediated relationships between incremental beliefs and all three measures of well-being. In all but one case, satisfaction with life, the direct effects of incremental beliefs on well-being were rendered non-significant when satisfaction of autonomy and competence needs were included as mediators. The present results confirm and extend to the general domain the supposition that a mastery orientation is responsible for relationships between well-being and incremental theories of the self. They also conform the importance of the tenants of Self-Determination Theory in understanding self-theories.
关于人们认为人可以改变的程度的研究（增量信念）表明，增量信念与幸福感呈正相关，而实体信念（人不能改变）则不是。这种关系的一种解释是，增量信念与掌握取向有关，而实体信念则没有。如果是这样，那么自主和能力动机应该在增量主义和幸福感之间的关系中起中介作用，因为这些动机反映了掌握的不同方面。本研究检验了自主和能力动机是否在自我理论和幸福感之间的关系中起中介作用的可能性。参与者为成年社区成员（n=428），他们完成了生活参与度测试（幸福的幸福度）、生活满意度量表（享乐主义的幸福度）、心理健康连续体量表（幸福的、主观的和心理的幸福度）、基本需求满足量表（自主性、能力、关联性）和自我理论的内隐测量（增量和实体信念）。回归分析发现，增量信念与所有三种幸福感衡量标准都呈显著正相关（正相关），而实体信念与幸福感没有显著相关。回归分析还发现，增量信念与自主和能力需求的满足呈正相关，但与关联性需求的满足无关。实体信念与三种基本需求的满足均无关。一系列中介分析发现，能力和自主动机在增量信念与所有三种幸福感衡量标准之间的关系中起中介作用。除了一个与生活满意度有关的案例外，当将自主和能力需求的满足作为中介时，增量信念对幸福感的直接影响变得不显著。本研究结果证实并扩展了假设，即掌握取向是幸福感和自我增量理论之间关系的原因，适用于一般领域。它们还证实了自我决定理论在理解自我理论中的重要性。
