Keynote by Prof. Dr. Geneviève A. Mageau, Université de Montréal, Canada The promotion of volitional functioning in persistent rule-breaking contexts
SDT posits that people have a natural tendency to internalize the values and regulations of their social groups such that even socially prescribed behaviors may be enacted with a sense of agency and ownership. Autonomy support refers to observable behaviors that support this internalization process, thereby promoting volitional functioning. Yet, exactly what these behaviors may be in different domains of socialization remains unclear, as the operationalization of autonomy support has greatly varied across studies. In addition, autonomy-supportive behaviors have mostly been studied in situations of guided learning or limit setting, thereby limiting authority figures’ capacity to remain autonomy-supportive in rule-breaking contexts. This research examines a new authority exertion strategy that could potentially make rule-enforcement more autonomy supportive.
In rule-breaking contexts, classic autonomy-supportive behaviors such as rationales can be less effective to elicit compliance than mild punishments (unpleasant non-coercive behavioral constraints; MP). Yet, MP are also associated with negative outcomes shown to hinder internalization (e.g., anxiety, fear). Past theoretical writings (Farkas & Grolnick, 2010; Ginot, 1965) propose that logical consequences (LC), defined as behavioral constraints that directly address transgression-induced problems, should be more effective than MP in promoting internalization. We tested this proposition and compared the effects of LC and MP on youth’s cognitions, emotions and autonomy. Using experimental vignette methodologies, we found that children (M age = 10.42) and adolescents (M age = 15.28) believe LC to be as effective as MP to prevent future transgressions but they rated LC as more acceptable than MP. Children also felt that LC would make them less angry and more empathic following rule-enforcement. Finally, we found that the problem-constraint link predicts adolescents’ autonomy and positive appraisals of parental authority in real-life settings. Together, these results suggest that LC could help foster internalization and volitional functioning in rule-breaking contexts.
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