PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS AND THE FACILITATION OF INTEGRATIVE PROCESSES

The assumption that there are innate integrative or actualizing tenden cies underlying personality and social development is reexamined. Rath er than viewing such processes as either nonexistent or as automatic, I argue that they are dynamic and dependent upon social-contextual sup ports pertaining to basic human psychological needs. To develop this v iewpoint, I conceptually link the notion of integrative tendencies to specific developmental processes, namely intrinsic motivation; interna lization; and emotional integration. These processes are then shown to be facilitated by conditions that fulfill psychological needs for aut onomy, competence, and relatedness, and forestalled within contexts th at frustrate these needs. Interactions between psychological needs and contextual supports account, in part, for the domain and situational specificity of motivation, experience, and relative integration. The m eaning of psychological needs (vs. wants) is directly considered, as a re the relations between concepts of integration and autonomy and thos e of independence, individualism, efficacy, and cognitive models of '' multiple selves.''