DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A BRIEF MEASURE OF THE 3 PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS UNDERLYING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION - THE AFS SCALES

According to self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation arises fr om three psychological needs: self-determination, competence, and rela tedness. In the present article, the authors describe the development of a brief, reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer measure of each of these psychological needs. (A fourth scale to measure tension is incl uded.) Normative data, coefficient alphas, and evidence for factorial and external validity for each of the Activity-Feeling States (AFS) sc ales are provided. Further, predictive utility for the AFS scales is d emonstrated by showing that each scale predicts both self-report and b ehavioral measures of intrinsic motivation.