The Impact of Self-Determination on Pro-Social Tendencies

Abstract

Self-determination is one of the fundamental psychological constructs that determine emotional regulation by satisfying the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This research aims to examine the hypothesis that self-determination plays an important role in increasing regulatory emotional self-efficacy among the young adults. A quasi-experimental Solomon Four-Group design was used on a sample of 240 Pakistani young adults between the age of 19-40 years. A structured intervention was conducted with self-report measures of self-determination and regulatory emotional self-efficacy being administered before and after. Analysis of data was done through SPSS and Smart PLS in multivariate and univariate. The results indicated that regulatory emotional self-efficacy was highly and significantly predicted by self-determination. The level of pretest sensitization and demographic variables did not have a significant impact on the results. The findings prove the Self-Determination Theory because they emphasize the importance of intrinsic motivation in emotional regulation. The end result of the study is that increased confidence in dealing with emotional experiences is correlated with increased self-determination.