Basic needs and the development of interest and intrinsic motivational orientations

From the perspective of the “person-object-theory of interest” (POI) the development of interest and interest-related motivational orientations can be explained at the level of functional principles by referring to a dual regulation system that consists of both, cognitive-rational and partly subconscious emotional control mechanisms. Within this regulation system, emotional experiences related to the fulfillment of three basic needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) are presumed to play a crucial role. In the first part of this paper the basic ideas of this theoretical approach are explicated considering related concepts and models in other fields of educational and psychological research. In the second part exemplary research approaches and empirical results in the area of vocational education are presented referring to the question whether or not need-related experiences have an effect on the development of vocation-related interests and intrinsic motivational orientations. In final section some consequences for the direction of future research are discussed.