Research

 

Richard Ryan is a clinical faculty member whose research focuses on the effects of social contexts on human motivation, personality development, and well-being. His current research interests include: the acquisition and impact of materialism and other extrinsic goals in human development and culture; facilitation versus undermining of intrinsic motivation and self-determination; the determinants of subjective vitality and "energy"; and the sources of within-person variability in attachment, well-being, and life satisfaction. He is also involved in applied motivational research in the domains of health care, education, sport, religion, work, psychotherapy and virtual environments.  For more detail, see the Self-Determination Theory website.

 

Recent Publications

 

• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2008). From ego depletion to vitality: Theory and findings concerning the facilitation of energy available to the self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 702-717.
• Ryan, R. M., Huta, V., & Deci, E. L. (2008). Living well: A self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 139-170.
• Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2008). A self-determination theory approach to psychotherapy: The motivational basis for effective change. Canadian Psychology, 49, 186-193.
• Ryan, R.M., Patrick, H., Deci, E.L. & Williams, G.C. (2008). Facilitating health behavior change and its maintenance: Interventions based on Self-Determination Theory. European Health Psychologist, 10, 1-4.
• Tsai, Y., Kunter, M., Lüdtke, O., Trautwein, U., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). What makes lessons interesting? The role of situational and individual factors in three school subjects. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 460-472.
• Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2009). The path taken: Consequences of attaining intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations in post-college life. Journal of Research in Personality. 43, 291-306.
• Przybylski, A. K., Ryan, R. M., & Rigby, C. S. (2009). The motivating role of violence in video games. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 243-259.
• Roth, G., Assor, A., Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2009). The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: Comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support as parenting practices. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1119-1142.
• Jang, H., Reeve, J., Ryan, R. M., & Kim, A. (2009). Can self-determination theory explain what underlies the productive, satisfying learning experiences of collectivistically-oriented Korean students? Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 644-661.
• Lynch, M. F., La Guardia, J. G., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). On being yourself in different cultures: Ideal and actual self-concept, autonomy support, and well-being in China, Russia, and the United States. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 290-304.
• Ryan, R. M., & Niemiec, C. P. (2009). Self-determination theory in schools of education: Can an empirically supported framework also be critical and liberating? Theory and Research in Education, 7, 263-272.
• Weinstein, N., Przybylski, A. K., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Can nature make us more caring? Effects of immersion in nature on intrinsic aspirations and generosity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1315-1329.
• Weinstein, N., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 222-244.
• Ryan, R. M., Bernstein, J. H., & Brown, K. W. (2010). Weekends, Work, and Wellbeing: Psychological Need Satisfactions and Day of the Week Effects on Mood, Vitality, and Physical Symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 95-122.

   

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Current and Recent Graduate Students

 

• Nikki Legate - human motication and gender and identity roles
• James Masciale - human motivation
• Raquel Bateman Munoz - health and eating disorders
• Andrew Przybylski - human motivation in video games and virtual environments
• Aislinn Sapp - agency, communality and mental health; health care and motivation
• Netta Weinstein - controlled and autonomous helping behavior; psychology of meaning
• Erla Lala Leon - Motivation and Creativity among Artists (Ph.D. 2007)
• Allan Zeldman - Motivation and Health Care  (Ph.D. 2007)

 

Recent Courses Taught

 

• CSP 584 & 585 - Psychotherapy Practicums I & II
• CSP 577 - Research Seminar in Motivation
• CSP 574 - Theories of Personality and Therapy
• CSP 181 - Theories of Personality

 

Grants

 

• National Cancer Institute. “Self-Determination and Maintaining Tobacco Abstinence”
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Conducting the National Site Selection for First Things First”
• Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. “Examining the Effectiveness of Scaling Up the First Things First Reform”
• National Institute of Health, NIDA. “Creating a Virtual Clinician Research Tool”
• United States – Israel Binational Science Foundation.“Autonomy support versus conditional regard as socializing practices: A cross-cultural study”