A Brief Need-Supportive Manipulation and Subsequent Task Performance: A Randomized Experiment

Within self-determination theory, basic psychological need theory proposes that social environments supporting autonomy, competence, and relatedness foster autonomous motivation, engagement, well-being, and effective functioning. Yet experimental evidence that a brief need-supportive context affects subsequent behavioral performance remains limited. In a randomized experiment, psychology undergraduates (N = 121) completed two trials of a timed word-generation task used as a behavioral performance proxy. Between trials, they received an experimenter-delivered multicomponent scripted manipulation intended to support or thwart these needs or a neutral interaction, followed by a stress induction manipulation. In an analysis of covariance with HC3 standard errors, condition predicted Trial 2 performance after adjustment for Trial 1. Participants assigned to the need-supportive condition scored higher than those in the neutral control. The thwarting-control estimate was small and imprecise. A brief need-supportive context may therefore carry over to performance on a subsequent task, conditional on initial performance. Because the manipulation also varied feedback, expectancy, warmth, and contact, the finding is preliminary and does not isolate need support as the operative mechanism.