Self-Determination Theory in HCI: Shaping a Research Agenda

Abstract

Self-determination theory (SDT) has become one of the most frequently used and well-validated theories used in HCI research, modelling the relation of basic psychological needs, intrinsic motivation, positive experience and wellbeing. This makes it a prime candidate for a 'motor theme' driving more integrated, systematic, theory-guided research. However, its use in HCI has remained superficial and disjointed across various application domains like games, health and wellbeing, or learning. This workshop therefore convenes researchers across HCI to co-create a research agenda on how SDT-informed HCI research can maximise its progress in the coming years. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models.

Self-Determination Theory in HCI Games Research: Current Uses and Open Questions

“…Self-determination theory (SDT) figures prominently in Human-Computer Interaction [30], and HCI games research in particular [559]. Examining its applications helps shed light on the ways theory is -and could be -used in HCI.…”

“…Consequently, SDT has been applied to a wide range of domains and interventions, such as education [169], health [387,538], parenting [216], sports [509], and the workplace [199]. Likewise, SDT has risen to prominence in HCI and adjacent fields [30], with applications in user experience [72,232,407,621], information systems [250,270,438], behaviour change technology [197,593], human-AI interaction [83,614], as well as HCI games [523,559] and gamification research [319,507]. For these reasons, SDT has also been proposed as a potential 'motor theme' [314] that could drive more cumulative and integrative research across seemingly disparate strands of HCI scholarship [30].…”

Motivational Application for Running: a Participatory Design Approach and the Analysis of Users’ Needs

“…Dans le contexte actuel de recherche, l'importance croissante de la recherche participative et de l'effort visant à combler l'écart entre les concepts et les théories de la psychologie et la recherche en IHM se révèle primordiale. Un exemple pertinent de cette démarche est l'initiative de Ballou et de ses collaborateurs qui ont proposé un atelier hybride pour générer un programme de recherche pour l'utilisation du TAD dans l'IHM, visant à passer d'applications disjointes dans des domaines distincts à des recherches collectives plus systématiques [7].…”

Advancing Self-Determination Theory With Computational Intrinsic Motivation: The Case of Competence

“…From productivity software to e-learning, digital wellbeing, or digital entertainment: practically every traditional application domain of SDT is permeated by computing technology. And since motivation and engagement are universal "human factors" that technologists try to support, designing computing technology has become a cross-cutting concern for applying SDT (Ballou et al, 2022;Calvo & Peters, 2014;Peters & Calvo, 2023).…”