Obligations, internalization, and excuse making: integrating the triangle model and self-determination theory

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Personality Psychology

Background:

• Schlenker's triangle model outlines three common excuses for avoiding responsibility: lack of control, unclear obligation, and non-obligation.
• Self-determination theory's concept of motivational internalization offers a framework for understanding responsibility and excuse-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the association between excuse-making and responsibility-taking.
• To examine the influence of motivational internalization on responsibility-taking and excuse-making.
• To investigate the predictive relationship between perceived internalized motivation and responsibility-taking.

Main Methods:

• Three retrospective studies were conducted.
• Data were analyzed to assess correlations between excuse-making, responsibility-taking, and motivational internalization.
• Predictive analyses examined the role of perceived internalized motivation.

Main Results:

• Responsibility-taking and motivational internalization were linked to adaptive outcomes like future commitment and positive expectancy.
• Excuse-making did not correlate with these positive outcomes.
• Perceiving that the person levying the obligation had internalized motivation predicted responsibility-taking across all studies.

Conclusions:

• Responsibility-taking and motivational internalization are associated with adaptive functioning, whereas excuse-making is not.
• Internalized motivation, particularly when perceived in others, plays a significant role in fostering responsibility-taking.
• Findings have implications for understanding maturity, personality development, and the triangle model of excuses.