Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2026

Virtual Agent for Real-Time Motivational Interviewing by Integrating Adaptive Nonverbal Behavior and Language Models
Published on: December 23, 2025
How you provide corrective feedback makes a difference: the motivating role of communicating in an
Athanasios Mouratidis1, Willy Lens, Maarten Vansteenkiste
1Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract:
We relied on self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) to investigate to what extent autonomy-supporting corrective feedback (i.e., feedback that coaches communicate to their athletes after poor performance or mistakes) is associated with athletes' optimal motivation and well-being. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a cross-sectional study with 337 (67.1% males) Greek adolescent athletes (age M = 15.59, SD = 2.37) from various sports. Aligned with SDT, we found through path analysis that an autonomy-supporting versus controlling communication style was positively related to future intentions to persist and well-being and negatively related to ill-being. These relations were partially mediated by the perceived legitimacy of the corrective feedback (i.e., the degree of acceptance of corrective feedback), and, in turn, by intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and external regulation for doing sports. Results indicate that autonomy-supporting feedback can be still motivating even in cases in which such feedback conveys messages of still too low competence.
Related Concept Videos
Sources of Self-Esteem II: Performance Feedback
Communication
Within...
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Negative and Positive Feedback
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Effects of feedback
Feedback significantly modifies the gain of a control system. The gain of a system without feedback is altered by a factor of one plus GH, where G represents...
