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LIT-1967: We know this much is (meta-analytically) true: A meta-review of meta-analytic findings evaluating self-determination theory.

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Properties5
StatusActive — read in full 2026-11-03 (NOTE-1500), from the authors' accepted manuscript on OSF; the online supplement was not read. Worth reading as the one map of SDT's meta-analytic evidence: where it is strong (CET, OIT, BPNT), thin (COT, GCT) or absent (RMT, need frustration, integrated regulation). It is a narrative synthesis by the theory's co-founder, not an independent audit.
Version2
Tagsmotivation, well-being
Cited as “paper” byNOTE-1500 — Ryan et al. — We know this much is (meta-analytically) true
Cited as “source” byTHEORY-1327 — As Ryan and colleagues' 2022 meta-review maps it, the meta-analytic evidence for self-determination theory is concentrated in cognitive evaluation, organismic integration and basic needs theory, is mostly cross-sectional and heterogeneous, and has gaps: no meta-analysis of relationships motivation theory or of need frustration, one or two of causality orientations and goal contents, and none that separates integrated from identified regulation

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Ryan, R. M., Duineveld, J. J., Di Domenico, S. I., Ryan, W. S., Steward, B. A., Bradshaw, E. L. (2022). We know this much is (meta-analytically) true: A meta-review of meta-analytic findings evaluating self-determination theory.. Psychological Bulletin, 148(11-12), 813-842. doi:10.1037/bul0000385.

Key takeaways

Read in full on 2026-11-03 (NOTE-1500), from the accepted manuscript.

  • 60 meta-analyses, sorted by mini-theory (Table 1) and domain (Table 2); relationships motivation theory has none.
  • The continuum of regulation is supported as an ordering, but integrated regulation is not distinguished from identified (Howard et al. 2017, as reported; LIT-1996 is unread).
  • Need satisfaction correlates with well-being across cultures; the link of need frustration to ill-being “has yet to be meta-analytically investigated” (THEORY-052).
  • Mostly cross-sectional; heterogeneity high and “far from” explained.
  • Written by the theory’s co-founder; several included meta-analyses are the authors’ own. THEORY-1327.

Standing in the record

A meta-review of SDT’s meta-analyses, the broadest test of the theory’s evidence. The record’s SDT readings (LIT-558 to LIT-561) are the theory’s own statements; this is the nearest thing to an audit of them.

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