Conceptual
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Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness

Names the three basic psychological needs that Self-Determination Theory claims must be met for intrinsic motivation and wellbeing to flourish: feeling in control of one's own actions, feeling effective at what one does, and feeling connected to other people. A task or environment that starves any one of the three tends to shift motivation from intrinsic to merely compliant. Used to diagnose why an otherwise well-resourced project can still feel demotivating to work on.