Bio

Johnmarshall Reeve is a Professor in the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University (since February 2019). Before ACU, Reeve was a professor in both South Korea (Korea University) and the United States (University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). He received his PhD from Texas Christian University (1986) and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Rochester (1990-1992).

Professor Reeve's research interests center on the empirical study of all aspects of human motivation and emotion with emphases on teachers' motivating styles, students' engagement, self-determination theory based anti-bullying programs, and the neuroscience of intrinsic motivation. In his work on autonomy-supportive teaching, he has visited 14 countries to deliver a teacher-focused workshop to help teachers develop a more autonomy-supportive motivating style. For this work, he received (a) the Thomas N. Urban Research Award for the enhancement of educational practice from the FINE Foundation (2005), (b) the Research Excellence Award from Korea University (2016, 2017), and (c) the Excellence in Research Award from the NASPSPA (2017, 2024).

He has published 94 articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Educational Psychology, authored 33 book chapters and 4 books, including Supporting students' motivation and Understanding Motivation and Emotion (8e). Prof. Reeve served as past Editor-in-Chief of the journal Motivation and Emotion, and he currently serves on the editorial boards of five journals.

Abstract

Self-as-Agent: The World Is What We Make of It

For 100+ years, the self has been understood and studied in two ways-the self as object (e.g., self-concept) and the self as action (e.g., agentic self). This talk focuses on the latter-on the self-as-agent, and it uses a self-determination theory framework to do so. The goal of the talk is to identify the multiple ways the self-as-agent creates a motivationally supportive environment for itself (i.e., "The world is what we make it."). The agentic self is fueled by psychological need satisfaction, and it uses this energy to create need-supportive environmental surroundings that can catalyze personal growth. To explain what people psychologically "need", I overview the neuroscience of psychological need satisfaction. Focusing on the neural activation of this psychological need state, I explain the three behavioral ways the agentic self generates psychological need satisfaction for itself: Receive autonomy support; recruit autonomy support; and give autonomy support. Through these ways of interacting with one's surrounding environment, the agentic self creates the conditions to be self-determining and to contribute to a more supportive society. The take-home message is this: The self-as-action needs a garden to grow in (autonomy support), but it also needs to create that garden for itself.