Determination is a positive emotional feeling that promotes persevering towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles. Determination occurs prior to goal attainment and serves to motivate behavior that will help achieve one's goal.
Empirical research suggests that people consider determination to be an emotion; in other words, determination is not just a cognitive state, but an affective state. In the psychology literature, researchers study determination under other terms, including challenge and anticipatory enthusiasm; this may explain one reason for the relative lack of research on determination compared to other positive emotions.
In the field of psychology, emotion research focuses on negative emotions and the behaviors they prompt. However, positive psychology delves into determination as a positive emotion driving people toward action, leading to significant results like persistence and success.
Etymology
The word determination comes from the Latin word , meaning "limit" or "determination, end result". It is derived from the verb , meaning "confine; designate," with the abstract noun suffix -. The meaning shifted from "end result, decision" to its present meaning.
Major theories
Self-determination theory
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation and dedication towards an ambition. It focuses on the interplay between personalities and experiences in social contexts that results in motivations of both autonomous and controlled types. An example of autonomous motivation would be doing something because of intrinsic motivation, or because there is an internal desire to accomplish something. An example of controlled motivation would be doing something because there is outside pressure to accomplish a goal.
Social environments seem to have a profound effect on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and self-regulation. Self-determination theory proposes that social and cultural factors influence a person's sense of volition and initiative in regards to goals, performance, and well-being. High levels of determination and volition are supported by conditions that foster autonomy (e.g., a person has multiple options), competence (e.g., positive feedback) and relatedness (e.g., stable connection to the group a person is working within).
Bio-psychosocial model
Emotions researchers search for physiological patterns associated with particular positive emotions. However, the blending of emotions makes drawing such distinctions difficult. In relation to challenge and determination, psychologists focus on physiological activation in relation to the individual's intended actions (what he/she is determined to do) rather than how the individual subjectively feels.
Researchers associate effort (action tendency) with challenge and determination. So a challenged/determined individual should experience physiological arousal that reflects effort. By focusing on the sympathetic nervous system, researchers can measure systolic blood pressure (SBP) as a proxy for increased effort. People who are introduced to a challenging task experience an increase in SBP when they become determined to complete that task. This is coupled with lowered total peripheral resistance (while the heart is pumping faster, the vasculature is relaxed). This demonstrates an important difference between the physiological reaction of a person motivated by challenge and one motivated by threat or fear.
There seems to be a specific physiological pattern associated with determination. The identification of this pattern is valuable as it can be used in research aimed at eliciting and studying the antecedents and consequences of this common positive emotion.
Appraisal theory
Appraisal theory posits that determination is evoked by three cognitive motivation-appraisal components—evaluations of how the environment and situational circumstances interact with aspects of the individual to create meaning and influence emotional experience:
motivational relevancewhether a situation is relevant to a person's commitments and goals motivational incongruencewhether a situation is incongruent with a person's commitments and goals high problem-focused coping potentialwhether a situation is one that a person can deal with by using active coping strategies such as planning and problem-solving These appraisal components combine to evoke experiences of determination that then motivate one to persevere and strive towards mastery. Appraisal theory proposes that determination is associated with effortful optimism, referring to the belief that a situation can be improved upon with enough effort from the person.