Doing Well vs. Doing Better: Preliminary Evidence for the Differentiation of the “Static” and “Incremental” Aspects of the Need for Competence

According to self-determination theory, competence is a basic psychological need that contributes to optimal human functioning and happiness. Classic theories of competence suggest that essential to the conceptualization of competence is the perception of not only “doing well” but also “doing better”, that is, experiencing a sense of stretching one’s limits, gaining new skills and abilities, and improving one’s effectance while interacting with the environment. However, the “doing better” aspect has largely been neglected or undifferentiated from the “doing well” aspect. The goal of the current research is to demonstrate that the “doing better” aspect can be differentiated from the “doing well” aspect. Two sub-studies using American and Chinese samples show preliminary support for the psychometric differentiation (using multidimensional scaling) between these two aspects, and both studies provide consistent support for differential predictive effects of the two aspects on motivation, well-being and growth outcomes. Unexpected findings such as the unique effect of frustrated incremental competence on amotivation are also reported.