Abstract
Do people really have a psychological need to be moral? We present results from an experience sampling study of momentary moral need satisfaction, moral behaviors, and psychological thriving, which also provided an opportunity to test whether the moral need functions differently in people of high vs. low moral character. Results were that moral need satisfaction correlated with psychological thriving cross-sectionally and concurrently in everyday life as much as, and in some cases more than, the other psychological needs recognized as basic in self-determination theory. Further, of all the needs, moral need satisfaction was most tightly linked to moral behavior, demonstrating the specificity of content for the need. Based on these and previous results on the moral need, we present a theoretical analysis of morality as a basic psychological need against the criteria recently outlined by Ryan and Deci (in: Ryan, Deci (eds), Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness, Guilford Publishing, New York, 2017) and by which researchers measure the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In summary, the present research provides empirical evidence to add depth and breadth to the case for morality as an entrant to the list of basic psychological needs.