Self-Determination: Relatedness

Self-determination is a psychological framework for human success and happiness. Today we’ll explore the third of three basic psychological needs required for self-determination and intrinsic motivation.

Relatedness

The will to interact with, be connected to, and experience caring for others.

via Wikipedia

Is there anyplace more focused on relatedness than a choir? I can think of other experiences where we can experience relatedness: certainly a sports team can manufacture relatedness, and deeply; however, I personally feel that the looming competition and win/loss outcome makes the relatedness feel less than genuine. Caring for others must come from a genuine place, irrespective of how we perform in any given situation.

Recognizing the value of relatedness, more and more classrooms at the secondary level seek to develop relatedness. Witness the team building in math classes, English classes. Witness the group projects that are as much about building relatedness as they are about developing new skills or knowledge. But these pursuits of relatedness always feel slightly contrived to me: there is no underlying reason for the relatedness in a history class, so the work can feel disingenuous and can actually alienate students who have a real psychological need for true relatedness.

In choir we build it. A choir can’t function without relatedness, and the actual physical effort of singing together builds relatedness from the ground up. Witness the research showing that choirs’ heartbeats sync up as they sing together: what is that, if not relatedness at a cellular level.

Moreover, the performances a choir give are, at a deep and meaningful level, about building relatedness with the listeners. The journey we strive to take audiences on in performance is a journey of developing deeper relatedness.

In short, choir singing fulfills this fundamental psychological need in a powerful way, provided we prioritize it and recognize its value.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the whole package and what it looks like when we’ve helped students achieve self-determination through choir.