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2 references
This editorial introduces a Frontiers research topic on emotional regulation and human flourishing, arguing for dialogue among psychological, philosophical, educational, and ethical perspectives.
Rather than treating emotions simply as disruptions to reason or defining regulation only as feeling better, the contributors ask how emotional responses can be understood and shaped in relation to meaningful goals, motives, values, action, virtue, and conceptions of a good life. It surveys the collection’s work on affectivity beyond narrow emotion categories, comparisons of contemporary regulation models with classical thought, self-determination and eudaimonic functioning, Magda Arnold’s idea of the self-ideal, mindful parenting, culture, and educational implications. A recurring distinction is between hedonic aims, such as pleasure or immediate relief, and flourishing understood as growth, meaning, relationships, agency, and living well. The article is an editorial synthesis, not an empirical test or intervention review, so its claims organise questions and perspectives rather than establish causal effects.
For educators, it suggests that emotional learning should include appraisal, reflection, motivation, values, and constructive action, while remaining sensitive to culture and avoiding reduction of well-being to emotional control.
Vansteenkiste, Ryan, and Soenens review Basic Psychological Need Theory, a component of self-determination theory, and clarify claims about autonomy, competence, and relatedness. A basic need is an essential psychological nutrient: its satisfaction supports growth, integration, and well-being, whereas its frustration predicts ill-being and maladjustment.
Autonomy concerns volition and self-endorsement, not independence; competence concerns effectiveness and mastery; relatedness concerns mutual care and belonging. Need satisfaction and need frustration are related but not simple opposites, and actively controlling, rejecting, or chaotic environments can frustrate needs rather than merely fail to satisfy them. The authors examine universality across cultures, development, personality, and contexts; relations among needs; candidate additional needs; measurement; and dynamic interactions between people and environments. People may value, desire, or consciously notice needs differently, but these variations do not make the underlying benefits optional.
For education, autonomy support, optimal structure and challenge, informative feedback, and warm involvement can work together. Choice alone is insufficient, and practices that pressure, shame, exclude, or create helplessness may undermine motivation and wellness even when short-term compliance increases.
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