On the Psychology of Passion: In Search of What Makes People’s Lives Most Worth Living

The purpose of the present paper is to present a new conceptualisation on passion for activities, the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) and an overview of related research. Passion is defined as a strong inclination toward an activity that people like, find important, and in which they invest time and energy. This model further posits the existence of two types of passion each associated with different outcomes and experiences. Harmonious passion originates from an autonomous internalisation of the activity in identity and leads people to choose to engage in the activity that they love. It is expected to mainly lead to more adaptive outcomes. Conversely, obsessive passion originates from a controlled internalisation in identity and leads people to experience an uncontrollable urge to engage in the activity. It is hypothesised to predict less adaptive outcomes. Results of several studies conducted with a variety of participants, activities, and outcomes provide support for the model. The development of passion was also addressed. These studies clearly support the significant role of passion in people’s lives. One of the high points of my year as President of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) has been the opportunity to interact with a great group of fun, competent, and highly committed people toward the cause of Canadian psychology. On numerous occasions, I have seen CPA board members serving on a variety of committees and for long hours. In light of such important involvement in an activity like Canadian psychology, one is left wondering about the psychological factors that enable people to display such a high level of commitment and to remain dedicated and passionate for a specific activity or cause for years, and sometimes a lifetime. We propose that the concept of passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) represents such a psychological factor. Furthermore, as we will see, the type of passion one has for the activity may have different consequences on cognition, affect, behaviour, relationships, and even performance. On the Psychology of Passion A Dualistic Model of Passion When we started our initial research in the late 1990s, very little existed on passion from a psychological standpoint. While passion had generated a lot of attention from philosophers (see Rony, 1990, for a review), it received little empirical attention in psychology. In fact, until recently, the only empirical work in psychology had focused on romantic passion (Hatfield & Walster, 1986). No research had been conducted on passion for an activity. Vallerand and his colleagues (Vallerand et al., 2003; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003; Vallerand & Miquelon, 2007) have recently developed a model of passion that addresses this issue. In line with Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), we propose that people engage in various activities throughout life in the hope of satisfying the basic psychological needs of autonomy (a desire to feel a sense of personal initiative), competence (a desire to interact effectively with the environment), and relatedness (a desire to feel connected to significant others). While we don’t have much choice over engaging or not in some activities such as school and work (we all have to study and work at some point in life), we do over other activities that we engage in especially during leisure time (e.g., sports, chess, music etc.). Eventually, after a period of trial and error, most people will eventually start to show preference for some activities, especially those that are enjoyable and allow the satisfaction of the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Of these activities, a limited few will be perceived as particularly enjoyable and important, and to have some resonance with how we see ourselves. These activities become passionate activities. In line with the above, Vallerand et al. (2003) define passion as a strong inclination toward a self-defining activity that one likes (or even loves), This article is based on the author’s Presidential Address given at the 68th Canadian Psychological Association Annual Convention, in Ottawa, Ontario, June 8, 2007. I thank the numerous colleagues and students who have been involved in the present research program on passion at one point or another. Without their collaboration, such research could not have taken place. This research program was supported by grants from the Fonds Québécois pour la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FQRSC) and the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Robert J. Vallerand, Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Comportement Social, Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, P.O. Box. 8888, Station “Ctr-ville,” Montréal, (Québec), Canada, H3C 3P8. E-mail: [email protected] Canadian Psychology Copyright 2008 by the Canadian Psychological Association 2008, Vol. 49, No. 1, 1–13 0708-5591/08/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0708-5591.49.1.1