R3 — Support agency + competence (2-4 meaningful choices + positive contextual feedback); avoid choice overload and frustration; let the user DO the work

Rule: Design tools to support autonomy + competence: (1) 2-4 meaningful choices for the user (not 12); (2) positive contextual feedback when inputs succeed; (3) let the user act rather than auto-populating everything.

Why: Deci-Ryan SDT (Deci & Ryan (1985, 2000) Self-Determination Theory — intrinsic motivation supported by three needs: autonomy + competence + relatedness). Patall 2008 meta (Patall, Cooper & Robinson (2008), Psychological Bulletin (41 studies meta) — choice enhances intrinsic motivation, effort, performance, perceived competence; moderated (2-4 choices, no extrinsic reward, children > adults)) — choice effect modest and moderated, strongest at 2-4 choices. Sundar-Marathe 2010 (Sundar & Marathe (2010), Human Communication Research — customization (user acts) vs personalization (system acts): the appeal of customization is tied to the user's sense of agency) — customization (user acts) > personalization (system acts) on the agency dimension. Vallerand-Reid 1984 (Vallerand & Reid (1984), Journal of Sport Psychology (N=115/84) — positive feedback INCREASES while negative feedback DECREASES intrinsic motivation; perceived competence MEDIATES) — positive feedback increases intrinsic motivation via perceived competence.

How to apply:

• Limit interactive choices in any single step to 2-4.
• After each input, give a positive micro-confirmation ("got it," ✓ icon).
• Prefer user-supplied inputs over system-inferred defaults when the user can supply them without friction.
• For collectivist-market clients flag the SDT cultural-universality caveat (SDT cultural-universality critique (Hagger et al. 2013) — autonomy's primacy may reflect Western individualism; collectivist participants sometimes show higher intrinsic motivation under authority direction; SDT defenders reply autonomy ≠ independence).