Self-Determination Theory In The Philippines

Background of the Study

This chapter describes the importance of the Roman Catholic Church and how the Catholic teachings made an impact in the Filipino lives; thus emphasizing the significance of attending Church masses to hear the word of God. In the Philippines, and in many other nations, religion is considered as not only restricted to one’s spiritual relationship with God, but is also as a way of life. The religious orders were responsible for founding and influencing the economic growth of the Filipino community. Many schools in the country are founded by the Catholics, religious leaders symbolizes what is morally righteous, St. Thomas’ philosophy on what is natural and unnatural that did a great impact on the doctrines of the Catholic

Self-Determination theory states that, when applied to physical activities, in this case—attending Church masses or participating in various religious activities—can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated (Deci, Patrick, Williams, & Ryan, 2009). Many consider performing those activities as enjoyable in its nature for they are able to reflect, contemplate, meditate, and keep a strong bond with God without expecting certain incentives from the Almighty; hence intrinsically motivated. But for some, their innate motivation is too low that they only attend Church mass in order to receive “blessings”, rewards, or avoidance from social scrutiny for not attending altogether; hence extrinsically motivated. But often times people end up preferring to hear the liturgy through radio or television

This behavior is one of the bases of this study. Since the Catholic Church has an alarming number of inactive worship participants in the present, the study aims to design a Church interior that has its own atmosphere that is divine, inspiring, set apart from all other buildings, and is accommodating to its users and motivate them to attend more masses. As stated earlier, the interior intends to improve worship participation among the neighbors by increasing their motivation to attend more masses in a Church building by applying modern apprehensive iconic representations in design—be it through forms of ornaments, materials and finishes, walls, ceiling, flooring, and symbolisms—to increase their knowledge and help them familiarize to the teachings of the Sacred