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Does priming basic psychological needs influence agreement to euthanasia?
Date Issued
2026
Conference
Citation
Lu, X. Y. & Li, W. O. (2026). Does priming basic psychological needs influence agreement to euthanasia?. 2026 Asian Conference on Applied Psychology.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The present study investigates how basic psychological needs factors from Self-Determination
Theory (SDT) may affect Hong Kong young adults’ views on euthanasia. We hypothesise
that priming autonomy, relatedness, and competence potentially influences the levels of
agreement on euthanasia. 86 participants took part in a mixed-design study. Scrambledsentence tasks were used to prime the three basic psychological needs. Agreement to
euthanasia was collected among six scenarios. Half the scenarios present pro-euthanasia
statements, and the other half present against ones. On each side, there are three scenarios
varied in pain severity and curability. The first described an incurable disease with severe
pain, the second an incurable disease with mild pain, and the last a curable disease with mild
pain, which roughly decreases in symptoms severity. A MANCOVA was used to analyse the
data. The agreement of euthanasia is significant different across priming groups in the curable
- mild pain - pro-euthanasia scenario (p = .047), after controlling for gender and age variables.
Post-hoc test found that participants primed with autonomy have a higher agreement on
euthanasia decision, compared to relatedness (p = .043). This difference may be attributed to
priming, which increases awareness of the respective psychological needs. Priming autonomy
may have directed participants’ attention toward patients’ right to make their own choice,
whereas priming relatedness may have directed attention toward the interpersonal bonds
that patients’ deaths would sever. The result provides partial support for how SDT affects
young adults’ attitudes toward euthanasia.
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