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The humble path to progress: Goal-specific aspirational content predicts goal progress and goal vitality
Abstract
While previous research has demonstrated that striving for personal goals connected to intrinsic aspirations benefits psychological well-being, the relation between aspirational content and goal progress has remained unexamined. Using a multilevel modeling (MLM) approach in two longitudinal studies, we examined the relationship between life aspirations at the level of the person and the level of the goal, differentiating the ability of aspirations at both levels to predict later goal progress. We found that students made significantly more progress on (and were more likely to attain) their goals that were more intrinsic in aspirational content. These effects were goal-specific rather than person-driven. Study 2 replicated the findings of study 1 and also revealed an interaction between intrinsic aspirational content and progress in predicting goal-related affect. Specifically, we found that making progress on a goal that was more intrinsic in content led to greater feelings of vitality for that goal, while making progress on a less intrinsic goal did not. These findings highlight the benefits of setting goals connected to intrinsic aspirations (even for generally extrinsically-oriented individuals) and the value of shifting towards MLM approaches for research on goal pursuit.
... Research has also shown that more intrinsic goal content is associated with better outcomes at the level of goal regulation: Intrinsic goals tend to be pursued with more autonomous, less controlled motivation regulation, more enjoyment, and more experiences of need satisfaction, all of which contribute to better performance and more persistence (e.g. Gunnell et al. 2014;Hope et al. 2016;Sebire et al. 2009;Vansteenkiste et al. 2004; although see; Carver and Baird 1998). In sum, previous research has shown that intrinsic goals relative to extrinsic goals lead to more positive outcomes, with need satisfaction as a key mediator (Ryan and Deci 2017). ...
... Multilevel analyses will be important in future research on this topic, to disentangle between-person effects from situation-and goal-level processes (cf. Hope et al. 2016). Additionally, we collected an age-diverse sample of sufficient size to detect smallto-medium effects. ...
... e.g. Gunnell et al. 2014;Hope et al. 2016). ...
Intrinsic goals fulfill fundamental psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. They tend to be self-determined, effectively pursued, and contribute to well-being. But even need-satisfying goals are pursued in the context of finite resources: How do we prioritize amongst multiple need-satisfying goals? Integrating self-determination theory with other needs theories, we proposed a baseline model whereby goals that are predominately relevant to relatedness would be prioritized over those predominately relevant to competence or autonomy. 202 participants completed a web survey about personal goals, including a goal sacrifice measure capturing within-person prioritization. Relatedness-predominant goals were prioritized over competence- and autonomy-predominant goals; this pattern was not accounted for by between-need differences in commitment and motivation regulation. People need autonomy, competence, and relatedness for optimal functioning, but in the face of limited resources they may prioritize goals that are predominately relevant to relatedness.
... Goals aimed at attaining intrinsic aspirations also tend to result in greater goal progress, as was found in two three-month longitudinal studies that assessed individuals' general life aspirations, the aspirational content of their goals, as well as goal progress over time (Hope et al., 2016). Goals that were tied to intrinsic values such as personal growth, close relationships, and community contribution were more likely to be achieved than goals tied to fame, wealth, and physical image. ...
... In other words, even people who generally valued wealth and fame made more progress on (and experienced greater vitality for) goals that connected with intrinsic aspirations. Thus, selecting goals that connect with intrinsic values is beneficial because these goals tend to be highly need-satisfying and autonomous, leading to wellbeing and goal progress over time (Hope et al., 2016. ...
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a broad theory of psychological growth and wellness that has revolutionized how we think about human motivation and the driving forces behind personality development. SDT focuses on people’s basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and how social environments that support these needs foster more volition, vitality, and full functioning. SDT has supplied the basis for new and more effective practices in parenting, education, business, sport, healthcare, and other areas of life, fostering higher-quality motivation, engagement, and satisfaction. Drawing on over four decades of evidence-based research and application, The Oxford Handbook of Self-Determination Theory delivers a truly integrative volume by the top researchers and experts within the field of SDT. Edited by SDT co-founder Richard M. Ryan, this Handbook not only provides the theory’s historical and scientific underpinnings but also draws together the latest research and insights, covering topics from the social and biological underpinnings of motivation and wellness to practical applications in all aspects of life. This volume will be an invaluable resource for both researchers and practitioners, as well as any student of human nature, with practical research and guidance.
... Goals aimed at attaining intrinsic aspirations also tend to result in greater goal progress, as was found in two three-month longitudinal studies that assessed individuals' general life aspirations, the aspirational content of their goals, as well as goal progress over time (Hope et al., 2016). Goals that were tied to intrinsic values such as personal growth, close relationships, and community contribution were more likely to be achieved than goals tied to fame, wealth, and physical image. ...
... In other words, even people who generally valued wealth and fame made more progress on (and experienced greater vitality for) goals that connected with intrinsic aspirations. Thus, selecting goals that connect with intrinsic values is beneficial because these goals tend to be highly need-satisfying and autonomous, leading to wellbeing and goal progress over time (Hope et al., 2016. ...
Personal goals are ubiquitous—our lives are filled with goals that we have recently set, goals we are steadily progressing toward, or goals that we are in the painful process of relinquishing. This article provides a Self-Determination Theory perspective on personal goals from goal setting, to goal pursuit, to goal disengagement. The authors review and synthesize the personal goal literature, discussing how the content and regulation of personal goals relates to goal attainment and well-being outcomes. The authors also examine the role of close others in goal pursuit, highlighting how personal goals are often interpersonal too. Finally, the authors examine what happens with goals when the going gets tough and discuss how motivation relates to later phases of the goal’s lifecycle such as goal disengagement. The central argument of this article is that issues of autonomy versus control are important at all points in the lifecycle of a goal.
... The meaning of goal content seems to have received less attention in research than goal category and goal source. However, goal content does matter, as students seem to make significantly more progress on goals that are intrinsic in their aspirational content (Hope et al. 2015). Personal, intrinsic goals seem to function as natural reinforcers, and are associated with greater positive affect (Hope et al. 2015). ...
... However, goal content does matter, as students seem to make significantly more progress on goals that are intrinsic in their aspirational content (Hope et al. 2015). Personal, intrinsic goals seem to function as natural reinforcers, and are associated with greater positive affect (Hope et al. 2015). Fryer, Ginns, and Walker (2014) also found evidence that externally regulated goals, such as school grades, seem to have low impact on motivation and learning, whereas internally regulated goals may have a positive effect on student motivation. ...
Being able to set personal high-quality goals and having the skills to make plans for goal attainment are associated with higher performance, increased student involvement at school, and higher levels of self-determination. This study examines self-reported goals of 83 Norwegian elementary and lower secondary school students with and without intellectual disabilities. The study also looks into whether students feel that they learn goal setting and planning skills at school. Findings suggest that students are able to identify process and product goals for themselves. Most students set academic goals for themselves, followed by career goals and sports-related leisure time goals. No significant differences were found between typically developing students and students with intellectual disabilities. While roughly two-thirds of all students reported that they feel encouraged to set goals for themselves at school, almost 60% of all students expressed that they did not learn planning skills at school. This finding indicates the need to assist teachers with instructional materials for how to teach students these important skills for self-determination.
... Ryan and Frederick (1997) showed that when the actions are motivated autonomously, the mental vitality of the person is higher than when the actions of the person are controlled; Because a person has his energy and manages it. According to the study of Hope et al., (2016), people also experience happiness when pursuing a goal; In this way, pursuing goals that are connected to inner ideals will lead to feeling more cheerful. According to the cognitive point of view, mental processes are improved through educational interventions and based on this understanding, planning can be done to improve these processes in students. ...
Objective: This research was conducted with the primary objective of examining the efficacy of a training program focused on enhancing executive function skills on the Mental Vitality of students. Methods: To achieve this aim, a quasi-experimental research design was employed, implementing a pretest-posttest approach with the inclusion of a control group. The target population for this study consisted of all male fifth-grade students in Shahreza, Iran, during the academic year 2020-2021. Utilizing the available sampling method, a total of 40 students, including a primary school boy, were randomly chosen to participate in the study. These participants were then divided into two groups of equal size, each comprising 20 individuals, with one group designated as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The experimental group underwent a series of 10 training sessions focused on improving executive functions, while the control group did not partake in any intervention activities. Data collection procedures involved administering Ryan and Frederick's (1997) Mental Vitality scale to all participants in both groups during the pre-test and post-test phases. Subsequently, the collected data underwent analysis utilizing the ANCOVA statistical method.
... Psychological needs linked with intrinsic motivation are shaped by the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Gilal et al., 2019). Human seek activities that satisfy their psychological needs and contribute to self-enhancement as they believe that these can affect their life satisfaction and psychological well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000;Hope et al., 2016;Kasser & Ryan, 2001). In relation to the issue of employee's involvement in electronic record management, employees need to have a strong sense of self-autonomous which is associated with the ability to control own self and self-voluntary with respect to some behaviour or experience; relatedness needs reflect the need to feel connected and affiliated with others in a meaningful manner; while competence needs signify self-mastery and being 'effective' with behaviour or goal (Deci & Ryan, 2014). ...
... The eleven questions were translated into Greek and adapted to the study sample (Fountoulakis et al., 2006). In order to have participants record their current goal contents, they were asked simply to state how important they considered each of the listed life goals to be at the particular time when they were filling in the questionnaire (Grouzet et al., 2005;Hope et al., 2016). ...
Setting and recommending instructional goals represents an important communication process in educational and health domains, which are intersected in many cases. However, little is known about the antecedents of instructional goals. The aim of the present study was to examine how the contents of participants' personal goals in life (i.e. goal contents) and state empathy during message processing affected the processes of prioritizing instructional goals in the case of an adolescent who presented physical disability and impaired cognitive functioning, as presented in a video vignette. Health and care practitioners who were members of the educational system, in-service teachers and university students of disciplines related to health, rehabilitation or education, participated in a cross-sectional study. The findings showed that the participants proposed instructional goals according to their current goal contents and state empathy. In particular, state empathy demonstrated both main effects and mediations in influencing intrinsic instructional goals. However, state empathy, in fact its associative component, influenced an extrinsic goal domain as well. Interpretations of this phenomenon are presented, and the limitations of some tools are demonstrated. In addition, suggestions are put forward regarding implications and future research for a proximal causation of the instructional goals.
... To conclude, unlike intrinsic goal that is concerned with personal growth and internal values, extrinsic goals pursuit is unable to help consumers satisfy their basic psychological needs as their behaviour is controlled by external rewards and forces. Nonetheless, to some extent, extrinsic goal can be internalised and integrated, thus enabling consumers to satisfy their psychological needs via extrinsic goal pursuits Hope et al., 2016;Lee & Pounders, 2019b;Vansteenkiste et al., 2010). Internalisation refers to the process of taking in regulation or value, while integration indicates the process in which people adopt the regulation as their own to emanate from their sense of self (Abdulrazak & Quoquab, 2018;. ...
... 723 goal dimensions were found only once, for example "burden" (measured with "How tiresome or burdensome is this goal?"; Litmanen et al., 2010) or "vitality" (measured with "This goal makes me feel alive and vital"; Hope et al., 2016). We do not include such rarely measured goal dimensions but restricted our analysis to commonly studied goal dimensions, that is, dimensions which were reported at least 10 times and for which we found at least 10 items. ...
Goals represent a central construct in the analysis of human motivation. How people appraise their own goals on various quantitative dimensions, like commitment or difficulty, predicts important outcomes like goal attainment and psychological well-being. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be little agreement in the literature on how to best measure goal dimensions. To get an overview of current measurement practices, we conducted a systematic literature review that yielded 693 publications including 1,166 different terms for goal dimensions and 3,244 reported items. Up to 79 different items were found to indicate single goal dimensions and 80% of scales consisted of one item, which mostly asked for the term of the goal dimension name. We further extracted 358 different item facets, that is, different meaning-bearing terms (e.g., “engrossed” or “deeply involved”). Of these item facets, 28% were found only once in individual items, and 52% were used to measure more than one goal dimension. We found that for 42% of items, sources were not reported, or items were created ad hoc. Hence, we recommend being cautious of jingle fallacies when comparing similar goal dimensions across publications and being cautious of jangle fallacies when comparing different goal dimensions. We advocate considering construct validity and content validity more thoroughly in the development of goal dimension items and enhancing transparency in reporting of study items. Furthermore, we advocate factor analysis methodology to narrow down the abundance of goal dimension terms and developing parsimonious and comprehensive theories of goal dimensions.
... Many studies concerned with youth have focused on their fears, worries and anxieties (Bishop & Willis, 2014), instead of positive functioning. Yet, hope (Snyder, 2002), meaning (Steger, 2012) and goals (Emmons, 2003a;Hope et al., 2016;Zhang & Zhang, 2017) are central to all people across the lifespan and multiple life domains, and especially among young people. It is through hope that people often pull through obstacles in life . ...
Harmony is recognized as fundamental to being and functioning well in philosophical traditions and empirical research globally and in Africa. The aim of this study was to explore and describe harmony as a quality of happiness in South Africa (N = 585) and Ghana (N = 420). Using a qualitative descriptive research design, participants’ responses to an open-ended question from the Eudaimonic-Hedonic Happiness Investigation (EHHI, Delle Fave et al., Soc Indic Res 100:185–207, 2011) on what happiness meant to them were coded according to the formalized EHHI coding manual. Responses that were assigned any of the following codes were considered: codes from the “harmony/balance” category in the “psychological definitions” life domain; and codes from any other life domain containing the words “harmony”, “balance”, or “peace”. This resulted in 222 verbatim responses from South Africa and 80 from Ghana that were analyzed using content analysis to get a sense of the experiential texture of harmony as a quality of happiness. Findings showed that happiness was often expressed as harmony and balance within and between intrapersonal, interpersonal, transcendental, and universal levels of functioning, with wholeness, interconnectedness, and synergy implied. These findings, resonating with philosophical reflections on harmony from Africa and elsewhere, suggest that harmony as a quality of happiness is essentially holistic and contextually embedded and that context-sensitive interdisciplinary approaches to theory building and intervention development pertaining to harmony are needed locally and globally.
... Many studies concerned with youth have focused on their fears, worries and anxieties (Bishop & Willis, 2014), instead of positive functioning. Yet, hope (Snyder, 2002), meaning (Steger, 2012) and goals (Emmons, 2003a;Hope et al., 2016;Zhang & Zhang, 2017) are central to all people across the lifespan and multiple life domains, and especially among young people. It is through hope that people often pull through obstacles in life . ...
Positive mental health, and the validity of its assessment instruments, are largely unexplored in the Ghanaian context. This study examined the factor structure of the Twi version of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form and explored the prevalence of positive mental health in a sample of rural Ghanaian adults (N = 444). A bifactor exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) model fit the data better than competing models (confirmatory factor analysis [CFA], bifactor CFA, and ESEM models). We found a high omega reliability coefficient for the general positive mental health factor (ω = .97) and marginal reliability scores for the emotional (ω = .51) and social well-being (ω = .57) subscales, but a low reliability score for the psychological well-being subscale (ω = .41). Findings support the existence of a general mental health factor, and confirm the underlying three-dimensional structure of mental health, but suggest that caution should be applied when interpreting subscale scores, especially for the psychological well-being subscale. Based on Keyes’s criteria for the categorical diagnosis of the presence of positive mental health, 25.5% of the sample were flourishing, with 74.5% functioning at suboptimal levels (31.1% languishing, 41.4% with moderate mental health) and may benefit from contextually relevant positive psychological interventions, which may also buffer against psychopathology.
... Many studies concerned with youth have focused on their fears, worries and anxieties (Bishop & Willis, 2014), instead of positive functioning. Yet, hope (Snyder, 2002), meaning (Steger, 2012) and goals (Emmons, 2003a;Hope et al., 2016;Zhang & Zhang, 2017) are central to all people across the lifespan and multiple life domains, and especially among young people. It is through hope that people often pull through obstacles in life . ...
Psychology is concerned with human behaviour, therefore all psychologies are contextually-embedded and culturally informed. A movement towards globalising psychology would invariably diminish the localised socio-cultural situatedness of psychology, and instead seek to advance a dominant Euro-American centred psychology even in regions where such applications do not fit. The emergence of strong voices, and theoretically grounded and empirically supported positions from the global South in general and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, in studies of well-being allows for the opportunity to explore and describe an Africa(n) centred positive psychology. Acknowledging the limitations of cross-cultural psychological approaches, which have encouraged the uncritical transportation of Euro-American centred concepts and values, in this chapter we utilise assumptions from critical, cultural and African psychology to present our initial thoughts about a culturally embedded, socially relevant and responsive, and context respecting Africa(n) centred positive psychology. This challenge warrants consideration of early contributions to the study of well-being, its current data-driven positivist tendency, as well as African worldviews grounded in interdependence, collectivism, relatedness, harmony with nature, and spirituality. For an Africa(n) centred positive psychology, it is also essential to consider questions of epistemology, ways of knowing about the world and the human condition, context respecting knowledge, and theory building. Drawing on current scholarly evidence in sub-Saharan Africa, which emphasises relationality and societal values and norms shaping experiences of well-being, we propose future directions and discuss implications for empirical research and theory building within positive psychology which seeks to centre Africa and African experiences.
... Many studies concerned with youth have focused on their fears, worries and anxieties (Bishop & Willis, 2014), instead of positive functioning. Yet, hope (Snyder, 2002), meaning (Steger, 2012) and goals (Emmons, 2003a;Hope et al., 2016;Zhang & Zhang, 2017) are central to all people across the lifespan and multiple life domains, and especially among young people. It is through hope that people often pull through obstacles in life . ...
Child marriage has been identified as a violation of human rights and an obstacle to promoting the development goals concerning gender, health and education. All these impacts undermine the development of the girl child. Despite the potential for negative outcomes, the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic resources can buffer the adverse effects (e.g., psychological, physical and economic impact) of early marriage. This study employed a qualitative exploratory, descriptive design to explore and describe protective resources utilised by married girls in the Northern region of Ghana to cope with the challenges in their marriage and to promote positive outcomes. Using semi-structured interviews, data was collected from 21 married girls who were aged between 12 and 19 years. Findings, from a thematic analysis of data, showed that intrinsic resources that promoted positive outcomes included possession of resilience attitudes, the use of help-seeking and active coping, and in some instances avoidance coping for problems they perceived as unsolvable. Extrinsic resources included interpersonal support networks, however, participants reported limited access to community and NGO support, which were also identified as protective resources. Policy makers and clinicians should consider a social justice approach in evaluating and recommending protective resources to girls in early marriages when working to promote their well-being. In so doing, attention should be placed on making external support systems accessible to married girls.
... 723 goal dimensions were found only once, for example "burden" (measured with "How tiresome or burdensome is this goal?"; Litmanen et al., 2010) or "vitality" (measured with "This goal makes me feel alive and vital"; Hope et al., 2016). We do not include such rarely measured goal dimensions but restricted our analysis to commonly studied goal dimensions, that is, dimensions which were reported at least 10 times and for which we found at least 10 items. ...
Goals represent a central construct in the analysis of human motivation. How people appraise their own goals on various quantitative dimensions, like commitment or difficulty, predicts important outcomes like goal attainment and psychological well-being. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be little agreement in the literature on how to best measure goal dimensions. To get an overview of current measurement practices, we conducted a systematic literature review that yielded 693 publications including 1,166 different terms for goal dimensions and 3,244 reported items. Up to 79 different items were found to indicate single goal dimensions and 80% of scales consisted of one item, which mostly asked for the term of the goal dimension name. We further extracted 358 different item facets, that is, different meaning-bearing terms (e.g., "engrossed" or "deeply involved"). 28% of item facets were found only once in individual items and 52% of item facets were used to measure more than one goal dimension. We find that for 42% of items, sources were not reported or items were created ad hoc. Hence, we recommend being cautious of jingle fallacies when comparing similar goal dimensions across publications and being cautious of jangle fallacies when comparing different goal dimensions. We advocate considering construct validity and content validity more thoroughly in the development of goal dimension items and enhancing transparency in reporting of study items. Furthermore, we advocate factor analysis methodology to narrow down the abundance of goal dimension terms and developing parsimonious and comprehensive theories of goal dimensions.
... Thus, participants were informed that people's life goals may undergo slight variations on a day-to-day basis (Zawadzka et al., 2019). Hence, they were asked to indicate how important they consider each of the listed life goals at the day/time they completed the questionnaire (Hope et al., 2016). For the purpose of this study, a short form of the Aspiration Index is justifiable, as it should address the participants' instantaneous life goals. ...
Centered on the Basic Psychological Needs Theory, recent theoretical underpinnings were used and initial empirical processes were initiated to conceptualize, develop and validate a new questionnaire about how teachers shape instructional goals. In a first exploratory study, 188 university graduates and 211 in-service teachers from both the general and special education domains were recruited to recognize the basic psychological needs of an adolescent with physical and mild cognitive disability presented in a short video vignette. In the second confirmatory study, the sample consisted of 239 in-service teachers. According to the results, the new instrument demonstrated acceptable psychometric qualities. For instance, the goodness-of-fit indices CFI and NNFI were both good (1.00) in the confirmatory factor analysis. In both studies, the recognition of the basic psychological needs was involved in a series of statistically significant correlations with participants’ intrinsic life goals (R ≥ .34), state empathy (R ≥ .38) and intrinsic instructional goals (R ≥ .51). This preliminary research suggested that participants integrated the new concept in their intrinsic motivational style. Overall, the results highlight the importance of recognizing the basic psychological needs by including this construct both in research and practice.
... To conclude, unlike intrinsic goal that is concerned with personal growth and internal values, extrinsic goals pursuit is unable to help consumers satisfy their basic psychological needs as their behaviour is controlled by external rewards and forces. Nonetheless, to some extent, extrinsic goal can be internalised and integrated, thus enabling consumers to satisfy their psychological needs via extrinsic goal pursuits Hope et al., 2016;Lee & Pounders, 2019b;Vansteenkiste et al., 2010). Internalisation refers to the process of taking in regulation or value, while integration indicates the process in which people adopt the regulation as their own to emanate from their sense of self (Abdulrazak & Quoquab, 2018;. ...
For several reasons, professions today cope with complicated activities that place a high demand on employees’ skills. Unlike earlier research that primarily focused on regular and less challenging activities, the current study looked at leaders and managers dealing with highly complicated and non-repetitive work daily. This paper seeks to develop an initial review on public servants, especially leaders, from a public service perspective to outline the future-ready
conceptual skill to improve activities, thus enhancing their service performance. The conceptual paper focuses on the development processes leading to complex problem-solving as one of the future-ready conceptual skills relate to previous research and existing theory. In order to make good governance practice successful, complex problem-solving may contribute to certain behaviours. According to the findings of the literature study, there is a relationship between complex problem-solving and the effectiveness of good governance practices. Perhaps more importantly, this paper examines how the skill is distinctive and most practically cultivated in a public organisation.
... This variable is a desirable goal characteristic per se, especially from the perspective of positive psychology. Additionally, it has been found to be a predictor of goal progress (Hope et al., 2016). ...
How motivated a person is to pursue a goal may depend on many different properties of the goal, such as how specific it is, how important it is to the person, and how actionable it is. Rigorously measuring all of the relevant goal characteristics is still very difficult. Existing measures are scattered across multiple research fields. Some goal characteristics are not yet covered, while others have been measured under ambiguous terminology. Other conceptually related characteristics have yet to be adapted to goals. Last but not least, the validity of most measures of goal characteristics has yet to be assessed. The aim of this study is to: a) integrate, refine, and extend previous measures into a more comprehensive battery of self-report measures, the Goal Characteristics Questionnaire (GCQ), and b) investigate its evidence of validity. In two empirical studies, this paper provides evidence for the validity of the measures regarding their internal structure, measurement invariance, and convergence and divergence with other relevant goal-related measures, such as the motivation, affect, and the dimensions of Personal Project Analysis. The results show that our goal characteristic dimensions have incremental validity for explaining important outcomes, such as goal commitment and well-being. It concludes with practical recommendations for using the GCQ in research on goal-setting and goal-pursuit, and a discussion about directions for future studies.
... To measure these aspirations, Kasser and Ryan (1996) developed the Aspiration Index, a scale to assess intrinsic aspirations (personal growth, close relationships, community involvement, and physical health), as well as extrinsic aspirations (popularity, financial success, and image). Different studies show that intrinsic aspirations are associated with the "own nature" of the individual and therefore entail high probabilities of increasing well-being indicators such as positive affect and vitality (Lekes et al., 2010;Hope et al., 2016), whereas extrinsic aspirations are related to materialistic motives and have been linked to feelings of frustration and decreased life satisfaction Unanue et al., 2014). Grouzet et al. (2005) created a new classification of these life aspirations, which, besides the categories intrinsic and extrinsic, makes a distinction between self-transcendent and physical goals. ...
Life aspirations are considered one of the most relevant components for human beings to give meaning and purpose to their existence. Different studies emphasized the relevance of intrinsic life aspirations to promote life satisfaction. However, few studies analyze the specific role of the intrinsic aspirations that have been recently categorized as self-transcendent. Self-transcendent aspirations are focused on helping others and improving society and, consequently, are considered aspirations whose purpose transcends oneself. In this sense, the objective of this study is to observe how self-transcendent aspirations are related to life satisfaction through dispositional gratitude. Additionally, we aim to study the moderating role of cognitive and affective empathy. There were 1,356 students (mean age = 21.5, standard deviation = 2.35 years) who took part in a scholarship program funded by the Education Ministry of Peru (PRONABEC), of which 57.7% were men and 42.3% were women. Results show a strong relationship between self-transcendent aspirations, gratitude, and cognitive and affective empathy. In the mediation analysis, an indirect effect of self-transcendent aspirations is observed on life satisfaction via gratitude. However, the moderated mediation showed that the addition of cognitive and affective empathy conditions the mediation effect. In this way, cognitive empathy has a significant interaction in the relationships between self-transcendent aspirations and gratitude, and between self-transcendent aspirations and life satisfaction. Results are discussed to emphasize the relevance of the mediating and moderating mechanisms considered in this study for the understanding of how self-transcendent life aspirations may promote life satisfaction.
... Job et al. demonstrated that perceived autonomy on demanding tasks is the mechanism driving the age-related difference in self-control beliefs. This finding is in line with the proposition by Ryan and Deci (2008), that activities can maintain or even enhance one's subjective energy if they contribute to one's sense of autonomy, competence, or relatedness (see also Hope, Milyavskaya, Holding, & Koestner, 2016;Sieber, Flückiger, Mata, Bernecker, & Job, 2019). Furthermore, with increasing age, people's future time horizons shrink, leading to a fundamental restructuring of their goal hierarchies across various life domains, such that they tend to show a preference for present-oriented emotional goals over futureoriented goals (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999). ...
Two studies investigated subjective conceptualizations of energy for goal pursuit across adulthood. Study 1 (N = 276, 20-92 years of age) explored age-related differences in the (a) endorsement of a limited versus nonlimited account of energy for goal pursuit, (b) amount of energy available for physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally demanding activities, and (c) extent to which spending energy on a demanding activity inhibits or facilitates energy expenditure for subsequent activities, both within and across functional domains. Study 2 (N = 147, 18-86 years of age) experimentally induced energy loss through a 20-min physical exercise and examined age-related differences in the increase of subjective exhaustion and opportunity costs as a motivational cue for goal disengagement. With increasing age, adults more strongly endorsed a nonlimited account of energy and perceived having more energy available for personally relevant social activities. However, older adults also reported higher negative cross-domain energy spillover after physical exertion. Multilevel growth curve models further revealed that, compared with younger adults, older adults reported a steeper initial increase in exhaustion and opportunity costs during physical exercise, but converged with the younger age groups again at the close of the exercise session. The discussion centers around the importance of selectivity in older adulthood and motivational accounts of effort and exhaustion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
... 2 Other research with these data has examined the role of domain need satisfaction in autonomous goals (Milyavskaya, Nadolny, & Koestner, 2014), goal support (Koestner, Powers, Milyavskaya, Carbonneau, & Hope, 2015), trait perfectionism and changes in affect , changes in identity and intimacy development as a function of changes in values (Hope, Milyavskaya, Holding, & Koestner, 2016), the aspirational content of goals on goal progress and vitality (Hope, Milyavskaya, Holding, & Koestner, 2014), and the effects of perfectionism on attributions of success and failure (Levine, Green-Demers, Werner, & Milyavskaya, 2019). There is no overlap between the content and the hypotheses of the present study and the other studies that have used this sample. ...
Two studies examined parental support of young adults’ personal goals. Study 1 examined 1,189 personal goals reported by 238 young adults and showed that it was common for emerging adults to receive support from their parents as they pursued their personal goals, particularly important and demanding goals. Relying on parents was unrelated to the Big Five traits but was linked with developmental factors—younger age, autonomy supportive family environment, and higher identity development but less intimacy development. Study 2 used a prospective, longitudinal design (n = 914) to show that goal support from parents was significantly associated with better well-being across the school year as long as the support was delivered in an autonomy supportive fashion (e.g., empathic and encouraging volitional functioning). Goal support from peers was unrelated to well-being. Mediational analyses showed that parental autonomy support indirectly influenced young adults’ subjective well-being over the year by enhancing their progress on personal goals and boosting their sense of personal autonomy in their everyday lives. These studies highlight that the psychological impacts of goal support depend on both the source and type of support that is received.
... Job et al. (2018) demonstrated that perceived autonomy on demanding tasks is the mechanism driving the age-related change in self-control beliefs. This finding is in line with the proposition by Ryan and Deci (2008), that activities can maintain or even enhance one's subjective energy if they contribute to one's sense of autonomy, competence, or relatedness (see also Hope, Milyavskaya, Holding, & Koestner, 2016;Sieber, Flückiger, Mata, Bernecker, & Job, 2019). ...
This thesis is guided by the overarching question of how people determine when they are exhausted or when they have recovered. Taking a motivational approach, it defines exhaustion and recovery as motivational states that prompt disengagement from an ongoing activity that has begun to net more costs than benefits. To this end, the thesis introduces perceived changes in mood, in opportunity costs, and in subjective time perception as psychological indicators of exhaustion and recovery. Taking a life-span approach, it further proposes age-differential effects of opportunity costs and subjective time perception on exhaustion and recovery (Part I). These propositions were tested in a set of methodologically diverse studies encompassing micro-longitudinal laboratory experiments (Parts II and III), a longer-term daily diary study in a naturalistic recovery setting (Part IV), and large online surveys that complement the main studies (Parts II, III, and V). Taken together, this thesis yielded the following main results: (1) Good mood is positively related to recovery; bad mood is positively related to exhaustion.(2) Opportunity costs are unrelated to recovery and are positively related to exhaustion. (3) A subjective acceleration of the passage of time is unrelated to recovery; a subjective extension of the passage of time is positively related to exhaustion. (4) Older adults, as compared to younger adults, report faster initial increases in opportunity costs and exhaustion during an exhaustion period. (5) Older adults, as compared to younger adults, do not differ in their subjective recovery during a subsequent recovery period. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of these findings are elaborated on in the Overall Discussion.
... There is now considerable evidence that pursuing extrinsic aspirations often results in lower well-being and higher levels of psychological distress because such pursuits distract from satisfying basic psychological needs (Hope et al. 2019(Hope et al. , 2016(Hope et al. , 2014Ryan 1993, 1996), and that this is true even when people successfully attain their extrinsic goals (Niemiec et al. 2009). Likewise, findings obtained by Vansteenkiste et al. (2007) showed associations between extrinsic value orientation and need frustration. ...
Examining two, 3-wave prospective longitudinal samples of university students pursuing a career goal, we propose that young adults make personal sacrifices during goal pursuit. Specifically, we introduce the concept of basic psychological need sacrifice and suggest it is distinguishable from the sacrifice of maintenance and leisure activities. We found that sacrificing basic psychological needs had enduring affective and self-regulatory costs through the effect of increased need frustration over the academic year. Moreover, we found that the sacrifice of psychological needs stemmed from controlling motivational processes, such as extrinsic life aspirations, controlled career goal motivation (assessed at the start of the academic year) and controlled motivation for sacrificing (assessed midyear along with the three types of sacrifices). Psychological distress and need frustration were assessed at baseline and end-of-academic-year, while career goal progress was assessed at the end of the academic year. Implications of these findings for basic psychological needs theory are discussed.
... The participants were then asked to rate on a scale of Ϫ3 to 3 "to what extent does this [current activity] help you with your goal of [personal goal]?" The activity was piped in from the earlier question, and each personal goal was piped in from the Time 1 survey (for a total of four items at each assessment 1 Other research with this sample has examined the effects of momentary temptation, self-control, and ego depletion on goal progress (Milyavskaya & Inzlicht, 2017), goal motivation, desire and self-control (Milyavskaya, Inzlicht, Hope, & Koestner, 2015), goal aspirational content, goal progress, vitality (Hope, Milyavskaya, Holding, & Koestner, 2016), trait selfcompassion (Hope, Koestner, & Milyavskaya, 2014), perfectionism (Harvey et al., 2015), and fear of missing out (Milyavskaya, Saffran, Hope, & Koestner, 2018). There is no overlap between the content and the hypotheses of the present manuscript and the other papers that have used this sample-None of the previous papers examine the role of goal alignment. ...
Goal progress has been consistently linked to subjective well-being and happiness (Klug & Maier, 2015), but do the individual actions of doing something helpful for personal goals have similar effects? The current study investigates how goal alignment—the perception that you are engaging in activities that are aligned with personal goals—might be associated with state happiness. We hypothesized that people will feel happier when the activities they are performing are aligned with their goals. The study also explored the roles of goal progress and competence in this relation. Data on goal-activity alignment, goal progress, competence, and state happiness were collected in an experience-sampling study with undergraduate students (N = 159) and a survey study with Amazon MTurk workers (N = 252). Using multilevel analyses and regression analyses, results indicated that participants were happier when they were pursuing activities that were more closely aligned with their goals than when pursuing less goal-aligned activities; the results remained significant after accounting for goal progress. Participants who were more goal aligned on average reported greater state happiness; this effect was nonsignificant when goal progress was accounted for. Results suggest that goal alignment has a significant and unique effect on state happiness and that goal pursuit has very immediate benefits that begin as soon as individuals start doing actions helpful for their personal goals.
... Importantly, vitality is not a reflection of the caloric energy at one's disposal. It represents a subjective feeling that energy is available to the self (Hope, Milyavskaya, Holding, & Koestner, 2016;Ryan & Frederick, 1997;Thayer, 1997). ...
People who believe that willpower is not limited exhibit higher self-regulation and well-being than people who believe that willpower is a limited resource. So far, only little is known about the antecedents of people’s beliefs about willpower. Three studies examine whether autonomous goal striving promotes the endorsement of a nonlimited belief and whether this relationship is mediated by vitality, the feeling of being awake and energetic. Study 1 (n = 208) showed that autonomous goal striving predicts a change in willpower beliefs over 4 months and that this change is mediated by vitality. Study 2 (n = 92) replicated this finding using experience sampling assessments of vitality. Experimental Study 3 (n = 243) showed that inducing an autonomous mind-set enhances people’s endorsement of a nonlimited belief by fostering vitality. The studies support the idea that what people believe about willpower depends, at least in part, on recent experiences with tasks as being energizing or draining.
... The studies had the same time-line for follow-ups and included the same core measures relevant to goal contents theory. Data from these individual studies have been used in the following articles but no previous study has explored the current set of hypotheses: Hope et al. 2016b;Holding et al. 2017;Moore et al. 2018. ...
The present study aimed to test the goal contents theory (Ryan and Deci, Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness, Guildford, New York, 2017a) proposal that prioritizing intrinsic aspirations over extrinsic aspirations leads to enhanced well-being through greater satisfaction of basic psychological needs and more autonomous self-regulation. By pooling four prospective studies with an identical five-wave design, we evaluated the impact of aspirations on changes in need satisfaction, goal motivation, and well-being over a school year in a sample of over 1400 university students. Cross-lagged, structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses revealed that relative intrinsic aspirations at baseline predicted experiencing greater need satisfaction, increased autonomous goal motivation, and improved well-being over time. The discussion highlights the value of exploring dynamic relations among the central constructs in self-determination theory.
... They were also asked to report the current activity in which they were engaged. 3 1 Other research with this sample has examined the effects of momentary temptation, self-control, and ego-depletion on goal progress (Milyavskaya and Inzlicht 2017), goal motivation, desire and self-control , goal aspirational content, goal progress, and vitality (Hope et al. 2016), trait self-compassion (Hope et al. 2014), and perfectionism (Harvey et al. 2015). None of the other studies have examined fear of missing out, and there is no overlap between the content and the hypotheses of the present study and the other studies that have used this sample. ...
Fear of missing out, known colloquially as FOMO, appears to be a common experience, and has recently become part of the vernacular, receiving frequent mentions in the popular media. The present paper provides a multi-method empirical examination of FOMO. In a first study, experience sampling was used to assess FOMO experiences among college freshmen. Nightly diaries and end-of-semester measures provided data on the short and long-term consequences of experiencing FOMO. Results showed that students experience FOMO frequently, particularly later in the day and later in the week, and while doing a required task like studying or working. More frequent experiences of FOMO were associated with negative outcomes both daily and over the course of the semester, including increasing negative affect, fatigue, stress, physical symptoms, and decreased sleep. A second experimental study investigated FOMO on a conceptual level, distinguishing FOMO from general self-regulation and exploring its links with social media.
Health professionals' motivation is a key determinant of their continuing professional development (CPD) outcomes. Therefore, CPD providers must ensure that they design CPD activities to support health professionals' motivation; this process is referred to as motivational design. The aim of this article is to introduce CPD providers to the PACE (purpose, autonomy, confidence, engrossment) model of motivational design, and describe how we applied the PACE model to create two online modules for an interprofessional audience. The PACE model builds on other available models of motivation design by offering theoretically informed strategies to support autonomous motivation, a specific quality of motivation that is associated with more effective learning processes and outcomes. Our experience suggests that CPD providers can use the PACE model to guide their motivational design efforts. We also encourage CPD researchers to test the theoretical assumptions that inform the PACE model.
Introduction
Depressive symptoms, goal progress, and goal characteristics are interrelated, but the directionality of these relationships is unclear.
Methods
In a 6‐wave longitudinal study ( N = 431; 2002 total surveys), we examine the bidirectionality of the relationships between depressive symptoms, goal characteristics (commitment, self‐efficacy, and perception of other's support), and goal progress for academic and interpersonal goals at 2‐week intervals. Separate random‐intercept cross‐lagged panel models were tested for each goal characteristic across both goals.
Results
At the within‐person level, goal progress significantly positively predicted commitment, self‐efficacy, and perception of others' support for the goal. Most of the other hypothesized paths were nonsignificant, including paths between depressive symptoms and progress. At the between‐person level, all variables were significantly correlated, with some effects significantly larger for the interpersonal than the academic goal.
Discussion
The results suggest that when it comes to depressive symptoms and goal pursuit, general tendencies may be more important than variations over 2‐week intervals.
Introduction:
Humanistic psychologists have conceptualized a tendency among humans to experience continual open-ended psychological growth. This study aims to measure the rate at which one grows psychologically using a novel growth curve modeling approach that addresses previous limitations. We also examine the effects of nine potential contributors to growth identified from the literature.
Method:
Throughout the freshman year, 556 college students responded six times. Increments of growth were added up to create cumulative growth, which was then fit to a growth curve model to produce an estimate of the growth rate. The growth rate was then regressed on the Time 1 predictors to examine their unique effects.
Results:
Models fit well. Five predictors significantly predicted the growth rate after controlling for the average of other predictors. When all predictors were entered simultaneously, three predictors (hope, meaning, and personal growth initiative) showed significant unique effects. The growth rate predicted well-being and satisfaction at Time 6.
Conclusion:
We successfully measured the rate of psychological growth and examined its antecedents. Follow-up analyses suggested that the predictors not showing unique effects may indirectly predict growth rates via the proximal role of the three significant predictors, an idea that awaits future corroboration using within-individual designs.
Introduction. Depression is related to poor achievement and impacts people's capacity to attain their goals (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Johnson et al., 2010; Street, 2002). But do depressive symptoms impact goal pursuit differently depending on the kinds of goals that people pursue? Methods. Across three studies (total N = 666 undergraduate students, total goals = 2,546), we examine the role of up to 16 goal characteristics as moderators in the relationship between depressive symptoms and goal progress. Depressive symptoms and goal characteristics were assessed at baseline, and participants reported on goal progress at a follow-up 1 month (Study 1), 4 months (Study 2), or 8 months (Study 3) later. Results. The effect of depressive symptoms on goal progress was nonsignificant in two out of three studies (including one with low power), but an internal meta-analysis presented a small negative effect. Most goal characteristics did not moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and goal progress, with Bayes factors suggesting substantial to very strong evidence in favor of the null hypotheses. Discussion. The kinds of goals students pursue may not matter in the presence of depressive symptoms. On one hand, this may provide a bleak outlook in highlighting that depressive symptoms impact all goals regardless of how well they are selected. On the other hand, the effects were small, which may offer a hopeful outlook for undergraduate students experiencing depressive symptoms, who may still be able to progress on their personal goals.
Construal level theory suggests that individuals with high construal level may experience greater self-control than those with low construal level when pursuing their goals. In the current research, we examined whether this effect would be moderated by goal content (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic goals). Three studies adopting different designs revealed that construal level was positively associated with perceived self-control capacity only when individuals were pursuing relatively intrinsic (vs. extrinsic) goals. Moreover, Study 2 also showed that increased self-control capacity positively predicted goal attainment one week later. The current research extends previous work on construal level and sheds new light on the effective pursuit of goals.
This chapter presents an exploration of the nature of student goals and obstacles, and the role played by meaning in life and hope thinking in distinguishing them. Male and female (n = 101) students between 18 and 34 years (mean = 22 years) participated in a concurrent equal status, exploratory, mixed-method design study. They were asked about the nature of their goals and anticipated obstacles using open-ended formatted questions, and completed the Dispositional Hope Scale and Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Latent classes of Hope-Meaning were extracted, and compared for the nature of goals and perceived obstacles. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. Results show a division of the sample into two Hope-Meaning latent classes: “High hope, high meaning” (92.1%) and “Low hope, search for meaning” (7.9%). The identified and prioritised goals were: tertiary education, employment and career, mobility, secure accommodation, and support for family. Their prioritisation of tertiary education and employment was explained by the need to secure a better material future and support their families. Five obstacles were reported: lack of resources, poor self-regulation, employment problems, fear of failure, and health problems. No goal and obstacle content distinction was made between the two emergent Hope-Meaning latent classes.
Social distancing (SD) was an effective way of reducing virus transmission during the deadly and highly infectious COVID-19 pandemic. Using a prospective longitudinal design, the present study explored how the Big 5 traits relate to variations in SD in a sample of university students (n= 285), and replicated these findings using informant reports. Self-determination theory’s concepts of autonomous motivation and intrinsic community values were explored as potential mechanisms linking traits to SD. Individuals who were higher on trait agreeableness and conscientiousness engaged in more SD because they more effectively internalized the importance and value of the guidelines as a function of their concerns about the welfare of their communities. Informant reports confirmed trait agreeableness and conscientiousness to be associated with more SD. These results enhance our understanding of individual differences associated with better internalization and adherence to public health guidelines and can inform future interventions in similar crises.
The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between goal commitment, self-concordance and goal progress as goal dimensions in the area of self-care. The study tested if goal commitment would mediate or moderate the relationship between self-concordance and progress towards self-care goals. With respect to this aim, 156 participants (aged 18-26 y; 77 M, 79 F) reported their motivation for pursuing selected self-care goals (4 items), assessed their commitment to them (3 items) and examined the perceived progress they had already made (2 items). Correlational analysis confirmed close relationships between self-concordance, goal commitment and goal progress in both cases (goals in the areas of physical as well as psychological self-care). Further analysis confirmed that in both areas, the relationship between self-concordance and goal progress is mediated and not moderated by goal commitment. The findings are discussed in the context of goal dimension structure and in the context of self-care stimulation and effectiveness.
The present article includes separate meta-analyses showing that self-concordance and implementation intentions are significantly positively associated with goal progress. Study 1 confirmed the positive relations of both self-concordance and implementation intentions to weekend goal progress. Study 2 confirmed the positive relation of self-concordance with monthly progress on New Year's resolutions but failed to find a direct benefit for implementation intentions. Both studies, however, obtained a significant interaction effect indicating that goal self-concordance and implementation intentions combined synergistically to facilitate goal progress. The article also reports a meta-analysis and results from the 2 studies that demonstrated that goal progress was associated with improved affect over time.
Fear of missing out, known colloquially as FOMO, appears to be a common experience, and has recently become part of the vernacular, receiving frequent mentions in the popular media. The present paper provides a multi-method empirical examination of FOMO. In a first study, experience sampling was used to assess FOMO experiences among college freshmen. Nightly diaries and end-of-semester measures provided data on the short and long-term consequences of experiencing FOMO. Results showed that students experience FOMO frequently, particularly later in the day and later in the week, and while doing a required task like studying or working. More frequent experiences of FOMO were associated with negative outcomes both daily and over the course of the semester, including increasing negative affect, fatigue, stress, physical symptoms, and decreased sleep. A second experimental study investigated FOMO on a conceptual level, distinguishing FOMO from general self-regulation and exploring its links with social media.
Self-regulation has been conceptualized as the interplay between controlled and impulsive processes; however, most research has focused on the controlled side (i.e., effortful self-control). The present studies focus on the effects of motivation on impulsive processes, including automatic preferences for goal-disruptive stimuli and subjective reports of temptations and obstacles, contrasting them with effects on controlled processes. This is done by examining people's implicit affective reactions in the face of goal-disruptive "temptations" (Studies 1 and 2), subjective reports of obstacles (Studies 2 and 3) and expended effort (Study 3), as well as experiences of desires and self-control in real-time using experience sampling (Study 4). Across these multiple methods, results show that want-to motivation results in decreased impulsive attraction to goal-disruptive temptations and is related to encountering fewer obstacles in the process of goal pursuit. This, in turn, explains why want-to goals are more likely to be attained. Have-to motivation, on the other hand, was unrelated to people's automatic reactions to temptation cues but related to greater subjective perceptions of obstacles and tempting desires. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for self-regulation and motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Previous research has shown that self-concordant goals are more likely to be attained. But what leads someone to adopt a self-concordant goal in the first place? The present research addresses this question by looking at the domains in which goals are set, focusing on the amount of psychological need satisfaction experienced in these domains. Across three experimental studies, we demonstrate that domain-related need satisfaction predicts the extent to which people adopt self-concordant goals in a given domain, laying the foundation for successful goal pursuit. In addition, we show that need satisfaction influences goal self-concordance because in need-satisfying domains people are both more likely to choose the most self-concordant goal (among a set of comparable choices), and are more likely to internalize the possible goals. The implications of this research for goal setting and pursuit as well as for the importance of examining goals within their broader motivational framework are discussed.
We examined the role of self-compassion in freshmen students' goal pursuit and well-being across the first year of university. Multilevel analyses of 1 week of daily diary assessment revealed that individuals high in self-compassion appeared to be less vulnerable to the affective consequences of thwarted goal progress. We also found that trait self-compassion moderated the relation of autonomous goal motivation to negative affect, such that autonomous motivation was especially related to low negative affect for students high in self-compassion. Longitudinally, we found that self-compassion was associated with positive changes in life satisfaction, identity development, and decreases in negative affectivity over the academic year. In summary, we suggest that self-compassion is an adaptive trait for new college students.
Could a shift in values over time drive resolution of identity and intimacy in young adulthood? In the present study, we found support for our hypothesis that increased prioritization of intrinsic values over an academic year predicts university students’ resolution of the Eriksonian stages of identity and intimacy, and that stage resolution would mediate the relationship between value change and enhanced well-being. Among the 196 students followed from September to April, we found that increased prioritization of intrinsic relative to extrinsic values over the year related to greater resolution of both identity and intimacy, controlling for stage resolution at T1, and that increased resolution positively predicted enhanced subjective well-being and psychological well-being over time.
The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory’s limitations.
Recent research in the United States suggests that individuals who strongly value extrinsic goals (e.g., fame, wealth, image) relative to intrinsic goals (e.g., personal growth, relatedness, community) experience less well-being. This study examines such goals in university samples from two cultures—the United States and Russia. Participants (N = 299) rated the importance, expectancies, and current attainment of 15 life goals, including 4 target intrinsic and 4 target extrinsic goals. Results confirmed the relevance of the intrinsic-extrinsic distinction for both samples and that stronger importance and expectancies regarding extrinsic goals were negatively related to well-being, although these effects were weaker for Russian women. Furthermore, for both men and women, perceived attainment of intrinsic goals was associated with greater well-being, whereas this was not the case for perceived attainment of extrinsic goals.
An important problem in multilevel modeling is what constitutes a sufficient sample size for accurate estimation. In multilevel analysis, the major restriction is often the higher-level sample size. In this paper, a simulation study is used to determine the influence of different sample sizes at the group level on the accuracy of the estimates (regression coefficients and variances) and their standard errors. In addition, the influence of other factors, such as the lowest-level sample size and different variance distributions between the levels (different intraclass correlations), is examined. The results show that only a small sample size at level two (meaning a sample of 50 or less) leads to biased estimates of the second-level standard errors. In all of the other simulated conditions the estimates of the regression coefficients, the variance components, and the standard errors are unbiased and accurate.
W. Wilson's (1967) review of the area of subjective well-being (SWB) advanced several conclusions regarding those who report high levels of "happiness." A number of his conclusions have been overturned: youth and modest aspirations no longer are seen as prerequisites of SWB. E. Diener's (1984) review placed greater emphasis on theories that stressed psychological factors. In the current article, the authors review current evidence for Wilson's conclusions and discuss modern theories of SWB that stress dispositional influences, adaptation, goals, and coping strategies. The next steps in the evolution of the field are to comprehend the interaction of psychological factors with life circumstances in producing SWB, to understand the causal pathways leading to happiness, understand the processes underlying adaptation to events, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWB (life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
distinguishing among intentional acts: the "why" of behavior [intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, internalization and integration, the consequences of different regulatory styles, the social context and motivational orientations] / the "what" of goals: considering content [goal content and mental health, why do some people focus on extrinsic goals, goals and needs: are some goals better than others] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Aspirations for intrinsic (e.g.,self-acceptance, affiliation, community feeling)versus extrinsic (e.g., financial success, appearance,social recognition) goals were examined in German andU.S. college students. The structure of studentsgoal-systems in terms of goal content was remarkablysimilar in the two cultures, as evidenced byexamination of the ordering of goals. Also, as inpast work in the U.S., German college students whowere especially focused on intrinsic goals had highwell-being, whereas the reverse was true for a focuson extrinsic goals. Some differences between thecultures in terms of specific goals are alsodiscussed.
Abstract The main problem of studying hierarchical systems, which often occur in social statistics, is the dependence,of the observations at the lower levels. Multilevel analyzing programs,account for this dependence,and in recent years these programs,have been widely accepted. A problem in multilevel modeling is the question what constitutes a sufficient sample size for accurate estimation. In multilevel analysis, the restriction is often the higher-level sample size. In this paper, a simulation study is used to determine the influence of different sample sizes at the highest level on the accuracy of the estimates (regression coefficients and variances). In addition, the influence of other factors such as the lowest level sample size and different variance distributions between the levels (different intraclass correlations). The results show, that only a small sample size at level two (meaning a sample of 50 or less) leads to biased estimates of the second-level standard errors at the second level. In all of the other simulated conditions the estimates of both the regression coefficients, the variance components,and the standard errors are unbiased and accurate. Key words:Multilevel modeling, Sample size, Cluster sampling. Sample Sizes for Multilevel Modeling 2
Self-determination theory proposes that prioritizing intrinsic life goals, such as community involvement, is related to well-being, whereas focusing on extrinsic life goals, such as financial success, is associated with lower well-being and that parenting influences the type of life goals that youth adopt. In a sample of 515 Chinese (56% female, mean age = 15.50) and 567 North American (52% male, mean age = 14.17) adolescents, a model of the relationships between parenting, life goals, and well-being was investigated and confirmed for intrinsic life goals. Across societies, autonomy-supportive parenting was associated with the endorsement of intrinsic life goals, which in turn was associated with well-being. Intrinsic life goals partially mediated the relationship between parental autonomy-support and well-being. These findings suggest that, cross-culturally, prioritizing intrinsic life goals is related to increased well-being among adolescents and that parents could encourage intrinsic life goals by being supportive of their children's autonomy.
Theories of internalization typically suggest that self-perceptions of the "causes" of (i.e. reasons for) behavior are differentiated along a continuum of autonomy that contains identifiable gradations. A model of perceived locus of causality (PLOC) is developed, using children's self-reported reasons for acting. In Project 1, external, introjected, identified, and intrinsic types of reasons for achievement-related behaviors are shown to conform to a simplex-like (ordered correlation) structure in four samples. These reason categories are then related to existing measures of PLOC and to motivation. A second project examines 3 reason categories (external, introject, and identification) within the domain of prosocial behavior. Relations with measures of empathy, moral judgement and positive interpersonal relatedness are presented. Finally, the proposed model and conceptualization of PLOC are discussed with regard to intrapersonal versus interpersonal perception, internalization, cause-reason distinctions, and the significance of perceived autonomy in human behavior.
Coherence and congruence-based measures of personality integration were related to a variety of healthy personality characteristics. Functional coherence was defined as occurring when participants' "personal strivings" (R.A. Emmons, 1986) help bring about each other or help bring about higher level goals. Organismic congruence was defined as occurring when participants strive for self-determined reasons or when strivings help bring about intrinsic rather than extrinsic higher level goals. Study 1 found the integration measures were related to each other and to inventory measures of health and well-being. Study 2 showed that these goal integration measures were also related to role system integration and were prospective predictors of daily mood, vitality, and engagement in meaningful as opposed to distracting activities.
Two studies examined the effect of Extrinsic Value Orientation (Kasser & Ryan, 1993, 1996) upon harvesting strategies and personal profit within commons dilemmas, in which individual and group interests can be at odds. At an individual or within-group level of analysis, extrinsically oriented persons (who value money, fame, and popularity) harvested more than intrinsically oriented persons (who value self-acceptance, intimacy, and community). However, a counteracting group-level effect was found such that groups with a greater number of extrinsic members harvested less on average than did groups with more intrinsic members, because their commons did not last as long. As a result, even excessive harvesters within extrinsic groups did no better than did self-restrained harvesters within intrinsic groups. Supplementary analyses indicate that extrinsic values are associated with acquisitiveness regarding resources, more so than apprehension regarding others' acquisitiveness.
Measures of psychological maturity based on personal strivings (R. A. Emmons, 1989) were administered to 108 adults aged 17-82. On the basis of organismic-theoretical assumptions regarding maturity, age was hypothesized to be positively associated with K. M. Sheldon and T. Kasser's (1995, 1998) two goal-based measures of personality integration. E. Erikson's (1963) assumptions regarding maturity were the basis for the hypothesis that older people would tend to list more strivings concerning generativity and ego integrity and fewer strivings concerning identity and intimacy. Finally, on the basis of past research findings, maturity and age were hypothesized to be positively associated with subjective well-being. Results supported these hypotheses and also showed that measured maturity mediated the relationship between age and well-being. Thus, older individuals may indeed be more psychologically mature than younger people and may be happier as a result.
The authors summarize 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory. They describe the core findings of the theory, the mechanisms by which goals operate, moderators of goal effects, the relation of goals and satisfaction, and the role of goals as mediators of incentives. The external validity and practical significance of goal-setting theory are explained, and new directions in goal-setting research are discussed. The relationships of goal setting to other theories are described as are the theory's limitations.
The authors examined the similarities and differences between 3 dimensions that represent people's focus on self vs. other: individualistic vs. collectivistic nations, independent vs. interdependent self-concepts, and intrinsic vs. extrinsic aspirations. In samples of South Korean and U.S. college students, the authors found that each of these dimensions was interrelated in expected ways and that each also was independently associated with different aspects of participants' self-report of their own well-being (i.e., self-actualization, vitality, happiness, anxiety, and physical manifestations). The authors concluded that environmental circumstances and personality characteristics that focus on personal needs are more likely to provide experiences supportive of psychological well-being.
The present study tested a model explaining how the core self-evaluations (i.e., positive self-regard) concept is linked to job and life satisfaction. The self-concordance model, which focuses on motives underlying goal pursuit, was used as an explanatory framework. Data were collected from 2 samples: (a) 183 university students (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and life satisfaction were used) and (b) 251 employees (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and job satisfaction were utilized). In both studies, the core self-evaluations concept was positively related to goal self-concordance, meaning that individuals with positive self-regard were more likely to pursue goals for intrinsic and identified (value-congruent) reasons. Furthermore, in both studies, goal self-concordance was related to satisfaction (job satisfaction in Study 1 and life satisfaction in Study 2).
Self-control is typically viewed as a key ingredient responsible for effective self-regulation and personal goal attainment. This study used experience sampling, daily diary, and prospective data collection to investigate the immediate and semester-long consequences of effortful self-control and temptations on depletion and goal attainment. Results showed that goal attainment was influenced by experiences of temptations rather than by actively resisting or controlling those temptations. This study also found that simply experiencing temptations led people to feel depleted. Depletion in turn mediated the link between temptations and goal attainment, such that people who experienced increased temptations felt more depleted and thus less likely to achieve their goals. Critically, results of Bayesian analyses strongly indicate that effortful self-control was consistently unrelated to goal attainment throughout all analyses.
There are pervasive sex differences in psychological and physical well-being, many of which can be linked to the differential socialization of men and women. Numerous studies have linked psychological masculinity and femininity to well-being. In the present article, this literature is explained by focusing on the specific personality traits captured by conventional measures of masculinity and femininity: agency (focus on self and forming separations) and communion (focus on others and forming connections), respectively. Both agency and communion are required for optimal well-being (D. Bakan, 1966); when one exists in the absence of the other (unmitigated communion or unmitigated agency), however, negative health outcomes occur. Research that is consistent with this idea is presented, and the processes by which unmitigated agency and unmitigated communion affect well-being are explored. These processes involve control, social support, and health behavior.
The current study used a prospective design and the assessment of personal goals to examine the relation of self-critical and personal standards perfectionism to affective variation across days of the week. University students completed baseline measures of perfectionism and subsequently reported their nightly affect for seven consecutive days. Participants also listed four important personal goals for the academic year and rated their autonomous and controlled motivation for these goals. The expected pattern of affect variation across the week was obtained—highest positive affect on Saturday followed by a drop on Monday which continued through Thursday. The two forms of perfectionism were significantly related to daily affect on Monday, but in opposite ways, and these opposing patterns were mediated by differences in motivation for academic goals. Self-critical perfectionists felt highly controlled about their academic goals and responded negatively to the resumption of school on Monday. Personal standard perfectionists felt highly autonomous about their academic goals and responded positively to the return to school on Monday. The two forms of perfectionism were unrelated to affect experienced on Saturdays. The study suggests that personality and motivational factors can be used to understand affect variation from the weekend to the start of the week.
Two prospective studies examined the relations of autonomy support and directive support to goal internalization and goal persistence over a year.
Study 1 examined the role of support and internalization in semester-long goals set by college students and whether the goals were reset in the following semester. Study 2 examined semester-long goals and long-term developmental goals.
Study 1 showed that autonomy support was not only significantly associated with greater internalization and goal success in the fall semester, but it was also significantly associated with actually resetting and subsequently succeeding at goals that one had failed. Study 2 showed that autonomy support was significantly associated with progress for short-term goals over the semester whereas directive support was unrelated to progress. For long-term goals, autonomy support was significantly related to greater internalization of goals and to greater goal satisfaction, whereas directive support was significantly negatively related to these outcomes.
These studies point to the beneficial effects of autonomy support on goal internalization and resilient persistence. The effects of directive support (null versus negative) were moderated by the time-line of the goals.
The current study used a prospective design to examine the relation of self-critical and personal standards perfectionism with university students' affect over a full calendar year. Specifically, we investigated the relation between the two forms of perfectionism and students' positive and negative affect within both the semester achievement demand and the holiday respite contexts. Two hundred and forty university students completed baseline measures of perfectionism and reported their affect at six follow-ups over two semesters and the winter and summer holidays. Stress experienced during the winter holiday was also assessed. Students' affect generally followed a cyclical pattern, declining over the fall and winter semesters but rebounding during the holidays. Results showed that while selfcritical perfectionism was consistently related to worsened affect, this was not the case for personal standards perfectionism, which was specifically related to increased positive affect during the holidays. Perceived stress differentially mediated the rejuvenation effect for the two types of perfectionism. The present study highlights the value of examining how the two types of perfectionism differentially relate to negative and positive affect experienced in achievement versus respite contexts.
Few studies have examined how changes in materialism relate to changes in well-being; fewer have experimentally manipulated materialism to change well-being. Studies 1, 2, and 3 examined how changes in materialistic aspirations related to changes in well-being, using varying time frames (12 years, 2 years, and 6 months), samples (US young adults and Icelandic adults), and measures of materialism and well-being. Across all three studies, results supported the hypothesis that people’s well-being improves as they place relatively less importance on materialistic goals and values, whereas orienting toward materialistic goals relatively more is associated with decreases in well-being over time. Study 2 additionally demonstrated that this association was mediated by changes in psychological need satisfaction. A fourth, experimental study showed that highly materialistic US adolescents who received an intervention that decreased materialism also experienced increases in self-esteem over the next several months, relative to a control group. Thus, well-being changes as people change their relative focus on materialistic goals.
Although goal theorists have speculated about the causes and consequences of making progress at personal goals, little longitudinal research has examined these issues. In the current prospective study, participants with stronger social and self-regulatory skills made more progress in their goals over the course of a semester. In turn, goal progress predicted increases in psychological well-being, both in short-term (5-day) increments and across the whole semester; At both short- and long-term levels of analysis, however, the amount that well-being increased depended on the "organismic congruence" of participants' goals. That is, participants benefited most from goal attainment when the goals that they pursued were consistent with inherent psychological needs. We conclude that a fuller understanding of the relations between goals, performance, and psychological well-being requires recourse to both cybernetic and organismic theories of motivation.
Empirical research and organismic theories suggest that lower well-being is associated with having extrinsic goals focused on rewards or praise relatively central to one's personality in comparison to intrinsic goals congruent with inherent growth tendencies. In a sample of adult subjects (Study 1), the relative importance and efficacy of extrinsic aspirations for financial success, an appealing appearance, and social recognition were associated with lower vitality and self-actualization and more physical symptoms. Conversely, the relative importance and efficacy of intrinsic aspirations for self-acceptance, affiliation, community feeling, and physical health were associated with higher well-being and less distress. Study 2 replicated these findings in a college sample and extended them to measures of narcissism and daily affect. Three reasons are discussed as to why extrinsic aspirations relate negatively to well-being, and future research directions are suggested.
In this chapter, the authors refer to the culture of consumption's constellation of aims, beliefs, goals, and behaviors as a materialistic value orientation (MVO). From their perspective, an MVO involves the belief that it is important to pursue the culturally sanctioned goals of attaining, financial success, having nice possessions, having the right image, and having a high status. They focus here on two questions: First, what leads people to care about and "by into" materialistic values and consumption? And second, what are the personal, social, and ecological consequences of having a strong MVO? The authors propose that an MVO develops through two main pathways: (1) from experiences that induce feelings of insecurity, and (2) from exposure to social models that encourage materialistic values. They show that when materialistic values become relatively central to a person's system of values, personal well-being declines because the likelihood of having experiences that satisfy important psychological needs decreases. They demonstrate that an MVO encourages behaviors that damage interpersonal and community relations, as well as the ecological health of the planet. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT This article explores the assumption that the goals on which an individual works structure the experience of daily life. One set of important goals are those consensual tasks that reflect the age-graded expectations of a living environment (e.g., the task of being on one's own at college). Whereas most members of a common age group share these consensual life tasks, individuals in a group differ in the relative importance they place on different tasks and in their appraisals of them. In the present study of 54 women living in a college sorority, the importance of a life task was associated with increased relevance of the task to daily life events, as revealed in experience sampling. The women were more emotionally involved in events that they saw as highly relevant to their life tasks than in less relevant events and, for each person, positive affect and emotional involvement in task-relevant events were related to her initial life task appraisals.
Although people generally endorse intrinsic goals for growth, intimacy, and community more than extrinsic goals for money,
appearance, and popularity, people sometimes over-emphasize extrinsic goals, to the potential detriment of their well-being. When and why does this occur? Results from three experimental studies show that psychological threat increases the priority that people give to extrinsic compared to intrinsic goals. This was found in the case of existential
threat (Study 1), economic threat (Studies 2), and interpersonal threat (Study 3). Discussion focuses on the possible reasons
why threat breeds extrinsic orientations.
This study examined personal goals as a multilevel construct. After investigating to what extent goal appraisals were characteristics of an individual as compared to the extent to which they vary across different goals, both individual-level and goal-level predictors of goal appraisals were examined. To examine these research questions 477 undergraduates filled in the Personal Project Analysis and Beck’s Depression inventory. Multilevel modeling showed that, although goal appraisals varied between individuals, they differed to greater extent across the different goals a particular person reported. At the individual level, a high amount of depressive symptoms was associated with a low level of accomplishment and a high level of stress. At the goal level, goals that focused on education were appraised as low in control but high in accomplishment and stress, family-related goals as high in meaning and control, and self-related goals as high in meaning and stress but low in accomplishment.
Do college students move towards “healthier values” over the college years? I examined this question using , and distinction between intrinsic (community, intimacy, and growth) and extrinsic (money, popularity, and appearance) values. Graduating seniors evidenced large shifts away from extrinsic values, and to some extent shifts towards intrinsic values, compared to their freshman year scores. Those who evidenced greater intrinsic value shifts also reported greater increases in psychological well-being over the college career (Ryff & Keyes, 1995), and greater increases in their sense of self-determination in life. Implications for developmental and positive psychology are discussed.
Self-determination theory (SDT) maintains that an understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. We discuss the SDT concept of needs as it relates to previous need theories, emphasizing that needs specify the necessary conditions for psychological growth, integrity, and well-being. This concept of needs leads to the hypotheses that different regulatory processes underlying goal pursuits are differentially associated with effective functioning and well-being and also that different goal contents have different relations to the quality of behavior and mental health, specifically because different regulatory processes and different goal contents are associated with differing degrees of need satisfaction. Social contexts and individual differences that support satisfaction of the basic needs facilitate natural growth processes including intrinsically motivated behavior and integration of extrinsic motivations, whereas those that forestall autonomy, competence, or relatedness are associated with poorer motivation, performance, and well-being. We also discuss the relation of the psychological needs to cultural values, evolutionary processes, and other contemporary motivation theories.
Life goals, or aspirations, organize and direct behavior over extended periods of time. The present study, guided by self-determination theory, examined the consequences of pursuing and attaining aspirations over a one-year period in a post-college sample. Results indicated that placing importance on either intrinsic or extrinsic aspirations related positively to attainment of those goals. Yet, whereas attainment of intrinsic aspirations related positively to psychological health, attainment of extrinsic aspirations did not; indeed, attainment of extrinsic aspirations related positively to indicators of ill-being. Also as predicted, the association between change in attainment of intrinsic aspirations and change in psychological health was mediated by change in the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Discussion focuses on the idea that not all goal attainment is beneficial; rather, attainment of aspirations with different contents relates differentially to psychological health.
Aspiring for financial success is an important aspect of capitalist cultures. Three studies examine the hypothesis that values and expectancies for wealth and money are negatively associated with adjustment and well-being when they are more central to an individual than other self-relevant values and expectancies. Studies 1 and 2 use 2 methods to show that the relative centrality of money-related values and expectancies is negatively related to college students' well-being and mental health. Study 3, using a heterogeneous noncollege sample, extends these findings by showing that a high centrality of aspirations for financial success is associated with interview ratings of lower global adjustment and social productivity and more behavioral disorders. Discussion is focused on the deleterious consequences of materialistic world views and the need to examine differential effects of content regarding goals and values.
In this article, we examine subjective vitality, a positive feeling of aliveness and energy, in six studies. Subjective vitality is hypothesized to reflect organismic well-being and thus should covary with both psychological and somatic factors that impact the energy available to the self. Associations are shown between subjective vitality and several indexes of psychological well-being; somatic factors such as physical symptoms and perceived body functioning; and basic personality traits and affective dispositions. Subsequently, vitality is shown to be lower in people with chronic pain compared to matched controls, especially those who perceive their pain to be disabling or frightening. Subjective vitality is further associated with self-motivation and maintained weight loss among patients treated for obesity. Finally, subjective vitality is assessed in a diary study for its covariation with physical symptoms. Discussion focuses on the phenomenological salience of personal energy and its relations to physical and psychological well-being.
The present article includes separate meta-analyses showing that self-concordance and implementation intentions are significantly positively associated with goal progress. Study 1 confirmed the positive relations of both self-concordance and implementation intentions to weekend goal progress. Study 2 confirmed the positive relation of self-concordance with monthly progress on New Year's resolutions but failed to find a direct benefit for implementation intentions. Both studies, however, obtained a significant interaction effect indicating that goal self-concordance and implementation intentions combined synergistically to facilitate goal progress. The article also reports a meta-analysis and results from the 2 studies that demonstrated that goal progress was associated with improved affect over time.
We evaluated changes in subjective well-being (SWB), motivation, and values occurring over the law-student career. In study 1, law students began with levels of SWB higher than a comparison sample of undergraduates, but by the end of the first year their SWB had plummeted. These changes were correlated with the sample-wide decreases in intrinsic motivation over the first year, and were also correlated with increases in appearance values and decreases in community service values. Those with the most intrinsic motivations attained the highest grades, but, ironically, high grades in turn predicted shifts in career preferences towards "lucrative" and higher-stress law careers, and away from "service"-oriented and potentially more satisfying law careers. The declines persisted over the second and third years of law school. In study 2, the basic effects were replicated for a different sample of first-year students at a different law school. Implications for legal education and the legal profession are discussed.
The assertion that both the content of goals and the motives behind goals affect psychological well-being has been controversial. Three studies examined this issue directly, showing that both what goals people pursue (i.e., whether they strive for extrinsic vs. intrinsic goal contents) and why people pursue them (i.e., whether they strive for autonomous vs. controlled motives) make significant independent contributions to psychological well-being. The pattern emerged in between-person and within-person studies of cross-sectional well-being and also emerged in a year-long study of prospective change in well-being. Implications for prescriptive theories of happiness are discussed.
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