Week Three Goal Selection PSY/220 Use the info from the ebook included Chapter 7

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CHAPTER OUTLINEGoals Connect “Having” and “Doing”What are Personal Goals?Defining Personal GoalsGoals and Related Motivational ConceptsMeasuring Personal GoalsGoal OrganizationThe Search for Universal Human MotivesGoals and the Fulfillment of Basic Human NeedsFocus on Research: An Empirical Method for Assessing Universal NeedsGoals Expressing Fundamental ValuesPersonal Goals Across CulturesIntrinsic versus Extrinsic GoalsPhysical versus Self-Transcendent GoalsThe Personalization of Goals in Self-ConceptWhat Goals Contribute Most to Well-Being?Goal Progress, Achievement, and ImportanceThe Matching HypothesisWhat Explains the Matching Hypothesis?Personal Goals and Self-RealizationIntrinsic versus Extrinsic GoalsAutonomous versus Controlled MotivationFocus on Research: Happiness and Success in CollegeMaterialism and Its DiscontentsWhy Are Materialists Unhappy?The Content of Materialistic GoalsThe What and Why of Materialistic GoalsCompensation for InsecurityWhy Do People Adopt Materialistic Values?Consumer CulturePsychological InsecurityMaterialism and DeathAffluence and MaterialismAre We All Materialists?7Personal Goals as Windowsto Well-Being125ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.126 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-BeingGoals are central to an understanding ofhuman behavior because they energizeaction and provide meaning, direction, andpurpose to life activities. Goals help explain the“whys” of action—that is, what people are trying toaccomplish. Nearly all behavior has a purpose,whether it’s washing dishes, having fun withfriends, looking for a job, or planning a vacation.Goals explain and make sense of our actions byproviding reasons for their occurrence. Whateverour behavior, if someone asks, “What are youdoing?” we typically respond by describing the purposeof our actions in terms of a desired outcome(i.e., achieving a goal). Goals also make our livescoherent by establishing connections between specificshort-term and more general long-term purposesand desires. For example, if you are a collegestudent reading this book for a class on positivepsychology, your specific purpose is to understandthe material in this chapter. This specific goal isprobably part of a larger goal of doing well in theclass; which is a sub-goal of meeting the requirementsto graduate from college; which relates to themore general goal of getting a good job; which mayrelate to an even more encompassing goal of havinga satisfying life. In short, our behavior during aday, a week, a year, or a lifetime would not makemuch sense without an understanding of the goalswe are striving to achieve.Robert Emmons (2003) describes personal goalsas “the well-springs of a positive life” (p. 105). Inother words, the goals we pursue are intimately connectedto our happiness and well-being. The importanceof goals is clearly evident in cases wherepeople do not have reasonably clear, personallymeaningful, and attainable goals. Both goal conflictand unrealistic goals have consistently been linkedto lower well-being and higher distress (Austin& Vancouver, 1996; Cantor & Sanderson, 1999;Emmons, 1999b; Karolyi, 1999; Lent, 2004). Forexample, Emmons and King (1988) found that conflictand ambivalence about personal goals wererelated to higher levels of negative affect, depressedmood, neuroticism, and physical illness. Even thoughpeople spent a good deal of time ruminating abouttheir conflicting goals, this did not lead to actionaimed at resolution. Instead, conflict tended to immobilizeaction and was associated with decreased subjectivewell-being (SWB).A further example of the relation betweengoals and personal distress is shown in the linkbetween unrealistic standards for self-evaluation andclinical depression. Perfectionists, for example, are athigher risk for both depression and suicide becauseof the self-blame, low self-worth, and chronic senseof failure that result from their inability to meet unrealisticexpectations (Baumeister, 1990; Blatt, 1995;Karolyi, 1999). These expectations may be selfimposedthrough a belief that one must be flawless,or socially imposed through a belief that significantothers have expectations and demands that are difficultor impossible to achieve. The chronic inability tosatisfy individual standards for self-approval and tomeet the perceived expectations of others to gainsocial approval can cause severe distress. Prolongeddistress may lead to what Baumeister (1990) calledthe “escape from self”—namely, suicide.On the positive side, attaining personally significantgoals, pursuing meaningful aspirations, andinvolving oneself in valued activities all contributeto enhanced happiness and well-being (Cantor &Sanderson, 1999; Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999;Emmons, 1999b; Emmons & King, 1988; Lent, 2004).Personal goals play a pivotal role in individual wellbeingbecause they are the basis for activities thatbring happiness and meaning to life. Engagement inmeaningful life tasks makes a significant and independentcontribution to well-being. For example, ina study of over 600 older adults, involvement insocial and community activities was related tohigher levels of life satisfaction, even after controllingfor personal resources such as health, socialsupport, congeniality, and prior levels of satisfaction(Harlow & Cantor, 1996). In other words, participationin social activities increased well-being aboveand beyond the effects of personal resources.GOALS CONNECT “HAVING”AND “DOING”In addition to their independent contribution, goalsmay also determine the extent to which personalresources influence well-being. Cantor andSanderson (1999) note that goals help connect the“having” side to the “doing” side of life (see alsoCantor, 1990). This traditional distinction (first madeby personality theorist Gordon Allport in 1937) capturesthe importance of “having” personal resourcessuch as social skills, an optimistic attitude, and supportivefriends, as well as the importance of “doing,”in the form of developing meaningful goals andpursuing personally significant life activities. That is,ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 127both resources (material and personal) and commitmentto goals have an important connection to wellbeing.This connection is exemplified in a study ofresources and personal strivings among college students(Diener & Fujita, 1995).These researchers found that the effect ofresources on well-being depended on their congruencewith personal goals. Resources measured in thestudy included skills and abilities (like intelligenceand social skills), personal traits (being energetic andoutgoing), social support (close ties with family membersand friends), and material resources (money andpossessions). Goals were assessed through students’descriptions of 15 personal strivings (defined as “thethings they were typically trying to do in their everydaybehavior”) (Diener & Fujita, p. 929). Studentsrated the relevance of each resource to each personalstriving, and also provided ratings on measures ofglobal SWB and experience-sampling measures ofdaily mood. The critical factor determining the effectsof resources on SWB was the degree of congruencebetween resources and personal strivings. Havingresources that facilitated achieving personal goalswas related to higher SWB, while a lack of goalrelatedresources was associated with relatively lowerlevels of well-being. That is, it did not matter howmany resources a student had. What mattered waswhether those resources supported the goals theywere trying to accomplish.Diener and Fujita describe two case studiesto make this goal–resource relationship concrete.One young woman in the study had strong personalresources in the area of intelligence andself-discipline for work. However, she rated theseresources as largely unrelated to her goals. She perceivedself-confidence and support from familymembers and friends as much more relevant.Unfortunately, she was not strong in these areas. Inshort, her personal resources did not match andsupport her personal goals. Her level of well-beingwas extremely low—three standard deviationsbelow the mean for students in the study. A secondwoman in the study had strong resources in the areaof support from friends and family members, andrated these resources as highly relevant to her goals.She was low in athleticism and money, but perceivedthese resources as unrelated to her goals.The good alignment of resources and goals for thisyoung woman was associated with a very high levelof well-being. Her level of SWB was one standarddeviation above the sample mean.The recent surge of interest in goal-relatedconcepts within psychology is, in large measure, aresult of their potential to explain how “having” and“doing” co-determine life outcomes and thereforewell-being. As soon as we ask why “having” a particularpersonal resource or life advantage leads tocertain behaviors or outcomes, we move from the“having” to the “doing.” Because goals are intimatelyinvolved in the “doing,” they help clarify the effectsof “having.” For example, an optimistic attitudetoward life has consistently been documented to berelated to higher levels of well-being. If we ask whyoptimists are happier than pessimists, the answermight seem obvious. An optimist sees the proverbialglass as being half full, while the pessimist sees theglass as being half empty. What else do we need toknow? Yet, if you consider that optimists have happiermarriages, are better workers, and enjoy betterhealth, then you begin to think about what optimistsdo that pessimists do not do (Chang, 2002a). Muchof the answer concerns differences in goals, planning,and perseverance in the face of difficulties.In this chapter, we address a number of questionsconcerning why personal goals are importantto well-being, happiness, and a meaningful life.What are goals and how are they measured? Whatneeds and purposes do goals fulfill? How are people’smultiple goals organized and structured? Interms of their impact on well-being and happiness,does it matter what goals people strive to achieve orwhy they strive to achieve them? For positive psychologists,finding answers to these questions providesa revealing look at what people are trying toaccomplish in their lives, and that, in turn, can beevaluated in terms its impact on well-being. For astudent of positive psychology, goal research andtheory offer a way to think about your own personalgoals in terms of their potential contribution to yourindividual happiness.WHAT ARE PERSONAL GOALS?Defining Personal GoalsIn their review of goal constructs in psychology,Austin and Vancouver (1996, p. 338) define goals as“. . . internal representations of desired states,where states are broadly construed as outcomes,events or processes.” Graduating from college,meeting new friends, or losing weight would exemplifygoals as outcomes, while planning a weddingISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.128 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingor having the family over for Thanksgiving wouldbe examples of goals as events. Goals as processesmight include activities that are enjoyable in theirown right, like reading, nature walks, spendingtime with friends, or working over time to developparticular skills or interests, such as woodworking,musical talents, or athletic abilities. Desired statesmay range from fulfillment of biological needs suchas hunger, to more complex and long-term desiresinvolved in developing a successful career, to “ultimateconcerns” (Emmons, 1999b) with transcendentlife meanings expressed through religious andspiritual pursuits.Karolyi’s (1999) review of the goal literaturenotes that goals may be internally represented in avariety of ways. People may have a specific imageof a desired state. For example, many people wholive in the upper Midwest, like your textbookauthors, start imagining a warm Florida beach inmid-February, after the cold and snow begin to getold. These and other images energize travel plansfor many Midwestern university students, whohead for Florida during spring break. Personalmemories, stories, and if/then scenarios that peopleuse to think about the past, present, and futuremay also represent goals. A pleasurable or painfulmemory of a past event may create plans to repeat(or avoid repeating) certain actions and outcomes.Goals in the form of achievements, aspirations, andfulfilled and unfulfilled dreams are a significantpart of an individual’s life story and personal identity(McAdams, 1996). Many of our feelings aboutthe past are related to our success or lack of successin accomplishing personally important goals,and our future can be actively imagined throughthe use of if/then and action/outcome possibilities.For example: “If I get good grades, then I can getinto graduate school.” “If I just accept who I aminstead of always trying to please others, then I willbe happier.”In summary, goals may be defined as desiredoutcomes that people expend energy trying toachieve. Goals contain both a cognitive and anemotion-motivational component. Goals are cognitivein the sense that they are mental representations ofdesired future states. These representations includebeliefs, expectations, memories, and images. Theemotion-motivational components of goals includethe positive and negative feelings associated withthinking about achieving or failing to achieve importantgoals, evaluations of goal progress, and theemotions following successful or unsuccessful goalattainment. It is this emotion-motivational componentthat energizes action in goal pursuits.Goals and Related MotivationalConceptsGoals are part of a larger motivational framework inwhich human behavior is energized and directedtoward the achievement of personally relevant outcomes.The diverse array of motivational conceptswithin psychology includes needs, motives, values,traits, incentives, tasks, projects, concerns, desires,wishes, fantasies, and dreams. These sources ofmotivation run the gamut from “trivial pursuits” to“magnificent obsessions” (Little, 1989), and fromconsciously developed plans of action, to behaviorsexpressing motives that lie outside conscious awareness.In recent years, goals have emerged as a kindof middle ground that helps to organize a variety ofmotivational concepts. Echoing this sentiment,Karolyi (1999) argued that goals make an independentcontribution to human behavior that cannot besubsumed or explained away by other motivationalconstructs. There is considerable controversy concerningthis point, especially regarding whethergoals are subsumed by, or distinct from personality(see for example McAdams, 1995; Miller & Read,1987; Read & Miller, 1998, 2002; Winter, John,Stewart, Klohnen, & Duncan, 1998). Most goalresearchers, however, would agree that goals areconnected to other sources of motivation, but theyare also distinct and separate psychological entities.A case for the unique and distinct status ofgoals, among other motivational concepts, does notmean that needs, values, traits, and other motivesare less important than goals, or that goals are morefundamental explanations for people’s actions. Infact, an important topic for this chapter is to examinehow goals may express needs, values, and selfconcept.As Karolyi (1999) argues, the increasedinterest in goal-based perspectives within psychologyreflects the value of goals as an intermediatelevel of analysis that connects, mediates, and translatesthese more general sources of motivation intoconscious awareness and intentional action. Goalshelp make sense of the diverse sources of humanmotivation by focusing their effects on the moreparticular reasons and purposes for action overtime. Personal goals offer more specific, “here-andnow”insights into people’s ongoing journeyISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 129through life, than do many of the more general andencompassing motivational perspectives. As Karolyiputs it, “goals . . . provide a glimpse into each person’son-line ‘command center’ ” (1999, p. 269).This online command center involves the individualizedtranslations of general needs and motivesinto specific expressive forms that characterizeunique individuals. For example, the need forbelongingness, while clearly an important and fundamentalhuman motive, is expressed in a limitlessvariety of behaviors and goals that vary widelyamong individuals. People might fulfill this need byhaving many casual friends, having a few closefriends, maintaining close ties to their parents andsiblings, or by committing themselves to theirmarriages and their own children. These multipleforms of potential expression are part of the reasonthat belongingness is considered fundamental anduniversal (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Self-definedpersonal goals capture how a need shared by allhumans is translated or expressed in a particularindividual’s life. Personal goals help connect thegeneral to the particular.The online command center also involves thecritical role of goals in self-regulating action overtime. (Self-regulated behavior is the topic forChapter 8.) Goals function as standards and referencepoints for the evaluation of personal growthand achievement. People’s ongoing evaluation ofhow they are doing, what new actions need to betaken, and how satisfied they are with life are, inlarge measure, determined by comparisons of theircurrent status in relation to progress toward andachievement of personally meaningful goals. Goalshelp tie together feelings about our past, evaluationsof our present, and hopes for the future.Measuring Personal GoalsResearchers differ in how they define and measurepersonal goals; however, all conceptions attempt tocapture what people are trying to accomplish in theirlives in terms of personally desirable outcomes.Goals have been described as personal concerns(Klinger, 1977, 1998), personal projects (Little, 1989,1993; Little, Salmela-Aro, & Phillips, 2007; McGregor& Little, 1998; Palys & Little, 1983), personal strivings(Emmons, 1986, 1999b, 2003), and life tasks (Cantor,1990; Cantor & Sanderson, 1999; Cantor & Zirkel,1990). Researchers typically give a brief descriptionand orienting example of the goal concept and thenask people to describe their most important currentgoals. For example, in personal project research, participantsare told, “We are interested in studying thekinds of activities and concerns that people have intheir lives. We call these personal projects. All ofus have a number of personal projects at anygiven time that we think about, plan for, carry out,and sometimes (though not always) complete”(McGregor & Little, 1998, p. 497). Examples of projectsmight include “completing my English essay”and “getting more outdoor exercise” (Little, 1989).In his study of goals conceived as personalstrivings, Emmons (1999b) instructed research participantsto consider personal strivings as “thethings you are typically or characteristically trying todo in your everyday behavior.” Participants weretold that these might be either positive objectivesthey sought, or negative events or things theywanted to avoid. They were also instructed todescribe recurring goals rather than one-time goals.Examples of personal strivings include: “trying topersuade others one is right” and “trying to helpothers in need of help.”In Cantor’s research (Cantor, 1990; Cantor &Sanderson, 1999), life tasks were introduced to participantswith the following instructions. “One wayto think about goals is to think about ‘current lifetasks.’ For example, imagine a retired person. Thefollowing three life tasks may emerge for the individualas he or she faces this difficult time: (1) beingproductive without a job; (2) shaping a satisfyingrole with grown children and their families; and(3) enjoying leisure time and activities. These specifictasks constitute important goals since the individual’senergies will be directed toward solvingthem” (Zirkel & Cantor, 1990, p. 175). Participants inthe study were then asked to describe all their currentlife tasks.Once a list of self-generated goals is obtained,researchers can ask participants to make a number ofadditional ratings that get at goal importance, goalconflict, commitment, and perceived attainability.Goals can also be grouped into categories to allowfor comparisons among individuals. Depending onthe researchers’ interests and definition of the term“goal,” goal categories might be focused on a particularlife stage, circumstance, or time-span, or on moregeneral goals that endure over time. For example,Zirkel and Cantor (1990) asked college students tosort their self-described tasks into six categories: academicsuccess, establishing future goals and plans,ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.130 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingmaking new friends, learning to be on their ownwithout their families, developing their own uniquepersonal identities, and balancing their time betweenacademics and socializing. In contrast, Emmons’(1999b) research on personal strivings asked peopleto describe goals at a higher and more general level.His research showed that personal goals can becoded into general categories such as achievement,power, affiliation or relationships, personal growthand health, independence, intimacy, and spirituality.To sum up, personal goals open up a rich assortmentof interrelated factors for well-being researchers.Goals capture the guiding purposes in people’s livesthat are central to happiness and satisfaction. As wenoted earlier, goals may be considered windows forviewing major determinants of well-being.Goal OrganizationMost goal researchers agree that goals can bearranged in a hierarchy with general, more abstract,and “higher-order” goals at the top and more concrete,specific, and “lower-order” goals at the bottom(Austin & Vancouver, 1996). Goals higher in thehierarchy are considered more important becausethey control and give meaning to many lower-ordergoals. Higher-order goals can easily be brokendown into the lower-order subgoals they control.For example, the goal of earning a college degreerequires successful achievement of numerous subgoals(e.g., meeting college entrance requirements,signing up for classes, studying, fulfilling graduationrequirements, and paying tuition). In this example,getting a degree is a higher-order and more importantgoal because it organizes and gives purpose tomany specific subgoals. Higher-order goals may alsobe more important because of the personal consequencesthat may occur if they are not achieved.The consequences of failing to obtain a collegedegree are more significant than failing one class.Clearly, if all or most subgoals are not achieved,higher-order goals will be lost as well.A variety of models have provided differentfoundations for ranking goal-related motivations interms of their personal or universal importance (seeAustin & Vancouver, 1996; Carver & Scheier, 1998; andPeterson & Seligman, 2004, for reviews). Nomotheticmodels have sought to describe relatively universalneeds, values, and goals shared by most people,while idiographic models have focused on the uniqueordering of goals by particular individuals. Whilecertain need-related and value-related goals appear tohave widespread support as being fundamental oruniversal, there is much less agreement concerninghow many goals are necessary to describe the rangeof human motivations and how they should bearranged in a hierarchic order. Research relating to theuniversal and individualized views of goal motivationswill be the next topics of discussion.THE SEARCH FOR UNIVERSALHUMAN MOTIVESIn Chapter 6, we considered the issue of whetherhappiness has a universal meaning or varies widelyacross cultures. This section examines the sameissue focused on sources of goal-related motivations.If we examined the goals and motives of peoplefrom many different cultures, what might wefind? Would there be some consensus in the needsand goals considered important around the world?Or, would we end up with an extensive list of motivationstoo long to be useful? Following in the footstepsof Maslow’s famous early work, recent studieshave revisited these questions and found someintriguing answers.Goals and the Fulfillmentof Basic Human NeedsAbraham Maslow’s classic conception of a hierarchyof human needs (1943, 1954) was one of the earliestexamples of a motivational hierarchy that attemptedto specify universal sources of human motivation.Originally describing five needs, the model laterexpanded to eight needs regarded as universalamong humans. The expansion occurred as theresult of subdividing aspects of self-actualizationinto separate needs. Each need can be thought of asmotivating a particular class of behaviors, the goalof which is need fulfillment.At the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy are basicphysiological needs necessary for survival (e.g.,needs for food and water). At the second level areneeds for safety and security—specifically needs fora safe, stable, and comforting environment in whichto live, and a coherent understanding of the world.Belongingness needs, occupying the third rung ofthe hierarchy, include people’s desires for love, intimacy,and attachment to others through family,friendship, and community relationships. Esteemneeds are fourth in the hierarchy. These include theISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 131need for positive self-regard and for approval,respect, and positive regard from others. Next in lineare cognitive needs, including needs for knowledge,self-understanding, and novelty. Aesthetic needsseek fulfillment in an appreciation of beauty, nature,form, and order. Second-to-the-top-of the hierarchyare self-actualization needs for personal growth andfulfillment. Self-actualizing individuals fully expressand realize their emotional and intellectual potentialsto become healthy and fully functioning. At thevery top of the hierarchy is the need for transcendence,including religious and spiritual needs to findan overarching purpose for life (Maslow, 1968).Maslow argued that lower-order needs takeprecedence over higher-order needs. Higher-orderneeds are not important, of interest or motivatingunless lower-order needs are first satisfied. Maslowviewed human development as the process of progressingup the hierarchy. However, shifting lifecircumstances can dictate which need commandsour attention at any given point in time. Dependingon circumstances, a person who was previouslymotivated by higher-order needs may regress to alower-order need. For example, many college studentshave experienced difficulty in finding themotivation to study (cognitive need) after a failedromantic relationship or the death of a loved one(belongingness need).Maslow’s legacy is still visible in positive psychology.For example, common assumptions amongpositive psychologists are that the more needs aperson has fulfilled, the healthier and happier thatperson will be, and that unmet needs decrease wellbeing(Veenhoven, 1995). The eudaimonic conceptionof a healthy and fully functioning person sharesmuch common ground with Maslow’s description ofa self-actualized individual (Ryan & Deci, 2000;Ryff & Keyes, 1995). However, Maslow’s hierarchyhas not received extensive research attention, andboth its universality and particular ordering of needshave been challenged (Austin & Vancouver, 1996;Peterson & Seligman, 2004). It is also easy to thinkof examples to counter the idea that higher-orderneeds are not motivating when lower-order needsare unfulfilled. People die for causes they believe in,and find solace in the love of others and in religionwhen facing terminal illness. People also sacrificetheir own needs for the benefit of others, as any parentcan tell you. Yet the basic idea that some needsare more compelling than others finds support inthe well-being literature. Recall that in very poornations, financial concerns are important to wellbeing,in all likelihood because money is essentialto the fulfillment of basic survival needs (e.g.,Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2001). In wealthy countrieswhere basic needs are fulfilled, financial factors arenot strongly predictive of happiness. This finding isin line with the idea that higher-order needs (e.g.,esteem and cognitive needs) become important onlyafter lower-order needs are met.Focus on Research: An EmpiricalMethod for Assessing Universal NeedsDespite difficulties with Maslow’s theory, the possibilityof establishing a list of universal needs remainsappealing. Such a list would help sort and organizethe diverse theories postulating widely differentneeds, values, and goals. A recent study addressedthis issue by testing 10 psychological needs ascandidates for “universal need” status (Sheldon,Elliot, Kim, & Kasser, 2001). Sheldon and his colleaguesidentified 10 needs that, based on their similarity,frequency of use, and empirical support withinthe motivational literature, might be considereduniversal (Sheldon et al., 2001, adapted from Table 1,p. 328 and Appendix p. 339):1. Self-esteem: The need to have a positive selfimage,a sense of worth, and self-respect, ratherthan a low self-opinion or feeling that one isnot as good as others.2. Relatedness: The need to feel intimate andmutually caring connections with others, andto have frequent interactions with others asopposed to feeling lonely and estranged.3. Autonomy: The need to feel that choices arefreely made and reflect true interests and values.Expressing a “true self” rather than beingforced to act because of external environmentalor social pressures.4. Competence: The need to feel successful, capable,and masterful in meeting difficult challengesrather than feeling like a failure, orfeeling ineffective or incompetent.5. Pleasure/stimulation: The need for novelty,change, and stimulating, enjoyable experiencesrather than feeling bored or feeling that life isroutine.6. Physical thriving: The need to be in good healthand to have a sense of physical well-beingrather than feeling unhealthy and out-of-shape.ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.132 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being7. Self-actualization/meaning: The need for personalgrowth and development of potentialsthat define who one really is. Finding deeperpurpose and meaning in life as opposed tofeeling stagnant or feeling that life has littlemeaning.8. Security: The need to feel safe rather thanthreatened or uncertain in your present life circumstances;a sense of coherence, control, andpredictability in life.9. Popularity/influence: The need to feel admiredand respected by other people and to feel thatyour advice is useful and important, resultingin an ability to influence others’ beliefs andbehaviors (as opposed to feeling that you havelittle influence over others and that no one isinterested in your advice or opinions).10. Money/luxury: The need for enough money tobuy what you want and to have nice possessions(as opposed to feeling poor and unableto own desirable material possessions).Sheldon and colleagues (2001) set out to evaluateeach of these needs to determine its “universality”based on two criteria. The first criterion stemsfrom the assumption that people’s most satisfyinglife experiences are related to fulfillment of importantneeds. This criterion was tested by first havingparticipants (American and South Korean collegestudents) describe their single most satisfying lifeevent. Participants were then asked to rate thedegree of relationship between each of the 10 candidateneeds and the “most satisfying” event theyhad described. The second criterion assumes thatthe experience of positive and negative emotions isrelated to need fulfillment. This criterion was testedby asking participants to rate the extent to whichthey felt 20 different positive and negative moodsassociated with satisfying and dissatisfying events.Among the most satisfying events mentioned by studentswere going on a church retreat with friends toclean up a summer camp for a service project, andgetting a dream summer job. Their most negativeevents included breaking up with a romantic partnerand being a victim of a violent assault.Overall findings provided support for the usefulnessof these two criteria. Needs were significantlyrelated to satisfying and dissatisfying events, and positiveand negative emotions were largely consistentbetween the U.S. and South Korean samples. Sheldonand colleagues make no claim that their methodpermits an exact ranking of human needs. However,based on their study, a general and speculative orderingis indicated for the list of needs described above.The numbers 1–10 reflect each need’s rank order inthe U.S. sample, based on the first criterion (eachneed’s importance and relevance to the participants’most satisfying events). The same rank-ordering ofthe top four needs emerged using the second criterion(that needs should predict event-related affect):(1) self-esteem, (2) relatedness, (3) autonomy, and(4) competence. The same four needs ranked at thetop for the South Korean sample, but their relativepositions were slightly different. Specifically, relationswith others emerged as more important than selfesteemfor South Koreans. This may reflect the differencebetween the collectivist Asian culture and theindividualistic American culture. In both samples,security, physical thriving, and self-actualization occupiedmiddle positions, while popularity-influence andmoney-luxury appeared to be relatively less important.A slightly different pattern also emerged whenstudents related the candidate needs to their most dissatisfyinglife event (e.g., failure of a romantic relationship).For unsatisfying events, the strongest predictorswere lack of self-esteem, lack of competence, andlack of security, with the absence of security beingthe most powerful of all. Taken in total, this studysuggests that self-esteem, relatedness, autonomy, andcompetence are strong candidates for consideration asuniversal human needs.Goals Expressing Fundamental ValuesFundamental values offer another way to thinkabout universality and hierarchies of human motivation.Most value theories view values as desirablestates that function as general guides or principles ofliving (see Rohan, 2000, for a review). Valuesdescribe broad and general goals that may motivatea wide range of behaviors. In a hierarchy of humangoals, ranging from concrete (e.g., cleaning yourhouse) to abstract (having a satisfying life), valueswould occupy a position near the top. A recent theoryof values addresses both the hierarchy issue anduniversality issue. Building on the work of Rokeach(1973), Schwartz and his colleagues developed acomprehensive description of 10 human valueswhose validity and shared meaning have beendemonstrated in 65 nations around the world (Sagiv &Schwartz, 1995; Schwartz, 1992, 1994; Schwartz &Bilsky, 1987, 1990; Schwartz & Sagiv, 1995).ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 133In Schwartz’s theory, values are conceived ascognitive representations of three universal requirementsfor human existence: biological needs of theindividual, needs for coordinated social interactions,and needs related to the welfare of groups andsocial institutions. Because of their assumed connectionto important requirements of life, the 10 valuesare regarded as universal across cultures. Peopleand cultures may differ in how they prioritize theirvalues. That is, how people rank order values interms of their importance will vary from person toperson and from culture to culture. A value may beimportant to one person and less important or evenunimportant to another. In Schwartz’s theory, thespecific hierarchic arrangement of values dependson the individual, group, and culture.However, despite differences in priorities,Schwartz has provided evidence showing that thecontent of 10 human values is widely shared.Schwartz describes values as “motivationaltypes” because what distinguishes one value fromanother is the type of motivating goal that eachvalue expresses. Values are regarded as relativelyenduring sources of motivation that are stable acrossadulthood (Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1992). The 10motivational types of values and relevant goals aresummarized in Table 7.1 (adapted from informationin Rohan, 2000; Schwartz, 1992).When you read through Schwartz’s descriptionsof human values, your own value priorities maybecome clearer. If you rank each value in terms of itspersonal importance, you will undoubtedly embraceTABLE 7.1 Values and related goalsMotivationalType Description GoalsPower Social status and prestige, control, dominanceover people and resourcesSocial power, authority, wealthAchievement Personal success demonstrating competenceaccording to social standardsBeing successful, capable, influential, hardworking,efficient, achieving goalsHedonism Pleasures and sensual gratification of oneself Pleasure, enjoyment of food, sex, leisure, etc.Stimulation Excitement, novelty, challenge in life Adventure, risk-taking, need for change, newexperiences, exciting experiencesSelf-direction Independent thought, action and choice;creating and exploringCreativity, freedom, independence, curiosity,choosing one’s own goalsUniversalism Understanding, appreciation, toleranceand protection of the welfare of all peopleand of natureBeing broadminded, seeking wisdom, social justice,fairness, a world of peace, beauty, unity withnature and safe-guarding the environmentBenevolence Preservation and enhancement of the welfareof people with whom you are in frequentcontact (e.g., family, friends, co-workers)Helpfulness, honesty, sincerity, genuineness,forgiveness, loyalty to others, responsibility,dependability, reliabilityTradition Respect, commitment and acceptanceof customs and ideas that traditional cultureand religion provide about the selfHumility, modesty, moderation, acceptance of lifecircumstances, devout adherence to religious faithand beliefs, respect for time-honored traditionsConformity Restraint of actions and impulses likelyto harm others and violate social normsand expectationsPoliteness, courtesy, obedience in meetingobligations, self-discipline, honoring parentsand eldersSafety Safety, harmony and stability of society,relationships and selfSecurity of loved ones, national security, socialorder, cleanliness, neatness, reciprocation of favors,avoidance of indebtednessISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.134 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingsome values more than others. You can probably alsothink of differences among people you know in termsof value priorities. Some people value stimulation andare always looking for excitement, like to take risks,and get bored easily. Conservative and religiousmindedpeople may place high importance ontradition in Schwartz’s value scheme.The connection between goals and values isexplicit in Schwartz’s theory because values aredefined as broad goals that apply to many situationsand remain stable across time. Some of your mostpersonally important goals are probably related toone of the 10 values. A helping professional’s careergoals, for example, may express the importance of abenevolence value. Because values help define ourpersonal identities and serve as general principles ofliving, they represent some of our most important,and therefore, higher-order goals. The fact that thevalues described by Schwartz are shared across culturesargues for their universal importance.Personal Goals Across CulturesAttempts to delineate universal needs and valuesfind a counterpart in a recent study of the contentof human goals across 15 cultures (Grouzet et al.,2005). This study provides evidence that the contentand organization of personal goals and theirconnection to fundamental needs and values areshared across cultures.Nearly 2,000 college students participated in thestudy representing Western and Eastern Europe,Australia, East Asia, South America, the United States,and Canada. Based on previous studies, Grouzet andcolleagues developed a questionnaire to assess theindividual importance of 11 different goals. A descriptionof each goal is given in Table 7.2 (adapted fromGrouzet et al., 2005, Table 1, p. 802).Multiple questionnaire items were used to assesseach of the 11 goals. Participants rated each itemaccording to its importance as a future life goal, on ascale of 1 (not at all important) to 9 (extremely important).Overall, the content of the 11 goals appears tobe widely shared across cultures. Goal measuresshowed acceptable levels of internal reliability andcross-culture equivalence. More importantly, analysisof participant ratings showed a consistent, coherent,and similar pattern for each of the 15 cultures. Basedon the statistical pattern of responses, the content ofpersonal goals showed a clear two-dimensional structureacross different cultures, as shown in Figure 7.1.People in each culture organized the 11 personalgoals in similar ways. The two goal dimensionswere intrinsic-oriented versus extrinsic-orientedgoals, and physical versus self-transcendence goals.Each component of the two dimensions was shownTABLE 7.2 Personal goals across culturesGoal DescriptionAffiliation Having satisfying relationships with family and friendsCommunity feeling Making the world a better place through giving and activismConformity Fitting in and being accepted by othersFinancial success Being financially successfulHedonism Having many sensually pleasurable experiencesImage Having an appealing appearance that others find attractivePhysical health Being physically healthy and free of sicknessPopularity Being admired by others, well-known or famousSafety Able to live without threats to personal safety and securitySelf-acceptance Feeling competent, self-aware, self-directed and autonomousSpirituality Developing a spiritual/religious understanding of the worldISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 135Conformity CommunityPopularityImageExtrinsic IntrinsicPhysical selfFinancialSuccessHedonismSafetyAffiliationSelf-acceptancePhysicalHealthSpiritualitySelf-transcendenceFIGURE 7.1 Two-Dimensional Representation of 11 Goals Across CulturesSource: Grouzet, F. M. E., Kasser, T., Ahuvia, A., Dols, J. M. F., Kim, Y., Lau, S., et al. (2005). Thestructure of goal contents across 15 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89,800–816. Copyright American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.to be internally consistent and in opposition to itscounterpart. That is, people who rated intrinsic goalsas important in their lives also rated extrinsicgoals as less important. Those giving high ratings togoals related to physical pleasure and survival gavelower ratings to self-transcendent goals.INTRINSIC VERSUS EXTRINSIC GOALS Intrinsic goalsare defined by their connection to important psychologicalneeds that are assumed to make their pursuitand fulfillment inherently satisfying. Of the 11 goalsmeasured in this study, intrinsic goals included selfacceptance,affiliation, community feeling, physicalhealth, and safety. Extrinsic goals express desires forexternal rewards or praise and admiration from othersand are assumed to be less inherently or deeplysatisfying when pursued or attained. Extrinsic goalsincluded financial success, image, popularity, andconformity. Goals on this dimension showed highinternal consistency.PHYSICAL VERSUS SELF-TRANSCENDENT GOALSGoals associated with the physical versus selftranscendencedimension showed less internalconsistency and some overlap with intrinsic andextrinsic goals. Some pleasure/survival and selftranscendencegoals may also have intrinsic andextrinsic components. Physical goals were defined byhedonism (seeking pleasure and avoiding pain) andneeds for safety, security, and good health. Financialsuccess, interpreted as the means to achieve physicalgoals, was also associated with this dimension.Self-transcendence goals encompassed needs for aspiritual/religious understanding of life, communityfeeling promoted by benefiting others and improvingthe world, and conformity needs reflecting desires tofulfill social obligations and be accepted by others.Taken as a template for the content of humangoals, this study suggests that personal goals can beclassified according to how much importance peopleassign to intrinsic psychological needs as opposed toextrinsic rewards on one hand, and how much valueis given to physical pleasures and survival ratherthan self-transcendent spiritual understandingson the other. The authors conclude, “. . . as theyapproach their goals in life, people apparently takeinto consideration their psychological needs (intrinsic),their physical survival and pleasure (physical),ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.136 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingtheir desires for rewards and praise (extrinsic), andtheir quest to have a meaningful place in the broaderworld (self-transcendence)” (Grouzet et al., 2005, p.813).Needs, values, and goals that are endorsed bymany cultures necessarily have general rather thanspecific content. Their universality stems fromshared human experience and their basis in the biological,psychological, and social requirements oflife. The particular expression of goal-related motivationsobviously does vary among cultures andbetween individuals. For example, opportunities todevelop individualized career goals and fulfill financialaspirations are clearly more limited in poorcountries than in rich ones. Just as clearly, peoplewithin the same culture, given the opportunity andsufficient resources, pursue a wide array of careersbased on their unique talents, desires, and selfconceptions.In other words, the general content andprioritization of personal goals is clearly influencedby culture, but the specifics of a person’s goals andhis or her manner of expression are highly individualized.Recent theories give personal goals a prominentrole in people’s self-understanding andself-initiated goal strivings, and they help explainhow general goals and motivations become personalizedwithin each person’s unique self-conception.THE PERSONALIZATION OF GOALSIN SELF-CONCEPTSuppose you were given the task of writing a relativelycomplete personal history that covered significantlife experiences from your past, who you arein the present, and where you’re headed in thefuture. What would such a description include?Certainly you would write about important lifeexperiences, significant relationships, and the personalqualities and traits that define who you are asa unique individual. Odds are that you would alsodescribe personally relevant goals that you haveachieved in the past, goals that you are working toaccomplish in the present, and goals that you hopeto achieve in the future. In short, our self-concept ispartly defined by goals that extend across time frompast, through present, to future—who I’ve been,who I am now, and who I might become.The aspect of self-concept defined by futuregoals is captured in the idea of “possible selves” asdescribed by Markus and Nurius (1986). Possibleselves encompass all the potential futures we canimagine for ourselves. Future selves may be positive,in the form of ideal selves that we want tobecome, or negative, in the form of selves that weare afraid of becoming. Possible selves we hope tobecome might include a physically fit self, a wealthyself, a popular self, a loved self, a respected self, ora successful, “A-student” self. Selves we fear becomingmight be an overweight self, an unemployedself, a depressed or anxious self, a lonely self, a lazyself, or an academically failing self.A person’s self-concept plays an important rolein processing information, regulating emotion, andmotivating behavior (see Baumeister, 1998; Markus &Wurf, 1987; Pittman, 1998, for reviews). Possibleselves are most relevant to the third function ofself—the motivational view (see Markus & Nurius,1986; Markus & Wurf, 1987). This is because possibleselves provide a connection between the past,present, and desired future self and therefore providemotivation for self-change. As Markus andNurius note, past, present, and future possibleselves are distinct and separable, but are also intimatelyconnected. Consider a young college womanworking toward her degree who, as a child, experiencedthe divorce of her parents and the resultingfinancial hardship suffered by her mother and siblings.This hardship was partly due to her mother’slack of education and inability to get a good job. Itis not hard to imagine how this life event mightinfluence this student’s thinking about her presentand future self. Her present, college-student selfmay be derived and motivated, in part, by a desireto avoid the past self represented by her mother’sexperience, and her possible selves would likelyinclude images of a successful career and financialindependence.The idea of possible selves makes an explicitconnection between the self and motivation. “Anindividual’s repertoire of possible selves can beviewed as the cognitive manifestations of enduringgoals, aspirations, motives, fears and threats. Possibleselves provide the specific self-relevant form, meaning,organization, and direction to these dynamics.As such, they provide the essential link between theself-concept and motivation” (Markus & Nurius,1986, p. 954). In other words, possible selves personalizethe form and content of more general needs,values, and goals. In the example above, the youngwoman’s motivation for college could be thought ofas expressing a general need for achievement, or thevalue of security achieved through a successfulISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 137career. However, such explanations, while perhapsrevealing at a general level, would miss the uniquebasis and specific content of the young woman’smotivation for college. That is, goals are not typicallythought of or pursued in the abstract. We may allhave achievement needs, and we may all valuesecurity, but for a particular individual, it is “my”achievement of “my” goals that is most important,meaningful, and motivating. As Markus and Nuriusdescribe it, “there is a piece of self” in each of ourpersonal goals (1986, p. 961).The self is increasingly recognized as animportant basis for understanding the what, why,and how of goal-directed behavior, and the relationof goals to happiness and well-being (e.g.,Brunstein, Schultheiss, & Grassman, 1998; Deci &Ryan, 2000; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade,2005; Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). Our self-conceptionhelps answer questions concerning what goals wechoose to pursue and why they are important. Theself can be viewed as translating broader sources ofmotivation into their unique individual expression,assigning importance to particular goal-directedactions (Markus & Nurius, 1986; Markus & Wurf,1987; Vallacher & Wegner, 1987), and serving anexecutive function in the control and regulation ofbehavior toward goal achievement (e.g., Austin &Vancouver, 1996; Baumeister, 1998; Carver &Scheier, 1998; Higgins, 1996; Karolyi, 1999). Manyresearchers would give self-defining goals a topposition in a hierarchy of goal-related motivations.Among our many goals, aspirations, needs, and values,those most central to our sense of self arelikely to be most important in organizing anddirecting our lives.WHAT GOALS CONTRIBUTE MOSTTO WELL-BEING?Goal Progress, Achievement,and ImportanceResearch supports the general notion that progressingtoward and achieving personally important goalsincreases people’s satisfaction with their livesand themselves (e.g., Brunstein, 1993; Cantor &Sanderson, 1999; Emmons, 1996; Emmons & Kaiser,1996; McGregor & Little, 1998). For example, asemester-long study found that students’ perceivedprogress toward achieving their personal goals wassignificantly correlated with increases in positiveemotion and life satisfaction (Brunstein, 1993).Student goals included such things as improving arelationship with a romantic partner, learningenough Spanish to study in Spain, becoming moreindependent from parents, and learning to be moreassertive and confident with others.Research also supports a general relationshipbetween goal importance and personal satisfaction.Goals that express fundamental and self-definingaspects of personal identity are likely to be the mostdeeply satisfying when pursued and achieved.Although mundane activities such as fixing a meal,cleaning your house, and paying bills can bring somesatisfaction, these goals are relatively less importantto our self-conception and therefore tend to producesmaller and more temporary effects on well-being.Do these conclusions mean that, as long asthey are important to us, it doesn’t matter muchwhich goals we pursue or why we choose to pursuethem? At first thought, the answer may seem tobe yes. After all, why would a person expendenergy trying to achieve a goal if it didn’t havesome importance, and if it is important, shouldn’tprogress or attainment increase feelings of wellbeing?But several important qualifications temperthis general conclusion. Not all personally importantgoals and not all progress toward goalachievement lead to increased satisfaction. Boththe content of a goal and the reasons for pursuingit have been found to affect well-being. Ourreview of goal research for this chapter focuses onboth the “what” of goal content and the “why” ofgoal motivations, and how each affects well-being.That is, what types of goals and underlying goalmotives are related to enhanced happiness andwell-being?Goals whose effects on well-being depend primarilyon self-regulation issues will be discussed inChapter 8. The well-being outcomes for some goalsare largely determined by the ease or difficulty peopleexperience in regulating their actions and stayingon course toward goal achievement. Forexample, the pursuit of avoidance or abstract goalscreates a host of self-regulation problems.The Matching HypothesisA number of studies support a matching hypothesisas a way of sorting out which goals lead to increasedwell-being and which do not (see Harackiewicz &Sansone, 1991; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). TheISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.138 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingmatching hypothesis suggests that the degree ofperson-goal fit determines the effect of goal progressand goal achievement on well-being. Pursuit of goalsthat express or fulfill (i.e., “match”) an individual’sneeds, values, motives, or self-conception is morelikely to increase well-being than pursuit of goals thatdo not fit or match with the person. In other words, ifyou want to increase your happiness and well-being,the “right” goals to pursue are those that fit andexpress your most important needs, desires, andsense of self. The “wrong” goals are those that areunrelated to these deeper, enduring personal characteristics.The personal characteristics that underliegoals may be unique to the individual or shared by allpeople. For example, goals related to belongingnessneeds may make successful relationships and socialinteractions universally important to well-being.To test the matching hypothesis, researchersobtain measures of underlying motivations (suchas needs, values, or aspects of self) and ask participantsto generate a list of important personalgoals. Participants’ goal-related activities andefforts, and their perceived progress towardachieving goals are also assessed. These measuresare then related to assessments of well-beingacross some time period. The matching hypothesisis supported if goal-directed activities andprogress that are related to the underlying motiveshow higher positive correlations with well-beingthan goals that are unrelated to such a motive.A number of studies have found support forthis underlying motive-goal-well-being relationship.For example, one study investigated therelationship between goals and two fundamentalmotives, defined as agency and communion(Brunstein et al., 1998). Agency refers to needs forachievement, power, mastery, independence, andself-assertion. Communion refers to needs foraffiliation and intimacy, as expressed in a desireto form close relationships with others. Peoplevary in the relative importance of these twogeneral motivations. Some of us are primarily orientedtoward agency and others toward communion.Brunstein and his colleagues examinedwhether goal-motive congruence (or incongruence)predicted well-being.In two studies, one spanning 2 weeks and theother a semester, college students were classified aseither agency-motivated or communion-motivatedbased on established measures assessing the relativedominance of each motive.The relationship between personal goals andagency–communion motives was assessed by askingstudents to describe specific, current and futuregoals related to each motive. Goals related toagency were defined as “striving for achievementand mastery experiences,” and “striving for independence,social influence, and self reliance.”Personal goals relating to communion were definedas “striving for intimacy and interpersonal closeness,”and “striving for affiliation and friendly socialcontacts.” Examples of goals reflecting an agencymotive included improving understanding of a particularsubject, becoming a more independentperson, winning an athletic competition, andconvincing parents that “my college major is theright thing for me.” Communion-related goalsincluded such things as improving a romantic relationship,being more helpful to a sick mother,spending more time with friends, and developingnew friendships with fellow dorm mates. Studentsalso made various ratings of progress, commitment,attainability, effort, and success in relation to theirpersonal goals and recorded daily well-being atselected intervals.Results provide strong support for the matchinghypothesis. Students who were achieving personalgoals congruent with their underlyingmotive-orientation showed increased well-beingover the course of the study. This was true for studentswho focused either on achievement (agency)or on relationships (communion). Conversely, studentsprogressing toward motive-incongruent goals,or who were not achieving motive-congruent goals,showed lower levels (or even declines) in wellbeing.The important point of the matching hypothesisis that the happiness we obtain from fulfillingour goals depends on their fit with our primarymotives in life. You can easily imagine a college studentwho excels academically, but is unhappybecause he wants, but does not have, many closefriends. Similarly, an outgoing student enjoying anactive social life may be unhappy because she has astrong need to succeed in college, but is strugglingacademically. In short, not all our goal achievementsmake us happier.In a similar vein, our fundamental values alsohelp determine what goals and activities bring usthe most satisfaction. A recent study examined collegestudents’ value-orientation in moderating thedegree of satisfaction gained from different types ofactivities (Oishi, Diener, Suh, & Lucas, 1999). TheISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 13910 values in Schwartz’s value theory (discussed earlierin this chapter) were used to ascertain participants’value priorities. The 10 values were paired inall possible combinations, and participants wereasked to identify which value in each pair held thehigher priority for them. This process yielded a prioritizedlist of each person’s values. Participantsalso rated their daily well-being across 23 days,gave satisfaction ratings for value-related activities,rated global life satisfaction, and rated satisfactionin the specific life domains of romantic relationships,finances, grades, family, and social life.Consistent with the matching hypothesis, success invalue-congruent life domains and activities correlatedsignificantly with both global and daily wellbeing.For example, the global life satisfactionratings of students who placed high importance onthe value of Achievement were heavily influencedby their degree of satisfaction with their mostimportant achievement domain of life—namely,college grades. The global satisfaction ratings ofthose who prioritized Benevolence were mostaffected by their success in the domain of sociallife; for those prioritizing Conformity (honoring parentsand elders), the greatest impact came fromtheir degree of satisfaction with family life. Dailywell-being was also significantly related to activitiesthat engaged students’ most important values.Whether students had a “good” day had much to dowith whether they had engaged in activities thatexpressed their most important values. Students prioritizingUniversalism (justice, peace, preservingthe environment) reported that recycling efforts andinvolvement in civic affairs were very satisfying,while activities like shopping and buying expensiveclothes were more satisfying to students whoplaced a premium on Power (prestige and wealth).Overall, a student’s value priorities had a determiningeffect on what areas of life and what activitieswere the most satisfying.What Explains the MatchingHypothesis?The matching hypothesis suggests a simple answerto the question of which goals do or do not enhancewell-being. Goals that fit a person’s needs, values,and sense of self are likely to increase well-being,while goals that are mismatched with the person willlikely lead to no change, or perhaps even to diminishedwell-being. What explains the importance ofperson-goal fit for the satisfaction we obtain from thepursuit and achievement of our goals?PERSONAL GOALS AND SELF-REALIZATION Waterman(1990, 1993) suggests that goals fitting with coreaspects of the self (such as deeply held values) produceintense feelings of involvement, meaningfulness,and satisfaction because they express our “true selves”and our inner potentials. Personally expressive goalactivities provide a strong sense of life purpose: “Thisis who I am and this is what I was meant to do.” Inshort, to the extent that our goals match and expressour core sense of self, they become avenues for selfrealizationand self-fulfillment. Such goals acquireparticular value and a deeper meaning becausetheir achievement affirms and completes our senseof self (Vallacher & Wegner, 1987; Wicklund &Gollwitzer, 1982).Personally expressive goals are particularlyimportant to eudaimonic well-being (i.e., to wellbeingrelated to meaning, vitality, and healthy functioning),as opposed to hedonic well-being (which isdefined by positive emotions and life satisfaction)(see Chapter 2). From a eudaimonic perspective, it ispossible for some goals to increase our happiness,but not contribute to increased meaning or vitality.For example, a college student may be happy withhis part-time job because it is easy and providesenjoyable relations with co-workers (in other words,the job has high hedonic value). However, the workrequired by the job may not be personally meaningfulif it does not engage significant aspects of hisidentity and talents (low eudaimonic value). Thereverse can also be true. A goal may be unpleasantto carry out (low hedonic value), but personallymeaningful (high eudaimonic value). Being a goodparent, for example, requires many unpleasant tasks,such as changing dirty diapers, saying “no” to someof your children’s requests, and taking care of sickchildren. Yet, people regard raising kids as one oflife’s most deeply satisfying experiences (Kahneman,Krueger, Schkade, Schwarz, & Stone, 2004).Research supports these distinctions. A varietyof goal achievements may increase our hedonicenjoyment. However, achieving goals that expressour authentic or true selves seems to contributemost to an enhanced sense of meaning and purposein life, and to greater psychological health and vitality(e.g., McGregor & Little, 1998; Ryan & Deci, 2000;Sanderson & Cantor, 1995; Sheldon & Elliot, 1999;Sheldon & Kasser, 1995; Sheldon, Ryan, Rawsthorne,ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.140 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being& Ilardi, 1997). McGregor and Little (1998) foundthat success in accomplishing non-expressive goalswas more strongly related to increased happinessthan to increased meaning. Just the opposite wasfound for goals expressing core aspects of self. Selfdefininggoals were associated with an increasedsense of purpose and meaningfulness in life, butless with increased happiness. One explanation forthe well-being effects of person-goal matching mayinvolve the satisfaction derived from personallyexpressive goals. Such goals seem particularlyrelated to enhanced eudaimonic well-being.INTRINSIC VERSUS EXTRINSIC GOALS Earlier in thischapter, in the section on “Personal Goals AcrossCultures,” the general differences between intrinsicand extrinsic goals were described. The basis for thedistinction has to do with whether the purpose of anactivity is defined primarily by internal or externalrewards (Pittman, 1998; Waterman et al., 2003).Intrinsic goals have much in common with personallyexpressive goals, as discussed above. Intrinsicmotivation refers to reasons for engaging in an activitythat are focused on the activity itself. The reward,value, and goal of the activity are intrinsic to the“doing.” That is, the activity acts as its own rewardbecause it is enjoyable, highly interesting, or personallyexpressive, or creates feelings of intenseinvolvement and mastery. In contrast, the reasonsthat define extrinsic motivation are focused on outcomes.The activity is a means to an end, where theend is a desirable outcome. The value or purpose ofthe activity is defined, not by the “doing,” but by theend result.Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and goalsare not inherently incompatible. Most would agreethat an ideal job is one that is personally satisfyingin terms of permitting the expression of our interestsand talents (intrinsic), and also provides anincome that supports a comfortable material life(extrinsic). However, research has shown that problemsand dissatisfaction may result if the pursuit ofextrinsic goals interferes with fulfillment of theintrinsically satisfying goals that determine happinessand well-being. Kasser and Ryan (1993) suggestthat extrinsic goals can lead to negativeconsequences when they become a person’s dominantmotivation. The intrinsic–extrinsic distinctionoffers a second explanation for the matchinghypothesis. Goals that match with the person aremore likely to be intrinsically satisfying. Goals thatdo not match may have extrinsic value, but do notnecessarily increase well-being.AUTONOMOUS VERSUS CONTROLLED MOTIVATIONA third explanation for the positive relation betweenperson-goal matching and well-being concernsone’s reasons for pursuing a goal. Self-concordancetheory is a recent line of thinking that describes howthe reasons behind goal pursuit are critical to wellbeingoutcomes (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). Researchsupporting the theory suggests that pursuing goalsfor the “right” reasons leads to better goal achievementand personal adjustment. According to selfconcordancetheory, the “right reasons” have to dowith “. . . the feelings of ownership that peoplehave (or do not have) regarding their self-initiatedgoals” (Sheldon & Houser-Marko, 2001, p. 152).Sheldon and his colleagues have found that “not allpersonal goals are personal” in terms of how peopleexperience them (Sheldon & Elliot, 1998, p. 546).Self-concordant goals reflect autonomous motivesand freely chosen reasons for goal pursuit that generatefeelings of ownership and personal expressivenessand lead to increased well-being. Incontrast, controlled motivation refers to cases inwhich people pursue goals that they have not freelychosen, or that are not personally expressive. Forexample, let’s say one student is given the opportunityto write a research paper on a topic of greatpersonal interest and relevance to him, whileanother student is assigned by her professor to writea paper on a topic that has nothing to do with herinherent interests. Concordance theory would predictgreater enjoyment, fulfillment, and well-beingfor the student who experiences personal ownershipof his task because he freely chose it, andwhose task provides him with an opportunity forpersonal expressiveness. In the case of the assignedwriting project, the writer may not internalize or feela strong sense of ownership of the goal. This mayreduce both the effort expended to achieve the goaland the emotional benefits of goal attainment.The autonomous motives that define selfconcordancemay contribute to the well-beingeffects of person-goal matching. It seems likely thatgoals which match an individual’s needs, values,and personal identity would also be freely chosenand experienced with the sense of ownershipdescribed by self-concordant theory. In other words,matched goals may also be self-concordant goals.Some amount of the increased well-being associatedISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 141with matching may be due to this connection withself-concordance.The distinction between autonomous and controlledmotivations also suggests an important qualificationto the matching hypothesis. Even a goal thatfits the person may not increase well-being if thatgoal is not also freely chosen. Many careers might fitour interests, talents, and values, but it is the careerwe, ourselves select that will likely produce thestrongest commitment and lead to the greatest satisfaction.Matching, by itself, may not be sufficient toensure increased well-being from working towardand achieving our goals. Both the “right goals” andthe “right reasons” seem to be necessary.Focus on Research: Happinessand Success in CollegeDo students’ reasons for attending college make adifference in terms of academic success and satisfactionwith college life? This was the general questionSheldon and Houser-Marko (2001) addressed whenthey conducted a study to test self-concordancetheory. They examined the relationships betweenself-concordant goals and measures of success, wellbeing,and adjustment during freshmen students’first year of college. They were interested in twospecific questions. First, do students coming to collegewith self-concordant goals fare better than studentswith non-concordant goals? Second, can theincreased happiness derived from goal progress andachievement be maintained and provide the basisfor further enhanced well-being, or do people slipback to their original levels of happiness?Following earlier work on self-determinationtheory (Deci & Ryan, 1991; see Chapter 2), the extentof self-concordance was defined according to fourdegrees of internalization and ownership: external,introjected, identified, and intrinsic. Each term refersto different reasons for pursuing a particular goal,with these reasons varying along a continuum fromcontrolled/imposed to autonomous/freely-chosen(Sheldon & Houser-Marko, 2001). The followingdescriptions and example items (arranged from leasttomost-autonomous) summarize concepts presentedby Sheldon and Houser-Marko (2001, p. 155).External motives refer to the rewards,approval, praise, or situational demands that explainwhy we strive for a goal. These motives are themost controlled and least self-concordant. Exampleitem: “You strive for this goal because somebodyelse wants you to, or because the situation seems tocompel it.”Introjected motives involve negative emotionswe may experience if we don’t try to attaincertain goals. These motives are also consideredto reflect controlled motives and therefore are notself-concordant. Example item: “You strive for thisgoal because you would feel ashamed, guilty, oranxious if you didn’t.”Identified motives involve valuing a goalbecause of its personal importance, though peoplemay sometimes come to value a goal because of theinfluence of others. For example, a teacher mightfoster respect for the environment among her students.In this case, the original source of the goal isexternal. However, “identified” means that others (inthis case, the students) have internalized the goaland made it their own. Example item: “You strive forthis goal because you really believe it’s an importantgoal to have.”Intrinsic motives involve emotional pleasureand enjoyment derived from pursuing a goal.Intrinsic motives are the most autonomous and selfconcordantgoal motives. Example item: “You strivefor this goal because of the enjoyment or stimulationwhich that goal provides you.”Nearly 200 freshmen at the University ofMissouri–Columbia were asked to list their eightmost important personal goals as they entered theirfirst semester of college. Getting good grades, gettinginvolved in campus organizations, makingfriends, not gaining weight, and maintaining weeklycontact with parents were among the goals studentsdescribed. Students categorized their reasons forpursuing each goal according to the four motivesdescribed above. Twice each semester students alsorated how well they were progressing toward eachof their eight goals. At the beginning of the springsemester, students could revise their list of eightgoals or retain the ones they had listed in the fall.Students’ reasons for college attendance weremeasured and classified according to the four levelsalong the autonomous-to-controlled continuum ofmotivation. For example, did students feel they “hadto” attend college because of parental pressure,because all their friends were going, or because theybelieved that college was the only way to get arewarding career (external motives)? Would theyfeel guilty or anxious if they didn’t go, perhapsbecause they worried they would disappoint theirparents, or be unable to get a good job (introjectedISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.142 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingmotives)? Was college attendance motivated by thepersonal importance and value of a college educationthat they may have been taught by parents orhigh school teachers (identified motives)? Or wasthe primary motivation for college based on theanticipated enjoyment and stimulation that resultfrom encountering intellectual challenge, meetingnew friends, learning about new ideas and peoplewith different lifestyles, and being on their own,away from family (intrinsic motives)?Well-being measures were taken several timesduring each semester. Students completed measuresof social/emotional/academic adjustment to collegeand measures of their progress toward establishinghealthy personal, social, and occupational identities.Academic performance was assessed by students’fall and spring semester grades. Parents and peersalso rated each student in the study on several of thewell-being and motivation measures to provide avalidity check of student responses.Results support the importance of pursuingself-concordant goals. Students with self-concordantgoals did better than those with less concordantgoals. In the first-semester phase of the study, studentswho had expressed identified and intrinsicreasons for college attendance and specific semestergoals were more likely to earn grades higherthan predicted by their scores on a college placementtest called the ACT, and were more likely toattain their personal goals. In turn, goal attainmentwas predictive of better social, emotional, and academicadjustment to college, clearer personal identitydevelopment, and an increased likelihood ofadopting even more self-concordant goals in thesecond-semester phase of the study. The secondsemesterphase examined whether the benefits ofself-concordant goal attainment would be maintainedand provide a basis for further increases inwell-being. Many students lost some of the wellbeingthey had gained during the first semester, andsuch losses were related to poor progress towardpersonal goals in the second semester. However,those students who continued to make progresstoward their personal goals in the second semesterwere able to maintain and, in some cases, evenincrease beyond previous gains in well-being. Thislatter finding suggests the possibility of an upwardincrease in well-being similar to the one describedby Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positiveemotions (see Chapter 3).According to Fredrickson’s theory, positiveemotions help build personal resources that contributeto greater effectiveness and health, therebyproducing an upward spiral of well-being. In a similarfashion, self-concordant goals expressing intrinsicand identified motivations appear to contribute togreater goal success which, in turn, increases wellbeing.Enhanced well-being may then increase thelikelihood of pursuing additional self-concordantgoals in the future, thus contributing to greater wellbeingand continuing the upward spiral of increasedhappiness and well-being. Sheldon and Houser-Marko (2001) note that keeping this cycle going ishard work because, as their data show, the upwardspiral of well-being seems to require continued successin attaining personal goals. Given the uncertaintiesof life and setbacks in achieving our goals,the risk of backsliding to baseline levels of wellbeingis difficult to avoid (see Chapter 5 for a discussionof adaptation processes). However, Sheldonand Houser-Marko speculate that if increased wellbeingcan be sustained long enough, perhaps anindividual may permanently alter her level ofexpected happiness and adopt a new sense of selfas a happy person. This, in turn, might create a selffulfillingprophecy in which the person thinks, feels,and acts in ways that sustain the new self-definition.We began this section with the question,“Which goals contribute most to well-being?” Researchprovides the following answers: Goals that (1) fit ormatch a person’s needs, values, and motives; (2) aredeeply expressive of personal identity; (3) are orientedtoward intrinsically satisfying activities; and(4) have been autonomously chosen. By implication,goals that are less likely to increase well-being havethe opposite characteristics (i.e., goals that are mismatched,disconnected from identity, extrinsic, andarise from controlled origins). Our discussion ofgoals that are related and unrelated to increased lifesatisfaction provides a basis for understanding a welldocumentedfinding in positive psychology concerningmaterialistic goals. People who give high goalpriority to the pursuit of money, possessions, socialrecognition, and physical appearance are likely to beunhappy. Studies reviewed in Chapter 6 concludedthat, beyond the point necessary to satisfy basicneeds, more money does not have any appreciablepositive effect on personal happiness. Research onmaterialistic life goals not only affirms this conclusion,but also suggests that the single-minded pursuit ofmoney can cause unhappiness.ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 143MATERIALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTSPsychologists will hopefully excuse our play onFreud’s classic work, Civilization and Its Discontents(Freud, 1961, initially published in 1930), for the titleof this section. The thematic parallels between thediscontents of civilization and the discontents ofmaterialism are strong. Freud described the frustrations,sufferings, and dilemmas that result from theinevitable conflict between the self-centered needsof individuals and the co-operative and self-sacrificingrequirements of civilized society. Studies ofmaterialism seem to describe a similar dilemmabetween what Ryan (2002, p. ix) referred to as the“religions of consumerism and materialism” in affluentsocieties and the unhappiness that befalls theirfaithful followers.Materialism and consumption can be blamedfor any number of macro-level social and environmentalills, from the great divide between the“haves” and the “have-nots” to global warming andenvironmental degradation. Psychological studiesoffer a more micro-level view of the individual consequencesof materialistic life aspirations. Theresearch literature documents many personal problemsthat are both causes and consequences ofmaterialism. Recent theories help explain how materialisticaspirations undermine well-being and whypeople may come to embrace materialistic life values.We begin with a review of one of the first studiesto show the discontents of materialism.In an article titled, “A dark side of theAmerican dream: Correlates of financial success as acentral life aspiration,” Kasser and Ryan (1993)examined the relationship between college students’life priorities and measures of well-being. The relativeimportance of four goals was used to assess students’central life aspirations. Life aspirations wereassessed in two ways: a measure of guiding principlesand an aspiration index. The guiding principlesmeasure asked students to rank-order the importanceof five values: money, family security, globalwelfare, spirituality, and hedonic enjoyment. Thelife aspirations index involved rating the importanceand likelihood of attaining four goals. Severalspecific statements represented each goal. Selfacceptancerefers to people’s desire for personalautonomy, psychological growth, and self-esteem.Examples of statements that students rated for thisgoal were: “At the end of your life you will lookback on your life as meaningful and complete.”“You will be in charge of your life.” “You will knowand accept who you really are.” Affiliation goalswere defined by the importance of family and goodfriends. Specific statements included: “You will havegood friends that you can count on.” “You will shareyour life with someone you love.” “You will havepeople who care about you and who are supportive.”Community feeling reflects a desire to makethe world a better place by contributing to the commongood. Statements in this category included:“You will help others improve their lives.” “You willdonate time or money to charity.” “You will workfor the betterment of society.” Financial success isrelated to the importance placed on attaining wealthand material success. Statements in this goal categoryincluded: “You will be financially successful.”“You will have a high-status job.” “You will buythings just because you want them.”Assessment of health and well-being includedmeasures of self-actualization, vitality, control orientation,and several measures of physical and emotionalhealth. The self-actualization measureassessed accurate perceptions of reality, sense ofsocial interest, personal autonomy, and engagementin relationships. The vitality measure assessed thedegree to which people feel energetic, vigorous,and “alive” in their physical and mental activities.Control orientation refers to the relative importanceof external factors and rewards in shaping a person’smotives and goals.In three separate studies involving nearly 500young adults, Kasser and Ryan (1996) found a consistentinverse relationship between financial aspirationsand well-being. In other words, placing high priorityon financial success was related to lower well-being.Specifically, those people who rated the extrinsicgoals of wealth and material success as more importantthan the intrinsic goals (such as self-acceptance,affiliation, and contributions to the community)showed lower levels of self-actualization, life vitality,and social adjustment, and greater depression andanxiety. It is important to note that the key variablehere is the dominance of financial aspirations overother life goals. It was not financial aspirations per sethat were related to lower well-being. Diminishedhealth and well-being were found only for those peoplewho consistently rated finances as more importantthan the other three goals. Other studies foundthat, in addition to financial success, emphases onsocial recognition, social status, and physical appearancewere also related to lower well-being (Kasser,2002; Kasser & Ryan, 1996).ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.144 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being1.000.60.40.20.00.20.4Standardized Importance ScoresLife Satisfaction4.00MoneyLove7.0FIGURE 7.2 The Importance Assigned to Love and Moneyin Relationship to Self-Reported Life SatisfactionSource: Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2002). Will moneyincrease subjective well-being? A literature review andguide to needed research. Social Indicators Research, 57,119–169. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishing. Reprintedby permission.Since the publication of Ryan and Kasser’sstudy, research has documented a number of negativelife outcomes associated with materialistic aspirations(see Kasser, 2002, 2004; Kasser & Kanner,2004, for detailed reviews).People who are highly committed to extrinsicmaterialistic goals score lower on a variety of selfreportedand independent assessments of quality oflife, compared to those who either do not assignhigh value to materialistic goals, or who show a balancebetween their financial and intrinsic motivations.Materialistic individuals suffer more physicalillness and anxiety symptoms, experience fewerpositive emotions, watch more television, use moredrugs and alcohol, are at higher risk for personalitydisorders and depression, and report less satisfyingrelationships with others. In addition, the generalrelationship between goal progress and increasedwell-being that is true for most goals does not holdtrue in the case of materialistic goals. For example,Sheldon and Elliot (1998) found that makingprogress toward materialistic aspirations was notrelated to increases in short- or longer-term wellbeing.These conclusions have been documentedamong people within many different age groups,social and economic backgrounds, and cultures.That is, the connections between materialistic valuesand lower well-being are not confined to Americanculture. Kasser and Kanner (2004) note studies inAustralia, England, Germany, South Korea,Romania, and Russia replicate findings within theU.S. samples.In short, no matter who or where you are,materialism appears to undercut happiness.Figure 7.2 shows results from a study byDiener and Oishi (2000) of 7,000 college students in41 different countries. The importance studentsassigned to money and love are plotted against theirself-reported ratings of life satisfaction. As you cansee, the more importance students gave to money,the less they were satisfied with their lives. Loveshowed an opposite relationship to life satisfaction.Why Are Materialists Unhappy?THE CONTENT OF MATERIALISTIC GOALS Why wouldplacing more importance on financial success thanon self-acceptance, affiliation, and community contributeto personal unhappiness? A “goal contents”explanation suggests that extrinsic goals (such asfinancial success or social status) are less satisfyingthan intrinsic goals (such as personal growth or emotionalintimacy with others), because intrinsic goalsreflect basic psychological needs, satisfaction ofwhich is required for health and happiness (Sheldon,Ryan, Deci, & Kasser, 2004). Intrinsic goals are inherentlyrewarding because of their connection tofundamental human needs. Extrinsic goals, onthe other hand, may not fulfill our most importantneeds and therefore pursuing them, perhaps at theexpense of intrinsically satisfying goals, may lead tolower well-being.The dominance of extrinsic financial goalsmay also interfere with the pursuit of intrinsic goalsand divert people from the more important anddeeper satisfactions in life. For example, peoplewho value self-acceptance are interested in developingthe self-understanding necessary to directtheir own lives in a manner that is consistent withtheir talents, inner potentials, and sense of self. Aswe have seen, goals that are consistent with the selftend to enhance well-being. In contrast, peoplewith strong financial aspirations may deflect theirattention away from self-examination and selfexpressionand make choices that diminish personalsatisfaction. Choosing a particular career onlybecause you can make a lot of money, withoutregard for the kind of work you find meaningful orsatisfying, is probably one example of a recipe forlater unhappiness.ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 145A high level of concern with finances may alsocause people to ignore or fail to invest in developingthe close, supportive relationships that are such animportant source of well-being. In line with thispossibility, a recent series of studies by Vohs and hercolleagues (Vohs, Mead, & Goode, 2006) showedthat simply thinking about money seems to shiftpeople’s thoughts toward self-sufficiency and independencefrom others. Money seems to make us feelself-sufficient and able to make it on our own, but atsome cost to our interpersonal relationships.Compared to control groups, people primed to thinkabout money were consistently found to be lesshelpful and sensitive to others and more desirousof being on their own and completing tasksindependently. These findings reinforce the generalconclusion that those human needs most importantfor well-being and personal happiness may befrustrated, ignored, or inadequately fulfilled amongpeople who devote most of their time and energy topursuing materialistic goals.THE WHAT AND WHY OF MATERIALISTIC GOALS Asecond explanation emerged from a controversyconcerning the relative importance of goal contentand goal motive. Does the materialism–unhappinessassociation result from the content of materialisticgoals (in other words, what is pursued) or from themotive that underlies them (in other words, whythey are pursued)? As we have seen, the goal contentsexplanation is focused on how commitment tomaterialistic aspirations may divert attention awayfrom fulfilling needs that would contribute more tohappiness and well-being. On the other hand, themotive explanation focuses on the reason behindgoal pursuit—specifically whether the reason isautonomous or controlled (Carver & Baird, 1998;Srivastava, Locke, & Bartol, 2001). As described inour earlier discussion of the self-concordancemodel, external rewards and introjected motives arecontrolled motives, while identified and intrinsicmotives are autonomous or freely-chosen motivesfor goal striving.Critics of the goal contents explanation arguethat financial goals are likely to involve controlledsources of motivation, which have been linked topoor well-being outcomes. Desires for money, fame,social recognition, and popularity seem to fit especiallywell with the concept of controlled motivesbased on external rewards. Introjected motivesstemming from unpleasant feelings of anxiety, guilt,and insecurity might also lie behind materialisticstrivings. In either case, it is the motive—not justgoal content—that makes financial aspirations damagingto well-being. Financial goals may not necessarilyreduce happiness if people have the “right”motives (i.e., autonomous ones). Carver and Baird(1998) argue that it is quite possible for a person tovalue a high-income career because of the excitementand enjoyment it brings (intrinsic motives),and/or because she truly believes it is valuable orimportant (identified motives). In these cases, wellbeingwould likely increase rather than decrease.In Carver and Baird’s view, two people withstrong desires for wealth, fame, and fortune willhave different well-being outcomes depending onwhether their motives reflect external/introjected oridentified/intrinsic motivations. In short, it’s themotive—not goal content—that is important.A recent study helps sort out explanations forthe effects of “what” and “why” in people’s goal strivings.Sheldon and his colleagues conducted threestudies to evaluate the relative importance of goalcontent and goal motive (2004). The content ofpersonal goals was evaluated by having participantsrate the extent to which each of their specific selfidentifiedgoals contributed to achievement of six“possible futures.” Three of these possible futuresrepresented intrinsic values (achieving meaningful,close, and caring relationships; personal growthresulting in a fulfilled and a meaningful life; and contributingto society by making the world a betterplace). The other three possible futures were orientedtoward extrinsic values (achieving financial successby getting a high-income job and having many materialpossessions; attaining popularity/fame, as measuredby being known and admired by lots of people;and presenting an attractive physical image in termsof looking good and being attractive to others). Goalmotives were assessed according to participants’ ratingsof the external, introjected, identified, and intrinsicmotives for pursuing a goal. Well-being wasassessed using standard measures of the balance ofpositive and negative emotions and life satisfaction.Overall, the results of the three studiesshowed that both goal content and goal motivemade independent contributions to well-being. Theparticipants who expressed the highest levels ofwell-being were those who were pursuing intrinsicgoals for autonomous reasons (i.e., identified orintrinsic motives). Lower well-being was reportedby those who were pursuing extrinsic goals forISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.146 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingwhich motivation was controlled (i.e., external orintrojected motives). Some of the strongest evidencefor the detrimental effects of extrinsic goals and controlledmotivation on well-being was shown in oneof Sheldon and colleagues’ studies that assessedpersonal goals and well-being among college studentsover a 1-year period following graduation.Graduates with a controlled motivational orientationwho were pursuing extrinsic goals (e.g., money andfame) reported lower levels of well-being than graduateswho were striving toward intrinsic goals withautonomous motivations.COMPENSATION FOR INSECURITY A third explanationfor the link between an over-emphasis onfinancial goals and lower well-being focuses on psychologicalinsecurities and unmet needs (Kasser,2002, 2004; Kasser & Kanner, 2004; Solberg, Diener, &Robinson, 2004). Some theorists suggest that materialistsmay be unhappy people to begin with. Peoplewho are emotionally and socially insecure may viewfinancial success as a means of enhancing their selfimageand social image, thereby reducing theirfeelings of insecurity. Having lots of money may beseen as a way to “prove” oneself, gain the admirationof others, and compensate for unmet needs.This may seem like a vain and shallow illusion, butwhat parent wouldn’t point with pride to their rich,successful son or daughter? And who hasn’t hadwishful fantasies of being rich and famous? Manysocial observers argue that American culture encouragesthe idea that “being somebody” means makinglots of money and having expensive possessions(e.g., Cushman, 1999; Easterbrook, 2003; Paterson,2006; Storey, 1999).Why Do People AdoptMaterialistic Values?Three factors appear to exert important influence onthe development of materialistic values: (1) growingup in a consumer culture; (2) psychological insecurity;and (3) the connection between materialismand death. Each of these will be explored below.CONSUMER CULTURE Self, culture, and personalgoals are interlinked. All cultures shape children’sdeveloping sense of who they are and who theyshould strive to become. The love of parents, acceptanceby peers, and success in life tasks are, at least inpart, contingent on embracing your culture’s valuesand practices. In contributing to the general shape ofself, culture also influences personal goals. As wesaw in Chapter 6, beliefs about the meaning of thegood life and how to achieve it differ betweenWestern and Eastern cultures. While the specificmeaning and expression vary by individual, culturesets many of the foundational assumptions anddominant values that define success and happiness.Within consumer societies, the influence ofculture on goals provides one avenue for the adoptionof materialistic aspirations and values. Even acasual observer can note children’s exposure tocountless socializing messages and models promotingthe individual and social benefits of money andmaterial possessions. Some 12 billion dollars arespent annually on the marketing of products to kidsin what Levin and Linn call the “commercializationof childhood” (Levin & Linn, 2004). Toy sales relatedto blockbuster children’s movies like Star Wars andHarry Potter, now rival ticket revenues. Concernover the possible damaging effects of this commercializationled the governments of Norway andSweden to prohibit ads from targeting childrenunder age 12.In the adult realm, we are all familiar withadvertisements suggesting (either explicitly orimplicitly) that our personal problems can be solvedand our happiness ensured if we buy the “right”product or service. Some ads are pitched to people’svulnerabilities, such as feelings of inadequacy, socialanxiety, boredom, loneliness, and concerns overpoor appearance. Others offer the purchase ofincreased happiness, fun, fame, fortune, adventure,sex, romance, and the envy of friends.The bottom line of these messages, as Kasser(2004) so aptly put it, is that the good life is the“goods” life. Such ads promote a materialistic valueorientation described by Kasser and his colleaguesas “. . . the belief that it’s important to pursue theculturally sanctioned goals of attaining financial success,having nice possessions, having the rightimage (produced, in large part, through consumergoods), and having a high status (defined mostly bythe size of one’s pocketbook and the scope of one’spossessions)” (Kasser, Ryan, Couchman, & Sheldon,2004, p. 13). The key question is, as we buy theproducts and celebrate models of fame and fortune,do we also buy the assumption that a life centeredaround materialistic goals is the route to personalhappiness?ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 147For some social observers, the answer isclearly yes. Classic sociologists from Marx to Veblenhave described the false needs and shallow, materialisticlives promoted by capitalistic societies (seePaterson, 2006; Storey, 1999, for reviews). From thisview, consumption as a dominant cultural practicediverts attention from deeper life satisfactions andmasks the power and control held by the few overthe many. Taking a psychological perspective,Cushman (1990) argues that consumer economieshave created an “empty self” by stripping awaydeeper and more enduring meanings and socialconnections associated with close family ties, communityconnections, and satisfying work. An emptyself makes people particularly vulnerable to the“make-you-happy” messages of advertisements.However, Cushman believes that the marketplaceonly offers a “lifestyle solution” to problems of findingpurpose and meaning in life. Having the “right”look and the right “stuff” is a poor and unsatisfyingsubstitute for the deeper purposes and caring connectionsto others that promote healthy well-being.On the other side of the debate are argumentsthat consumer societies offer unprecedented opportunitiesfor freedom of choice in how peopleexpress their talents, interests, values, and personalities.From this perspective, consumer goodsenhance, rather than constrain lifestyle alternatives.The diversity and easy availability of products andservices supports highly individualized meanings ofa good life. Positive psychology does not settlelong-standing debates concerning the virtues andvices of consumerism. However, research does offersome clarification about who is most likely toembrace the materialistic messages of consumer culturesand, consequently, suffer their ill effects.PSYCHOLOGICAL INSECURITY A growing body ofevidence suggests that materialism may find itsstrongest support among insecure people. Doubtsabout self-worth and acceptance by others, frustratedneeds, and economic hardship all appear to increasethe odds of adopting materialistic life goals (seeKasser, 2002; Kasser & Kanner, 2004; Solberg et al.,2004, for reviews). The compensation explanation,discussed earlier, suggests that people may adoptmaterialistic goals to compensate for negative feelingsrelated to insecurity and unmet needs. Expensivepossessions and a big salary may serve as vehicles forobtaining social approval and a sense of self-worthamong people whose social and self-competenceneeds have been frustrated or unfulfilled. This conclusionis supported by research, which has found aconsistent relationship between unfulfilled basicneeds and materialistic values. Unmet needs areassumed to create a sense of insecurity that may thenlead to material goals as compensation. Parentingpractices that do a poor job of meeting children’sneeds have been linked to a materialistic value orientationamong children. Parents who are overlycontrolling, punitive, lacking in warmth, and unsupportiveof their children’s needs for independenceand autonomy increase the odds of materialistic aspirationsin their children. Increased materialism inchildren is also associated with parental divorce.Specifically, research findings suggest that this associationresults more from the fact that divorce disruptsthe fulfillment of children’s basic needs for emotionalsupport, love and affection, than from reduced financialresources. Research reviewed by Kasser andKanner (2004) also shows that people growing up inpoor families, in poor countries, and during hard economictimes tend to be more materialistic. It is nothard to imagine that poverty and economic stresswould make people feel insecure and vulnerable,and that materialistic life goals might become a compensatingsolution.MATERIALISM AND DEATH In his Pulitzer Prize winningbook, The Denial of Death, cultural anthropologistErnest Becker (1973) argued that fear of deathis the ultimate and universal source of human insecurity.Freud focused on the conflicts and repressedfeelings surrounding sexuality and death as theunderpinnings of human behavior. In contrast,Becker argued that many of humans’ individual andcollective actions are motivated by a need to denyand blunt the fear caused by awareness of death asan inevitable fact of life. The after-life of religions,monuments from the Egyptian pyramids to modernskyscrapers, and the celebration of cultural heroeswho triumph over threats to their destruction, allserve to deny the reality of death by creating symbolsand icons suggesting that death can be transcended.The symbolic message of such icons is thatwe don’t really die. Because death is intimately connectedto nature, Becker viewed human efforts tocontrol and subdue the natural environment as alsoexpressing a death-defying motivation. Control overnature gives the illusion of control over death.Within contemporary psychology, terror managementtheory has drawn on Becker’s insights inISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.148 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Beingdescribing how fear of death motivates attempts torestore a sense of safety and security (Greenberg,Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1999; Solomon, Greenberg,& Pyszczynski, 1991). Terror management theoryplaces fear of death in the context of evolution andthe unique ways that each species strives to ensureits own self-preservation. Human survival dependsprimarily on intelligence and sociability, because ourphysical defenses are relatively weak compared toother animals. The evolutionary perspective goes onto suggest that, as intelligent social animals, ourancestors developed tools, weapons, and housing,and formed cooperative groups that promoted proliferationand prosperous survival of the species.Human intelligence, however, comes with aprice tag. Intelligence brings with it self-awareness ofbeing alive and the ability to contemplate our past,present, and future. Awareness of our future includesthe certainty of our own death and the fact, as Beckerso bluntly put it, that we will all end up undergroundas “food for worms” (1973, p. 26). Thinking of ourselvesas worm-food is certainly unpleasant, if notrepulsive. We are not likely to focus on this thoughtfor long before we shift our attention to something abit less gruesome. This mini-version of avoidingthoughts of death exemplifies the assumptions andlogic of terror management theory. Humans sharewith all living things a fundamental biological drivefor self-preservation, but humans are unique in theirawareness of eventual death. This awareness has thepotential to cause overwhelming and incapacitatingterror that must be “managed” to reduce and avoid itspotentially debilitating effects. Following Becker, terrormanagement theory states that all culturesdevelop belief systems that serve as defenses againstthe terror of death. These beliefs give meaning andpurpose to life and provide a basis for individual feelingsof self-esteem and enduring value. Terror managementtheory predicts that confronting thoughts orimages of death creates feelings of insecurity thatmotivate a defensive strengthening of worldviewsand self-esteem, in order to restore a sense of security.Numerous studies provide support for these predictions(see Greenberg et al., 1999; Solomon,Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2004).What does anxiety about death have to dowith materialism? Since research has establisheda general link between insecurity and materialism,insecurities rooted in thoughts of death may alsoincrease materialistic aspirations. Money, status, andpossessions may provide a sense of safety and security.To test this idea, Kasser and Sheldon (2000)assessed the preexisting materialistic value-orientationof college students by examining the relative importancethey placed on intrinsic goals (self-acceptance,affiliation, community feeling) versus extrinsic goals(financial success, attractive appearance, social recognition).Students were then assigned to one of twoconditions. In the mortality salience condition, studentswrote about the prospect of their own death interms of the feelings it aroused and what theybelieved would happen to their physical bodies afterdeath. In the control condition, students wrote aboutlistening to music. Next, students in both groupswere asked to estimate their financial situation15 years in the future. Financial expectations includedtheir overall financial worth (salary, investments),pleasure spending (travel, clothes, entertainment),and the value of possessions (car, household possessions,etc.).Consistent with predictions, students in themortality salience condition gave estimates of futureincome and wealth that were considerably higherthan the estimates given by students in the controlgroup. In fact, in some cases, the estimates of studentswho had written about death were nearlytwice as high as those who had written about listeningto music. This result seems to stem from theeffect of mortality salience, rather than fromstudents’ preexisting values. In other words, thefinancial expectations expressed at the end of thestudy were unrelated to students’ preexisting values,as measured at the beginning of the study.Further evidence for the effect of mortalitysalience was shown in a second study by the sameauthors. In this study, students were instructed to playthe role of company owners who were making bidson timber harvest in a national forest. Students weretold that if their bids were too small their companymight not survive, but if all companies consistentlymade large bids, the forest resource might be lost.The researchers set up the same mortality salienceand control conditions, and used the same writingassignments as they used in the study describedabove. Again, the process of thinking about their owndeath affected students’ responses. Students in themortality salience condition gave significantly highertimber bids, suggesting increased feelings of greedand a need to acquire more than others.Solomon and his colleagues (2004), (the developersof terror management theory) provide a speculative,yet intriguing historical analysis of howISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 149death and materialism have become connected.They argue that the appeal of conspicuous consumption(buying well beyond one’s needs) may liein an unacknowledged, and perhaps unconscious,connection of money and material possessions withreligion, spirituality, and the transcendence of death.Drawing on the work of Ernest Becker and others,their analysis suggests that the accumulation ofmoney and possessions has a consistent historicallink to prestige, symbolic meanings, and spirituality.The concept of money as simply a vehicle for theexchange of goods and services is actually quiterecent. In ancient Egypt, for example, gold waslargely ignored until it was used to replicate a shellthat symbolized life-sustaining powers that wouldward off death and prolong the existence of thesouls of the already dead. The word money, itself,may have originated from the temple of JunoMoneta in Rome, where priests set up the first mintsto produce coins. Coins were imprinted with imagesof gods, kings, and other religious symbols.If all this seems a bit far-fetched, Solomonand his colleagues might ask you to examine theback of a dollar bill. What are the phrase, “In GodWe Trust” and a picture of pyramid with an eye atthe top doing on a dollar bill? One interpretation isthat these words and symbols connect money tospirituality and immortality. The pyramid may representthe path to immortality with the eye representingthe world of God that is open to those whoreach the top. Ernest Becker was convinced thatmoney and the ability to pass on accumulatedwealth to posterity were intimately bound up withthe denial of death and with attempts to achieve ameasure of immortality. You die, but your wealthand possessions live on. Money undoubtedly doescontribute to a sense of security and control overlife. A fat bank account probably does bring somecomfort and a sense of security. The bottom linefor both Becker and terror management theory isthat, at some unconscious and symbolic level,money increases our sense of personal significancein the face of inevitable death.Affluence and MaterialismThe relationship between psychological insecurityand materialism appears to be a two-way street. Asdescribed above, insecurity is both a cause and aconsequence of materialistic aspirations. Insecuritycontributes to the adoption of materialistic goalswhen people try to compensate for unmet needsthrough financial strivings. Insecurity and unhappinessare also consequences, because material aspirationsreduce the likelihood that important needswill be fulfilled. The painful irony here is that materialismseems to frustrate the satisfaction of the veryneeds from which it originated. Recent studies bydevelopmental psychologists suggest an additionalirony to the materialism story. Not only is striving forfinancial success associated with unhappiness, butachieving it is also a potential source of problemsfor affluent families. Children growing up in affluentfamilies may be at increased risk for a variety ofemotional and behavioral problems caused by thebeliefs and practices of their financially successfulparents. Whatever beliefs and motivations led toparents’ financial success, and whatever affluentparents may teach about material values, affluentlifestyles may not be healthy for children.In Chapter 6, we reviewed national statisticsshowing that the nation’s increased affluence over thelast 50 years has not brought increased happiness.In fact, affluence was associated with some amount ofincreased misery in the form of higher rates of depressionand other personal problems, particularly amongyoung people. Recent investigations of affluent familiesprovide a more specific and revealing look at howaffluence may be connected to the problems of childrenand youths. Despite the widespread assumptionthat kids of well-to-do parents enjoy a “privileged status,”Luthar (1999, 2003) reviews evidence showingthat many affluent children suffer more problems thanchildren of low-income families. One of these studies(Luthar & D’Advanzo, 1999) compared lower socioeconomicstatus (SES) inner-city teens to upper SESyouths living in the suburbs. Surprisingly, affluentteens showed greater levels of maladjustment thantheir low-income, inner-city counterparts. Specifically,they reported higher rates of drug use (e.g., alcohol,marijuana), higher levels of anxiety, and more depressivesymptoms. The findings regarding depressionamong high-SES teens were particularly strikingbecause their depression levels were not only higherthan the inner-city group, but were also three timeshigher than the national average. One in five (20%) ofthe 10th-grade suburban girls in this study reportedclinically significant symptoms of depression. Levelsof anxiety among boys and girls in the affluent groupwere also significantly above national averages. Awell-known study by Csikszentmihalyi and Schneider(2000) also found lower levels of well-being amongISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.high- compared to low-income teenagers. Based onexperience sampling of moods and feelings of over800 teens, these researchers found that the most affluentteens reported the lowest levels of happiness andthose in the low-income group showed the highestlevels of happiness.Why would affluent teens be unhappy? Twopreliminary explanations suggest that it is not affluenceper se, but the behaviors and expectations ofparents that are critical to youths’ adjustment. Lutharargues that available research and observations offamily experts and clinical psychologists point toachievement pressures and isolation from adultsupervision as probable causes of distress amonghigh-SES children. Some children face strong pressuresto excel in everything they do and much ofwhat they do is arranged by parents. The number ofprivate and public programs devoted to enhancingchildren’s athletic, musical, learning, and growthpotentials has increased dramatically. Affluent parentswho make sure their kids are enrolled in asmany of these programs as possible may blur thedistinction between childhood and adulthood, makingchildren’s lives more like those of adults. Stress,responsibility, pressures to succeed, and a day filledwith activities from morning until night may destroythe idle play and innocence of childhood. Lutharcites evidence suggesting that children faced withthese pressures suffer more stress-related illness,from stomachaches and headaches to insomnia.Children may even exaggerate these physical symptomsin order to have an acceptable excuse for takingtime out from their hectic lives.Children in other affluent families may experiencean opposite pattern. Two parents who worklong hours and come home late and tired may simplynot be optimally available to physically and emotionallynurture and supervise their children. Such parentsmay provide ample money, beautiful homes, cellphones, computers, big-screen TVs, and cars to theirchildren, but may fail to supply the deep involvementand careful supervision that kids need. The PBS documentaryexamining The Lost Children of RockdaleCounty (see Chapter 1) found that some affluent childrenseem to lead empty lives. Their homes aredevoid of supervision; they lack sufficient contactwith their parents and their lives are empty of purposeand direction, aside from whatever short-termpleasures and diversions they may find with theirfriends. Such teens desire connection, attention, anda sense of direction from others. When parents donot fulfill these needs, peers fill the void, much likeCushman’s argument about consumption filling upthe empty self. Unfortunately, Rockdale County teensfilled up their lives with drug abuse, delinquency,and sexual promiscuity.Luthar cautions that the investigation of affluentfamilies is still in its very beginning stages.So far, it is mostly people living in the northeasternUnited States that have been studied. It is too earlyto tell whether these findings reveal a generalpattern or one that applies only to a narrow rangeof affluent families. Both longitudinal studies andmore detailed examinations of specific elementsof family life are needed to clarify the causalvariables involved. And certainly, there are affluentfamilies in which parents do manage to provideeffectively for the emotional needs of theirchildren. However, early indications are that thelives of some affluent families may be a troublingexample of materialism and its discontents.Are We All Materialists?Several important qualifications must be made toavoid overgeneralizing the negative effects ofmaterialism. Most people may be materialists inthe sense that they aspire to earn a good incomeand own a nice house, car, and other possessions.However, these aspirations, in and of themselves,are not problematic. Recall that the negativeeffects of materialistic values occur only for thoseindividuals who place financial aspirations, socialrecognition, and appearances ahead of otherimportant psychological needs. It is this imbalance,rather than material goals themselves, thatseems to cause unhappiness. It is also worth notingthat national surveys show a majority ofAmericans to be reasonably happy and satisfiedwith their lives (Diener & Diener, 1996). Over thelast 50 years, increased affluence and consumergoods have not made us happier, but neither havethey made us less happy. Average Americans, onthe whole, do not appear to be suffering fromunhappiness caused by the type of excessivematerialism documented in research. This is not todeny evidence for rising rates of depression, druguse, and other personal problems among well-todoyoung people that may document the potentialdark side of increasing affluence. However, mostof us would probably agree that our everydayexperience suggests that the lives of most people150 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-BeingISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.we encounter are not dominated by excessiveconsumption. Instead, there seems to be a balancebetween the material side of life andinvolvements in meaningful activities, close relationships,and intrinsically enjoyable experiences.Recent studies also suggest that certain forms ofconsumption may enrich, rather than detract fromthe quality of people’s lives. “Experiential purchases,”as VanBoven and Gilovich call them,involve spending money on activities that providenew experiences and knowledge, such as vacations,or taking a class to learn a new skill or sport(Van Boven, 2005; Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003).Compared to “material purchases,” motivated by adesire just to own a particular desirable object,experiential purchases were associated with moreintrinsic enjoyment and positive social interactionswith others. Going out to dinner withfriends, touring a museum with your children,and meeting new people by joining a club areall examples of spending money on activitiesthat are enjoyable and that also contribute toimportant social relationships. Experiential purchasesmay also have more lasting effects thanmaterial purchases because they are a source ofgood stories and fond memories, even if theywere not pleasant at the time (e.g., a “campingtrip from hell”).Chapter Summary QuestionsChapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-Being 1511. a. How do goals connect the “having” and“doing” sides of life?b. How did Diener and Fujita’s study of collegestudents’ goals and resources show thisconnection?2. How are personal goals both cognitive andemotional-motivational?3. How do personal goals capture the individualizedexpressions of more general motives andneeds? Give an example.4. How do researchers define and measure personalgoals? Give two examples.5. According to Maslow and his hierarchy ofhuman needs, why is it difficult to study for anexam if you have just broken up with yourromantic partner?6. According to the cross-cultural research bySheldon and his colleagues, what four needs arecandidates for universal status?7. Which of the 10 universal values described bySchwartz are most important in your orientationtoward life? Describe and give examples.8. a. What is the difference between intrinsic andextrinsic goals, and between physical andself-transcendent goals?b. How may these dimensions represent a templatedescribing the content of human goals?9. What are possible selves and how do they representthe “personalization of goal” in selfconcept?Explain and give an example.10. Explain the matching hypothesis and give asupporting research example.11. How does each of the following explain thematching hypothesis? Self-realization, intrinsicgoals, and autonomous motivation.12. Describe examples of external, introjected, identified,and intrinsic motives/reasons for attendingcollege and their relation to performance andwell-being outcomes.13. a. What four life aspirations were assessed inKasser and Ryan’s classic study of the darkside of the American dream?b. What specific pattern of aspirations wasrelated to lower well-being?14. How do the following help explain why materialistsare unhappy? The content of materialisticgoals (what); the motives for their pursuit (why);and psychological insecurity.15. How are consumer culture and psychologicalinsecurity related to the adoption of materialisticlife goals?16. How do humans defend themselves against thepotentially incapacitating fear of death.a. According to Ernest Becker?b. According to terror management theory?17. What historical examples and psychologicalarguments connect money, gold, and materialismto immortality, feelings of security, and thedenial of death?18. Why might teens from affluent families have moredrug and emotional problems than their inner-citycounterparts? Describe two preliminary explanationsfor these recent findings.ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.152 Chapter 7 • Personal Goals as Windows to Well-BeingKey Termsgoals 126personal projects 129personal strivings 129life tasks 129values 132intrinsic goals 135extrinsic goals 135possible selves 136matching hypothesis 137autonomous versus controlledmotivation 140self-determination theory 141external motives 141introjected motives 141identified motives 141intrinsic motives 141terror managmenttheory 147Web ResourcesPersonal Projects—Brian Littlewww.brianrlittle.com Site for personal projects andgoal researcher Brian Little. Contains research articlesand downloadable measures of personal projects.Self-Determination Theorypsych.rochester.edu/SDT/publications/pub_well.htmlWeb page covering research of Deci and Ryan at theUniversity of Rochester, focused on goals andmotives in relation to self-determination theory.World Values Surveywww.worldvaluessurvey.org This site reviewsthe findings of the on-going studies of the WorldValues Surveys, a network of social scientists whoconduct large-scale national value surveys aroundthe world. Recent survey results, national comparisons,and historical changes are described.Suggested ReadingsBecker, E. (1973). The denial of death. New York: FreePress.Emmons, R. A. (1999b). The psychology of ultimate concerns:Motivation and spirituality in personality. NewYork: Guilford Press.Grouzet, F. M. E., Kasser, T., Ahuvia, A., Dols, J. M. F.,Kim, Y., Lau, S. et al. (2005). The structure of goal contentsacross 15 cultures. Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, 89, 800–816.Kasser, T., & Kanner, A. D. (Eds.). (2004). Psychology andconsumer culture: The struggle for a good life in amaterialistic world. Washington DC: AmericanPsychological Association.Kasser, T., & Ryan, R.M. (1993). A dark side of theAmerican dream: Correlates of financial success as acentral life aspiration. Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, 65, 410–422.Little, B. R., Salmela-Aro, K., & Phillips, S. D. (2007).Personal project pursuit: Goal action and humanflourishing. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Luthar, S. S. (2003). The culture of affluence: Psychologicalcosts of material wealth. Child Development, 74,1581–1593.Markus, H., & Nurius, P. S. (1986). Possible selves.American Psychologist, 41, 954–969.Sheldon, K. M., & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance,goal attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: Canthere be an upward spiral? Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, 80, 152–165.ISBN 1-256-51557-4Positive Psychology, by Steve R. Baumgardner and Marie K. Crothers. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.