Be careful what you wish for but also why you wish for it - Goal-striving reasons and subjective well-being

Journal of Positive Psychology

Volumn 7, Issue 6, 2012, Pages 493-503

  Ehrlich, Christian ^a  

^a OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

affective subjective well being; goal characteristics; goal striving reasons; personal goals

Indexed keywords

EID: 84868599568     PISSN: 17439760     EISSN: 17439779     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2012.721382     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. Adler, A. 1937. Mass psychology. International Journal of Individual Psychology, 2: 111-120.
2. Austin, JT and Vancouver, JB. 1996. Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120: 338-375.
3. Batson, CD, Ahmad, N and Lishner, DA. 2009. "Empathy and altruism". In Oxford handbook of positive psychology, Edited by: Lopez, S.J. and Snyder, C.R. 417-435. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
4. Brunstein, JC. 1993. Personal goals and subjective well-being: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65: 1061-1070.
5. Brunstein, JC, Lautenschlager, U, Nawroth, B, Poehlmann, K and Schultheiss, O. 1995. Persoenliche Anliegen, soziale motive und emotionales wohlbefinden (Personal concerns, social motives, and emotional well-being). Zeitschrift fuer Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychology, 16(1): 1-10.
6. Carver, CS and Baird, E. 1998. The American dream revisited: Is it what you want or why you want it that matters?. Psychological Science, 9: 289-292.
7. Carver, CS and Scheier, MF. 1999. "Themes and issues in the self-regulation of behavior". In Perspectives on behavioral self-regulation: Advances in social cognition, Edited by: Wyer, R.S. Jr. Vol. XII, 1-105. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
8. Carver, CS and Scheier, MF. 2000. Autonomy and self-regulation. Psychological Inquiry, 11: 284-291.
9. Coats, EJ, Janoff-Bulman, R and Alpert, N. 1996. Approach versus avoidance goals: Differences in self-evaluation and well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22: 1057-1067.
10. Crocker, J. 2002. Contingencies of self-worth: Implications for self-regulation and psychological vulnerability. Self and Identity, 1: 143-149.
11. Crocker, J, Karpinski, A, Quinn, DM and Chase, SK. 2003. When grades determine self-worth: Consequences of contingent self-worth for male and female engineering and psychology majors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85: 507-516.
12. Crocker, J and Knight, KM. 2005. Contingencies of self-worth. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14: 200-203.
13. Crocker, J and Park, LE. 2004. The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130: 392-414.
14. Crocker, J, Sommers, SR and Luhtanen, RK. 2002. Hopes dashed and dreams fulfilled: Contingencies of self-worth and admissions to graduate school. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28: 1275-1286.
15. Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1988. "The flow experience and its significance for human psychology". In Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness, Edited by: Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Csikszentmihalyi, I.S. 15-35. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
16. Deci, EL and Ryan, RM. 1995. "Human agency: The basis for true self-esteem". In Efficacy, agency, and self-esteem, Edited by: Kernis, M.H. 31-50. New York, NY: Plenum.
17. Deci, EL and Ryan, RM. 2000. The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behaviour. Psychological Inquiry, 11: 227-268.
18. Dickson, JM. 2006. Perceived consequences underlying approach goals and avoidance goals in relation to anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 41: 1527-1538.
19. Dickson, JM, Moberly, NJ and Kindermann, P. 2011. Depressed people are not less motivated by personal goals but are more pessimistic about attaining them. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120: 975-980.
20. Diener, E. 1984. Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95: 542-575.
21. Dullin, PL and Hill, RD. 2003. Relationships between altruistic activity and positive and negative affect among low-income older adult service providers. Aging & Mental Health, 7: 294-299.
22. Eccles, JS and Wigfield, A. 2002. Motivation, beliefs, values and goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53: 109-132.
23. Edwards, JR. 1994. The study of congruence in organizational behavior research: Critique and a proposed alternative. Organisational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 58: 51-100.
24. Elliot, AJ, Murayama, K and Pekrun, R. 2011. A 3 × 2 achievement goal model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103: 632-648.
25. Elliot, AJ and Sheldon, KM. 1997. Avoidance achievement motivation: A personal goals analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73: 171-185.
26. Ellis, A. 2005. The myth of self-esteem, New York, NY: Prometheus books.
27. Emmons, RA. 1986. Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51: 1058-1068.
28. Emmons, RA. 1996. "Striving and feeling: Personal goals and subjective well-being". In The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior, Edited by: Gollwitzer, P.M. and Bargh, J.A. 313-337. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
29. Ford, ME. 1992. Motivating humans: Goals, emotions, and personal agency beliefs, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
30. Ford, ME and Nichols, CW. 1987. "A taxonomy of human goals and some possible applications". In Humans as self-constructing systems: Putting the framework to work, Edited by: Ford, M.E. and Ford, D.H. 289-311. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
31. Fromm, E. 1976. To have or to be, London: Continuum.
32. Gollwitzer, PM. 1990. "Action phases and mind-sets". In Handbook of motivation and cognition, Edited by: Higgins, E.T. and Sorrentino, R.M. Vol. 2, 53-92. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
33. Heckhausen, H and Gollwitzer, PM. 1987. Thought contents and cognitive functioning in motivational versus volitional states of mind. Motivation and Emotion, 11: 101-120.
34. Judge, T, Erez, A, Bono, JE and Thoresen, CJ. 2003. The core self-evaluation scale: Development of a measure. Personnel Psychology, 56: 303-331.
35. Kasser, T and Ryan, RM. 1993. A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65: 410-422.
36. Kasser, T and Ryan, RM. 1996. Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22: 280-287.
37. Kehr, HM. 2004. Implicit/explicit motive discrepancies and volitional depletion among managers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30: 315-327.
38. Kernis, MH. 2003. Toward a conceptualisation of optimal self-esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 14(1): 1-26.
39. Latham, G. 2007. Work motivation, London: Sage.
40. Lewis, M. 1993. "Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt". In Handbook of emotions, Edited by: Haviland, M.L.J.M. 563-573. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
41. Liang, J, Krause, NM and Bennett, JM. 2001. Social exchange and well-being: Is giving better than receiving?. Psychology & Aging, 16: 511-523.
42. Little, BR. 1983. Personal projects "A rationale and method for investigation.". Environment and Behavior, 15: 273-309.
43. Little, BR. 1989. "Personal projects analysis: Trivial pursuits and magnificent obsessions, and the search for coherence". In Personality psychology: Recent trends and emerging directions, Edited by: Buss, D. and Cantor, N. 15-31. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
44. Lucas, RE, Diener, E and Suh, E. 1996. Discriminant validity of well-being measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71: 616-628.
45. Mascolo, MF and Fischer, KW. 1995. "Developmental transformations in appraisals for pride, shame, and guilt". In Self-conscious emotions: The psychology of shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride, Edited by: Tangney, J.P. and Fischer, K.W. 64-113. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
46. Maslow, AH. 1954. Motivation and personality, New York, NY: Harper & Row.
47. McGregor, I and Little, BR. 1996. Personal projects, happiness and meaning: On doing well and being yourself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74: 494-512.
48. Midlarsky, E. 1991. Helping as coping. Prosocial Behavior: Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 12: 238-264.
49. Nicholls, JG, Cobb, P, Yackel, E, Wood, T and Wheatley, G. 1990. "Students' theories of mathematics and their mathematical knowledge: Multiple dimensions of assessment". In Assessing higher order thinking in mathematics, Edited by: Kulm, G. 137-154. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.
50. Pervin, LA. 1983. "The stasis and flow of behavior: Toward a theory of goals". In Nebraska symposium on motivation, Edited by: Page, M.M. 1-53. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
51. Post, S. 2005. Altruism, happiness, and health: It's good to be good. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12: 66-77.
52. Rogers, C. 1961. On becoming a person: A therapist's view of psychotherapy, London: Constable.
53. Rosenberg, M. 1979. Conceiving the self, New York, NY: Basic Books.
54. Ryan, RM and Connel, JP. 1989. Perceived locus of causality and internalization: Examining reasons for acting in two domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57: 749-761.
55. Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (1999). Approaching and avoiding self-determination: Comparing cybernetic and organismic paradigms of motivation. In R.S. Wyer Jr. (Ed.), Perspectives on behavioral self-regulation: Advances in social cognition (Vol. 12, pp. 193-215). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
56. Ryan, RM and Deci, EL. 2000. Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55: 68-78.
57. Ryan, RM and Deci, EL. 2001. On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52: 141-166.
58. Ryan, RM, Sheldon, KM, Kasser, T and Deci, EL. 1996. "All goals are not created equal". In The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behaviour, Edited by: Gollwitzer, P.M. and Barg, J.A. 7-25. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
59. Schultheiss, OC, Jones, NM, Davis, AQ and Kley, C. 2008. The role of implicit motivation in hot and cold goal pursuit: Effects on goal progress, goal rumination, and emotional well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42: 971-987.
60. Schwartz, C, Meisenhelder, JB, Ma, Y and Reed, G. 2003. Altruistic social interest behaviors are associated with better mental health. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65: 778-785.
61. Sheldon, KM and Elliot, AJ. 1998. Not all personal goals are personal: Comparing autonomous and controlled reasons as predictors of effort and attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24: 546-557.
62. Sheldon, KM and Elliot, AJ. 1999. Goal striving, need-satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76: 482-497.
63. Sheldon, KM and Hoon, TH. 2007. The multiple determination of well-being: Independent effects of positive traits, needs, goals, selves, social supports, and cultural contexts. Journal of Happiness Studies, 8: 565-592.
64. Tkach, C and Lyubomirsky, S. 2006. How do people pursue happiness? Relating personality, happiness-increasing strategies, and well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7: 183-225.
65. Wicker, FW, Lambert, FB, Richardson, FC and Kahler, J. 1984. Categorical goal hierarchies and classification of human motives. Journal of Personality, 52: 285-305.