Aspirations and Well-Being: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Life Goals

Abstract

The present study explored whether participants can be classified into groups according to their intrinsic and extrinsic life goals and how these groups differ in satisfaction of basic psychological needs and well-being. Four questionnaires were administered to 835 college students: Aspiration Index , The Basic Psychological Needs Scale (Gagnè, 2003), Subjective Vitality Scale (Ryan and Frederick, 1997) and The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener at al., 1985). K-Means cluster analysis was used to classify individuals on the basis of their life aspirations: importance, present attainment and likelihood of future attainment. The same four-cluster solution was obtained for all three measures. The first cluster included individuals high on extrinsic and low on intrinsic life goals. The second contained students high on intrinsic and low on extrinsic aspirations. The third group included students with high scores on both intrinsic and extrinsic goals, and the fourth those with low scores on both kinds of goals. The group with high scores on both intrinsic and extrinsic goals had the highest scores on measures of well-being, followed by the group with high intrinsic and low extrinsic aspirations. These two groups had also higher values for all basic psychological needs compared to groups with low scores on intrinsic values. These findings suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic goals can contribute to well-being.

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“…These data also support a sequence of theoretical findings on correlation of optimism with living the religious-traditional, family-sentimental, cognitive, utilitarian styles and hedonistic orientation (Seligman, 2002, Rijavec, et al 2008). Statistically significant correlation between the level of pessimism at level P<0,01 is noticed at examinees preferring the orientation of popularity (r=0,133, p=.005) that could be contributed to present negative status of examinees, for the desire for higher level of presence and visibility on social networks and the world surrounding someone in general, can point to low level of self-esteem and self-confidence.…”

Exploring personality traits and well-being among pre-school and primary school teachers in Croatia

“…Life satisfaction was measured by the Croatian version of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985;Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999;Rijavec, Miljković, & Brdar, 2008). It consisted of 5 items, such as If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.…”

“…Optimism was measured with the Croatian version of the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R; Rijavec et al, 2008;Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994). This scale measures optimism with six items such as: I hardly ever expect things to go my way.…”

Aspiraciones extrínsecas e intrínsecas y adicción al ejercicio físico en adultos usuarios de gimnasios de Lima Metropolitana

“…Las aspiraciones Intrínsecas son aquellas que son inherentemente satisfactorias de realizar, puesto que satisfacen necesidades psicológicas innatas por la autonomía, competencia y crecimiento profesional, además la persona obtiene una mayor capacidad de desarrollarse personalmente, lo cual aporta a su bienestar (Baker, 2004;Romero, 2017). Mientras que las aspiraciones extrínsecas se focalizan en obtener recompensas, así como evaluaciones positivas de los demás (Correa, Cuevas & Villaseñor, 2016;Rijavec, Brdar & Miljkovic, 2008).…”

“…Encontramos que el mantener aspiraciones intrínsecas pueden resultar en tener una mayor autonomía y mejorar la capacidad de toma de decisiones, puesto que las personas optan por realizar actividades que permitan su desarrollo personal (Baker, 2004), mientras que las aspiraciones extrínsecas están relacionadas con el control, en el sentido de que la persona se posiciona de tal manera que depende de otro, por lo que es otra entidad la que controla su bienestar, lo cual tiene posibilidad de generar estrés (Rijavec et al, 2008).…”