Locomotion and assessment: self-regulation and subjective well-being

The meaning of action: Do self-regulatory processes contribute to a purposeful life?

“…Specifically, Hong et al (2004) investigated the link between self-regulatory mode and life satisfaction. These authors found that locomotion and assessment interacted in predicting people's satisfaction with life, with a combination of high locomotion and low assessment predicting greater life satisfaction.…”

“…We believe that the negative association that we found between assessment and purpose in life might at least partially stem from the specific scale that we used to measure people's assessment tendencies. In this regard, it is interesting that all studies of which we are aware, and that found negative associations between assessment and well-being, were conducted using the same measure of assessment (e.g., Hong et al, 2004).…”

“…Moreover, people's relative emphasis on locomotion or assessment is associated with different facets of their subjective well-being (Hong, Tan, & Chang, 2004;Kruglanski et al, 2000). Kruglanski and colleagues, for example, found that locomotion was associated with less depression, while assessment with more depression.…”

“…Previous research on locomotion and assessment, for example, has found that a combination of high locomotion and high assessment predicts greater success in one's pursuits, including higher grade point averages for students and higher likelihood of successfully completing an elite military course for men in military service (Kruglanski et al, 2000). On the other hand, Hong and colleagues (Hong et al, 2004) found that a combination of high locomotion and low assessment predicted greater well-being, in this case, greater life satisfaction and lower depression. Because of this, we will also test for the possibility that locomotion and assessment may interact to predict perceptions of purpose in life.…”

“…Purpose in life has been linked to several well-being markers, including greater life satisfaction (Heisel & Flett, 2004), as have locomotion and assessment tendencies. Hong and colleagues (Hong et al, 2004), for example, found that locomotion was associated with greater life satisfaction, but only when people's assessment was low. Recently, found in a prospective study that the ability to re-engage in new goals at baseline predicted greater well-being 8 months later through increasing purpose in life over time.…”