Abstract
The frequency, effectiveness, and impact of personality change goal (PCG) pursuit was explored using a longitudinal goal-setting paradigm within two multi-wave prospective longitudinal studies employing both a university student (study 1; n = 1468) and community adult (study 2; n = 248) sample. Self-determination theory (SDT) was incorporated to explore the extent to which PCGs reflect autonomous processes. Five major findings were revealed in study 1: (1) 20% of participants generated a PCG as one of their three yearly goals; (2) participants reported more progress on their PCGs than on other goals; (3) PCGs were more autonomous relative to other personal goals; (4) Autonomous motivation for goal pursuit was more strongly associated with PCG progress, relative to other goals; and (5) PCG progress resulted in improved psychological well-being over time. Study 2 replicated the motivational findings of study 1 within a community adult sample, and found evidence supporting the validity of the proposed longitidunal goal-setting paradigm. The present studies contribute to current PCG literature by using an alternate goal-assessment method that distinguishes desires to change from meaningful goal intentions and integrated SDT to enhance our understanding of volitional personality change.
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Notes
The measures used in study 1 were taken from four large, 9-month-long, six-wave, prospective longitudinal studies on personal goals and well-being that were conducted with four separate samples of university students over 4 consecutive academic years. For the present study, the data was aggregated from 4 studies due to the low frequency of personality change goals (i.e. only 6% of goals set by participants were personality change goals, leaving only 20% of participants to be included in analyses). At baseline, participants completed a longer 45-min survey where they generated three personal goals and completed various goal-specific measures. In addition, participants also completed several baseline measures individual difference constructs (e.g. Big 5 traits, perfectionism, life aspirations, basic psychological need satisfaction). Thereafter, participants completed five 15-min follow-up surveys that tracked their personal goal progress and changes in their well-being. The study was conducted over the course of a 9-month academic year (i.e. two semesters). Three survey were sent out each semester – at the start, middle, and at the end of the semester.
For the results of study 1, we also separated the motivation ratings into autonomous (intrinsic, identified and integrated) and controlled (external regulation and introjection) to determine whether the effects of relative autonomy could be differentiated further. Paired t-tests conducted separately for autonomy and controlled motivation for personality change revealed that participants who had a personality change goal were distinct in having less controlled reasons for wanting to change. Regarding the prediction of change on the personality goal, more fine-grained analyses showed that autonomous motivation for change and controlled motivation for change had roughly equal effects on actual change, but in opposite directions. That is, when personality change was regressed on autonomous and controlled motivation, the results showed that autonomous motivation was highly positively related to change (beta = .18, t (289) = 3.18, p < .01) and controlled motivation was significantly negatively related to change goal progress (beta = -.15, t (289) = -2.56, p < .01). Finally, readers may be interested in knowing that autonomous motivation for personality change was correlated with scoring higher on the BFI measure of extraversion (r = .19) and openness to experience (r = .17) whereas controlled motivation was correlated with scoring lower on extraversion (r = -.11), conscientiousness (r = -.19) and emotional stability (r = -.11). We focus on the relative autonomy index in the main text of the article to simplify the presentation of results.
The measures used in study 2 were taken from a four-wave longitudinal study conducted over a 6-month period. Non-student community adult participants were recruited through TurkPrime and compensated in line with the recommended rate. Participants completed a longer baseline survey (25-min) where the generated personal goals and completed baseline measures of individual difference constructs. Participants were then followed up at approximately 8-week intervals and completed 15-min surveys to track their goal progress and changes in well-being.
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Funding was provided by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Société et Culture.
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Moore, A.M., Holding, A.C., Buchardt, L. et al. On the efficacy of volitional personality change in young adulthood: Convergent evidence using a longitudinal personal goal paradigm. Motiv Emot 45, 171–185 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-021-09865-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-021-09865-7