个人奋斗及相关研究综述

个人奋斗作为个人中层目标中最有代表性的一种,是一种特定的、与情境目标有关的人格意向结构,是个体通常努力去做的事情,是个体通过其行为试图达到的目标。文章主要介绍个人奋斗的概念特征及其测量,论述其与幸福感、人格特质等的关系,并梳理国内外进行的相关研究,简要评述研究者在这些方面所进行的研究工作,在此基础上提出自己的问题和想法。     

动机的目标理论

章对动机的目标研究领域的发展脉络、研究方法以及所取得的新近成果进行综述,总结各种目标理论的共同点和分歧,并对这一领域的未来发展方向做出了展望。作认为,目标理论将导致行为的情感因素、动机力量与认知过程有机结合,这体现了一种整合趋势;同时,目标理论强调目标对于人格功能、情绪以及健康的重要性,使得该领域的研究与社会生活密切相联。而这一研究领域的未来方向则是,探查动机倾向与个人目标之间的联结。     

大学生个人奋斗、人格特质与主观幸福感的关系

本研究采用问卷调查法,以武汉市6所高校的533名本科生为被试,通过结构方程建模的方法,探讨了人格特质、个人奋斗与主观幸福感三者之间的关系,并比较了个人奋斗和人格特质对主观幸福感的影响作用。研究发现,个人奋斗和人格特质都对主观幸福感有影响;人格特质对主观幸福感的影响大于个人奋斗对主观幸福感的影响;人格特质对个人奋斗有影响。因此,人格的特质因素与动机因素对主观幸福感有不同的影响作用。     

目标理论述评

目标理论是近年来成就动机研究领域的一个热点 ,学者们基于对目标概念、目标功能的不同理解 ,提出了各种目标理论。本文着重介绍了目标设置理论、动机系统理论和成就目标理论 ,剖析了不同学者对目标结构的性质、功能及其作用机制的理论观点。     

论马克思“个人”概念的两种逻辑

"个人"概念在马克思哲学中占有特殊的重要地位。事实上马克思的"个人"概念遵循着两种逻辑:一方面是考察个人存在状态的方法论逻辑,沿着"精神的个人"、"类的个人"到"现实的个人"这一脉线发展;另一方面是关于人的发展过程的生成论逻辑,由"群体化个人"、"偶然的个人"到"完整的个人"这一脉线构成。厘清马克思个人概念的两种逻辑有利于更好地理解和把握马克思的理论历程以及马克思哲学中诸多理论问题。     

论自我同一性概念的整合

自我同一性是西方心理学一个重要的概念,但至今没有一个普遍接受的定义。通过对自我同一性概念内涵不一得归因分析,指出了整合自我同一性概念应关注的几个范畴,进而提出自我同一性是一个与自我、人格的发展有密切关系的多层次、多维度的心理学概念。本质上,它是指人格发展的连续性、成熟性和统合感,它包含三个层面的内涵：(1)最基本的层面,即ego-idernity;(2)个人同一性;(3)社会同一性。     

论儒家的自强人格及其培养

从心理学角度看,儒学主要体现了一种自强的人格心理学思想。仁爱人格、弘毅人格和革新人格是儒家自强人格的主要内容,其终极目标则是养成健全人格。儒家的自强人格既具有个人取向,也具有社会取向。它以个人取向为基础和出发点,以社会取向为最终目标,从个人取向逐渐扩展至社会取向。实践学习、克服偏私、正确处理理情关系和人际关系是培养儒家自强人格的4个主要途径     

贫困大学生个人目标与主观幸福感的关系

贫困群体的心理健康问题是心理学的重要研究课题。为了考察贫困大学生个人目标对其主观幸福感的影响,研究1以130名贫困大学生为被试,采用相关研究法探讨个人目标对个体主观幸福感的影响; 研究2通过提供目标榜样,检验提升个人目标对主观幸福感的影响。结果表明,个人目标的各维度与其主观幸福感显著相关; 提升个体个人目标,能够提升其主观幸福感。     

国外成就目标研究的新进展

该文从个人成就目标和目标结构（即情境）两方面分析了国外成就目标的研究。个人成就目标传统上分为掌握目标和成绩目标,在二者都发展到包括趋近取向和回避取向的基础上,有研究者提出了多目标观点;在目标结构上,掌握目标方面的研究得到了较为一致的结论,无论是知觉的掌握目标情境,还是创造的掌握目标情境,对学生都较为有益,但在成绩目标上的结果还不一致,而对同时强调掌握和成绩目标的情境方面的研究则相对较少。     

对与人的个性相关的几个概念的辨析

人格、人性、个性差异与人的个性等概念是人文思想,尤其是教育思想中相关性很大的重要概念。但是在已有理论和实践中存在着将它们混淆或等同起来使用的现象。笔者认为,人格、人性、个性差异与人的个性是统一的但并非是同一的,不加区别地将它们等同或混淆使用,会造成理论上的混乱和实践中的无所适从。故本文对其加以辨析如下：1人格与人的个性目前的理论中存在着对人格与人的个性两个概念关系的不同理解：一种理解是“个性即人格”,如《中国大百科全书·教育卷》、《中国大百科全书·心理卷》,以及许多著名的学者皆持此种观点。另一种…     

Going forward by drawing from the past: personal strivings, personally meaningful memories, and personality traits

The present research explored the idea that what people strive for in their daily lives is meaningfully linked to their autobiographical memories and stable personality characteristics. Study 1 showed that (a) personal strivings (both self-reported and content coded) are related to the emotional and motivational content of self-defining memories, (b) personal strivings are related to self-esteem and narcissism, and (c) the relation between personal strivings and personality is partially mediated by memory content. Study 2 extended these findings to a longitudinal context and showed that personal strivings and memory content reciprocally influence each other over time. Together, the findings suggest that when people consider how to move forward in their lives, they draw on their past experiences to establish goals for the future and that the way this process plays out is shaped by people's stable personality characteristics.     

Abstract versus concrete goals: personal striving level, physical illness, and psychological well-being.

This study examined the relation between personal striving level and psychological and physical well-being. Level refers to the degree of generality versus specificity of one's goal strivings. In 3 studies, 188 Ss generated lists of their personal strivings, which were then rated on specificity level. High-level striving was associated with more psychological distress, particularly depression. Low-level striving was related to higher levels of physical illness. Correlations between striving level and self-reported symptoms were generally not as strong as those between level and the more objective illness indicators. High-level strivings were seen as more difficult and requiring more effort than low-level strivings. Results are interpreted in terms of control theory, goal-setting theory, and the repressive personality style.     

A secure base: responsive support of goal strivings and exploration in adult intimate relationships

A theoretical framework is proposed for examining the interpersonal processes involved in the support of a relationship partner's goal strivings, personal growth, and exploratory behavior, and for examining consequences of receiving either responsive or unresponsive support in this domain. These processes were examined using both observational and experimental methods. In Phase 1, couples were videotaped as they discussed personal goals for the future. In Phase 2, support behavior was experimentally manipulated to examine immediate effects on the recipient. Results indicated that responsive (nonintrusive) support of a relationship partner's goal strivings and explorations have important implications for the recipient's happiness, self-esteem, and perceived likelihood of achieving specific goals. The importance of research examining this type of support is discussed.     

Searching for Prosociality in Qualitative Data: Comparing Manual,Closed-Vocabulary,and Open-Vocabulary Methods

Although most people present themselves as possessing prosocial traits, people differ in the extent to which they actually act prosocially in everyday life. Qualitative data that were not ostensibly collected to measure prosociality might contain information about prosocial dispositions that is not distorted by self-presentation concerns. This paper seeks to characterise charitable donors from qualitative data. We compared a manual approach of extracting predictors from participants' self-described personal strivings to two automated approaches: A summation of words predefined as prosocial and a support vector machine classifier. Although variables extracted by the support vector machine predicted donation behaviour well in the training sample (N = 984), virtually, no variables from any method significantly predicted donations in a holdout sample (N = 496). Raters' attempts to predict donations to charity based on reading participants' personal strivings were also unsuccessful. However, raters' predictions were associated with past charitable involvement. In sum, predictors derived from personal strivings did not robustly explain variation in charitable behaviour, but personal strivings may nevertheless contain some information about trait prosociality. The sparseness of personal strivings data, rather than the irrelevance of open-ended text or individual differences in goal pursuit, likely explains their limited value in predicting prosocial behaviour. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Career-related goal pursuit among post-high school youth: Relations between personal control beliefs and control strivings

The present research reveals the bi-directional relationship between career-related control beliefs and strivings, and their predictive relationship with hours of gainful employment. Three waves of data of a longitudinal study of 532 graduating high school seniors from four ethnically diverse schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show individuals?? career-related personal control beliefs in effort and social connections, but not in ability or luck, were significantly predictive of career-related control strivings 1?year later. Thus, only personal control beliefs in causal factors that are contingent on an individual??s primary control strivings to enact effects are predictive of active motivational engagement in pursuit of career-related goals. Regarding the inverse direction of influence (i.e., strivings predict beliefs), career-related control strivings were significantly predictive of career-related personal control beliefs in ability, effort, and social connections, but not luck, 1?year later. These results support the idea that active goal engagement creates an implemental mindset that optimistically biases individuals?? beliefs in their personal control over causal factors relevant to attaining a pursued career-related goal. In addition, the results show that career-related control strivings, but not career-related personal control beliefs, are significantly positively associated with the number of hours of gainful employment worked 1-year later, supporting a beliefs-strivings-outcome sequential relationship.     

Performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance classroom goals and the adoption of personal achievement goals

Background. Students’ perceptions of classroom goals influence their adoption of personal goals. To assess different forms of classroom goals, recent studies have favoured an overall measure of performance classroom goals, compared to a two‐dimensional assessment of performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance classroom goals (PAVCG). Aims. This paper considered the relationship between students’ perceptions of classroom goals and their endorsement of personal achievement goals. We proposed that three (instead of only two) classroom goals need to be distinguished. We aimed to provide evidence for this hypothesis by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and also by divergent associations between the respective classroom goal and students’ personal goal endorsement. Sample. A total of 871 (474 female) 10th grade students from several German high schools participated in this study. Method. Students responded to items assessing their perception of mastery, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals in the classroom. Additionally, the students reported how much they personally pursue mastery, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals. All items referred to German as a specific school subject. Results. A CFA yielded empirical support for the proposed distinction of three (instead of only two) different kinds of classroom goals. Moreover, in hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analyses all three classroom goals showed unique associations with students’ personal goal adoption. Conclusions. The findings emphasized the need to distinguish performance‐approach and PAVCG. Furthermore, our results suggest that multiple classroom goals have interactive effects on students’ personal achievement strivings.     

Personal strivings of mentally tough Australian Rules footballers

The current study examined the personal strivings of mentally tough Australian Rules footballers. Data collection occurred in two phases. Phase one included conducting two focus groups with coaches and performance staff from an Australian Football League (AFL) club/franchise, to gain a culturally-specific mental toughness (MT) conceptualisation. This conceptualisation was used to identify mentally tough footballers (n = 7) from the club’s playing group. In phase two, the selected footballers completed a personal goal strivings exercise (e.g., listing strivings, rating their commitment to them), which was subsequently coded for general and motivational themes, through nomothetic and idiographic lenses. Nomothetic analysis revealed broad trends consistent with previous MT research. Key themes included a high commitment to goals, high confidence, and achievement orientation. Focusing on four specific players, an idiographic analysis revealed different motivational agendas, including characteristically mentally tough motives, narcissistic motives, communion and growth motives, and vulnerable/anxious motives. In conclusion, despite broad themes aligning with current perspectives of MT, on an individual level, mentally tough athletes’ motivational concerns may vary. These findings stress the potential importance of examining goals as a central construct in conceptualising MT. Moreover, they challenge a universal assumption that MT operates in the same way across all performers, highlighting the need for greater idiographic analysis in MT research.     

Personal Strivings, Daily Life Events, and Psychological and Physical Well-Being

Interactional models of life events and personality posit domains of vulnerability within which individuals are most likely to be affected by negative life events. A variation of this model was tested in a study of the separate as well as interactive effects of daily life events and personal strivings on psychological and physical well-being. Subjects listed 15 of their personal strivings,which were later categorized as reflecting either achievement, affiliation, intimacy, or power. For 21 consecutive days, subjects recorded up to eight events that most influenced their moods each day, and completed mood and physical symptom checklists. Power strivings were negatively correlated with well-being. Affiliation strivings were correlated with positive affect. No significant between-subject interactions occurred between strivings and events. However, within-subject analyses revealed several significant effects. Achievement-oriented individuals tended to be affected by good achievement events; similarly, the moods of affiliation- and intimacy-oriented individuals were affected by interpersonal events. Results are interpreted within a transactional framework, and implications for research on personality, life events, and well-being are discussed.