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Aspirations and Well‐Being in a Prison Setting 1
Author(s) -
Kasser Tim
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb00076.x
Subject(s) - prison , psychology , maximum security , centrality , social psychology , goal pursuit , well being , context (archaeology) , criminology , psychotherapist , paleontology , mathematics , combinatorics , biology
The relationship between the content of goals and well‐being depends both on whether goals are congruent with inner psychological needs (Kasser & Ryan, 1993, 1996a) and whether goals are supported in one's environment. The current study examines how the pursuit of 6 different goals relates to the psychological well‐being of maximum security prisoners. The relative centrality of goals supported in prison, such as physical health, was generally positively related to well‐being, whereas the pursuit of goals not supported in prison, such as self‐acceptance and affiliation, was negatively related to well‐being. Discussion focuses on the importance of considering goals in the context of people's environment.