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Studying the Motivated Agent Through Time: Personal Goal Development During the Adult Life Span
Author(s) -
Dunlop William L.,
Ban Brittany L.,
McAdams Dan P.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12234
Subject(s) - psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , personality , generativity , life span , degree (music) , social psychology , generalizability theory , developmental psychology , rank (graph theory) , gerontology , mathematics , medicine , acoustics , physics , geometry , combinatorics
This research examined the rank‐order and mean‐level consistency of personal goals at two periods in the adult life span. Personal goal continuity was considered among a group of young adults ( N = 145) who reported their goals three times over a 3‐year period and among a group of midlife adults ( N = 163) who specified their goals annually over a 4‐year period. Goals were coded for a series of motive‐based (viz., achievement, affiliation, intimacy, power) and domain‐based (viz., finance, generativity, health, travel) categories. In both samples, we noted a moderate degree of rank‐order consistency across assessment periods. In addition, the majority of goal categories exhibited a high degree of mean‐level consistency. The results of this research suggest that (a) the content of goals exhibits a modest degree of rank‐order consistency and a substantial degree of mean‐level consistency over time, and (b) considering personality continuity and development as manifest via goals represents a viable strategy for personality psychologists.