A longitudinal examination of explicit motivation

Previous studies of explicit motivation have examined the goals individuals have at a single point in time, or have evaluated the relations of a single goal assessment to outcomes at later points in time. Since explicit motives are by definition future directed, an examination of this unit across time is imperative. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore characteristics of explicit motives longitudinally in an effort to understand goal processes through time and continue the task of integrating explicit motives within the larger framework of personality psychology. A set of personal goals were elicited from undergraduate subjects during their first quarter in college; subjects and judges rated these goals on various dimensions; and subjects completed measures of personality traits, self-concept, and environmental perceptions. A subset of these subjects were examined again six months later. Results from this longitudinal design are examined in three distinct studies. First the reliability and stability of explicit motives are examined. These units exhibit exceptional reliability and stability, though they exhibit greater malleability than traits, self-concept variables, and environmental perceptions. Results also indicate that personal goals are maintained across time, and that ratings of goals show notable predictive validity across six months to retrospective evaluations of goals. Second, relations among anticipated and experienced goal success, traits, self-concept variables, and environmental perceptions are explored. In general, anticipated success predicts later experienced success and shows substantial stability across time and goals. Anticipated success is predicted by global self-worth and intellect, but experienced success demonstrates no external relations other than as mediated through anticipated success. There was little evidence for a learning effect (experienced success or failure affecting later anticipation of success) in the overall analysis. However, these results differed depending on goal content, demonstrating different relations between anticipated and experienced success, as well as between both success variables and personality characteristics. Finally, different strategies used in the pursuit of goals were examined. Results indicate that the use of defensive pessimism and defensive optimism may insulate individuals from both the positive effects of success as well as the negative effects of failure in goals.