Aspects of possible self that predict motivation to achieve or avoid it

Abstract

The present research examined a model of the cognitive basis for the motivational impact of hoped for and feared possible selves. In a sample of 116 participants, motivation to attain or avoid an important possible self was significantly predicted by its availability (as measured by degree of detail in a paragraph description of the possible self), its accessibility (as measured by response time to features of that possible self), and the extent to which its attainment or avoidance is perceived as under one’s control (as measured by a self-report scale). Alternative explanations in terms of general individual differences are rendered unlikely because motivation for a non-important possible self was not predicted by these measures.