Examining Relationships between Academic and Social Achievement Goals and Routes to Happiness

Christopher O Walker,Rachel M Lutjens,Tina D Winn

doi:10.1155/2012/643438

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among social and academic achievement goals and the route to happiness selected by a sample of college students. According to Waterman (1993) there are two distinct routes to happiness: eudaimonia and hedonic enjoyment. Hedonic enjoyment has been defined as the pursuit of proximal goals and immediate pleasure, while eudaimonia is best defined as the long-term commitment to pursue “self-realization” (Waterman, 1993). A sample of 132 college students completed a research packet containing an informed consent, demographics form, and three questionnaires. The results suggested that one’s route to happiness was related to the academic and social achievement goal orientation of the participants. A call is made for additional research to examine the interrelations among variables traditionally considered in cognitive-motivational research and variables considered to be a part of the positive psychology movement (e.g., happiness).

Highlights

Attempts to understand and achieve a state of happiness are not new
Hedonic enjoyment was found to be positively related to academic performance approach goals, social demonstration approach goals and social development goals with this last relationship perhaps indicating that meaningful social relationships could potentially aide in the fulfillment of the immediate and longterm pursuit of happiness
These results indicate that finding happiness in personal fulfillment is positively related to the desire to obtain meaning in both social and intellectual pursuits, while happiness being found in the simple pursuit of outcomes is related to the desire to been seen as either the most popular or the most intellectually gifted

Summary

Introduction

Attempts to understand and achieve a state of happiness are not new. Over two-thousand years ago Aristotle theorized that happiness is the primary pursuit of mankind and that all other forms of attainment (i.e., an increase in personal health and wealth) are subordinate in the service of maintaining or increasing one’s current state of happiness. Csikszentmihalyi [1] described happiness as an essential element in experiencing “flow” which he defined as a state of “optimal experience” derived from experiencing and exhibiting “mastery” over a challenging yet meaningful and personally relevant task Csikszentmihalyi [1] further argued that a state of happiness “is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended” and will arise as one “learn [s] to control inner experience” through the meaningful and reflective interpretation of external realities Seligman [4] has argued that happiness is one of five key contributors to well-being along with engagement (analogous to Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow), meaning, accomplishment, and positive interpersonal relations and that factors such as hope [5] and optimism (i.e., one’s ability and willingness to adopt an optimistic appraisal of a given situation) directly contribute to and support one’s current state of happiness

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Conclusion