Pursuit Of Long-term Goals Research Articles

Priming pride promotes delay of gratification

Distinct positive emotions signal adherence to specific goals: pride signals the successful pursuit of long-term goals, while joy signals the successful pursuit of immediate desires. We propose that when children are primed with a positive emotion, without actually feeling it, they are likely to pursue the goal that evokes it. Because delaying gratification involves resisting an immediate desire for the sake of a long-term goal, we predicted that, when primed with pride, children would delay gratification more often than when primed with joy. We tested 8-year-olds’ ability to delay gratification, using a delay-discounting task. We primed pride/joy by having children either imagine a future emotional event (Experiment 1) or listen to another child’s emotional experience (Experiment 2). As predicted, pride-primed children showed lower delay discounting than children who were primed with joy and the control condition, demonstrating enhanced self-regulation. These results suggest that, from a young age, simply thinking about an emotion without actually experiencing it may cue pursuit of associated goals.

Self-defining Memories in Normal Aging.

Background: Self-defining memories refer to events that are vivid, effectively intense, and include enduring concerns about oneself.Objective: We investigated the relationship between the production of these memories in normal aging and the ability to integrate new information into existing knowledge in memory (i.e., updating).Method: Older participants were asked to perform an updating task as well as to retrieve autobiographical memories that were later analyzed for their self-defining relevance.Results: Analyses showed significant positive correlations between updating and the production of self-defining memories.Conclusion: Updating our life story is an important psychological process,which enables us to refine and enrich our life story with new experiences, roles and/or challenges, and this ability seems to be related to the capacity to produce memories that draw on the pursuit of long-term goals, meaning making, emotional regulation, and/or activation of self-images (i.e., self-defining memories). These findings suggest that updating one’s identity throughout life, at least in normal aging, may be related to the shaping and retrieval of self-defining memories, memories that lead to the creation of narrative scripts, which themselves serve as the ingredients for “chapters” across the lifespan.

Experimental effects of mindfulness inductions on self-regulation: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Self-regulation is the control of aspects of the self to allow pursuit of long-term goals, and it is proposed as a central pathway through which mindfulness may exert benefits on well-being. However, the effects of a single mindfulness induction on self-regulation are not clear, as there has been no comprehensive review of this evidence. The current review synthesized existing findings relating to the effect of a mindfulness induction delivered in a laboratory setting on measures of self-regulation. Twenty-seven studies were included and grouped according to 3 outcomes: regulation of experimentally induced negative affect (k = 15; meta-analysis), emotion-regulation strategies (k = 7) and executive functions (k = 9; narrative synthesis). A mindfulness induction was superior to comparison groups in enhancing the regulation of negative affect (d = -.28). Executive-function performance was enhanced only when the experimental design included an affect induction or when the outcome was sustained attention. The effect on emotion-regulation strategies was inconclusive, but with emerging evidence for an effect on rumination. Overall, the findings indicate that, in the form of an induction, mindfulness may have the most immediate effect on attention mechanisms rather than exerting cognitive changes in other domains, as are often reported outcomes of longer mindfulness training. Through effecting change in attention, emotion regulation of negative affect can be enhanced, and subsequently, executive-function performance more quickly restored. The interpretations of the findings are caveated with consideration of the low quality of many of the included study designs determined by the quality appraisal tool. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

How Focusing on Superordinate Goals Motivates Broad, Long-Term Goal Pursuit: A Theoretical Perspective.

Goal-setting theory states that challenging, specific, and concrete goals (i.e., subordinate goals) are powerful motivators and boost performance in goal pursuit more than vague or abstract goals (i.e., superordinate goals). Goal-setting theory predominantly focuses on single, short-term goals and less on broad, long-term challenges. This review article extends goal-setting theory and argues that superordinate goals also fulfill a crucial role in motivating behavior, particularly when addressing broad, long-term challenges. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the benefits of superordinate goals, which have received less attention in research, and to show theoretically that people pursue long-term goals more successfully when they focus on subordinate as well as superordinate goals than when they focus on either subordinate or superordinate goals alone.

Gritting their teeth to close the sale: the positive effect of salesperson grit on job satisfaction and performance

This research is the first to examine the effect of “grit” – defined here as perseverance in pursuit of long-term goals – on salesperson performance and job satisfaction in a business-to-business (B2B) sales context. While more commonly studied in the psychology and education literatures, grit has heretofore been underexplored in sales research, a notable omission given its importance in predicting performance outcomes across multiple domains. In response, we demonstrate that gritty salespeople perform better and enjoy greater job satisfaction than their less gritty counterparts. Moreover, we show that competitiveness and self-efficacy help to develop grit and reveal important moderating effects; grit is highest when salespeople are self-efficacious and socially astute. Moreover, the results also suggest that need for power attenuates the positive effect of grit on performance, revealing a potential “dark side” of grit. We then provide some future research ideas involving grit in an effort to encourage further exploration of this construct in sales research. Finally, we conclude by offering cautions to future researchers as they decide whether to examine this interesting construct in a sales context.

How to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: Strategic Indulgence in Big-Time Collegiate Sports Among Academically Successful Students

Past research on academic success emphasizes the need to avoid pleasurable nonacademic activities. In the context of enjoying big-time collegiate sports, we examined the notion that students, especially academically successful ones, may strategically indulge in sports games to resolve the conflict with academic pursuit. After confirming that high- (vs. low-) grade point average (GPA) students indeed found game-related activities less disruptive (Npilot = 325), we proceeded to study whether strategic indulgence or single-minded avoidance was their preferred means to resolve the game–study conflict. High- (vs. low-) GPA students exhibited three features of strategic indulgence. They were more sensitive to the goodness of the opportunity to partake in collegiate sports (NStudy1 = 216), engaged in compensatory planning to study on nongame days (NSudy2 = 409), and actively engaged and enjoyed the game-related activities (Nstudy3 = 530). These results suggest that understanding strategic indulgence in tempting activities would enrich our knowledge of long-term goal pursuit.

Lost in virtual gaming worlds: Grit and its prognostic value for online game addiction.

The personality construct grit is defined as the ability to be persistent in pursuit of long-term goals in spite of challenges or obstacles. Grit is an emerging concept in positive psychology and has gained much attention because of its relevance for success and well-being across different domains. The aim of the present study was to examine the prognostic value of grit for online game addiction. We surveyed German speaking online gamers (N = 305: 193 males and 112 females, Mage = 28.44 years, SDage = 8.88) in an online cross-sectional self-report study. We measured grit with the German version of the Short Grit Scale (BISS-8), online game addiction with the short version of the Game Addiction Scale (GAS), and participants' age and gender. Structural equation modeling supported the higher-order factor structure of grit in our sample (χ2 [18] = 29.31, p < .05; CFI = .980; TLI = .969; RMSEA = .045; SRMR = .038). A logistic regression revealed that both grit (OR = 0.62, 95%CI [.42; .89], p < .05) as well as age (OR = .92, 95%CI [.88; .97], p < .01) significantly reduced the likelihood of being addicted to online games. In line with previous research on grit in patients with substance use disorders, we found grit to be a protective factor against online game addiction. We concluded that higher grit scores and older ages decrease the likelihood of being addicted to online games. This study provides initial support for the clinical relevance of grit for online game addiction. (Am J Addict 2018;XX:1-6).

Beyond the Big Five: does grit influence the entrepreneurial intent of university students in the US?

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between grit and entrepreneurial intent. Grit involves maintaining effort and interest in the pursuit of long-term goals, despite adversity, stagnation, or failure. Entrepreneurial intentions are a well-established indicator that represents an individual’s conscious determination to start a new business. Secondary variables included the personality traits measured in the Big Five model (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). Survey data were collected from over 500 undergraduate students at a Midwestern university in the United States. The results confirmed that there was a strong positive association between grit and entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, independent samples t-tests revealed that high grit students showed greater entrepreneurial intent than low grit students. The data also indicated that grit fully mediated the predictive effect of conscientious and neuroticism on entrepreneurial intent. Overall, a better understanding of the influence of grit on entrepreneurial intent, given the presence of various diverse personality constellations, may help inform educators in preparing and delivering course content. The influence of grit may reduce the failure rate of new and young businesses launched by college-educated entrepreneurs.

Where do desires come from? Positivity offset and negativity bias predict implicit attitude toward temptations

Temptations elicit both appetitive and aversive responses because they offer hedonic gratification on the one hand and impede long-term goal pursuit on the other hand (Fujita, Personality and Social Psychology Review 15(4):352–366, 2011). In this paper, we investigate how people’s affective responses toward temptations are regulated by the appetitive and aversive motivational systems. We employ the mini Motivated Action Measure (miniMAM; Lang et al., Communication Methods and Measures 5(2):146–162, 2011) to measure the signature patterns with which the two systems regulate affective activation: positivity offset and negativity bias. We found that positivity offset and negativity bias predict unique variance (5.5%) of dieters’ (N = 312) implicit attitude toward tempting foods, over and above predictors related to behavioral regulation (BIS/BAS: Carver, White, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67:319–333, 1994; BSC: Tangney et al., Journal of Personality 72(2):271–324, 2004). By contrast, positivity offset and negativity bias did not predict dieters’ behavioral intentions for tempting foods. Investigating how the appetitive and aversive systems regulate affective activation apart from behavioral responses offers unique insights into people’s desires towards temptations.

Long-Term Goals or Immediate Desires? Introducing a Toolset for Designing with Self-Control Dilemmas

This paper suggests that designers can frame user behaviour in terms of the conflicts between long-term goals and immediate desires (i.e. self-control dilemmas), and address these conflicts by facilitating the pursuit of long-term goals. A phenomenological study provided an understanding of self-control dilemmas and the strategies people use to deal with these dilemmas. Based on this understanding, this paper proposes a framework for analysing self-control dilemmas and three supporting design strategies. The framework can act as an analysis tool when distinguishing between long-term goals and immediate desires, and the design strategies can facilitate generation of ideas that can address self-control dilemmas. Understanding these human principles offers novel opportunities for products, services, or policies that contribute to subjective well-being.

It's only a dream if you wake up: Young adults' achievement expectations, opportunities, and meritocratic beliefs.

The present paper examines university graduates' beliefs about how meritocratic socioeconomic status (SES) attainment in U.S. society is for themselves (merit agency beliefs) and for most other people (merit societal beliefs), and how these distinct beliefs are differentially associated with labour market experiences and achievement-goal attitudes and expectations in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Data from a 10-month longitudinal study of 217 graduates from the 2013 class of a large public U.S. university were analysed using multilevel modelling. The results indicate that most participants optimistically expected to attain upward social mobility. Furthermore, participants' merit agency beliefs were reflective of their labour market prospects and experiences, and calibrated their achievement-goal attitudes and expectations. However, participants' merit societal beliefs were not associated with these labour market experiences and achievement-goal attitudes and expectations. The distinction between merit agency beliefs and merit societal beliefs may be motivationally beneficial by allowing individuals to continue striving toward the uncertain long-term goal pursuit of upward social mobility despite the short-term struggles and setbacks many young adults are likely to experience in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Knowing oneself and long-term goal pursuit: Relations among self-concept clarity, conscientiousness, and grit

Research has been dedicated to exploring the personality variables that facilitate goal pursuit. Conscientiousness and grit are closely related individual difference variables that have been postulated to influence goal pursuit. Conscientiousness refers to self-regulation in the pursuit of tasks or goals. Grit refers to the enduring effort that is applied to long term goals, and can be subdivided into two sub-components: perseverance of effort and consistency of interest. Unlike perseverance of effort which is robustly correlated with conscientiousness, consistency of interest is less strongly related to conscientiousness. The present study examines how a third variable, self-concept clarity, may interact with conscientiousness to differentially predict sub-components of grit. Results indicated that conscientiousness interacts with self-concept clarity to predict the consistency of interest component of grit; however, no interactive effect was found when predicting the perseverance of effort component of grit. The implications of these findings, as well as possible avenues for future research are discussed.

Grit in patients with substance use disorders.

Grit is an emerging concept in positive psychology, defined as the ability to be persistent and focused in pursuit of long-term goals. This concept has received a great deal of interest recently because of its robust ability to predict success and well-being across a wide variety of domains. The study aim was to examine the clinical relevance of the construct of grit among patients with substance use disorders. Inpatients on a detoxification unit were enrolled from September 2013 to August 2015 (N = 673). Psychometric properties of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) were reported. We then examined sociodemographic and clinical variables that might be associated with grit in this population. In this sample of patients with substance use disorders, the total Grit-S demonstrated strong psychometric properties. Grit-S scores were higher among older patients and those who were employed; scores were lower among those never married, diagnosed with a co-occurring psychiatric disorder, or who had used heroin during the past month, according to bivariate analyses. Grit-S scores remained associated with age, employment, and presence of a co-occurring psychiatric disorder in adjusted analysis. This study provides initial support for the utility of the Grit-S among those with substance use disorders; this novel measure has not been previously reported in clinical populations. Research examining grit prospectively is needed to determine whether the links between grit and outcomes observed in other populations apply to patients with substance use disorders. (Am J Addict 2016;25:652-658).

Strategic career planning for physician-scientists.

Building a successful professional career in the physician-scientist realm is rewarding but challenging, especially in the dynamic and competitive environment of today’s modern society. This educational review aims to provide readers with five important career development lessons drawn from the business and social science literatures. Lessons 1–3 describe career strategy, with a focus on promoting one’s strengths while minimizing fixing one’s weaknesses (Lesson 1); effective time management in the pursuit of long-term goals (Lesson 2); and the intellectual flexibility to abandon/modify previously made decisions while embracing emerging opportunities (Lesson 3). Lesson 4 explains how to maximize the alternative benefits of English-language fluency (i.e., functions such as signaling and cognition-enhancing capabilities). Finally, Lesson 5 discusses how to enjoy happiness and stay motivated in a harsh, zero-sum game society.

Long-term focus and prosocial–antisocial tendencies interact to predict belief in just world

According to justice motive theory, individuals need to believe that the world is a just place where people generally get what they deserve (Lerner, 1977). Individuals are thought to need belief in a just world (BJW) in part because it gives them the confidence required to invest in long-term goals. However, BJW can only provide confidence that individuals will reap the rewards of their investments if they invest in their goals through prosocial means (e.g., Hafer, 2000). The current study provides evidence for this argument. Specifically, we examined individual differences in BJW, long-term goal focus, and prosocial–antisocial tendencies to test the hypothesis that higher long-term focus would be associated with higher BJW, but only amongst those who are also high in prosocial (low in antisocial) tendencies. This hypothesis was tested four times using four measures of prosocial–antisocial tendencies. Simple slopes analyses revealed the predicted pattern of results for three of the four measures. Our findings (a) provide novel support for the idea that BJW aids in the prosocial pursuit of long-term goals, and (b) have implications for individual variation in BJW.

Why Choosing Healthy Foods is Hard, and How to Help: Presenting the 4Ps Framework for Behavior Change

The pursuit of long-term goals is often thwarted by immediate desires--a pattern particularly common in food choices. Research in economics, psychology, and marketing has identified a rich supply of unrelated small influences or “nudges” that can help make healthy choices easier, aligning behaviors with intentions. We organize these streams of research using a novel taxonomy, the 4Ps Framework for Behavior Change, to integrate nudges within a dual-system model of consumer choice and to provide suggestions for extensions. We conclude with a discussion of some practical challenges facing researchers in this area.

Phasic estradiol levels and bias for immediate rewards.

Some of life's greatest challenges involve denying oneself short-term rewards in the pursuit of long-term goals. Deciding to enroll in a PhD program in lieu of taking a high-paying job out of college, with the hopes of a more rewarding career in the future, is one such decision. On a day-to-day

Development of Behavioral Control and Associated vmPFC–DLPFC Connectivity Explains Children's Increased Resistance to Temptation in Intertemporal Choice

Human civilization is based on the successful pursuit of long-term goals, requiring the ability to forego immediate pleasure for the sake of larger future rewards. This ability improves with age, but the precise cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying its development remain elusive. The developmental changes could result either from younger children valuing immediate rewards more strongly or because older children become better at controlling their impulses. By implementing 2 tasks, a choice-independent valuation task and an intertemporal choice task, both behaviorally and using fMRI in twenty 6- to 13-year old children, we show developmental improvements in behavioral control to uniquely account for age-related changes in temporal discounting. We show further that overcoming temptation during childhood occurs as a function of an age-related increase in functional coupling between value signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and brain regions dedicated to behavioral control, such as left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during choice. These findings can help to devise measures that reduce the substantial costs of impatience to society.

The pursuit of death versus escape from negative affect: An examination of the nature of the relationship between emotion dysregulation and both suicidal behavior and non-suicidal self-injury

Across three studies, we tested a model in which the relationship between emotion dysregulation and suicidal behavior is accounted for by non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Whereas some models posit that suicide attempts serve as an escape from acute aversive states, our model proposes that NSSI accounts for the relationship between emotion dysregulation and suicide attempts. To test our model, we recruited two large nonclinical samples of adults and a clinical sample of adults seeking inpatient treatment for substance use disorders. To increase generalizability, we used four different measures of emotion dysregulation across the three studies: broad emotion regulation, distress tolerance, negative urgency, and grit (i.e., the persistent, passionate pursuit of long-term goals). Results were largely supportive of our hypothesized model, revealing significant indirect effects of emotion dysregulation on suicide attempts through NSSI in all three samples. Specifically, NSSI fully mediated the relationship between emotion dysregulation and suicide attempts in three of six analyses, and partially mediated this relation in the other three. Overall, findings are supportive of an emotion regulation model of NSSI and suggest that the relation between certain aspects of emotion dysregulation and suicide attempts may be indirect through NSSI.

Being in two minds: The neural basis of experiencing action crises in personal long-term goals

Although the successful pursuit of long-term goals constitutes an essential prerequisite to personal development, health, and well-being, little research has been devoted to the understanding of its underlying neural processes. A critical phase in the pursuit of long-term goals is defined as an action crisis, conceptualized as the intra-psychic conflict between further goal pursuit and disengagement from the goal. In the present research, we applied an interdisciplinary (cognitive and neural) approach to the analysis of processes underlying the experience of an action crisis. In Study 1, a longitudinal field study, action crises in personal goals gave rise to an increased and unbiased (re)evaluation of the costs and benefits (i.e., rewards) of the goal. Study 2 was a magnetic resonance imaging study examining resting-state functional connectivity. The extent of experienced action crises was associated with enhanced fronto-accumbal connectivity signifying increased reward-related impact on prefrontal action control. Action crises, furthermore, mediated the relationship between a dispositional measure of effective goal pursuit (action orientation) and fronto-accumbal connectivity. The converging and complementary results from two methodologically different approaches advance the understanding of the neurobiology of personal long-term goals, especially with respect to the role of rewards in the context of goal-related conflicts.