What makes us happy

1

• What makes us happy?
• Intrinsic/extrinsic life goals and well-being

Majda Rijavec Teachers Education
Aacademy University of Zagreb
Ingrid Brdar Department of Psychology Faculty of
Philosophy University of Rijeka
Dubravka Miljkovic Teachers Education Academy
University of Zagreb
2
The importance of life goals

• the possession of and progression towards
  important life goals is intimately tied to
  long-term well-being
• (Brunstein, 1993 Diener and Fujita, 1995
  Emmons, 1986 Little, 1989)

3
Types of life goals

• extrinsic

intrinsic

• financial success
• physical attractiveness
• social fame/popularity

• emotional intimacy
• community service
• personal growth

4
What goals make us more happy?

• extrinsic

intrinsic
OR
5
What goals make us more happy?
investment in/or success at intrinsic goals is
associated with enhanced well-being. investment
in and/or success at extrinsic goals does not
enhance, and often detracts from,
well-being. (Kasser and Ryan , 1993, 1996, 2001
Sheldon Kasser, 1998 Ryan et al., 1999)
6
Why?

• According to Self-Determination Theory,
• personal well-being is a direct function
• of the satisfaction of basic psychological needs.

(Deci Ryan, 1991, Ryan Deci, 2002 Ryan,
1995)
7
Basic psychological needs

• Autonomy
• Competence
• Relatedness

8
Competence

• Competence refers to the feeling that one is
  effective and able in one's behavior rather than
  ineffective and inapt (White, 1995)

9
Autonomy

• Autonomy refers to the feeling that one's
  behavior is self-chosen and meaningful, as
  opposed to coerced and pressured (De Charms,
  1968).

10
Relatedness

• Relatedness refers to the feeling that one is
  connected to or in harmony with important others,
  rather than alienated or marginalized (Baumeister
  Leary, 1995).

11

• Sheldon and Elliot proposed
• The accumulation of these three types of
  experiences over time leads to
• an increase in longitudinal
  well-being.

12
intrinsic goals

-

extrinsic goals
-
13
Intrinsic goals
-

intrinsic/ extrinsic

• extrinsic

Extrinsic goals
intrinsic

• no important goals

-
14
Aims of the study

• to explore whether students can be classified
  into groups according to their intrinsic/extrinsic
  life goals
• to test the relationship between life goal
  patterns and
• - basic psychological needs
• - well-being (life satisfaction and
  vitality)

15
Method

• Participants
• 835 college students
• aged from 19 to 21 years
• 534 females and 301 male
• FACULTIES
• Teachers Education Academy - Zagreb
• School for Economy of Entrepreneurship - Zagreb
• Faculties of Engineering, Law, Medicine, and
  Economics - Rijeka

16
Method

• Procedure
• Trained research assistant tested subjects in
  groups during regular classes.
•  

17
Method

• Instruments
• Aspiration Index (Kasser Ryan, 1996)
• The Basic Psychological Needs Scale
• (Ilardi, Leone, Kasser, Ryan, 1993)
• The Satisfaction With Life Scale
• (Diener, Emmons, Larsen Griffin, 1985)
• Subjective Vitality Scale (Ryan Frederick,
  1997)
•  

18
Results
19
1. Cluster formation

• The cluster analyses confirmed four goal patterns
  
• for importance, present and future attainment

• high intrinsic/ high extrinsic
• high intrinsic/ low extrinsic
• low intrinsic/ high extrinsic
• low intrinsic/ low extrinsic

20
1. Cluster formation
4 groups of subjects

• intrinsic and extrinsic goals
• mainly intrinsic goals
• mainly extrinsic goals
• no important goals

21
2. Gender differences

• most females belong to cluster mainly intrinsic
  goals
• male students were distributed roughly equally
  across four clusters

22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
3. General results

• The group with high scores on both intrinsic and
  extrinsic goals had the highest scores on
  measures of well-being, followed by the group
  with mainly intrinsic aspirations.
• These two groups had also higher values for all
  basic psychological needs

25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
CONCLUSIONS

• Generally, intrinsic goals are more important in
  achieving well-being than extrinsic ones or
  having no important goals
• However, it seems that for our participants at
  that age and social context, the combination of
  both intrinsic/extrinsic goals is the most
  effective

28
And that would be all, I guess!
The End