Who do you want to be? Exploring personality goal motives

Abstract

Personality research is studied with the foundational understanding that it is stable and consistent over the lifespan. However, psychologists can also agree that personality is subject to a great deal of change. Hudson and Roberts (2014) measured and validated the Change Big Five Inventory (C-BFI) to record people’s goals to change themselves. The current study, with the goal of adopting a new perspective on personality, explored why people have goals to change who they are. In line with Hudson and Roberts (2014) work, results revealed that, on average, most people had goals to change in at least one trait on the Big Five. Additionally, it was found that goals to change were inversely related to scores of life satisfaction. When assessing the variability in approach motives for each personality trait, it was found that traits agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness are, on average, pursued for internal (or autonomous) reasons, while extraversion is pursued for external (or controlled) reasons. Conscientiousness was pursued for both internal and external reasons. In determining if these reasons matter, regression analyses revealed that for every trait, students were more committed to their goal of changing the trait if they had stronger autonomous reasons to change it. By contrast, controlling reasons promoted commitment only to two trait change goals: Extraversion and conscientiousness. Hopefully, the results of this study will help individuals improve or change themselves in way that is both fulfilling and successful.