Personal projects, life stories, and happiness: On being true to traits

Ian McGregor; Dan P McAdams; Brian R. Little

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2005.05.002

Personal projects, life stories, and happiness: On being true to traits

Ian McGregor^*, Dan P McAdams, Brian R. Little

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Education and Social Policy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

In three studies (Ns between 125 and 176), happiness in life was the highest for undergraduates whose personal goals and life-story identities were supported by thematically consistent personality traits. In Study 1, happiness was highest among participants who were pursuing highly social goals that were supported by sociable traits. This relation between trait-goal consistency and happiness was partially mediated by perceptions of goal manageability. In Study 2, happiness was highest among participants who had highly social life-story identities that were supported by sociable traits. Study 3 replicated the main results of Studies 1 and 2 and also found a significant relation between the extent to which participants' goals and life-story identities were social in theme.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	551-572
Number of pages	22
Journal	Journal of Research in Personality
Volume	40
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.05.002
State	Published - Jan 1 2006

Keywords

Goals
Happiness
Identity
Life stories
Personal projects
Traits

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Psychology(all)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jrp.2005.05.002

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