THE ROLE OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS AND EGO-RESILIENCE IN PERSONAL
STRIVINGS

by

Cherisse Lynn Seaton
B.Sc., University of Northern British Columbia, 2006
M.Sc., University of Northern British Columbia, 2009

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
PSYCHOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
February 2013

© Cherisse Lynn Seaton, 2013

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ABSTRACT
Using the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998) as a foundation,
this research examined the role of individual differences in positive emotions and egoresilience in personal striving and eudaimonic well-being in two separate, but related studies.
In Study 1, 182 undergraduate students (48 men; 134 women) completed measures of
positive emotions, ego-control, ego-resilience, personal strivings, and eudaimonic well-being.
Ego-resilience was related to the proportion of self-transcendent goals, and both positive
emotions and ego-resilience were related to goal ratings o f positivity, personal growth, and
personal expressiveness, goal progress, and eudaimonic well-being; however, regression
analyses revealed that ego-resilience mediated the relationship between positive emotions
and these goal striving variables. In Study 2, 133 (37 men; 96 women) undergraduate
students completed measures of ego-resilience and positive emotions, after which they were
randomly assigned to view a short positive emotion inducing video (designed to elicit either
amusement or awe), or a neutral (control) video and then asked complete a measure in which
they were asked to outline several personal goals they would like to accomplish within four
weeks. Four weeks later, participants returned to the lab to complete a follow-up assessment
o f their goal progress, measures of eudaimonic well-being, positive emotions, and perceived
stress, as well as a re-assessment o f their level of ego-resilience. The results of the emotion
manipulation revealed that individuals in the awe condition reported significantly more
personal growth goals. Self-reported positive emotions both at Time 1 and over the
intervening four weeks predicted increase in ego-resilience supporting Fredrickson’s (1998)
hypothesis that positive emotions ‘build’ resources and character strengths. Ego-resilience
did not interact with emotion condition to predict goal striving; however, ego-resilience again
partially mediated the relationship between positive emotions and eudaimonic well-being.

Overall, the results of these two studies suggest that positive emotions and ego-resilience
mutually support and reinforce one another in building long-term well-being.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract..............................................................................................................................

ii

Table of Contents..............................................................................................................

iv

List of Tables...................................................................................................................... ix
List of Figures..................................................................................................................... x
Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ xi
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................

1

LITERATURE REV IEW .................................................................................................

6

A Functional Perspective of Positive Emotions:
The Broaden-and-Build Theory............................................................................ 6
Personal Goal Strivings and Eudaimonic Well-Being........................................

9

Positive Emotions and Personal Strivings........................................................... 14
The Role of Different Positive Emotions in Goal Striving:
Awe as an Elite Emotional State.......................................................................... 16
The Role of Individual Differences: Are Certain People
More Likely to Capitalize on Different Positive Emotions
in the Pursuit of their G oals?............................................................................... 19
Ego-Resilience and Ego-Control........................................................................ 21
Ego-Resilience, Positive Emotions, and Personal Strivings.............................. 23
Summary of Objectives and Hypotheses............................................................ 28
Research question 1: The role of positive emotions
in goal striving......................................................................................... 28
Research question 2: The role of individual differences
in ego-resilience....................................................................................... 30
M ETHOD......................................................................................................................... 32
Study 1.................................................................................................................. 32
Participants..........................................................................................................
iv

32

Procedure............................................................................................................... 33
Measures................................................................................................................ 34
Ego-Undercontrol Scale....................................................................... 34
Ego-Resilience Scale............................................................................ 34
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule..............................................

35

Questionnaire for Eudaimonic W ell-Being....................................... 35
Personal strivings.................................................................................. 36
RESULTS........................................................................................................................... 39
Preliminary Data Screening.................................................................................. 39
Preliminary Analyses of Gender Differences...................................................... 40
Research Question 1: The Role of Positive Emotions in
Goal Striving......................................................................................................... 44
Analyses addressing the link between positive emotion
and goal striving.................................................................................... 44
Subsequent analyses to consider higher-order goal types.................. 44
Research Question 2: The Role of Individual Differences in
Ego-Resilience.........................................................................................................47
Analyses addressing the link between ego-resilience and
goal striving........................................................................................... 47
Analyses addressing the role of ego-resilience in the
relationship between positive emotions and goal striving....................47
Summary................................................................................................................ 51
M ETHOD .......................................................................................................................... 53
Study 2 ................................................................................................................... 53
Participants........................................................................................................... 53
Procedure.............................................................................................................. 53

v

Apparatus and materials....................................................................................... 54
Awe film clip......................................................................................... 54
Amusement film clip............................................................................. 55
Neutral film clip.................................................................................... 55
Pilot research on the film clips............................................................. 55
Awe........................................................................................... 56
Amusement..............................................................................

56

Written feedback...................................................................... 57
Measures..............................................................................................................

57

Ego-Resilienee Scale............................................................................ 57
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule..............................................

57

Goal list and ratings.............................................................................. 58
Emotion report...................................................................................... 61
Goal progress, effort and achievement............................................... 61
Questionnaire for Eudaimonic W ell-Being........................................ 61
Perceived Stress Scale.......................................................................... 61
RESULTS.......................................................................................................................... 62
Preliminary Data Screening................................................................................. 62
Preliminary Analyses of Gender Differences...................................................... 63
Manipulation Check: Mood Induction Procedure.............................................. 67
Awe........................................................................................................ 67
Amusement............................................................................................ 67
Research Question 1: The Role of Positive Emotions in
Goal Striving......................................................................................................... 68

vi

Research Question 2: The Role of Individual Differences in
Ego-Resilience....................................................................................................... 70
Analyses addressing the relationship between positive
emotions and ego-resilience....................................................................70
Analyses addressing the role of ego-resilience in the
relationship between positive emotions and eudaimonic
well-being.............................................................................................. 70
Analyses addressing the hypothesis that ego-resilient
individuals might capitalize on positive emotions in order
to continually strive towards more eudaimonic goals........................ 71
Summary................................................................................................................ 71
DISCUSSION.................................................................................................................... 74
Research Question 1: The Role of Positive Emotions in Goal Striving

74

Research Question 2: The Role of Individual Differences in
Ego-Resilience....................................................................................................... 81
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research.............................................. 85
Conclusions..............................................................................................................88
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................. 89
Appendix A - Study 1 Participant Information and Informed Consent........... 95
Appendix B - Study 2 Participant Information L etter..................................... 97
Appendix C - Study 2 Participant Informed Consent Form............................

98

Appendix D - Demographic Questionnaire....................................................... 99
Appendix E - Ego-Undercontrol Scale............................................................. 100
Appendix F -Ego-Resiliency Scale................................................................... 102
Appendix G - Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)................... 103
Appendix H - Questionnaire for Eudaimonistic well-being.............................. 105
Appendix I - Personal Strivings Assessment Packet....................................... 107

Appendix J - Goal List and Ratings.................................................................. 112
Appendix K - Emotion Report.......................................................................... 115
Appendix L - Four Week Follow up Goal Assessment................................... 116
Appendix M - Perceived Stress Scale............................................................... 118
Appendix N - Key to Goal Rating Variables.................................................... 119

viii

LIST OF TABLES

1.

Study 1 Goal Coding: Example Goals, Total Number Coded,
Mean, Standard Deviation, Range, and Inter-Rater Agreement
by Goal Category.....................................................................................................38

2.

Study 1 Means and Standard Deviations for Proportion of
Goals in each Goal Category as a Function of Gender........................................ 42

3.

Means and Standard Deviations for all Study 1 Self-Report
Variables as a Function of Gender......................................................................... 43

4.

Patterns of Correlations Between Positive and Negative
Emotion, Eudaimonic Well-Being, Ego-Undercontrol,
Ego-resilience, and All Variables...........................................................................46

5.

Results of Regression Analyses Examining the Mediating
Role of Ego-Resilience in the Relationship Between
Positive Emotions and Goal Striving..................................................................... 50

6.

Study 2 Goal Coding: Example Goals, Total Number
Coded, Mean, Standard Deviation, Range, and Inter-Rater
Agreement by Goal Category................................................................................. 60

7.

Study 2 Means and Standard Deviations for Proportion
o f Goals in each Goal Category as a Function of Gender.................................... 64

8.

Means and Standard Deviations for all Study 2 Self-Report
Variables as a Function of Gender......................................................................... 65

9.

Means and Standard Deviations for all Study 2 Variables
as a Function of Emotion Condition...................................................................... 69

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Mediation model examining the hypothesized mediating
role o f ego-resilience in the relationship between positive emotions
and goal striving....................................................................................

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge all the time and dedicated guidance Dr. Sherry Beaumont has
given me throughout the completion of this dissertation. Without her careful supervision,
this research would surely not have been completed. Dr. Beaumont has been a mentor to me
throughout my undergraduate and my graduate education, and I would like to express my
sincere appreciation for her efforts. I would also like to thank my committee members, who
along with Dr. Beaumont took the time to guide this research and provided useful insights
and suggestions that helped me to shape this research. I would also like to extend my
appreciation to the many volunteer participants, both at UNBC and CNC who made this
research possible. Finally, I would like to acknowledge that this research was supported by
the University o f Northern British Columbia, and the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council o f Canada.

The Role of Positive Emotions and Ego-Resilience in Personal Strivings

INTRODUCTION
Many North Americans seem to be in the pursuit o f happiness, continually striving to
attain what they perceive to be “the good life.” Originating in the philosophical writings of
Aristotle, “the good life” is characterized by happiness and involves the expression of virtue
in accordance with reason (e.g., Franklin, 2010). With its focus on the psychology of well­
being and personal growth, the emergence o f the field of positive psychology has brought a
resurgence of scientific interest in the things that make up “the good life,” as well as the
aspects of character that make lasting happiness more likely.
Researchers who study what “the good life” entails tend to take either a hedonic or a
eudaimonic perspective. Hedonism involves pursuing the pleasurable things that life has to
offer, coupled with avoiding pain and discomfort (Ryan & Deci, 2001). A hedonic view of
well-being focuses on the psychological facets of feeling good, which includes not only
bodily pleasures, but also emotional happiness (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2001). In
fact, many researchers equate subjective happiness with hedonic well-being, assessed as the
presence of positive affect and life satisfaction along with a relative lack of negative affect
(e.g., Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2001).
Eudaimonia involves cultivating and expressing inner virtues and fulfilling one’s
potential (i.e., expressing one’s inner daimon; King, Eells, & Burton, 2004; Waterman,
1993). Thus, in accordance with Aristotle’s view, others have proposed that there is more to
“the good life” than the pursuit of hedonic goals, such as the expression o f one’s inner
strengths and virtues, the search for meaning in life, or a sense of personal expressiveness
and authenticity (e.g., Seligman, 2003; Waterman, 1993). Those who subscribe to a

1

eudaimonic perspective view lasting happiness as something that goes beyond just
experiencing moments of positive emotions.
Although researchers who study well-being generally take either a hedonic or
eudaimonic view, some are beginning to consider the links between hedonic and eudaimonic
well-being. For example, Barbara Fredrickson’s (1998) broaden-and-build theory o f positive
emotions suggests that the experience of positive affect (i.e., hedonic well-being) is important
for building enduring aspects of character that afford lasting resilience (i.e., eudaimonic well­
being). Fredrickson (1998) proposed that positive emotions function to broaden an
individual’s array o f thoughts and actions, and thus, they expand attention, promote divergent
thinking, and encourage growth by providing new experiences. It is believed that the
experience of positive emotions can lead to greater or lasting happiness because it allows for
the possibility of experiencing more frequent episodes of positive emotions, which in turn
results in building one’s enduring personal resources and character strengths over time
(Cohn, Fredrickson, Brown, Mikels, & Conway, 2009; Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002). For
example, the experience of joy creates the urge to play, which in turn promotes the
development of social bonds, physical skills, and intellectual strategies, which may then build
the personal and social resources necessary to deal with future hardships.
Based on the idea that positive emotions promote broadened thinking (Fredrickson,
1998), the general contention behind this thesis is that positive emotions will facilitate
personal goals that support eudaimonic well-being. By examining people’s personal goals, it
is possible to determine how different strivings (or the types of goals individuals strive
toward) relate to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. From a hedonic perspective, happiness
should result from the attainment o f valued goals, regardless of goal content (Ryan & Deci,
2001). To satisfy a eudaimonic perspective, however, goals should be consistent with inner
2

values (congruent or integrated with the self; Ryan & Deci, 2001). For example, research has
shown that hedonistic individuals were happiest when their goals were attained, whereas
individuals with goals that were consistent with core aspects of their self (integrity) reported
more meaning in life (McGregor & Little, 1998).
Despite the extensive research on personal goals and well-being, relatively little is
known about the role of emotionality in goal striving. This thesis addressed this issue by
examining whether individual differences in the experience of positive emotions
differentially predict hedonic versus eudaimonic goals. Specifically, because positive
emotions lead to a broadening of the thoughts and actions that come to mind (Fredrickson &
Branigan, 2005), and certain positive emotions motivate self-improvement (Algoe & Haidt,
2009), I believe that some positive emotions may actually be influential in the process of
striving for more growth-oriented and transcendent goals, resulting in greater eudaimonic
well-being.
This research addressed two important aspects of positive emotions that Fredrickson’s
theory does not consider. First, although Fredrickson (1998) considers the function of
positive emotions in general, something lacking from her broaden-and-build theory is a
consideration of the uniqueness of transcendent emotions such as awe, and the differential
effects such emotions might have on eudaimonic well-being. Powerful positive emotions,
like the experience of awe, capture feelings that go beyond a hedonic sense of pleasure and
are instead imbued with a sense of meaning and fulfillment (e.g., a connection with
something larger than oneself; Algoe & Haidt, 2009). This thesis addressed this gap by
examining the supposition that some positive emotions, such as awe, have implications for
eudaimonic well-being, whereas others, such as amusement, predict hedonic well-being. In

3

short, I propose that the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being might be
seen in the meaning and consequences of different types of positive emotions.
Another area neglected by Fredrickson’s (1998) theory is a consideration o f possible
individual differences in the capacity to benefit from the experience of positive emotions.
The functional perspective of the broaden-and-build theory suggests that the benefits of
positive emotions are universal; however, this thesis examined whether individual differences
exist within the beneficial effects of positive emotions. Some people may not experience
emotions like awe, even when presented with opportunities to do so (e.g., when witnessing
natural events, such as meteor showers). Furthermore, I suspect that some individuals even
passively experience positive emotions such as amusement, and consequently experience few
benefits in terms of overall well-being. Thus, I propose that some people are more likely to
experience more lasting beneficial effects of positive emotions due to a capacity to capitalize
on positive emotional experiences. I believe that certain underlying aspects o f character (i.e.,
ego-resilience) may determine whether an individual is concerned with, or even capable of,
experiencing emotions such as awe.
This thesis examined the role o f individual differences in ego-resilience as a means of
assessing this potential capacity. Ego-resilience is the characteristic ability to modify one’s
level of ego-control (ability to control impulses) to suit the demands of the environment
(Block, 1993). Because ego-resilient individuals can dynamically and resourcefully regulate
their level of self-control, they may be more effective at self-regulation with respect to the
effective use of emotions. Likewise, due to having experienced challenges or struggled with
adversity, ego-resilient people might have more complex, dynamic, and integrated self­
structures affording them greater insight into themselves (Westenberg & Block, 1993),
resulting in a superior ability to identify personal goals that are both growth-oriented and
4

self-transcendent. Thus, ego-resilient individuals should be more likely to identify goals that
are aligned with a eudaimonic perspective than are less resilient individuals, and they may
actually be more effective in the use of positive emotions in striving toward such goals.
According to Fredrickson (1998), positive emotions build enduring aspects of character (such
as ego-resilience) that afford lasting well-being. Thus, it may be the case that ego-resilience
and positive emotion work hand in hand to support long-term well-being.
This thesis examined the hypothesis that ego-resilient individuals capitalize on
experiences o f positive emotion in order to continually strive toward more growth-oriented
and transcendent goals resulting in greater eudaimonic well-being. Specifically, the purpose
of this thesis was to systematically examine the role of individual differences in positive
emotions in the process of goal striving by focusing on two related research questions:
(1) Do some positive emotions (i.e., awe) play a role in striving toward goals that are
aligned with a eudaimonic perspective?; and,
(2) Do individual differences in ego-resilience play a role within the positive effects
of positive emotional experiences?
To provide a context for these research questions, the following review covers
literature on the broaden-and-build theory o f positive emotion, personal goals, ego-control
and ego-resilience, and the links between these constructs.

5

LITERATURE REVIEW
A Functional Perspective of Positive Emotions: The Broaden-and-Build Theory
Positive emotions have long been considered to be pleasant states sought after as ends
in themselves. However, recently researchers have begun to consider the possibility that
positive emotions might serve a purpose beyond simply being pleasant or hedonic
experiences (Aspinwall, 1998; Fredrickson, 1998). In fact, Fredrickson (1998) has suggested
that positive emotions are important for cultivating enduring character strengths that support
long-term happiness and enable flourishing.
Although historically positive emotions have theoretically been side lined to their
negative counterparts, Fredrickson (1998) has developed a theory specifically focused on the
function of positive emotions which she calls the broaden-and-build theory of positive
emotions. The broaden-and-build theory suggests that whereas negative emotions narrow an
individual’s attention to promote specific, life-preserving actions, positive emotions widen an
individual’s array of thoughts and actions. Positive emotions, thus, expand attention, promote
divergent thinking, and encourage growth by providing new experiences (Fredrickson, 1998).
Fredrickson (2003) also suggests that positive emotions can help regulate negative emotions,
and positive emotions have the ability to ‘undo’ the lingering cardiovascular effects of
negative emotions (Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, & Tugade, 2000). Extensive research
has provided empirical support for the key propositions of the broaden-and-build theory.
Fredrickson (2004) reported that the broadening function of positive emotions is evident in
previous studies conducted by Isen and colleagues. For example, in one study, individuals
first induced to experience positive emotions were more likely to broaden categories to
include more unusual stimulus material (e.g., an elevator as a vehicle; Isen & Daubman,
1984). Further, Fredrickson and Branigan (2005) used short video clips to elicit either joy,
6

contentment, anger, or fear in their participants before having them complete a measure of
local versus global visual processing. They found that participants who were first induced to
feel joy (or contentment to a lesser degree) displayed broadened attention as they were more
likely to respond in terms o f a global rather than local configuration during the task.
Evidence for the broadening of one’s thought-action repertoire was also found in this study,
as participants induced to feel positive affect listed more activities in response to the question
“what would you like to do right now?” (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). Thus, Fredrickson
and colleagues have found support for the notion that positive emotions expand the scope of
attention and broaden the array of thoughts an individual calls to mind, and thus, positive
emotions will not only help people overcome challenges in the present, but they will also
encourage growth by providing new experiences (Fredrickson, 1998).
Along with the broadening effects, over the long-term, positive emotions moderate
the effects of stress and build enduring levels of well-being (Fredrickson, 1998). Studies have
revealed evidence in support of the notion that individuals who display more positive
emotions are not only happier, but also have better social relationships, are more successful,
and experience superior physical health and longevity (e.g., Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen,
2001; Lyubomirsky, King, & Lepper, 2005). The broaden-and-build theory suggests that
these positive results occur not only because positive emotions ‘undo’ the lingering negative
physiological effects of negative emotions, such as stress (Fredrickson et al., 2000), but also
because over time the broadening effect of positive emotions serves to build enduring
personal resources (e.g., develop problem solving skills, build social resources, and develop
psychological resources). For example, the induction of positive emotion has been found to
lead to better problem solving and more creative thinking (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki,
1987). According to the broaden-and-build theory, this outcome is because positive emotions
7

broaden an individual’s array of thoughts and actions, causing them to generate more unusual
associations and making novel solutions to problems more evident. Thus, Fredrickson (2004)
suggested that by broadening people’s thinking and building psychological resources, the
experience of positive emotions should promote enhanced well-being.
Fredrickson and Joiner (2002) proposed that positive emotions contribute to future
experiences o f positive emotions and to future levels of happiness (triggering ‘upward
spirals’ of well-being) because re-current experiences of positive emotion ‘build’ enduring
personal resources over time (Fredrickson, 1998). These researchers found that over the
course of five weeks, positive affect predicted broad minded coping, which in turn predicted
increases in positive affect, resulting in an upward spiral in which positive affect and broad
minded coping mutually built on one another (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002). Likewise, in
another study, daily positive emotions experienced over the course of one month predicted
increases in both ego-resilience and life satisfaction (Cohn et al., 2009). Increases in egoresilience, in turn, mediated the relationship between positive emotions and increased life
satisfaction, indicating that ego-resilience and positive emotions mutually build upon one
another in an upward spiral of well-being (Cohn et al., 2009). Finally, individuals who
participated in a seven week intervention involving loving-kindness meditation experienced
not only increased daily experiences of positive emotions, but also increased life satisfaction
(Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008). Furthermore, an increase in resources
(mindfulness, hope, savoring, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, purpose in life, and
positive relations with others) accounted for the relationship between positive emotions and
increases in life satisfaction, suggesting that “people judge their lives to be more satisfying
and fulfilling, not because they feel more positive emotions per se, but because their greater
positive emotions help them build resources for living successfully” (Fredrickson et al., 2008,
8

p. 1057). Overall, the broaden-and-build theory adds to the existing literature on the
beneficial effects of positive emotions by going beyond mere descriptive associations to offer
a possible mechanism through which positive emotions exert their influence (Cohn &
Fredrickson, 2009).
In short, in-the-moment (hedonic) experiences of positive emotion build lasting
levels o f happiness and well-being. The goal of this thesis was to examine the role o f positive
emotions in personal goal strivings. The broaden-and-build theory suggests that positive
emotions help build the enduring resources and character strengths necessary to support
living according to one’s values. What an individual is typically striving to do is a large part
o f who they are (i.e., their character), and I believe that positive emotions play an influential
role in these personal strivings. I propose that experiences of positive emotions may allow
individuals to continually strive toward the types of goals that are linked to eudaimonic well­
being. Before outlining specific research in support o f this contention, I will briefly describe
personal strivings and the empirical research on personal strivings and well-being.
Personal Goal Strivings and Eudaimonic Well-Being
Personal strivings are what an individual is characteristically trying to accomplish
(e.g., striving to “be physically attractive” or to “be a kinder and more tolerant person”;
Emmons, 1986, 1999). A broader construct than goals, personal strivings unify individual
goals around a central theme or abstracted quality. For example, an individual who is striving
to be physically attractive might have goals related to exercising, dressing, or styling their
hair (Emmons, 1986). Furthermore, research has revealed wide-ranging individual
differences in the types of personal strivings individuals characteristically pursue (Emmons,
1999). Personal strivings, then, allow for an examination of an individual’s characteristic
motivations and offer a deeper understanding of the individual and the unique ways they
9

negotiate challenges within a social and developmental context (Emmons, 1999; McAdams
& Pals, 2006). By examining personal strivings, researchers can determine how the different
types of strivings people pursue relate to their level of happiness or eudaimonic well-being.
In order to assess the different types of strivings that individuals characteristically
pursue, Emmons (1999) has developed a measure of personal strivings in which participants
freely list the strivings that they are typically trying to accomplish, along with a coding
manual to assist in categorizing the content of each striving. For example, the striving “be a
kinder and more tolerant person” could be considered a personal growth-oriented striving
given it reflects a concern for self improvement. In total, Emmons (1999) provides
descriptions o f 10 underlying thematic categories to identify and describe individual
strivings, including: achievement; affiliation; intimacy; power; self-presentation; selfsufficiency; maladaptive or self-defeating; generativity; personal growth; and, self­
transcendence. O f these 10 categories, both personal growth and self-transcendence appear
particularly relevant to a eudaimonic perspective. Personal growth strivings are those that
involve a concern for improving aspects o f the self (cultivating one’s inner potential), and
self-transcendent (or spiritual) strivings indicate a desire to integrate the self with something
larger (providing greater meaning in life and a guiding framework for one’s existence or
purpose; Emmons, 1999). Overall, examining the content of individual strivings permits for
an empirical assessment of how the different types of activities individuals are
characteristically striving for relate to their eudaimonic well-being.
In order to be consistent with a eudaimonic perspective, an individual’s goals should
express their inner character or values and promote self-realization/fulfilment (Waterman,
1993). From this perspective, personal growth and self-transcendent goals might be
considered to be aligned with a eudaimonic perspective given that personal growth goals
10

involve a focus on developing one’s valued tendencies, whereas self-transcendence involves
integrating one’s potentials within a larger context - something that furthers the complexity
of the self and creates a greater possibility for fulfillment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993). In fact,
long standing notions about the developmental process of self-realization suggest that
strivings for personal growth and self-transcendence ought to be connected (e.g., Maslow,
1954). That is, self-actualization and the development of individual uniqueness
(differentiation) precede and promote the ability to transcend the self, resulting in greater
integration of the self within a larger context (Beaumont, 2009; Csikszentmihalyi, 1993;
Maslow, 1954; see also Franklin, 2010). Ultimately, self-transcendence involves a higher
level of integration that can be considered the greatest expression of the self
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1993; Emmons, 1999).
Empirical evidence also supports the notion that self-transcendent goals
fundamentally contrast more hedonistic goals. Grouzet et al. (2005) found that many of the
different goals that individuals endorse can be placed on a continuum in terms of how self­
transcendent versus hedonistic they are. Grouzet et al. (2005) asked participants from 15
cultures around the world to rate the importance of 57 different goals pertaining to 11
different goal domains (financial success, image, popularity, self-acceptance, affiliation,
community feeling, physical health, and spirituality, conformity, hedonism, and safety). The
results revealed that an underlying factor defining many of the different goals individuals
endorsed involved the extent to which they were physical (e.g., hedonic) strivings that are
primarily concerned with maintaining and enhancing one’s own physical pleasure and
survival (e.g., financial success, hedonism, physical health, and safety) or self-transcendent
strivings concerned with benefiting society or transcending the self (e.g., community feeling,
conformity, and spirituality). In addition, they found that individuals who endorse self11

transcendent goals appear not to rate hedonic goals as highly important (and vice versa),
suggesting broadly that these two contrasting types of goals might be pursued by different
individuals.
Not only are there individual differences in the types of goals individuals
characteristically pursue, but also research examining different types of strivings, though
scarce, has generally revealed that not all goals promote well-being - the content of goals
does matter (Emmons, 1999). For example, affiliation, intimacy, generativity, and self­
transcendent goal strivings are positively related to well-being (positive affect and life
satisfaction), whereas striving for power and materialism is negatively related to well-being
(Emmons, 1991, 1999; Kasser & Ryan, 1993, 1996). Kasser and Ryan (1993) reported that
individuals who placed more emphasis on financial aspirations than on aspirations for
affiliation, community, and self-acceptance had higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of
self-actualization than those who placed less emphasis on financial aspirations.
Waterman (2007, 2008) has suggested that goals that are aligned with a eudaimonic
perspective should create feelings of personal expressiveness (i.e., the feeling that one is
expressing who they really are), and that goals involving the development of one’s best
potentials (i.e., personally expressive goals) may actually promote sustainable levels of
happiness. Although some have described the pursuit of happiness to be akin to a hedonic
treadmill, meaning people are happy when they attain valued goals, but soon adapt and return
to their previous level of well-being, Waterman (2007) proposed that this treadmill of
happiness does not necessarily apply to strivings related to the cultivation of personal
potentials. Instead, if challenges are progressively increased to meet acquired skill, one can
imagine a eudaimonic staircase whereby continually striving to fulfill one’s potential should
not result in adaptation in the same manner as the pursuit of hedonistic goals does
12

(Waterman, 2007). Indeed, research conducted by Steger, Kashdan, and Oishi (2008)
confirmed that people who engaged in eudaimonic behaviours (i.e., activities judged by a
group o f experts to be representative o f eudaimonic well-being), reported greater daily
positive affect, life meaning and life satisfaction, whereas engaging in hedonic behaviours
was unrelated to these measures of well-being. Furthermore, daily eudaimonic activity was
related to improvements in well-being over time. Thus, whereas more hedonistic pursuits
may result in happiness only when they are attained and this happiness quickly dissipates,
more eudaimonic strivings might result in a sustainable upward spiral of well-being
(Waterman, 2007).
Likewise, Deci and Ryan (2008) have suggested that the productive energy available
to the self (a sense of enthusiasm, vigor, and aliveness), which they call vitality, is
maintained or even enhanced when an individual engages in personally meaningful activities.
Experimental research has confirmed that when people self-regulate their behaviour
autonomously (i.e., in line with their own interests and values, as in strivings aligned with a
eudaimonic perspective), their subjective vitality is maintained or even increased (see Deci &
Ryan, 2008 for a review). Thus, it is likely that individuals who characteristically pursue such
goals experience positive well-being (e.g., positive emotions) not only following the
attainment, but also during the pursuit of these types of goals. In short, simply acting in
accordance with one’s inner values ought to be a positive emotional experience.
It is also possible that positive emotion plays a critical role in the continued striving
toward more eudaimonic goals, given positive emotion appears to be influential in the
process o f maintaining self-regulation (Tice, Baumeister, Shmueli, & Muraven, 2007).
Acting in order to fulfill one’s potential requires effortful self-control. For instance, the
pursuit of both personal growth and self-transcendent goals involves some degree o f self­
13

regulation or self-discipline. Rather than living a life of carefree pleasure, these strivings
require actively striving for excellence and virtue in harmony with the common good
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1993). Research on affect and self-regulation suggests that negative affect
often impairs impulse control (Gaillot & Tice, 2007). For example, individuals who are in
negative emotional states are more likely to give up on their goals (e.g., break their diets;
Gaillot & Tice, 2007). In contrast, the induction o f positive emotions following a demanding
task serves to restore an individual’s self-regulatory capacity (Tice et al., 2007). Positive
emotions, then, may play a role in the continued striving toward more eudaimonistic pursuits
resulting in the upward spiral of well-being described by Waterman (2007).
Together, the research reviewed above suggests the importance of goal content for
well-being. Yet, relatively little is known about the role of positive emotion in goal striving.
Although positive emotions are often considered the outcome of goal attainment, the
broaden-and-build theory suggests that positive emotion (i.e., hedonic well-being) may in
fact be influential in the process of building enduring aspects of character that afford lasting
happiness (i.e., eudaimonic well-being). In addition to contributing to the literature on
personal strivings and well-being, one o f the aims of this thesis was to examine the influence
of positive emotions on personal strivings and eudaimonic well-being. I propose that positive
emotions ‘build’ enduring happiness by aiding people in striving toward the types of goals
that are more closely aligned with a eudaimonic perspective.
Positive Emotions and Personal Strivings
Although little research exists on the role of positive emotion in goal striving, the
broaden-and-build theory suggests that momentary experiences of positive emotion build
lasting levels of happiness and well-being by building the enduring resources necessary to
support living well (Fredrickson, 1998). Given positive emotions lead to a broadening o f the
14

thoughts and actions that come to mind (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005), and certain positive
emotions motivate self-improvement (Algoe & Haidt, 2009), it is possible that certain
positive emotions might be influential in the process of striving for different types of goals. I
believe that positive emotions might actually help people identify goals that are more closely
aligned with a eudaimonic perspective (resulting in the upward spiral of well-being).
Specifically, 1 propose that growth-oriented and self-transcendent goals are more likely to be
identified by individuals following a positive emotional experience.
Several diverse lines of research support the notion that positive emotion ought to
facilitate personal growth strivings. For one, positive emotion seems to play a role in the
capacity to be open to negative or threatening self-relevant information (Aspinwall, 1998).
Thus, positive emotion should facilitate the identification of aspects of the self that an
individual would like to improve upon. In addition, reports of positive growth in the
posttraumatic growth literature usually involve a mixture of both negative along with positive
emotions (e.g., Joseph & Linley, 2006), and research indicates that participants who reported
positive emotions along with negative emotions displayed growth in ego-resilience over the
course of a month (e.g., Cohn et al., 2009). Finally, positive emotions lead to a higher
likelihood of finding meaning in events, promoting greater coherence, differentiation and
integration (Isen, 1987, 2003). Thus, positive emotions may aid an individual in identifying
strivings related to personal growth and cultivating their inner potential.
Positive emotions should also facilitate self-transcendent strivings, given positive
emotions increase mindfulness (Fredrickson et al., 2008). Mindfulness involves an awareness
of the present moment in time and an ability to be receptive to inner and outer experience
without being overly self-focused (Brown & Ryan, 2003). A key aspect of mindfulness is
self-awareness (Brown & Ryan, 2003), and the capacity for self-awareness is a precursor for
15

advanced self-development (Beaumont, 2009). Indeed, mindfulness has been found to predict
advanced self-development in the form of wisdom (Beaumont, 2011), and wise individuals
are characterized by self-actualization and self-transcendence (Beaumont, 2009). Overall, the
fact that positive emotions are linked to increased mindfulness (Fredrickson et al., 2008)
provides further support that positive emotion might facilitate the broadened state of
awareness necessary for self-transcendence.
Although to my knowledge no research has directly examined the role positive
emotions might play when an individual outlines their goals, Fredrickson and Branigan
(2005) asked participants who were induced to experience positive (vs. neutral or negative)
affect to list all the activities they would like to be doing and conducted an exploratory
analysis of the responses. Coding of the content of these responses revealed that participants
induced to feel positive emotion (amusement) reported more frequent desires to engage in
exercise/sport activities, nature/outdoors activities as well as urges to play, be social, and
continue to have more positive feelings compared to participants in the neutral condition
(Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). Contrast these desired activities to participants induced to
feel anger who reported fewer urges to drink/eat, reminisce, work, and read and increased
desires to engage in anti-social activities (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). Thus, this
exploratory examination of the types of activities the participants in different emotional states
listed indicates that different emotions may motivate people to engage in different types of
activities.
The Role of Different Positive Emotions in Goal Striving: Awe as an Elite Emotional
State
Although in general positive emotions appear to be linked to the capacity for
broadened attention and the acquisition of enduring personal resources, it is my contention
16

that the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being might be seen in the
meaning and consequences of different types of positive emotions. Specifically, I believe
different positive emotions will differentially influence personal strivings and resulting
eudaimonic well-being.
Fredrickson (1998) does acknowledge that different positive emotional states may
create distinct thought-action tendencies (e.g., joy prompts play and contentment the urge to
savor); however, Fredrickson and colleagues usually only examine the common function of
positive emotions in general (i.e., to broaden and build), and they usually only include the
positive emotions amusement and contentment. Yet, despite their exclusion from the
broaden-and-build theory, emotions that might be considered transcendent (such as awe) may
play a different role in goal striving and well-being, as these seem more closely aligned with
a eudaimonic perspective. Transcendent emotions like awe capture feelings that go beyond a
hedonic sense of pleasure and instead promote the feeling of a connection with something
larger than oneself (Keltner & Haidt, 2003).
Keltner and Haidt (2003) have recently proposed that experiences of awe involve two
central features: vastness and accommodation. Vastness refers to anything that is perceived to
be larger than the self, and accommodation refers to the process of adapting some aspect of
one’s schemas (mental structures) because the experience is novel and cannot be
incorporated into existing knowledge or understanding of the world (Keltner & Haidt, 2003).
Keltner and Haidt (2003) proposed that the experience of awe is pleasant, but it can also be
mixed with fear. Individuals may experience awe in response to a large variety of
experiences, but often awe occurs in response to natural phenomena such as mountains,
storms, oceans, or stars (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). Furthermore, the presence o f five additional
appraisals (threat, beauty, exceptional ability, virtue, and the supernatural) determine the
17

affective tone of the awe experience. Overall, Algoe and Haidt (2009) suggested that
transcendent emotions “change the way individuals view the world” (p.l 19), and “draw
people out of themselves” (p. 123). Thus, awe is a positive emotional state that might be
highly linked to striving for growth and self-transcendence.
Indeed, Maslow (1954) wrote extensively about personal growth and self­
transcendence in the form of self-actualization. Maslow considered experiences o f awe to be
a central feature of the peak experiences that self-actualizing people have (Keltner & Haidt,
2003), providing further support for the notion that experiences of awe might be involved in
the process of self-actualization or growth and eventual self-transcendence. Furthermore,
Huta and Ryan (2010) found that eudaimonic motives for activities (e.g., “seeking to develop
a skill, learn or gain insight into something”; p. 741) were associated with elevating
experiences, including both transcendence and feelings o f awe.
Some experimental support has been found for the notion that different positive
emotional states might have distinct influences on motivation. Algoe and Haidt (2009)
examined the differential effects o f eliciting amusement along with elevation, gratitude, and
admiration on participant motivation. They found that elevation led to greater prosocial
motivations and a desire to be a better person, admiration motivated self-improvement and
gratitude motivated people to improve their relationships with others, whereas amusement
created no clear pattern of motivation. Thus, Algoe and Haidt (2009) recommended that
researchers differentiate the meaning and consequences of different positive emotions to
determine the implications of certain positive emotions. One goal o f this thesis was to
examine the role o f positive emotions in goal striving, specifically considering the potential
distinction between amusement and awe.

18

Building upon the notion that different positive emotions might be differentially
related to eudaimonic well-being, the second goal of this thesis was to investigate possible
individual differences in the capacity to experience or benefit from the experience o f such
emotions. Underlying aspects of character may determine whether people are concerned with
(or even capable of) engaging in the process of experiencing intense positive emotions like
awe. Furthermore, it’s possible that some people simply passively experience positive affect
and experience no lasting change. Thus, there are likely to be individual differences in the
capacity to capitalize on positive emotional experiences in goal striving.
The Role of Individual Differences: Are Certain People More Likely to Capitalize on
Different Positive Emotions in the Pursuit of their Goals?
The final goal of this thesis broadly concerned whether there are individual
differences in the ability to use or capitalize on positive emotional experiences that account
for the beneficial effects o f positive emotions. Because the broaden-and-build theory comes
from a functional perspective, it implies that everyone will experience the same “positive
effects” of positive emotions. Fredrickson and Losada (2005) have found that frequent
experiences of positive emotions are linked to positive adjustment and flourishing,
suggesting that the experience of positive affect (i.e., hedonic well-being) is important for
building enduring happiness (i.e., eudaimonic well-being). In fact, in their research
Fredrickson and Losada (2005) found that, mathematically, a ratio of positive to negative
emotion at or above 2.9:1 must be present for human flourishing to occur. Furthermore,
Fredrickson’s (1998) theory proposes that these recurrent experiences o f positive emotions
‘build’ enduring personal resources which in turn promote effective future problem solving
(i.e., resilience) and more positive emotions (upward spiral), suggesting positive emotions

19

contribute to the development of enduring individual differences (Fredrickson & Joiner,
2002 ).
Alternatively, I think it could also be possible that certain people have a greater
ability to experience the ‘lasting’ positive outcomes and growth due to their ability to
capitalize on positive emotional experiences. There might exist consistent individual
differences accounting for the ‘positive effects’ o f positive emotions because some people
are more effective at self-regulation (with respect to the effective use of emotions), whereas
other people simply passively experience positive affect, and experience lower levels of
lasting growth. Ego-resilient people can dynamically and resourcefully regulate their level of
self-control to suit environmental demands, and thus may be more effective at self-regulation
with respect to the effective use of emotions, making them likely candidates for such an
ability (Block & Kremen, 1996; Klohnen, 1996).
Despite the extensive research and theory on personal strivings and well-being, little
is known about the characteristic differences that might lead people to pursue different
strivings. The question remains as to whether there are individual differences in the selfregulatory processes that relate in predictable ways to different goal types (resulting in
different levels of well-being). This thesis examined the role of ego-resilience as a means of
identifying individual differences in the types of personal strivings that people
characteristically pursue. Block’s (1993, 2002) theoretical constructs of ego-control and egoresilience are considered to be relatively enduring ‘meta-dimensions’ of personality
(described in further detail in the next section), and theoretically, such self-regulatory
processes ought to be involved in goal striving (Hooker & McAdams, 2003).
Furthermore, research supports the notion that ego-resilient individuals experience
greater well-being and build resources partly by generating more positive emotions. For
20

example, ego-resilient people report more positive emotion in response to negative events,
and positive emotions account for the link between resilience and increased resources
(Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Thus, the
second goal of this thesis was to explore the hypothesis that ego-resilient individuals
capitalize on their experiences of positive emotions in order to continually set and strive
toward goals that are aligned with a eudaimonic perspective. Before elaborating on this goal,
I will briefly review the theoretical background for these constructs.
Ego-Resilience and Ego-Control
Although many researchers use the term resilience within a developmental context to
refer to individuals who display adaptive functioning even though they are at risk (Masten,
2001), Jack and Jeanne Block (1977) used the term ego-resilience to refer to an enduring
aspect of personality that varies between individuals. Block (1993) defined ego-resilience as
the characteristic ability to modify one’s level of ego-control to adapt to the demands of the
environment. Ego-control consists of the ability to control impulses (restraint or inhibition of
activity, delay of gratification, etc.). Theoretically, the concepts of ego-control and egoresilience were based in part on Lewin’s (1935) description of a psychological boundary
separating the need system (internal impulses, needs, and motives) from the sensorimotor
system (behavioural responses). The concepts of ego-control and ego-resilience correspond
to the permeability and flexibility o f the boundary, respectively. Individuals who are
overcontrolled never allow the expression of their impulses (impermeable boundary),
whereas undercontrolled individuals cannot contain impulses even when expression is
inappropriate (extremely permeable boundary allows impulses to ‘leak out’ uncontrolled).
Ego-resilience adds another layer of complexity, as it involves the flexibility or elasticity of
the boundary. The permeability of an ego-resilient individual’s psychological boundary is
21

flexible in that it can be made more or less permeable to suit environmental demands (Block
& Block, 1980).
An individual who is ego-resilient is able to modify their usual level of ego-control to
meet the demands of the situation, whereas an individual characterized as being “ego-brittle”,
or unresilient, has little adaptive flexibility, and consequently tends to fall apart under stress
(Block & Block, 1977; Block, & Kremen, 1996). Ego-resilience, then, characterizes an
enduring ability to adapt to new and changing environmental circumstances; however, rather
than being unaffected by adversity, ego-resilient people are able to ‘bend but not break’
(Block & Block, 1980). For example, ego-resilient individuals experienced the same degree
of anxiety and frustration as well as the same level of cardiovascular arousal following an
anxiety provoking situation as did their less resilient counterparts, but the ego-resilient
individuals recovered faster (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Thus, it is not that resilient
individuals are not affected by adversity, they are just better able to ‘bounce back’ or deal
with adversity effectively, resulting in more adaptive functioning. Furthermore, egoresilience is positively related to well-being and psychological adjustment (Letzring, Block &
Funder, 2005; Utsey, Hook, Fischer & Beivet, 2008).
Although to my knowledge ego-resilience has not been examined in connection with
personal goals, I propose that one of the reasons ego-resilient individuals experience greater
well-being is related to their personal strivings. Given an inherent capacity to regulate their
modal level of self-control, ego-resilient individuals ought to have a superior ability to
modify their behaviour in the pursuit of important goals in accordance with the demands of
the current situation. Furthermore, because ego-resilient individuals have more coherent and
integrated self-structures they may have a superior ability to identify personal strivings that

22

are aligned with a eudaimonic perspective, and they may actually be more effective in the use
of positive emotions in striving toward such goals.
Ego-Resilience, Positive Emotions, and Personal Strivings
I propose that ego-resilient individuals will be more likely to have growth-oriented
and self-transcendent strivings that are highly personally expressive. Support for this
particular contention, however, is mostly theoretical (rather than empirical). For one, the
inherent flexibility associated with ego-resilience ought to result in the most adaptive or selfcongruent (personally expressive or consistent with inner values) goal selection. Indeed,
others have also predicted that “highly elastic persons are able to adapt to situational
constraints and to overcome obstacles in the pursuit of important goals. Therefore, it seems
reasonable that these persons would behave in accordance with their self-guides” (Gramzow,
Sedikides, Panter, & Insko, 2000, p. 202). Likewise, research has confirmed that egoresilience is associated with higher levels of ego development, indicating that highly resilient
individuals display greater levels o f personality integration (Westenberg & Block, 1993).
Furthermore ego-development is associated with self-actualization and self-transcendence
(Cook-Greuter, 1999). Therefore, it is likely that ego-resilient individuals have greater self­
insight resulting in a superior ability to identify growth-oriented and self-transcendent
personal goals.
Empirical support for the notion that ego-resilient individuals might be higher in
eudaimonic well-being has also been found. Individuals high in ego-resilience are described
by friends and clinicians “as having wide interests and a high aspiration level, assertive,
socially poised and skilled, and cheerful; and not self-defeating, emotionally bland, nor
lacking personal meaning in life” (Letzring et al., 2005, p.395). In addition, higher egoresilience was found to predict psychological well-being, subjective happiness, optimism,
23

and life satisfaction (Letzring et al., 2005; Utsey et al. 2008). Overall, then, in addition to
having a superior ability to cope with challenges during the pursuit o f their goals (resulting in
greater efficacy in the pursuit of goals), ego-resilient individuals might be more likely to set
the types o f goals that are consistent with a eudaimonic perspective than are less resilient
individuals.
Furthermore, if ego-resilient individuals are adept at identifying goals that afford
them greater experiences of positive emotions, they might be in a better position to use or
capitalize on these positive emotions in order to maintain the motivation necessary to
persevere in the face of setbacks or environmental demands (restoring self-control). Because
ego-resilient individuals are predicted to be flexible enough to allow themselves to
experience intense positive emotions (such as awe), they will be more likely to benefit from
the positive effects of positive emotions in terms of broadening their perspective and
allowing them to continually identify more growth-oriented and transcendent strivings
(resulting in a reciprocal cycle of continually setting and pursuing more personally
expressive goals).
In fact, it is possible that ego-resilient individuals are actually generating more
positive emotion even in response to challenging circumstances, rather than simply a function
of having ‘more’ positive experiences (i.e., an ‘easy’ month). Theoretically, ego-resilience
involves positive adjustment in the face of challenges, not a blind optimism or a paucity of
challenging experiences (Block, 2002). Thus, I propose that ego-resilient individuals are
more likely to generate positive emotions and to use their positive emotional experiences to
adaptive ends (e.g., to develop insights into problems or identify optimal goals to strive for)
resulting in continually superior adjustment (i.e., causing them to become more resilient).

24

Indeed, research conducted by Fredrickson and colleagues has indicated that egoresilient individuals might use positive emotions more often than non-resilient individuals to
adapt to challenges. In general, these researchers have typically shown that trait differences
(e.g., ego-resilience) are related to positive outcome (e.g., overcoming threat) via positive
emotion (mediator). For example, Tugade and Fredrickson (2004) found that ego-resilient
individuals reported the same level of negative affect (e.g., anxiety), but greater positive
affect (e.g., excitement) than their less resilient counterparts in response to a stressful speech
preparation task, and this greater positive affect statistically mediated the relationship
between psychological resilience and faster cardiovascular recovery. Furthermore, in a study
of ordinary life events, resilient individuals reported the same degree of negative affect (e.g.,
frustration) caused by their ‘most important personal problem’, but reported more positive
affect and positive meaning finding in relation to the same problem as their less resilient
counterparts (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004, Study 3). Finally, Fredrickson et al. (2003) found
that people identified as high in ego-resilience prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks on
the United States displayed low levels of depression as well as an increase in life satisfaction
and optimism in the wake of the attacks. Furthermore, experiences of positive emotions
following the attacks mediated the relationships between ego-resilience, lower depression
and increased resources, suggesting that resilient individuals might draw on positive
emotions in order to find meaning in adversity (Fredrickson et al., 2003).
Tugade and Fredrickson (2007) summed up these previous findings by stating,
“research indicates that individual differences in trait resilience predict the ability to
capitalize on positive emotions when coping with negative emotional experiences” (p.319).
However, it may be more accurate to conclude that resilient individuals seem to use positive
emotions (e.g., humor) more frequently, given the research they refer to has primarily relied
25

on a method o f ‘counting’ the number of positive emotions reported when establishing such
individual difference assessments. The question of whether ego-resilient individuals actually
have a greater ability to ‘capitalize’ on positive emotional experiences appears to be still
unanswered. Yet, Tugade and Fredrickson (2007) do suggest the theoretical possibility that
although all individuals have the capacity to draw on positive emotions to cope, resilient
individuals do so relatively automatically and with little conscious effort because cultivating
positive emotions for them has become an automatized behaviour. In contrast, they suggest
that less resilient individuals may have to exert considerable effort to deliberately cultivate
positive emotions when coping with stressful events and exerting effort in this way may
actually exhaust their cognitive resources. Overall, then, ego-resilient individuals may be
more effective emotion regulators in the sense of knowing how as well as when to use
positive emotions effectively, and they may do so relatively automatically.
Because in previous research assessing ego-resilience and positive emotions,
participants were simply asked to report their emotions, the question still remains as to
whether ego-resilient individuals simply have more frequent positive experiences or whether
they actually capitalize on opportunities for positive emotional experiences. An experimental
induction o f emotion offers an optimal test of this capitalizing effect. Holding constant the
‘opportunity’ for a positive emotional experience allows for the examination of whether egoresilient individuals generate and capitalize on positive affect to facilitate their personal
strivings.
In summary, evidence is accumulating in support of the notion that positive emotions
(hedonic well-being) contribute to lasting happiness (eudaimonic well-being); however, few
studies have examined individual differences in the ability to use or capitalize on positive
emotions. A notable exception is work by Tugade and Fredrickson (2004, 2007) who have
26

begun to look at individual differences in the tendency to use positive emotions as a personal
resource for psychological well-being. The results of this research suggest that ego-resilient
individuals may in fact possess superior emotion regulation abilities, but to date an
examination of how individual differences in ego-resilience and positive emotions might be
related to personal goals has not been conducted. Together, the results of previous research
suggests that there may be complex patterns of relationships between ego-resilience, positive
emotions, and personal goals, providing a basis for the systematic examination o f these
constructs which is the focus o f this thesis.

27

Summary of Objectives and Hypotheses
The purpose of this research is to add to the literature on personal strivings and well­
being by exploring the potential role of individual differences in positive emotions and egoresilience. Specifically, two research questions are posed:
(1) Does positive emotion (i.e., awe) play a role in striving toward goals that are
aligned with a eudaimonic perspective?; and,
(2) Do individual differences in ego-resilience play a role within the positive effects
of positive emotional experiences?
In order to provide a thorough assessment of these research questions, this research
employed a multi-method approach in two separate, but related studies. Study 1 included a
battery of self-report measures completed by a large sample of participants so that the
predictive links between ego-resilience, positive emotions, personal strivings, and well-being
could be investigated. Study 2 was an experimental study in which participants were asked to
view a short positive emotion inducing video (designed to elicit either amusement or awe), or
a neutral (control) video and then complete a measure in which they were asked to outline
several personal goals they would like to accomplish within four weeks. A follow up
assessment of the participants’ goal progress four weeks later allowed for the determination
of their level of satisfaction with their goal progress as well as their current state of well­
being. An overview of the analyses and specific hypotheses are as follows.
Research question 1: The role of positive emotions in goal striving. This research
objective was addressed in Study 1 by having participants report the frequency o f the positive
and negative emotions they experienced over the past four weeks as well as list their personal
strivings and complete a measure of eudaimonic well-being. In addition, participants were
asked to rate each of their strivings on a number of scales (i.e., importance, progress, and
28

extent to which each striving is growth-oriented, positivity or well-being-oriented, and self­
transcendent), as well as indicate the degree of personal expressiveness associated with each
striving.
Based upon the research on positive emotion and personal goals previously reviewed,
I hypothesized that the self-reported frequency of positive emotions would be positively
associated with goal progress, a greater proportion of transcendent and growth-oriented
goals, personal expressiveness, and eudaimonic well-being. These hypotheses were examined
via correlation analyses.
In order to disentangle the potential causal role of positive emotions in goal striving,
in Study 2 participants were randomly assigned to one of three (awe, amusement, or neutral)
emotion inducing conditions. Immediately following the emotion induction, participants were
asked to list five goals they would like to accomplish over the next four weeks, and to rate
each goal in terms of the extent to which it was well-being-oriented, growth-oriented, and
self-transcendent. At the four week follow up assessment, participants were asked to report
on their progress towards the five goals they set and to complete a measure of eudaimonic
well-being.
Based upon the research on positive emotions, personal goals, and well-being, I
hypothesized that although individuals in the amusement conditions might list more well­
being strivings, only individuals in the awe inducing emotion condition would outline goals
that are more personal-growth-oriented and self-transcendent compared to those in the
neutral condition. At the four week follow up assessment, I expected that participants in both
positive emotion (awe and amusement) conditions would be more likely to report having
made progress towards the goals they outlined compared to those in the neutral condition.
Finally, I expected that individuals in the awe condition would report the greatest eudaimonic
29

well-being compared to individuals in the amusement or neutral condition. These hypotheses
were tested using multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) to compare individuals in
the three conditions (awe, neutral, and amusement) for differences in the outcome variables
(proportion of well-being, personal growth and transcendent goals, goal progress, and level
of eudaimonic well-being).
Research question 2: The role of individual differences in ego-resilience. The
second research question addressed whether the positive effects o f positive emotions (on goal
striving) might be more pronounced among ego-resilient individuals. In Study 1, in addition
to the measures mentioned above, participants were asked to complete measures of egocontrol and ego-resilience. Based upon both the research on ego-resilience and personal goals
previously reviewed, I hypothesized that individuals higher in ego-resilience (but not egocontrol) would report more frequent experiences of positive emotions over the past four
weeks, as well as greater personal expressiveness associated with their personal strivings
compared to less resilient individuals. In addition, I expected that ego-resilient individuals
would list a greater proportion of personal growth and self-transcendent strivings than would
their less resilient counterparts. These strivings in turn were expected to predict eudaimonic
well-being. These hypotheses were tested via correlation analyses. Furthermore, the
hypothesized role that ego-resilience might play in the relationship between positive emotion
and the outcome variables (proportion of well-being, personal growth and transcendent
strivings, self-report ratings of goal positivity, personal growth, self-transcendence, and
personal expressiveness, level of progress, and eudaimonic well-being) was examined using
regression analyses. Specifically, in order to test the hypothesis that ego-resilience might
mediate the relationship between positive emotion and eudaimonic goal striving, Baron and
Kenny’s (1986) four step mediation analyses were conducted.
30

I further hypothesized that ego-resilience might account for the positive effects of
positive emotions, because ego-resilient individuals are able to capitalize on their experiences
of positive emotions. In Study 2, before undergoing the emotion induction, participants were
asked to complete a measure of ego-resilience. Thus, in addition to the main effects of
emotion condition on goal type and goal progress described above, I hypothesized that there
would be a significant interaction with ego-resilience, supporting the notion that egoresilience might moderate the main effect of positive emotion on eudaimonic goal striving. 1
expected that the positive effects of the positive emotion inductions on the types of goals
listed (transcendent and growth-oriented) and on goal progress would be greater among more
ego-resilient individuals, supporting the notion that ego-resilient individuals do in fact
capitalize on their experiences of positive emotions. These hypotheses were tested via
univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) in order to test for interactions between emotion
condition and ego-resilience in predicting the outcomes (proportion of growth and
transcendent strivings, level of progress, and eudaimonic well-being).
Overall, the results of this research add to the literature on well-being and happiness
by providing evidence about the role of positive emotions as well as the role of individual
differences in underlying aspects of character (i.e. ego-resilience) for goal striving and
resulting eudaimonic well-being.

31

METHOD
The procedure included two data collection phases (Study 1 and Study 2). Students in
the participant pool at the University o f Northern British Columbia (UNBC) were permitted
to participate in either Study 1 or Study 2, but not both, so that the samples would be
completely independent. Study 1 consisted o f a series of questionnaires presented online
(described below), whereas students who volunteered to participate in Study 2 were asked to
meet the researcher at the study location (lab 10-3550) at the date/time they choose to sign up
for on the online system.
Study 1
Participants. A total of 157 (44 men; 113 women) undergraduate students from
UNBC completed the online questionnaire via the online UNBC Psychology Research
Participation System. These participants ranged in age from 17 to 44 (M= 20.48, SD = 3.90),
and the sample was predominately Caucasian (78.8%), followed by Asian (11.5%), other
(5.1%), and Aboriginal (3.8%). The majority o f the participants indicated that they were
single (50.3%) or dating one person exclusively (38.2%). The remaining participants were
married or common-law (8.9%) or engaged (2.5%).
Given UNBC implemented a dual admission process with the College of New
Caledonia (CNC) in 2008, a decision was made to allow CNC students in introductory
psychology classes to participate in this study. This served to both provide CNC students
with the opportunity to participate in a research study as well as to make available a larger
sample of participants to draw on for this study. In total 25 (4 men; 21 women) introductory
psychology students from the College of New Caledonia (CNC) completed a paper-andpencil version of the questionnaire. These participants ranged in age from 17 to 41 (M =
20.92, SD = 5.52), and the sample was predominately Caucasian (80%), followed by
32

Aboriginal (8%), other (8%), and Asian (4%). The majority of the participants indicated that
they were dating one person exclusively (48%) or single (40%). The remaining participants
were married or common-law (4%), engaged (4%), or divorced/separated (4%).
Procedure. The questionnaires took approximately 45 minutes to complete, and both
UNBC and CNC students were compensated with 1% towards their course grade based on
the UNBC Department of Psychology criteria of 1% per hour spent participating in research.
UNBC students were recruited to participate in the study via the online UNBC Psychology
Research Participation System, and completed the questionnaires entirely online. With
permission from the Ethics Review Boards of both CNC and UNBC, as well as the class
instructor, the CNC students were informed about the study via a brief in-class presentation.
Interested CNC students were given the questionnaire package and were asked to complete
the questionnaires at home and return the package in the following class (four days later), or
to mail it to the lab in the self-addressed, stamped envelope provided.
Before completion of the questionnaires, participants were asked to read an
introductory information and informed consent page (Appendix A). The online survey was
layered in such a way that participants were not able to complete the questionnaires unless
they read the information and informed consent pages, and then pressed a "continue" button,
which implied their consent to participate in the study. The CNC participants were asked to
sign a paper copy of the informed consent form. Then, following the completion of a
demographic questionnaire (Appendix D), all participants were asked to complete the
measures described below, which were presented in a randomized order to the online
participants and in a counter-balanced order to those who completed the paper-and-pencil
questionnaire packets. After completing all of the survey measures, online survey participants

33

were again presented with the information letter page (Appendix A) at which point they
could choose to print it for their records.
M easures. Study 1 measures were self-report in nature and were chosen to measure
aspects of the main constructs: ego-control, ego-resilience, positive and negative emotion,
and goal strivings.
Ego-Undercontrol Scale (UC; Appendix E). The UC scale (Letzring, Block &
Funder, 2005) is a 37-item measure of Block’s theoretical concept of ego-control, a meta­
dimension of personality assessing the broad capacity for impulse control/expression. Higher
scores correspond to lower levels of control or inhibition, and therefore to ego-undercontrol
(UC). Participants responded to scale items on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from disagree
very strongly (1) to agree very strongly (4). Scoring required the summation o f responses to
all 37 items, after reversing reverse keyed items, and then computing a mean score. Letzring
et al. (2005) reported theoretically consistent convergence between this self-report UC scale
and Q-sort ratings of ego-undercontrol provided by acquaintances, clinicians, and the
participants themselves, establishing the convergent validity of the scale, and these authors
reported that the Cronbach’s alpha was .63 for the UC scale (Letzring et al., 2005). In the
present study, the Cronbach’s alpha was .78 for the 37-item measure.
Ego-Resilience Scale (ER89; Appendix F). The ER89 scale (Block & Kremen, 1996)
measures the extent to which individuals show flexibility in response to changing
environmental demands. The ER89 consists of 14 items which are responded to by
participants on a 4-point scale ranging from does not apply at all (1) to applies very strongly
(4). Scoring required the summation o f responses to all 14 items, and higher scores
correspond to higher levels of ego-resilience. Block and Kremen (1996) reported the alpha

34

coefficient reliability of the ER89 to be .76, and Letzring et al., (2005) reported a reliability
coefficient of .72. In the present study, the Cronbah’s alpha was .72.
Positive and Negative A ffect Schedule (PANAS; Appendix G). Participants were
asked to complete the PANAS (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988), with instructions to
indicate how they have felt over the past four weeks. The PANAS consists of 10 positive
(interested, proud, awe, amused, content, joy, grateful, hope, love, compassion) and 10
negative (scared, ashamed, guilty, angry, sad, contempt, disgust, embarrassed, fear)
adjectives to which respondents indicate their negative or positive affect on a Likert scale
ranging from very slightly or not at all (1) to extremely (5). Scoring of the positive emotion
scale required the summation of responses to the 10 positive emotion items, and scoring of
the negative emotion scale required the summation of responses to the 10 negative emotion
items. In the present study, Cronbach’s alphas for the PANAS were .82 for the positive
emotion scale, and .85 for the negative emotion scale.
Questionnaire fo r Eudaimonic Well-Being (QEWB; Appendix H). The QEWB
(Waterman et al, 2010) is a 21-item measure of one’s quality o f life deriving from the
development of one’s best potentials (Waterman et al., 2010). The QEWB items measure
various aspects of eudaimonic well-being, including: self-discovery; the perception that one’s
best potentials are being developed; a feeling of purpose in life; invested effort in the pursuit
of excellence; intense engagement in activities; and, feelings of personal expressiveness.
However, the 21 items were found to be tapping into a single factor, comprising a
unidimensional scale (Waterman et al., 2010). Participants responded to items on a scale
ranging from strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (4). Waterman et al. (2010) found that
the QEWB was positively related to both measures of subjective well-being and
psychological well-being. In addition, these authors found that the QEWB accounted for
35

significant variance in several measure of positive and negative psychological functioning,
independent of both the subjective well-being and psychological well-being measures,
indicating that the QEWB cannot simply be reduced to these other measures of well-being.
The Cronbach’s alpha for the QEWB was found to be .86 in one sample and .85 in another
sample (Waterman et al., 2010). In the present study, the Cronbach’s alpha was .82 for the
21-item QEWB.
Personal strivings (Appendix I). Emmons (1999) Personal Strivings Assessment
Packet (PSAP) is a measure of participants’ personal goal strivings, or what an individual is
typically trying to accomplish (e.g., striving to “make more friends” or to “be a kinder and
more tolerant person”). Participants were asked to generate a list of 10 strivings in response
to the sentence stem “I typically try to ...”. In order to evaluate the types o f strivings
participants listed, two methods were used. First, participants were asked to rate the extent to
which each of their strivings is oriented towards well-being, personal growth, or self­
transcendence (described below) in order to yield quantitative ratings o f all the strivings
listed. Second, the strivings generated by participants were then coded for content following
the procedure for determining what category the content of each striving might fall outlined
by Emmons (1999).
The content coding was conducted using a modified version of Emmons’ (1999)
coding manual, which was developed in a previous study by Dr. Beaumont which focused on
isolating transcendent, personal growth, and well-being strivings in a more systematic way.
Specifically, previous reliability coding with Emmons’ (1999) coding scheme revealed that
his categories for spirituality/transcendent, personal growth, and well-being strivings were
not refined enough to achieve adequate reliability. When these code descriptions or
categories were expanded, reliability was achieved. In addition, the refinements to the coding
36

scheme allowed for better isolation of the content of strivings that would be of interest in this
research. All of the goals were categorized by the author into 15 mutually exclusive
categories: achievement, intimacy, affiliation, power, maladaptive, self-presentation, selfsufficiency, personal growth, well-being, generativity, self-transcendence, physical health,
leisure activities, temperance, and mundane chores. Emmons’ (1999) coding criteria was
expanded by Dr Beaumont to include a more definitive categorization of personal growth,
self-transcendent and well-being goals. Personal growth strivings were defined as those
which involved learning, personal growth, development or self-improvement, as well as
those involving self-acceptance, self-compassion and enhancing self-esteem, or avoiding ego
inflation (Beaumont, 2012). The coding category for self-transcendent strivings was
elaborated to include strivings involving divine awareness (e.g., connection to a higher
power), spiritual living, universal or transcendent awareness (e.g., non-judgment and a
respect for equity) or expressions of feelings of oneness or unity o f the self within a larger
context (e.g., humanity). Finally, strivings were categorized as well-being oriented if they
involved emotional or mental well-being, enhancing happiness or positivity, or avoiding
unhappiness and negativity.
In order to determine the accuracy of the modified coding scheme, a second trained
coder (Dr. Beaumont) categorized the data from 33 participants (18% of the data), and the
inter-coder agreement for each category was calculated (see Table 1 for percent agreement by
goal category). Interobserver agreement across all categories was high (Bakeman & Gottman,
1997) with a Cohen’s Kappa (a statistics that corrects for chance agreement) of .91. Any
discrepancies were discussed until agreement was reached. Given the relatively low
agreement on power, maladaptive, and leisure activity goals, these categories will not be
discussed further.
37

Table 1

Study 1 Goal Coding: Example Goals, Total Number Coded, Mean, Standard Deviation, Range, and Inter-Rater Agreement by Goal
Category
Goal type/category

Example(s)

Number
Coded
269

M

SD

Range

Agreement

1.51

1.05

0-5

90%

Achievement

“Achieve high grades in school”

Intimacy

“Make my partner happy”

269

1.51

1.07

0-5

83%

Affiliation

“Meet new people”

138

.78

.79

0-4

75%

Power

“Beat others in performance at work”

10

.06

.23

0-1

50%

Maladaptive

“please everyone”

33

.19

.48

0-2

33%

Self-Presentation

“Impress others”

87

.49

.81

0-5

94%

Self-Sufficiency

“Avoid allowing others to make my decisions for me”

48

.27

.53

0-2

100%

Personal Growth

“Improve all the time”

267

1.50

1.28

0-6

86%

Well-Being

“Stay positive”

214

1.20

1.11

0-5

91%

Generativity

“Help others when they need it”

123

.69

.78

0-5

95%

Self-Transcendence

“Transcend the real”

63

.35

.68

0-4

90%

Physical Health

“Get more exercise”

108

.61

.83

0-3

93%

Leisure Activities

“Keep up with my interests outside o f school”

19

.11

.33

0-2

67%

Temperance

“Stick to a budget”

52

.29

.57

0-3

100%

Mundane Chores

“Keep up with housework”

13

.07

.28

0-2

75%

No code assigned

“Be spontaneous”

84

Al

.72

0-5

76%

1797

10.10

.55

5-12

92%

Total

38

Within the PSAP, participants are also usually asked to rate each of their strivings
along a number of dimensions, called striving assessment scales. Accordingly, in the present
study participants were also asked to rate, on a scale ranging from not at all (0) to extremely
(5), each along two of these dimensions: importance (how important is each striving?); and,
progress (how satisfied are you with your progress towards your striving?). In addition,
participants were asked to rate each of their strivings along three new dimensions: positivity
(to what extent does the striving involve a concern with enhancing positivity and reducing
negativity?); personal growth (to what extent does the striving involve a concern with selfimprovement?); and, self-transcendence (to what extent is the striving oriented above and
beyond the self?). Scores were calculated by averaging participants’ ratings across all 10
strivings.
Finally, following Waterman (1993), participants were asked to rate each o f their
strivings for the degree of personal expressiveness (to what extent does each striving give
you a feeling that this is who you really are?) on a scale ranging from not at all (I) to
extremely (7). Scores were calculated by averaging the personal expressiveness ratings across
all 10 strivings.
See Appendix N for a quick guide (i.e., key) to all the goal rating variables by name.
RESULTS
Preliminary Data Screening
Before analyses were conducted, the data set was examined for missing data, outliers,
and normality. There were no missing scores for any of the scale items; however, one person
did not report their ethnicity. Two female and two male participants were extreme outliers in
terms o f age (ages ranging from 36 to 44, z-scores from 3.73 to 5.66). Further inspection
revealed some of these to be multivariate outliers on a number of variables as well, so a
39

decision was made to delete these four cases from the data set resulting in a final sample size
of 178 (46 men; 132 women) ranging in age from 17 to 34 (M - 20.11, SD = 2.94).
Examination of the data for normality revealed a few outliers, but overall the self-report scale
distributions were not skewed. In contrast, most of the goal type variables (i.e., proportion of
personal growth, self-transcendence, and well-being goals, etc.) were positively skewed. Log
transformations sufficiently normalized the goal type data; thus, the log transformed
variables were used in all subsequent data analyses, though descriptive statistics are reported
based on original goal variables for ease of interpretation.
Preliminary Analyses of Gender Differences
Descriptive statistics for all variables are presented in Tables 2 and 3. Two separate
multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to examine possible gender
differences: one with the log transformed goal variables and one with all self-report
variables. For the goal coding variables, the multivariate effect o f gender was significant, F
(1, 176) = \ J 6 , p = .045, f |2 = .14*. The univariate effect o f gender was only significant for
proportion of intimacy and affiliation goal codes; women had a higher proportion of intimacy
goals then men, and men had a higher proportion of affiliation goals then women. For all
other variables, the multivariate effect o f gender was not significant, F (1, 175) = 1.34, p .2 1 .

To further examine possible gender differences, separate inter-correlations among
variables were computed for men and for women, and then z-test comparisons between the
strength of corresponding correlations for men and women were conducted. These analyses
resulted in only a chance level of significant gender differences in the strength of

□
1 A MANOVA using the untransformed variables produced the same results, F ( l , 176) = 1.76, p = .044, f |: =
. 14. The univariate effect o f gender using the untransformed variables was again only significant for the
proportion o f intimacy (F = 6.68, p = .011) and affiliation (F = 4.09, p = .045) goals.

40

correlations, with 3 out of 65 z-tests being significant. Specifically, the correlations between
positive emotion and the proportion o f personal growth goals for men (r = .35, p = 02) and
women (r = -.09, p =.32) were significantly different, z = 2.51, p = .01, the strength of the
correlations between ego-resilience and participant ratings of goal positivity for men (r = .54,
p < .001) and women (r = .16,/? =.07) were significantly different, z = 2.53, p = .011, and the
correlations between ego-undercontrol and positive emotion for men (r = A \ , p = .005) and
women (r = -.02,p =.84) were significantly different, z = 2.57, p = .01.
No a priori predictions were made concerning gender differences because there was
no theoretical basis for expecting the pattern o f results to differ across gender. Overall, the
preliminary analyses o f gender differences revealed no mean differences between men and
women on any of the study variables that were to be analyzed further, and only a chance
level of significant gender differences in the strength of the correlations, suggesting that
including gender in subsequent analyses would result in higher Type 1 error. As there were
so few gender differences in the F-test and z-test results, a decision was made to conduct
subsequent analyses with the sample as a whole.

41

Table 2

Study 1 Means and Standard Deviations fo r Proportion o f Goals in each Goal Category as a
Function o f Gender
Total

Men

Women

M(SD)

M(SD)

M (SD)

F

Range

Achievement

-15 (.11)

-15 (.11)

•15 (.11)

.06

.00 - .50

Intimacy

.15 (.11)

.12 (.09)

•16 (. 1 1 )

6.63*

.00 - .50

Affiliation

.08 (.08)

.1 0

(.08)

.07 (.08)

4.63*

.00 - .40

Power

.0 1

(.0 2 )

.0 0

(.0 2 )

.0 1

(.0 2 )

.2 1

.0 0 - . 1 0

Maladaptive

.02 (.05)

.02 (.04)

.02 (.05)

.28

Self-Presentation

.05 (.08)

.04 (.07)

.05 (.08)

1 .0 1

Self-Sufficiency

.03 (.05)

.02 (.05)

.03 (.05)

.2 2

.0 0

- .2 0

Personal Growth

.15 (.13)

•16 (.15)

.15 (.12)

.27

.0 0

- .60

Well-Being

.1 2

(. 1 1 )

.48

.00 - .45

Generativity

.07 (.08)

.07 (.07)

.07 (.08)

.0 2

.00 - .50

Self-Transcendence

.04 (.07)

.03 (.06)

.04 (.07)

.08

.00 - .40

Physical Health

.06 (.08)

.06 (.09)

.06 (.08)

.0 0

.00 - .30

Leisure Activities

.01 (.03)

.01 (.03)

.01 (.03)

.33

.0 0

Temperance

.03 (.06)

.02 (.05)

.03 (.06)

.61

.00 - .30

Mundane Chores

.01 (.03)

.01 (.04)

.0 1

(.0 2 )

.98

.0 0

(. 1 1 )

.1 1

(. 1 0 )

-1 2

.0 0

.00 - .50

Note. MANOVA was conducted on log transformed variables, but M an SD are based on the
actual proportion of goals in each category.
*p < .05.

42

- .2 0

- .2 0

- .2 0

Table 3

Means and Standard Deviations fo r all Study 1 Self-Report Variables as a Function o f Gender
Total

Men

Women

M(SD)

M(SD)

M(SD)

F

Range

Avg Positivity

3.83 (.64)

3.76 (.63)

3.85 (.64)

.6 8

2.00 - 5.00

Avg Personal Growth

3.68 (.80)

3.74 (.85)

3.66 (.78)

.34

.6 0 -5 .0 0

Avg Self-Transcendence

2.61 (1.31)

2.64(1.41)

2.60(1.28)

.04

.00 - 5.00

Avg Personal Expressiveness

4.92(1.10)

4.82(1.20)

4.95 (1.06)

.58

2.00 - 7.00

Avg Importance

3.79 (.54)

3.62 (.67)

3.85 (.48)

6.39*

1 .0 0 -5 .0 0

Avg Progress

3.51 (.72)

3.50 (.73)

3.51 (.72)

.0 2

1.4 0 -6 .1 0

Positive Emotion

33.49 (5.97)

33.17(5.90)

33.60 (6.02)

.17

15.00-48.00

Negative Emotion

24.74 (7.35)

23.15(6.56)

25.30 (7.56)

2.93

12.00-46.00

Eudaimonic Well-Being

52.33 (9.67)

51.52 (8.58)

52.61 (10.04)

.38

3 1 .0 0 -7 6 .0 0

Ego-Undercontrol

2.46 (.29)

2.47 (.29)

2.46 (.30)

.0 0

1.76-3.41

Ego-Resilience

41.23 (5.34)

40.35 (6.70)

41.53 (4.77)

1.69

2 5 .0 0 -5 2 .0 0

Personal Ratines o f Goals:

Self-Renort Scales:

Note. Avg = Average o f self-report ratings across all goals.
*p < .05.

43

Research Question 1: The Role of Positive Emotions in Goal Striving
Analyses addressing the link between positive emotion and goal striving. The first
set of hypotheses stated that positive emotions would be related to greater eudaimonic goal
striving, goal progress, and eudaimonic well-being. Pearson’s product-moment correlations
were conducted for combinations of all variables to examine patterns of relationships
between positive emotion and goal striving. A standard alpha o f .05 was used for all
analyses. Correlations between positive emotions and all variables are presented in Table 4.
Positive emotions were related to higher ratings of positivity and personal growth. Likewise,
positive emotions were also related to higher ratings of personal expressiveness, goal
importance, and goal progress. Finally, positive emotions were related to eudaimonic well­
being. Thus, support was found for the role of positive emotions in participants’ personal
ratings of their goals, yet positive emotions were unrelated to the proportion of well-being,
personal growth, and self-transcendent goals, failing to confirm predictions.
Subsequent analyses to consider higher-order goal types. In order to better
evaluate the role of type of goals in relation to positive emotion, two different scales were
created. The proportion of intimacy, well-being, personal growth, generative, and self­
transcendent goals were summed to create a new scale labeled “transcendent concerns”. The
proportion o f achievement, self-presentation, and physical health goals were summed to
create a new scale labeled “material concerns”. The goals used to create each of these scales
were chosen based on the work of Grouzet et al. (2005), who found that many of the different
goals individuals endorsed varied in terms of whether they were material (e.g., financial
success, hedonism, physical health, etc.) or concerned with benefiting society or transcending
the self. The goals combined to create the transcendent concerns scale in the present study all
appear to involve an intrinsic desire to be better, whereas those chosen for the material scale
44

were more extrinsically oriented and involved concerns about doing better. Although
originally each of the goals listed were coded into mutually exclusive categories,
theoretically these two larger categories appeared to be interesting to examine, and
combining the goal categories in this way allowed for a comparison that involved a greater
proportion o f the goals listed. The transcendent scale comprised 52% and the material scale
comprised 26% of all the goals participants listed. Additionally, these scales were normally
distributed given these larger proportions, and therefore they did not need to be transformed.
Similar to Grouzet et al. (2005), these scales were negatively related (r = -.6S,p< .001),
indicating that individuals with more transcendent concerns are unlikely to have materialistic
concerns and vice versa. The correlations between the transcendent and the materialistic
concerns with the other variables can be seen in Table 4. Whereas material concerns were
unrelated to all variables, transcendent concerns were positively related to both ego-resilience
and eudaimonic well-being.

45

Table 4

Patterns o f Correlations Between Positive and Negative Emotion, Eudaimonic Well-Being,
Ego-Undercontrol, Ego-resilience, and All Variables
Positive
Emotion

Negative
Emotion

Eudaimonic
Well-being

Ego-Undercontrol

EgoResilience

Proportion Well-Being

-.04

.03

-.16*

.0 2

.04

Proportion Growth

.04

-.05

.09

-.0 1

-.03

Proportion Self-Transcendent

.0 2

- .1 0

.14

.13

.18*

Transcendent Concerns

.06

.0 1

.16*

.08

.16*

Material Concerns

- .0 2

.0 1

- .0 2

-.04

-.14

Goal Codine:

Personal Ratines of Goals:
Avg Positivity

2 1 **

.0 2

.27***

.1 1

.28***

Avg Personal Growth

.16*

-.05

.26***

.15*

.28***

Avg Self-Transcendence

.06

.06

.08

.19*

Avg Personal Expressiveness

.2 2 **

.06

3^***

Avg Importance

.2 1 **

-.11
.05

.23**
4Q***
.25**

.1 1

.28***

Avg Progress

.33***

-.25**

.27***

.09

2 9 ***

Eudaimonic Well-Being

4] ***

-.19*

—

.03

Ego-Undercontrol

.09
4 9 ***

.1 0

Self-ReDort Scales:

Ego-Resilience

-.18*

Note. * p < .05; ** p < .01; ***/?< .001.

46

—

3 9 ***

.2 1 **
—

Research Question 2: The Role of Individual Differences in Ego-Resilience
Analyses addressing the link between ego-resilience and goal striving. The second
set of hypotheses stated that ego-resilience would be related to both positive emotions and to
greater eudaimonic goal striving. Correlations were conducted in order to examine patterns of
relationships between ego-resilience, positive emotion, and goal striving. The correlations
between ego-resilience and all variables can also be seen in Table 4. Ego-resilience and egoundercontrol were positively inter-correlated; however, as predicted, ego-resilience (but not
ego-undercontrol) was related to positive emotion. Ego-resilience was also positively related
to the proportion of self-transcendent goals. Contrary to predictions, ego-resilience was
unrelated to the proportion o f well-being and personal growth goals. As expected, individuals
who were higher in ego-resilience rated their goals as higher in positivity, personal growth,
self-transcendence, and personal expressiveness. Ego-resilience was also positively
associated with ratings of goal importance and goal progress. Finally, ego-resilience was
related to eudaimonic well-being. Thus, support was found for the hypothesis that egoresilience would be related to both positive emotions and to eudaimonic goal striving.
Analyses addressing the role of ego-resilience in the relationship between
positive emotions and goal striving. It was theorized that positive emotions might be linked
to goal striving and eudaimonic well-being via ego-resilience. Thus, the next set of analyses
was conducted in order to investigate whether the relationship between positive emotions and
goal striving might be mediated by individual differences in ego-resilience. Figure la depicts
the relationship between positive emotion and goal striving. Figure lb depicts the
hypothesized relationship between positive emotions, ego-resilience, and the goal striving
variables, with ego-resilience mediating the direct relationship between positive emotions
and goal striving.
47

Goal Striving

Positive
Emotion

a) The direct relationship between positive emotions and goal striving.

Ego-resilience

Goal Striving

Positive
Em otions

b) Hypothesized mediating role ego-resilience

Figure 1. Mediation model examining the hypothesized mediating role of ego-resilience in
the relationship between positive emotions and goal striving.

48

According to Baron and Kenny (1986), mediation is tested by examining the effect of
the initial variable on the outcome when the variance associated with the putative mediator is
removed. Full mediation occurs when the effect of the initial variable on the outcome
variable is rendered non-significant, and partial mediation occurs when this effect is
significantly reduced. In order to examine whether ego-resilience mediates the relationships
between positive emotions and goal striving, separate regression analyses following Baron
and Kenny’s (1986) procedure were conducted for each outcome variable (i.e., proportion of
well-being, personal growth and self-transcendent strivings, ratings of positivity, personal
growth, self-transcendence, progress, and importance, as well as eudaimonic well-being)
separately. Follow up Sobel tests (Sobel, 1982) were conducted to examine the significance
o f any mediation effects.
Satisfying Baron and Kenny’s (1986) criteria, positive emotion significantly predicted
ego-resilience, P = .49, tf2 = .24, p < .001. The results of the two-step regression analyses for
each of the outcome variables can be seen in Table 5. In step 1 of the analyses, positive
emotions did not significantly predict the proportion of well-being, personal growth, or self­
transcendent goals, or ratings of self-transcendence, so mediation was not present with these
variables. It may be worth noting, however, that ego-resilience continued to predict the
proportion of self-transcendent strivings as well as ratings o f self-transcendence in the
presence of positive emotions indicating that positive emotion did not account for the
relationship between ego-resilience and these variables.
Positive emotions significantly predicted ratings o f positivity and personal growth in
Step 1, and when ego-resilience was added to the regression equations, positive emotions

49

Table 5

Results o f Regression Analyses Examining the Mediating Role o f Ego-Resilience in the Relationship Between Positive Emotions and
Goal Striving.

Step 1
R2

Step 1 Beta
Positive
Emotion

Step 2 Beta
Positive
Emotion

Step 2 Beta
EgoResi lienee

Step 2
Increase R2

Step 2
Total R2

Goal Codine:
Proportion Well-Being

.0 0 2

-.04

-.08

.08

.004

.006

Proportion Growth

.0 0 1

.04

.07

-.06

.003

.004

Proportion Self-Transcendent

.0 0

.0 2

-.09

.23**

.04**

.04*

Avg Positivity

.05**

.2 1 **

.1 0

.23**

.04**

09***

Avg Personal Growth

.03*

.16*

.03

.27**

.05**

.08**

Avg Self-Transcendence

.003

.06

-.04

.03*

.04*

Avg Personal Expressiveness

.05**

.2 2 **

.06

.2 1 *
3 3 ***

.08***

.13***

Avg Importance

.04**

.2 1 **

.1 0

.23**

.04**

.25**

.16*

.0 2 *

.08***
13***

.28***

24 * * *

.05**

Personal Ratines o f Goals:

Avg Progress

j j ***

3 3 ***

Self-Report Scales:
Eudaimonic Well-Being
It T

I

r \ /"

*

Ar

**

.16***
-

41 ***

A1

Note. 1 p=.06; * p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .001

50

2 i***

no longer predicted either ratings of well-being or personal growth. These full meditation
effects were significant (Sobel tests = 2.62, p = .009, and 2.84,/? = .004, respectively).
Likewise, in Step 1 positive emotions significantly predicted ratings o f personal
expressiveness and importance, but no longer predicted these variables when ego-resilience
was added to the equations (Sobel tests = 3.48,/? < .001, and 2.68,/? = 007, respectively).
Positive emotions continued to significantly predict ratings of progress when ego-resilience
was added to the equation; however, a marginally significant Sobel test (test statistic = 1.85,
p = .06) revealed that the partial reduction of the relationship between positive emotion and
ratings of progress in the presence of ego-resilience could be considered partial mediation.
Finally, positive emotions continued to significantly predict eudaimonic well-being when
ego-resilience was added to the equation; however, a significant Sobel test (test statistic =
2.95,/? = .003) indicated that ego-resilience partially mediated the relationship between the
positive emotion and eudaimonic well-being. Thus, overall, positive emotions appeared to be
linked to goal striving at least in part because of overlap with ego-resilience, supporting the
notion that ego-resilience mediates the relationship between positive emotion and goal
striving.
Summary
Overall, the hypotheses for the roles of both positive emotion and ego-resilience in
goal striving and eudaimonic well-being were partially supported. Although neither positive
emotions nor ego-resilience were found to be related to the proportion of well-being or
personal growth goals, ego-resilience was positively related to the proportion of self­
transcendent goals. Furthermore, both positive emotions and ego-resilience were related to
ratings of positivity, personal growth, and personal expressiveness, goal progress, and these
goal variables in turn, were related to eudaimonic well-being. Overall, however, given the
51

correlational design o f Study 1, it was not possible to determine the direction of the link
between positive emotions and goal striving. Study 2 was designed to include an
experimental manipulation of positive emotions in order to address this question.
Altogether, the results of the regression analyses in Study 1 indicated that egoresilience seems to be a stronger predictor of goal striving than positive emotion. In many
cases, ego-resilience accounted for the relationship between positive emotions and goal
striving. Yet, positive emotions were related to higher ego-resilience. It seems possible that,
as Fredrickson (1998) suggested, positive emotion builds the resources and character
strengths (i.e., ego-resilience) necessary for living well; however, because Study 1 was a
cross-sectional study, it was not possible to determine whether experiences of positive
emotion led to higher levels of ego-resilience over time, or whether ego-resilient individuals
simply experience more positive emotions. Study 2 was also designed in part to try and
address this question, as participants were asked to first complete the measure of egoresilience and then four weeks later to report the number of positive and negative emotions
they experienced over the four weeks, as well as complete the measure of ego-resilience a
second time. Thus, Study 2 made it possible to investigate whether positive emotions over a
period of four weeks predicted increases in ego-resilience.

52

METHOD
Study 2
Participants. A total of 133 (37 men; 96 women) UNBC undergraduate students
participated in this study. These participants ranged in age from 17 to 52 (M = 20.98, SD =
5.67), and the sample was predominately Caucasian (75.9%), followed by Asian (9%),
Aboriginal (6 .8 %), other (6 .8 %), and African-Canadian (1.5%). The majority of the
participants indicated that they were single (57.9%) or dating one person exclusively
(35.3%). The remaining participants were married or common-law (5.3%), engaged (0.8%),
or divorced/separated (0.8%). A total of 123 (33 men; 90 women) participants completed the
follow-up (Time 2) assessment four weeks later.
Procedure. Participants enrolled in courses that are part o f the UNBC Psychology
Research Participation Pool were asked to sign up for the study on the online UNBC
Psychology Research Participation System for two separate lab sessions, scheduled to be four
weeks apart. Students enrolled in one o f the eligible classes who volunteered to participate in
the research were compensated with 2 % extra course credit towards their final grade for
completing both lab components of the study (i.e., 1% for completing Time 1,1% for
returning four weeks later to complete Time 2). Students who volunteered to participate in
the research were asked to meet the researcher at the study location (lab 10-3550) at the
dates/times they signed up for online. Upon arriving at the lab, participants were asked to
read an information letter (Appendix B) and to complete an informed consent form
(Appendix C) and a demographic questionnaire (Appendix D). Participants were given the
information letter as well as a copy of the informed consent form for their records.
After completing the informed consent form, at the Time 1 session participants were
seated in front o f a computer monitor, and provided a paper and pencil packet of
53

questionnaires with instructions (described below). After giving brief instructions, the
researcher was seated at another table in the lab, informing the participant that she was there
if they had any questions. Within the questionnaire packet, participants were asked to first
complete the ego-resilience measure (Appendix F) and the PANAS (Appendix G).
Instructions provided within the questionnaire packet instructed them to then play a video
that was already set up on the computer monitor, and then to complete the remaining
questions after the video has finished. Participants were randomly assigned to view one
soundless two-minute video designed to elicit awe, amusement, or no emotion (neutral).
After participants completed the remaining questions in the packet assessing their goals
(Appendix J) and emotions following the clip (Appendix K), they were thanked and excused
from the lab. At Time 2, four weeks later, participants were presented with the goals they
listed at Time 1, and asked to complete a measure of their goal progress and satisfaction
(Appendix L). Finally, participants were asked to complete the measure of ego-resilience
again (Appendix F), as well as a measure of eudaimonic well-being (Appendix H), thanked,
and excused from the lab.
A pparatus and materials. A standard desktop computer and 17-inch monitor was used
in the experiment. Each participant was seated in front of the computer monitor as they
viewed the soundless film clip on this monitor. Each participant was also provided with a
paper questionnaire packet to fill out. Three, two-minute, soundless videotaped film clips
(described below) were used in order to induce awe, amusement, or no (neutral) emotion.
Awe film clip. The awe inducing film clip consisted of a soundless, two-minute sky
view of the Grand Canyon National Park from an IMAX DVD titled “Grand Canyon: The
Hidden Secrets”, combined with shots of the Grand Canyon filmed by Aerial Filmworks
using a gyro-stabilized camera system mounted on an aircraft (the full Aerial filmworks clip
54

can be viewed at http://www.aerialfilmwork.com/cineflex-demo-reels/). The clip depicts
various shots of the Grand Canyon from an aerial view, with an individual in a personal
aircraft frequently coming into view. Permission to use the Aerial Filmworks clip of the
Grand Canyon for research purposes was attained in writing from Aerial Filmworks.
Am usement film clip. The amusement inducing film clip consisted of a series of
chimpanzee outtakes filmed in sanctuaries founded by the Jane Goodall Institute. The
outtakes depict various chimpanzees engaging in amusing behaviours, such as rolling in
leaves and grabbing as many bananas as they can carry (the full clip can be viewed at
http://wn.com/Chimpanzee Outtakes). Permission to use the film clip for research purposes
was attained in writing from the Jane Goodall Institute. Participants viewed a soundless, twominute segment of the chimpanzee outtakes.
Neutral film clip. The neutral film clip consisted of an informational demonstration of
the proper method of stacking firewood taken from monkeysee.com by Knowlera Media,
LLC (the full film clip can be viewed at http://www.monkevsee.com/plav/11962-cuttingfirewood-stacking). The clip depicts a man stacking split pieces of firewood, and the twominute soundless portion that was shown to participants includes only the hands o f the man
stacking the wood. Monkeysee.com grants permission to use video clips from the site for
non-commercial use.
Pilot research on the film clips. The effectiveness of using short video clips to elicit
desired mood states has been established elsewhere (Gerrards-Hesse, Spies, & Hesse, 1994;
Westermann et al., 1996). However, to ensure the chosen clips effectively elicited the
emotions desired, the three soundless video clips described above were administered to a
sample of 72 UNBC undergraduate students in a pilot study. Given these 72 UNBC students
were asked to watch one of the three clips that were to be used in Study 2, they were
55

prohibited from participating in Study 2. Via random assignment, 24 participants (17 women;
7 men) viewed the awe inducing film clip, 24 participants (15 women; 9 men) viewed the
amusement inducing film clip, and 24 participants (16 women; 8 men) viewed the neutral
film clip. Following viewing the clip, participants were asked to describe in their own words
their reaction to clip and then to indicate the degree to which they felt several emotions while
watching the film clip, including awe and amusement. Between-subjects univariate analyses
of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to analyze the main effects of film condition and
gender, as well as the interaction between these two effects on participants’ ratings of their
emotional reactions to the films. The ANOVAs revealed no significant main effects of
gender and no significant interaction between gender and film condition for any o f the
emotions elicited, so these will not be discussed further.
Awe. For participants’ reports of feelings of awe, significant differences were found
between the three film conditions, F(2 , 6 6 ) = 37.68, Mse = 139.88, p < .001, f )2 = .53.
Examination of the means using Tukeys’ HSD procedure revealed that participants who
viewed the awe inducing film clip reported significantly higher levels of awe (M = 6.04, SD
= 1.92) than either those in the amusement condition (M= 4.21, SD = 2.40; mean difference
= 1.833, p = .004) or those in the neutral condition (M = .92, SD = 1.28; mean difference =
5.13, p < . 001).
Amusement. For participant reports of feelings of amusement, significant differences
were found between the three film conditions, F(2 , 6 6 ) = 13.20, Mse - 70.46, p < .001, tj2 =
.29. Examination of the means using Tukeys’ HSD procedure revealed that participants who
viewed the amusement inducing film clip reported significantly higher levels o f amusement
(M = 6.25, SD = 1.80) than either those in the awe condition (M = 3.71, SD = 2.56; mean

56

difference = 2.54,/? = .001) or those in the neutral condition (M - 3.08, SD = 2.45; mean
difference = 3.17,/? < .001).
Written feedback. Based on written feedback received from the participants
describing in their own words their reactions to the films, the amusement clip was modified
to remove scenes of the chimpanzees putting their fingers in their noses (found to elicit
disgust in some participants). Frames were removed from the neutral clip that involved the
man picking up an axe to split a piece o f wood (found to invoke initial anxiety in participants
who feared he might hurt himself).
M easures. In Study 2 participants were asked to complete paper and pencil
questionnaires (described below) at both Time 1 and upon returning to the lab at Time 2. At
Time 1, participants first completed the measures of ego-resilience and positive and negative
affect (order counter-balanced). Next, participants were asked to view the film clip and then
to list and rate their four-week goals. This was done in order to ensure that individual
differences in ego-resilience, as well as the baseline measures of emotions were recorded
prior to the emotion induction. Participants were asked to generate their goal list immediately
after the emotion induction so that the influence o f the emotion induction on the types of
goals participants listed could be assessed.
Ego-Resilience Scale (ER89; Appendix F). The same measure of ego-resilience
described in Study 1 was used in Study 2. Participants completed this measure once at Time
1 and again at Time 2. In this study the Cronbach’s alphas were . 6 6 for the 14-item measure
at Time 1 and .73 at Time 2.
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Appendix G). At Time 1,
participants were asked to complete the same measure of positive and negative emotions (the
PAN AS) described in Study 1, with instructions to indicate how they were feeling ‘right
57

now’. This measure was used to give a baseline measure of participants’ ambient mood
(labeled positive and negative affect). The Cronbach’s alphas for the PANAS scale at Time 1
were . 8 8 for the positive affect scale and .78 for the negative affect scale. At Time 2,
participants were again asked to complete the PANAS with instructions to indicate how they
felt over the past four weeks. Thus, at Time 2 the measure provided an assessment o f each
participant’s level of positive and negative emotion over the previous four weeks (labeled
positive and negative emotion). The Cronbach’s alphas for the PANAS scale at Time 2 were
.8 6

for the positive emotion scale and .84 for the negative emotion scale.
Goal list and ratings (Appendix J). At Time 1, participants were asked to generate a

list of five goals they wanted to accomplish over the next four weeks in response to the
sentence stem “In the next four weeks, I would like to ...”, as well as to give a brief
explanatory reason for each goal. As with Study 1, in order to evaluate the types o f goals
participants listed, two methods were used. First, participants were asked to rate each goal for
the degree of positivity, personal growth, and self-transcendence on a scale ranging from not
at all (0) to extremely (5). Scores for these variables were calculated by averaging
participants’ ratings across all 5 goals. Second, the goals generated by participants were
coded for content following the procedure for determining what category the content of each
striving might fall outlined by Emmons (1999). Again, a modified version of Emmons’
(1999) coding manual developed by Dr. Beaumont was used to identify the proportion of
strivings that are oriented towards well-being, personal growth, and self-transcendence. The
goals were categorized by the author into 13 mutually exclusive categories: achievement,
intimacy, affiliation, self-presentation, self-sufficiency, personal growth, well-being,
generativity, self-transcendence, physical health, leisure activities, temperance, and mundane
chores (no power or maladaptive goals were generated by participants in this study). Given
58

the relatively large number of achievement oriented goals, the achievement goal category
was subdivided into achievement-high (improve/success), and achievement-low
(reduce/avoid stress) in order to further refine the goal coding scheme. Inter-rater agreement
for the achievement category was 92% overall; inter-rater agreement as to whether each
achievement goal was categorized as low or high was 90%.
The coding for this study differed from Study 1 in that if the reason participants
provided for each of their goals provided supplemental information, then it too was coded.
For example, one participant listed the achievement goal “be caught up in all classes”
followed by the reason “reduce stress caused by exams”. This was coded as both
achievement and well-being. In contrast, a similar achievement goal “be ahead in readings”
was followed by an achievement reason “to get good grades”, so it was only assigned one
code for achievement. Thus, the five goals were assigned one mutually exclusive code, and
the reasons participants provided were assigned an additional code(s) only if they differed
from the goals. Another example was the goal “run 10 km without rest” (coded as
achievement), followed by the reason “improve my physical appearance and endurance
(coded as self-presentation and physical health). The number of goals coded by category,
along with examples, means, standard deviations, and ranges can be seen in Table 5.
In order to determine the accuracy of the modified coding scheme, a second trained
coder (Dr. Beaumont) categorized the data from 30 participants (22% o f the data), and the
inter-coder agreement for each category was calculated (see Table 5 for percent agreement by
category; Note: A relatively high percentage of the data were coded for this study, because
this was the first time this method of generating personal goals had been used). Interobserver
agreement across all categories was high (Bakeman & Gottman, 1997) with a Cohen’s Kappa
of .89. Any discrepancies were discussed until agreement was reached.
59

Table 6

Study 2 Goal Coding: Example Goals, Total Number Coded, Mean, Standard Deviation, Range, and Inter-Rater Agreement by Goal
Category
Goal type/category

Example(s)

Number
Coded
148

M

SD

Range

Agreement

1.15

.8 8

0-4

92%

Achievement High

“Ace my first round o f midterms”

Achievement Low

“Pass my midterms”

149

1.16

.99

0-4

92%

Intimacy

“Reach a higher level in my relationship with my girlfriend”

60

.47

.64

0 -2

92%

Affiliation

“Make some new friends”

33

.26

.47

0 -2

100%

Self-Presentation

“Work on my appearance (look presentable in public)”

11

.09

.33

0 -2

67%

Self-Sufficiency

“Have moved out o f my parent’s house”

16

.1 2

.38

0 -2

100%

Personal Growth

“Learn something new”

65

.50

.67

0-3

94%

Well-Being

“Keep my balance o f work and play”

104

.81

.81

0-3

94%

Generativity

“Do something nice for someone every day”

21

.16

.37

0 -1

80%

Self-Transcendence

"Grow more in my relationship with God”

7

.05

.23

0 -1

100%

Physical Health

“Start eating healthier”

125

.97

.85

0-3

89%

Leisure Activities

“Get back into playing musical instruments”

40

.31

.54

0-3

88%

Temperance

“Watch less TV”

41

.32

.53

0 -2

67%

Mundane Chores

“Keep my house/room clean”

13

.1 0

.35

0 -2

60%

833

6.46

1.33

4-11

91%

Total

60

Emotion report (Appendix K). Following the procedure adapted from Ekman,
Friesen, and Ancoli (1980), participants were asked to rate the greatest amount felt o f 20
emotions on a scale ranging from none ( 0 ) to a great deal ( 8 ) while watching the film clip (at
Time 1 only). The emotions were chosen based in part on the work o f Fredrickson (e.g.,
Johnson & Fredrickson, 2005), as well as Keltner and Haidt’s (2003) description of
transcendent experiences (awe). This measure served as a manipulation check on the mood
induction procedure.
Goal progress, effort and achievement (Appendix L). At Time 2, participants were
presented with the five goals they listed four weeks prior, and asked to rate each of the five
goals in terms of: how satisfied they were with their progress towards each goal over the past
four weeks; how much effort they exerted for each striving; and, how successful they were in
achieving the goal.
See Appendix N for a quick key to all the goal rating variables by name.
Questionnaire fo r Eudaimonic Well-Being (QEWB; Appendix H). The same
measure of eudaimonic well-being described in Study 1 was used in Study 2. The Cronbach’s
alpha in this study was .81 for this 2 1 -item measure.
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10; Appendix M). The PSS-10 is a 10-item measure of
“the degree to which situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful” (Cohen, &
Williamson, 1988, p. 33), by focusing on how unpredictable, uncontrollable and overloaded
respondents perceive their lives to be (Cohen & Williamson, 1988). This measure was
included in order to provide an assessment of degree to which participants perceived the
intervening four week period between the Time 1 and the Time 2 assessment as stressful. The
10-item version of the perceived stress scale was developed by Cohen and Williamson
(1988), based on the original 14-item version (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) with
61

better psychometric properties. Respondents are asked about their thoughts and feelings over
the past four weeks, and respond to items on a scale ranging from never (0) to very often (4).
An alpha coefficient of .78 was found for thelO-item PSS (Cohen & Williamson, 1988). In
the present study the Cronbach’s alpha was .89.
RESULTS
Preliminary Data Screening
Before analyses were conducted, the data set was examined for missing data, outliers,
and normality. There were a few missing scores for some the scale items; however, the
missing data did not exceed five percent of the data (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007), so missing
item scores (N = 7) were replaced with the item mean so that scales consisting of sum scores
would not be reduced due to missing items. Additionally, one participant failed to complete
the emotion report indicating how the film clip made them feel, and one participant failed to
complete the Time 2 goal ratings (achievement, effort, and satisfaction), so those cases were
left as missing data. Ten individuals did not complete the Time 2 follow-up session, resulting
in a final sample of 123 (33 men; 90 women) for analyses involving Time 2 variables.
In terms of outliers, one individual scored above average on the negative affect scale
(PANAS) at Time 1 (M= 30.0, z = 3.43). Given the Time 1 negative affect measures asked
participants to indicate “how you are feeling right now” and this individual scored within the
normal range on the Time 2 emotion measures (“how have you felt over the past four
weeks?”), it seemed unlikely that their score reflected true divergence from the population.
Thus, although this participant’s Time 1 negative affect score was above the critical z-score
cutoff to be deemed as outliers (3.29; Tabachnik & Fidell, 2007), a decision was made to
retain them in further data analyses because they did not appear to represent a different
population (e.g., depressed individuals). Finally, another individual scored below average on
62

the QEWB at Time 2 (M = 22.0, z = -3.48), but their score was retained as well. Four female
participants were extreme outliers in terms of age (ages ranging from 40 to 52, z-scores from
3.35 to 5.47). Further inspection revealed some of these to be multivariate outliers on a
number of variables as well, so a decision was made to delete these four cases from the data
set resulting in a final sample size of 129 (37 men; 92 women) for Time 1 variables and 120
(33 men; 87 women) for Time 2 variables. Participants in the final sample ranged in age from
17 to 39 (M = 20.21, SD = 3.59).
Finally, examination of the data for normality revealed that overall the scale
distributions were not skewed; however, given the large number o f coding categories for the
goals, most of the goal type variables (i.e., proportion of personal growth, self-transcendence,
and well-being goals, etc.) were positively skewed. Square-root and log transformations were
attempted, but did not normalize the goal type data. Coxe, West, and Aiken (2009) suggested
that when a variable has a mean of less than 1 0 and/or contains a large number of zeros,
transformations will typically not sufficiently normalize the data; however, nonparametric
analyses (e.g., Kruskal-Wallis) can be used in place of ANOVA and the Mann-Whitney test
in place o f follow-up /-tests when the outcome variable does not meet the assumption of
normality (Siegel, 1957). Thus, these tests will be used for all analyses involving the coded
goal variables.
Preliminary Analyses of Gender Differences
The proportions of goals coded in each goal category as a function of gender are
displayed in Table 7. Mann Whitney U tests were conducted to examine possible gender
differences in these goal proportion variables, given many were not normally distributed.
Using a Bonferroni adjusted p value of .004 (.05/14), none of these tests were significant.
Descriptive statistics for all self-report variables are presented in Table 8 . Two separate
63

Table 7

Study 2 Means and Standard Deviations fo r Proportion o f Goals in each Goal Category as a
Function o f Gender
Total

Men

Women

M (S D )

M(SD)

M(SD)

U

z

Achievement High

.18 (.15)

.25 (.18)

.15 (.12)

1162.0

-2.84

Achievement Low

.18 (.17)

.18 (.2 0 )

.18 (.15)

1589.0

-.60

Intimacy

.07 (.10)

.06 (. 1 0 )

.08 (. 1 0 )

1506.0

-1.17

Affiliation

.04 (.08)

.05 (.08)

.04 (.08)

1519.0

-1.27

Self-Presentation

.01 (.04)

.02 (.05)

.01 (.03)

1608.5

- 1 .1 0

Self-Sufficiency

.0 2

(.0 2 )

.03 (.07)

1503.5

-1.92

Personal Growth

.07 (.10)

.05 (.09)

.08 (. 1 0 )

1351.5

-2.05

Well-Being

.1 2

(. 1 1 )

.09 (.10)

.13 (.12)

1394.5

-1.67

Generativity

.03 (.06)

.0 2

(.06)

.03 (.06)

1646.0

-.45

Self-Transcendence

.01 (.04)

.0 0

(.0 0 )

.01 (.04)

1572.0

-1.72

Physical Health

.15 (.13)

.16 (. 1 2 )

.14 (.13)

1480.5

-1.18

Leisure Activities

.05 (.09)

.04 (.07)

.06 (. 1 0 )

1596.5

-.70

Temperance

.05 (.08)

.05 (.09)

.05 (.08)

1665.0

-.24

Mundane Chores

.0 2

(.06)

.01 (.05)

.0 2

(.06)

1630.5

-.77

(.06)

.0 0

64

Table 8

Means and Standard Deviations fo r all Study 2 Self-Report Variables as a Function o f
Gender
Total

Men

Women

M(SD)

M(SD)

MISD)

F

Range

Avg Positivity

3.82 (.79)

3.88 (.75)

3.80 (.80)

.29

.6 0 -5 .0 0

Avg Personal Growth

3.74 (.82)

3.72 (.75)

3.75 (.85)

.03

.8 0 -5 .0 0

Avg Self-Transcendence

1.91 (1.39)

1.80(1.30)

1.95 (1.42)

.32

.0 0 -4 .8 0

Ego-Resilience

3.06 (.36)

3.07 (.37)

3.05 (.35)

.06

2.07 - 3.93

Positive Affect

31.11 (7.36)

32.68 (5.71)

30.48 (7.86)

2.38

12.00-49.00

Negative Affect

14.34 (4 .4 9 )

14.49(4.44)

14.28(4.53)

.06

10.00-30.00

Avg Progress

3.84(1.18)

4.25(1.08)

3.67(1.18)

6.06*

.8 0 -6 .4 0

Avg Effort

3.19 (.6 6 )

3.24 (.6 6 )

3.17 (.6 6 )

.24

1.60 -4 .8 0

Avg Achievement

4.27(1.03)

4.62 (.98)

4.13(3.03)

5.65*

.80 - 6.40

Ego-Resilience

3.00 (.39)

3.07 (.32)

2.97 (.41)

1.93

1.71 -3 .7 9

Positive Emotion

33.71 (6.61)

34.91 (5.46)

33.25 (6.97)

1.53

15.00-47.00

Negative Emotion

22.48 (6.80)

21.11 (7.15)

23.00 (6.63)

1.99

10.00-40.00

Eudaimonic Well-Being

54.78 (9.50)

56.58(8.61)

54.09 (9.78)

1.78

22.00 - 74.00

Perceived Stress

18.69 (7.03)

15.15(6.88)

20.03 (6.64)

12.67**

3 .0 0 -3 4 .0 0

Time 1 Personal Ratines of
Goals:

Time 1 Self-Report Scales:

Time 2 Personal Ratines of
Goals:

Time 2 Self-ReDort Scales:

Note. Avg = Average of ratings across all five goals.
*p < .05; **/?<.01.

65

multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to examine possible gender
differences for Time 1 and Time 2 self-report variables. For the Time 1 variables, the
multivariate effect o f gender was not significant, F ( l , 127) = .59, p = .74, x\2 = .03. For the
Time 2 variables, the multivariate effect of gender was significant, F (1, 117) = 2.78, p =
.008, t) 2 = . 17. The univariate effect of gender was significant for ratings of achievement,
ratings of progress, and perceived stress; men reported higher achievement of their goals and
higher satisfaction with their goal progress, whereas women reported higher perceived stress.
To further examine possible gender differences, separate inter-correlations among
variables were computed for men and for women, and then z-test comparisons between the
strength of corresponding correlations for men and women were conducted. These analyses
resulted in only a chance level of significant gender differences in the strength of
correlations, with only 4 out of 110 z-tests being significant. Specifically, the strength of the
correlations between Time 1 ego-resilience and Time 1 positive affect were significantly
different for men and women (r = .04, p = .81, for men; r = .50, p < .001, for women; z = 2.5, p = .012), and the strength of the correlations between the proportion of well-being
strivings and eudaimonic well-being were significantly different for men and women (r = .20, p = .27, for men; r - .26, p = .015, for women; z = -2.2, p = .03). Furthermore, the
strength of the correlations between Time 1 ego-resilience and eudaimonic well-being were
significantly different for men and women (r = .01, p = .97, for men; r ~ .58, p < .001, for
women; z = -3.08, p = .002), and the strength of the correlations between Time 2 egoresilience and eudaimonic well-being were significantly different for men and women (r =
.16,p = .38, for men; r = .70, p < .001, for women; z = -3.32, p < .001).
Overall, the preliminary analyses of gender differences revealed mean differences
between men and women on only three variables: ratings of achievement, ratings of progress,
66

and perceived stress, and only a chance level of significant gender differences in the strength
of the correlations. Thus, because there was no theoretical basis for expecting the pattern of
results to differ across gender, and there were so few gender differences in the F-test and ztest results, a decision was made to conduct subsequent analyses with the sample as a whole.
Manipulation Check: Mood Induction Procedure
In order to ensure the two-minute film clips effectively elicited the emotions desired,
participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they felt several emotions while
watching the film clip, including awe and amusement. Between-subjects univariate analyses
of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to analyze the main effects of film condition on
participants’ ratings of their emotional reactions to the films.
Awe. For participants’ reports of feelings of awe, significant differences were found
between the three film conditions, F(2, 125) = 37.44, Mse = 196.24,p < .001, f|2 = .38.
Examination of the means using Tukeys’ HSD procedure revealed that participants who
viewed the awe inducing film clip reported significantly higher levels of awe (M = 5.47, SD
=2.62) than either those in the amusement condition (M = 3.24, SD =2.36; mean difference =
2.23, p < .001) or those in the neutral condition (M = 1.20, SD =1.78; mean difference = 4.27,
p < .0 0 1 ).
Amusement. For participant reports of feelings of amusement, significant differences were
found between the three film conditions, F(2,125) = 45.55, Mse = 173.42,/? < .001, f |2 = .42.
Examination of the means using Tukeys’ HSD procedure revealed that participants who
viewed the amusement inducing film clip reported significantly higher levels of amusement
(M= 5.93, SD =1.87) than either those in the awe condition (M = 3.24, SD =1.90; mean
difference = 2.68, p < .001) or those in the neutral condition (M = 1.93, SD =2.09; mean
difference = 4.00, p < .001).
67

Research Question 1: The Role of Positive Emotions in Goal Striving
In order to examine the potential causal role of positive emotion in goal striving, a
between-subjects multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to investigate
the effect o f emotion condition (awe, amusement, neutral) on eight, self-report dependent
variables (ratings of positivity, personal growth, self-transcendence, achievement, effort, and
satisfaction, level of eudaimonic well-being, and perceived stress). See Table 9 for the means
and standard deviations of all dependent variables by emotion condition. The MANOVA
results revealed no significant multivariate effect o f emotion condition, F(2, 116) = .87 , p =
.61.
Because the goal type variables were not normally distributed, Kruskal-Wallis
analyses were conducted to compare individuals in the three conditions (awe, neutral,
amusement) for differences in the proportion of well-being, personal growth and
transcendent goals. Mean ranks are reported in Table 9. The results of these analyses
revealed that emotion condition only predicted the proportion of personal growth goals, y?(2,
N = 129) = 11.63, p = .003, r| 2 = .09. Follow-up Mann-Whitney tests to evaluate pairwise
differences among the three groups revealed that individuals in the awe condition had a
significantly greater proportion o f personal growth goals than either those in the neutral, U ~
585, p = .001, or amusement, U= 720,p = .026 conditions. The neutral and amusement
conditions did not differ significantly from one another in the proportion of personal growth
goals, U= 773.5,p - .24. This finding supports the hypothesis that awe plays a causal role in
eudaimonic goal striving by promoting more personal growth goals.

68

Table 9

Means and Standard Deviations fo r all Study 2 Variables as a Function o f Emotion
Condition
Awe

Amusement

Neutral

(iV=42)

(N=39)

(iV=38)

M(SD)

M(SD)

M{SD)

F

Avg Positivity

3.66(.81)

3.95(.56)

3.72(.93)

1.51

Avg Personal Growth

3.78(.69)

3.58(.91)

3.77(.84)

.72

Avg Self-Transcendence

1.90(1.36)

1.91(1.50)

1.92(1.35)

.0 0

Avg Progress

3.69(.95)

3.94(1.24)

3.89(1.34)

.51

Avg Effort

3.10(.56)

3.21 (.72)

3.27(.69)

.76

Avg Achievement

4.24(.82)

4.17(1.03)

4.39(1.24)

.44

Eudaimonic Well-Being

54.69(10.60)

54.36(9.14)

55.08(8.83)

.05

Perceived Stress

17.57(6.85)

19.15(6.88)

19.47(7.49)

.84

Awe

Amusement

Neutral

(AM5)

(TV—43)

(TV=41)

M rank

M rank

M rank

Proportion Well-Being

67.40

69.17

57.99

2.36

Proportion Growth

77.99

61.77

54.13

11.63**

Proportion Transcendent

64.38

66.03

64.60

.33

Personal Ratines of Goals:

Self-ReDort Scales:

x2

Goal Codine

Note. Avg = Average of ratings across all five goals.
< .01

69

Research Question 2: The Role of Individual Differences in Ego-Resilience
Analyses addressing the relationship between positive emotions and egoresilience. In order to examine the potential role positive emotion might play in building
resilience over time, a difference score variable was calculated by subtracting ego-resilience
scores at Time 1 from those at Time 2. This difference score variable, thus, represented the
extent to which participants had shown a change in ego-resilience over the intervening four
weeks. Separate regression analyses revealed that both positive affect at Time 1 (P = .25, Z?2
= .06, p =.006), as well as positive emotions over the four weeks (assessed at Time 2; p = .28,
R2 - .08, p = .002) predicted increases in ego-resilience. The difference in ego-resilience
variable also predicted higher eudaimonic well-being (P = .31, Z?2 = .10,/? < .001). These
findings lend support to the prediction that positive emotions contribute to eudaimonic well­
being by building greater ego-resilience.
Analyses addressing the role of ego-resilience in the relationship between
positive emotions and eudaimonic well-being. In order to examine whether ego-resilience
(at Time 2) mediated the relationship between positive emotion (at Time 2) and eudaimonic
well-being, Baron and Kenny’s (1986) four steps in establishing mediation were conducted.
In Steps 1-3 when entered in a separate regressions, positive emotions significantly predicted
eudaimonic well-being (P = .50, Z?2 = .25, p < .001), positive emotions significantly predicted
ego-resilience (P = .52, Z?2 = .21, p < .001), and ego-resilience significantly predicted
eudaimonic well-being when the influence of positive emotions was controlled via
hierarchical regression (P = .46, R2 = .40,/? < .001). In Step 4, positive emotions continued to
predict eudaimonic well-being in the presence o f ego-resilience (P = .26, R2 = .40, p < .001);
however, a significant Sobel test (test statistic = 4.04, p < .001) indicated that again, egoresilience partially mediated the relationship between the positive emotion and eudaimonic
70

well-being. Thus, these findings indicate that positive emotions contribute to eudaimonic
well-being both directly, as well as through their association with ego-resilience.
Analyses addressing the hypothesis that ego-resilient individuals might capitalize
on positive emotions in order to continually strive tow ards more eudaimonic goals.
Finally, in order to investigate whether the positive effects of the positive emotion inductions
on eudaimonic goal striving would be more pronounced among more ego-resilient
individuals, ego resilience scores (Time 1) were categorized into low (bottom 25%), medium
(middle 50%) and high (top 25%). Next, a series o f ANOVAs were performed to test for
interactions between the emotion condition and ego-resilience variables in predicting the
outcomes (proportion of personal growth and self-transcendent strivings, ratings of personal
growth and self-transcendence, level of achievement, and eudaimonic well-being). None of
these analyses were significant. These results suggest that, contrary to predictions, egoresilient individuals did not capitalize on either the amusement or awe emotion induction in
order to continually strive toward more eudaimonic goals.
Summary
In Study 2 the hypotheses for the roles of both positive emotions and ego-resilience in
goal striving and eudaimonic well-being were partially supported. The results of the emotion
manipulation in Study 2 revealed that, as hypothesized, individuals in the awe condition
reported significantly more personal growth goals. Contrary to predictions, no differences
were found in the proportion of self-transcendent goals listed by participants in any of the
emotion conditions; however, the overall number of self-transcendent goals listed was
exceptionally small (only 7 goals out of the total 833 were coded as self-transcendent). It is
possible that because the instructions in the current study asked participants to indicate “what
they would like to accomplish over the next 4 weeks”, they did not bring to mind many self­
71

transcendent goals. It is also possible that the one time, 2 minute, emotion manipulation was
not sufficiently strong enough to have a large effect on participants’ overall goal striving.
Although the awe manipulation seemed to effectively encourage participants to list
more personal growth goals, overall, the emotion manipulation had no effects on ratings of
goal achievement, effort, or reports of eudaimonic well-being at the follow-up, contrary to
predictions. Yet, given that the self-reported frequency of positive emotions was positively
related to goal achievement and eudaimonic well-being in Study 1, it does not seem likely
that the overall hypothesis about the importance of positive emotion for goal striving has
been refuted. Post-hoc analyses revealed that emotion condition did not have an effect on the
frequency of positive emotions experienced over the four weeks, suggesting that the emotion
inductions did not have lasting effects on participants’ emotions after they left the lab. Thus,
it may be that either the emotion manipulation was not sufficiently strong enough to modify
participants’ long-term goal striving, or that individual differences in the frequency positive
emotions experienced over time are more important (and were not significantly altered by the
emotion manipulation). Whatever the case may be, a manipulation that involves increasing
the frequency of positive emotions experienced on a daily basis may better address the
hypothesis that positive emotions alter goal striving and lead to increased eudaimonic well­
being. Given the preliminary support found here that awe predicted a greater proportion of
personal growth goals listed, it seems likely that some sort of continued emotion
manipulation could alter goal striving overall.
Positive emotion both at Time 1 and over the intervening four weeks also predicted
positive changes in ego-resilience, supporting Fredrickson’s (1998) hypothesis that positive
emotions ‘build’ resources and character strengths. The results of the regression analyses
further revealed that ego-resilience partially mediated the relationship between positive
72

emotions and eudaimonic well-being; therefore, positive emotions and ego-resilience appear
to contribute to this form of well-being both independently and in conjunction. Thus, overall,
it appears that positive emotion and ego-resilience mutually support and reinforce one
another in building long-term well-being.
Finally, in Study 2, support was not found for the hypothesis that ego-resilient
individuals would capitalize on their experiences o f positive emotion. Although individuals
in the awe condition listed significantly more personal growth goals, this finding did not
interact with ego-resilience, contrary to predictions. Furthermore, no interactions were found
between emotion condition and ego-resilience in predicting any of the other outcomes
(proportion of self-transcendent strivings, ratings of personal growth and self-transcendence,
goal achievement, and eudaimonic well-being). It is possible that there were too few
participants in each condition at each level of ego-resilience to adequately test this
hypothesis; however, it seems likely that because the emotion manipulation did not effect the
goal striving and well-being outcomes at the four week follow-up, this manipulation simply
may not have been strong enough to have a lasting effect, regardless of participants’ level of
ego-resilience.

73

DISCUSSION
The purpose of this thesis was to systematically examine the role o f individual
differences in positive emotions and ego-resilience in personal strivings by focusing on two
related research questions: (1) Does positive emotion (i.e., awe) play a role in striving toward
goals that are aligned with a eudaimonic perspective?; and, (2) Do individual differences in
ego-resilience play a role within the positive effects of positive emotional experiences? It was
hypothesized that more frequent experiences of positive emotions would predict greater
eudaimonic strivings (personal growth and self-transcendent goals), as well as ratings of
personal growth, self-transcendence, goal progress, and eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore,
it was hypothesized that ego-resilience would play a role in the relationship between positive
emotions and goal striving. These hypotheses were partially supported. A detailed discussion
of the findings is presented below.
Research Question 1: The Role of Positive Emotions in Goal Striving
Hypotheses for the first research question were partially supported. In Study 1,
positive emotions were related to ratings o f goal progress and goal importance, as predicted.
This finding is consistent with Fredrickson’s (1998) suggestion that positive emotions
function to broaden an individual’s array o f thoughts and actions, and thus, they expand
attention and promote divergent thinking. Broadened thinking should aid in goal attainment
to the extent that it helps individuals overcome barriers and resolve conflicts that may
otherwise impair goal progress. Aspinwall (1998) further proposed that because positive
emotions prompt more careful processing of self-relevant information (including negative
information), they ought to play an essential role in the self-regulation of behaviour toward
the attainment of valued goals. The present findings also provide support for this notion, and

74

to my knowledge, this research is among the first to examine the role of positive emotions in
goal striving.
Although this initial finding supports the broaden-and-build theory regarding the
function of positive emotions in general, and Aspinwall’s theoretical supposition regarding
the role of positive emotions in goal striving more specifically, I proposed that positive
emotions would be linked not only to goal attainment, but also to more eudaimonic goal
striving. This hypothesis was partially supported, as although positive emotions in Study 1
were not related to the proportion of well-being, personal growth, or self-transcendent
strivings, they were related to higher ratings of positivity and personal growth. Likewise,
positive emotions were also related to higher ratings of personal expressiveness. This pattern
of results indicates that positive emotions seem to be more important for individuals’ self­
perceptions rather than their stated goals.
At first glance, it appears perplexing that positive emotions were related to ratings of
positivity and personal growth, but not the proportion of well-being, personal growth or self­
transcendent strivings, but it is important to consider what these two different measures were
assessing. Coding of each striving was mutually exclusive and involved strict criteria to
determine whether each was solely focused on well-being, personal growth, self­
transcendence, or some other category. In contrast, the personal ratings measure allowed each
participant to rate all of their strivings for the degree to which each was focused on positivity,
personal growth, and self-transcendence. Thus, the personal ratings involved each
participant’s perception of the underlying focus of each goal.
It is possible that participant self-perceptions are more important for well-being than
are the actual content of goals they generate. Research conducted by Waterman, Schwartz,
and Conti (2008) supports the notion that participants’ perceptions, or ratings of their goals,
75

are linked to well-being. These authors found that participants who perceived their activities
as providing opportunities for developing their potential, and who reported feeling
challenged by their activities, reported greater eudaimonic well-being regardless o f the actual
content of the activities themselves. This finding fits with Waterman’s (2007) theoretical
notion that engaging in activities that enhance personal growth could result in a ‘eudaimonic
staircase,’ only as long as the individual is continually striving towards more challenging
goals. This notion implies that differences will exist in the types of activities that individuals
will find challenging. The present finding that positive emotions were related to the personal
expressiveness of goals further supports the notion that positive emotions are linked to
eudaimonic goal striving. Personal expressiveness is described by Waterman (1993) as a
feeling that results from engaging in activities that fulfill one’s personal potential or advance
one’s purpose in living. According to Waterman (1993), to feel personal expressiveness is to
experience eudaimonic well-being.
Furthermore, Maslow (1954) described the need for self-actualization as doing what
is uniquely fitting according to one’s nature and becoming everything one is capable of
being. According to Maslow (1954), “the specific form that these needs will take will of
course vary from person to person. In one individual it may take the form of the desire to be
an ideal mother, in another it may be expressed athletically, and still another it may be
expressed in painting pictures or in invention” (p.46). Thus, when asking individuals what
they are typically striving to accomplish, it may be important to consider their perceptions
and the reasons why they value each goal.
Yet, the present results do not support Emmons (1986, 1999) supposition that it is the
objective content o f goals that matters. Research does indicate that more materialistic goals
appear to be detrimental to well-being (e.g., Kasser & Ryan, 1993); however, the relative
76

influence of goals categorized as well-being, personal growth, and self-transcendent on well­
being might depend more on each individual’s perceptions of their goals. The finding that
more results were found for the ratings of goals than the actual content o f goals listed is not
surprising given each goal or striving likely had multiple reasons behind it. Emmons’ (1999)
goal striving measure assesses the things an individual is typically trying to accomplish, but it
does not offer insight into the underlying motivation for each ‘goal’. For example, the
striving to “get out and meet new people” would be coded as affiliation using Emmons’
scheme, but the individual may be focusing on this striving in order to overcome anxiety or
to learn from others (both personal growth strivings).
The measure of goals used in Study 2 allowed, in part, for greater complexity in the
meaning of individuals’ stated goals by allowing each participant to provide their reasons for
each goal, and these reasons were coded and included in analyses if they provided additional
information. In Study 2, inducing awe did prompt participants to list more personal growth
strivings, as predicted. This result may have been found because the method used in Study 2
provided the opportunity for participants to list personal growth reasons underlying each
stated goal. The fact that the awe condition resulted in more personal growth goals is also
noteworthy given that the strict, mutually exclusive coding criteria used in Study 1 was again
employed. The experimental nature of the study ensured that participants were randomly
assigned to view only one emotion inducing video. Thus, these results provide evidence that
feeling awe led participants to generate more personal growth strivings.
Several other researchers have found evidence that experiences of positive emotions
influences cognitive processing during laboratory tasks (e.g., Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005;
Isen & Daubman, 1984; see also review by Aspinwall, 1998). In addition, Fredrickson and
Branigan (2005) found differences in the types of activities participants who were induced to
77

experience positive (vs. neutral or negative) affect said that they would like to be doing;
however, very little research has examined the influence of momentary positive affect on
future aspirations (see Algoe & Haidt, 2009 for an exception). Aspinwall (1998) outlined a
mood-as-resource model suggesting that whereas a hedonic deficit (or negative affect) may
prompt mood-repairing and self-defensive motives, positive affect creates a state of hedonic
surplus in which an individual may feel they have the psychological resources necessary to
adopt self-improvement goals. The present finding that an experience o f awe prompted
participants to list more personal growth goals provides preliminary support for this hedonic
surplus theory.
Overall, support was garnered in Study 1 for the broaden-and-build theory of positive
emotion, in general; yet, support was also found in Study 2 for Algoe and Haidt’s (2009) call
for more research assessing the unique consequences of different positive emotions. These
researchers found that experiences of admiration also motivated participants to want to better
themselves. Although no previous research to my knowledge had examined the motivational
effects of awe or the effects or positive emotions on goal striving, the results of this thesis
provides preliminary evidence that positive emotion, specifically awe, can in fact alter
people’s goal striving towards more personal growth goals. The finding that participants
induced to feel awe set more personal growth goals than those induced to feel amusement
provides further evidence that transcendent emotions, such as awe, have unique implications
for eudaimonic striving.
Maslow (1954) suggested that feelings of awe are descriptive of the ‘peak
experiences’ commonly reported by self-actualizing people. Given self-actualization involves
a process o f growth followed by self-transcendence (Beaumont, 2009; Maslow, 1954), I
proposed that awe might promote personal growth and self-transcendent strivings. Algoe and
78

Haidt (2009) suggested that transcendent emotions, such as awe, broaden people’s
perspectives and pull them out of themselves, fueling my prediction that awe might make
eudaimonic strivings more accessible, Huta and Ryan (2010) found that eudaimonic striving
was positively related to feelings of awe and transcendence. The results o f the present
research provide evidence that awe plays a causal role in prompting more personal growth
goals. Thus, feelings of awe may not only be a consequence of eudaimonic goal striving, but
also a cause of it.
In contrast to the effect on personal growth goals, neither the amusement nor the awe
emotion induction had an effect on the number of self-transcendent emotions participants
generated relative to the neutral video condition. This null effect may have been due to
differences in the goal variable instructions in Study 2. In Study 1, participants were asked to
list ten things they are typically striving to do, whereas in Study 2, participants were asked to
list five goals they would like to accomplish within the next four weeks. Perhaps as a result,
very few self-transcendent strivings were listed in Study 2, compared to Study 1; however,
even in Study 1, self-transcendent strivings were not exceptionally common, and perhaps as a
result, positive emotions were unrelated to the proportion of self-transcendent strivings or to
personal ratings of self-transcendence. It is possible, as some theorists have suggested (e.g.,
Maslow, 1954), that the participants’ age range in the present research was not broad enough
to adequately examine self-transcendent strivings well, given these are thought to be
endorsed more frequently by older adults. Many developmental researchers (e.g., Erikson,
1959) have proposed that psychosocial development occurs across the lifespan. As people
age, they may be more likely to consider larger questions such as meaning in life and the
meaning of their existence - considerations that ought to be linked to more self-transcendent
strivings. In contrast, younger individuals are thought to be more focused on concerns around
79

identity, intimacy, and career (Erikson, 1959), and in the present sample, academic
achievement.
Perplexingly, in Study 2 the positive emotion manipulation did not have an effect on
any of the self-perception measures, nor did it result in effects on eudaimonic well-being at
the four-week follow-up. It may be that the experimental manipulation of emotions ‘primed’
participants to list more personal growth goals at a level below their awareness. In other
words, although the emotion manipulation had an effect on the number o f personal growth
goals participants listed, participants’ self-perceptions of their goals were not modified
following the momentary emotion induction. Given the results of Study 1, it may be
individual differences in everyday positive emotions that play a larger role in eudaimonic
goal striving. In order to modify goal striving via positive emotions over a longer term, it
may be necessary to include some kind of continued or longer lasting emotion induction
procedure.
Overall, the finding that positive emotions play a role in personal strivings, suggests
that they may have the capacity to alter an individual’s focus in terms of what they are
typically trying to accomplish. Given Waterman’s (2007) notion of a eudaimonic staircase, if
positive emotions have the capacity to modify an individual’s characteristic focus towards
more eudaimonic strivings, such changes may result in greater or lasting happiness. It should
also not be overlooked that positive emotions were related directly to eudaimonic well-being.
Eudaimonic well-being itself has been described as a “highly positive affective condition”
(Waterman, 2008, p. 236); however, the present research found that more frequent
experiences of positive emotion over the course o f four weeks predicted higher eudaimonic
well-being, supporting the notion that hedonic experiences (i.e., positive emotions) may
‘build’ eudaimonic well-being. Fredrickson’s (1998) broaden-and-build theory suggests that

positive emotions lead to greater well-being because they build resources that promote such
well-being.
Research Question 2: The Role of Individual Differences in Ego-Resilience
The second research question investigated in this thesis involved examining whether
the self-regulatory capacity ego-resilience played a role in the link between positive emotion
and personal strivings. Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory suggests that hedonic
experiences o f positive emotions have lasting effects on well-being not because of the
momentary positive emotions, but because positive emotions build resources for living well
(Fredrickson et al., 2008). The goal of the second research question was to examine whether
ego-resilience was one such resource through which positive emotions exerted their effect, or
whether ego-resilient individuals ‘capitalized’ on opportunities for positive emotions.
It was hypothesized that ego-resilience would be related to strivings that are linked
with a eudaimonic perspective (personal growth and self-transcendent strivings). Indeed, the
results in Study 1 supported this prediction, as ego-resilience was related to the proportion o f
self-transcendent strivings, as well as to ratings of self-transcendence, positivity, personal
growth, and personal expressiveness. These results are consistent with Block’s (2002)
theoretical notion regarding the inherent flexibility associated with ego-resilience. Egoresilient individuals are thought to have more dynamic and integrated self-structures
affording them greater insight into themselves (Westenberg & Block, 1993) and making them
more likely to identify self-transcendent and personal growth goals.
The finding that ego-resilience was not related to the proportion of personal growth
strivings, contrary to predictions, was perplexing given that ego-resilience has been related to
growth following adversity (e.g., an increase in life satisfaction and optimism in the wake of
the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States; Fredrickson et al., 2003). As
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previously mentioned, it could be that the categorical goal coding used in Study 1 did not
allow for an examination of the underlying reasons for each goal, thereby missing
participants’ perceptions of personal growth. The fact that ego-resilience was related to
participants’ ratings of personal growth provides some support for this notion. It may also be
that because ego-resilience characterizes an inherent flexibly in response to changing
environmental conditions (Block, 2002), this character trait results in growth (e.g., following
adversity) without necessitating that ego-resilient individuals actually set more personal
growth goals.
The finding that ego-resilience (but not ego-control) was related to ratings of goal
importance and goal progress also supports Block’s (2002) theoretical assumption that egoresilient individuals have a superior ability to modify their behaviour in accordance with the
demands of the current situation. Overall, it appears likely that the inherent flexibility egoresilient individuals are presumed to possess aids them in the pursuit of important goals.
Higher ego-resilience also involves a superior ability to bounce back from setbacks making
persistence in the face of challenges more likely (e.g., Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004).
Successful goal attainment often involves the flexible exertion of self-control
(Gailliot & Tice, 2007; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Although one might assume that
individuals with higher modal levels of self-control (e.g., ability to delay gratification) might
be more successful in attaining their goals, the continued exertion of self-control over time
appears to be a complicated process. In fact, acts o f self-regulation appear to be depleting,
suggesting that effortful self-control is governed by limited personal resources (Vohs &
Heatherton, 2000). It is possible, then, that high ego-control in the absence of ego-resilience
might result in rigid (inflexible) use of self-control. Such a tendency might manifest as a
superior ability to ‘buckle-down’ and work toward some goal (indicating high self-control),
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followed by a self-regulatory failure (indicating depletion) in another area (e.g., an individual
driven to succeed in order to earn more money with the goal of creating a better life for his
family spends long hours working extremely hard, only to come home and respond with
irritability toward his children). Thus, individuals with high levels of self-control, but little
adaptive flexibility (i.e., low ego-resilience) might be the most likely to suffer ‘resourcedepletion.’ Peterson and Seligman (2004) suggested that “to live a balanced, well-regulated
life, it may be necessary to recognize that the capacity for controlling oneself depends on a
limited resource that needs to be managed effectively and conserved for the most pressing or
important demands” (p. 510). Overall, the present findings support the notion that it is
important to consider ego-resilience in conjunction with ego-control when examining goal
striving.
Research further suggests that positive emotion may actually be influential in the
process o f maintaining self-regulation. For example, the induction of positive emotions
following a self-regulatory task attenuates the resource depletion effect (Tice et al., 2007).
Thus, it was hypothesized that if ego-resilient individuals are adept at identifying goals that
afford them greater experiences of positive emotions, they might be in a better position to use
or capitalize on these positive emotions in order to continually strive towards their goals. In
Study 1, ego-resilience was related to positive emotion, as predicted. Yet, when considering
the relative contributions of ego-resilience and positive emotions to the goal striving
outcomes, ego-resilience appeared to be the more important variable, mediating the effect o f
positive emotions on most of the goal striving outcomes.
The finding that ego-resilience mediated the relationship between positive emotions
and goal striving indicates that participants rated their goals as higher in positivity, personal
growth, and personal expressiveness not because of more frequent experiences of positive
83

emotions per se, but because positive emotions were linked to greater ego-resilience. This
result could be interpreted in a couple of ways, so it will be considered in the context of other
research on positive emotion.
First, the mediation results could provide evidence that positive emotion ‘builds’
greater ego-resilience, and it is ego-resilience in turn that supports eudaimonic striving. This
idea was supported in Study 2 where positive emotions at Time 1, as well as over the
intervening four weeks, predicted increases in ego-resilience from Time 1 to Time 2. Given
the evidence that positive emotions increase people’s capacity for self-regulation (Tice et al.,
2007), it seems intuitive that greater positive emotions should predict increases in egoresilience, given ego-resilience involves flexibility in self-regulation. The broaden-and-build
theory also predicts that, by broadening thinking, positive emotions will lead to increases in
resources such as ego-resilience over time. Indeed, the present findings replicate Cohn et al.’s
(2009) finding that daily diary reports of positive emotions over the course o f a month led to
increases in ego-resilience. Fredrickson et al. (2008) also conducted a seven-week
intervention involving loving-kindness mediation and found that participants experienced
increases in positive emotions which predicted increases in resources (i.e., mindfulness,
savoring, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, purpose in life, positive relations with
others, and fewer symptoms of illness). Furthermore, this change in resources predicted
increases in life satisfaction at the end of the study. Thus, evidence is mounting that positive
emotions contribute to well-being both directly as well as indirectly via building resources.
The present finding that ego-resilience mediated the effect of positive emotions could
also be the result of individual differences in ego-resilience accounting for the positive
effects of positive emotions. Tugade and Fredrickson (2007) suggested that although all
individuals have the capacity to draw on positive emotions to cope, resilient individuals
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actually capitalize on opportunities for positive emotional experiences. The present research
included an experimental manipulation of emotion in order to directly test this capitalizing
effect. Contrary to predictions, the finding that the positive effects of the positive emotion
induction were not more pronounced among ego-resilient individuals indicates a lack of
support for the hypothesis that ego-resilient individuals capitalize on their experiences of
positive emotions. Yet, in a recent study, Catalino and Fredrickson (2011) found individual
differences in emotional reactions to pleasant events, supporting the notion that some people
capitalize on their everyday experiences by generating more positive emotions then others
do. Thus, the capitalizing hypothesis should not be ruled out completely. Future research may
need to employ a longer lasting emotion manipulation then the two minute video used in the
present research to better test this notion. Again, it is possible that the emotion manipulation
was not long-lasting enough to provide an effective test of the interaction hypothesis.
Overall, the results of this thesis provide evidence for both the role of positive
emotions in building ego-resilience over time and for the notion that individual differences in
ego-resilience account for the positive effects of positive emotions. Thus, positive emotions
and ego-resilience likely mutually reinforce each other in contributing to eudaimonic well­
being. Given Waterman’s (2007) notion that eudaimonic strivings provide opportunities for
sustainable upward spirals of well-being, the present results contribute to the understanding
of how to promote well-being by providing evidence for the roles of both positive emotions
and ego-resilience in eudaimonic goal striving.
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
Although this research represented an initial attempt to assess the role of positive
emotions in goal striving, as well as the ability of ego-resilient individuals to ‘capitalize’ on
their experiences of positive emotions, some limitations to this research deserve mention.
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First, the single measurement design in Study 1 did not allow for the assessment o f whether
positive emotions led to ego-resilience. The short-term longitudinal design employed in
Study 2 allowed for a better assessment of this relationship; however, the correlational design
of Study 2 still limits the conclusions that can be drawn. It is possible, for example, that
positive emotions were linked to increases in ego-resilience because changes in egoresilience caused participants to experience more positive emotions. It may also be that some
third variable (such as increased mindfulness), accounted for the increases in both positive
emotions and ego-resilience. Experimental research is required in order to evaluate the
complex relationship between positive emotions and ego-resilience over time.
The experimental emotion manipulation employed in Study 2 allowed for an
assessment of the direction of the relationship between positive emotions and goal striving;
however, this manipulation may not have been strong enough to have long-lasting effects on
participants’ overall goal striving. Nevertheless, the finding that inducing awe prompted
participants to list more personal growth goals provides further evidence that researchers
should continue to investigate the causal role transcendent emotions might play in altering
people’s goal striving.
The goal measures employed in this thesis offered an open-ended method for eliciting
the strivings participants were typically trying to accomplish; however the assessment
technique used to categorize participants’ strivings has its drawbacks. For one, Emmons’
original measure (used in Study 1) does not consider the reasons motivating each striving. In
Study 2, this limitation was attenuated to some degree by asking participants to describe the
reason for each of their goals, and coding these reasons if they provided additional
information. A second limitation of coding participants’ strivings into pre-conceived
categories is that the personal meaning to the participant might be lost. Future research using
86

a narrative approach might allow for participants to generate descriptions of how each of
their strivings is personally meaningful to them, as well as the extent to which each striving
expresses their inner character or daimon. The ratings of personal expressiveness included in
Study 1 aided in capturing participants perceptions of their strivings to some degree;
however, this measure was not as comprehensive as a more qualitative technique would be.
The fact that achievement goals were among the most common strivings found in the
present research also deserves mention. In Study 2 achievement goals were even more
prevalent than in Study 1 suggesting that the experimental setup or instruction set may have
played a role in pulling for these strivings. Asking participants to outline five things they
wanted to accomplish over a four-week period may have encouraged more achievementoriented strivings. Given the study was conducted during the fall and winter semesters using
a student sample, participants’ four week goals often involved exams, papers, passing and
doing well in university. Further, the experimental manipulation itself may have primed
participants to list something active, as in all three conditions, participants watched
something ‘happening’. Although achievement goals seemed to be overrepresented in Study
2, they were still very common in Study 1 using Emmons more self-focused “I typically try
to ...” assessment. Therefore, it seems likely that use of a student sample in both studies also
contributed to the high representation of achievement goals.
A final limitation that ought to be mentioned is that any generalization of the results
should give consideration to the fact that the samples in the present research are largely
representative of Caucasian women attending university. Further research is needed in order
determine whether the results found here are generalize across gender and culture. For
example, although few gender differences were found in the present research, consistent with
other research on positive emotions and well-being (e.g., Fredrickson et al., 2008), future
87

research is needed to more closely examine this issue. It may be that subtle gender
differences exist but a larger sample is required to detect them. Likewise, cultural variation
likely exists in the types of goals individuals find valuable. Preliminary research indicates
considerable cross-cultural similarities in the underlying structure of goal content (e.g.,
Grouzet et al., 2005); nevertheless, potential differences in the meaning and consequences of
different types of goals for well-being across culture warrant further investigation.

Conclusions
In summary, evidence is accumulating in support of the notion that positive emotions
(hedonic well-being) contribute to lasting happiness (eudaimonic well-being). The results of
this thesis provide an important addition the literature on this issue, as aside from the recent
research conducted by Catalino and Fredrickson (2011), few studies have examined
individual differences in the ability to use or capitalize on positive emotions. Future research
is needed to continue to tease apart the complex relationship between ego-resilience, positive
emotions, and well-being; however, the preliminary evidence presented in this thesis
indicates such research will be a promising avenue for promoting well-being by unlocking
the key to lasting happiness.

88

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Appendix A
Study 1 Participant Information Letter

Survey Introduction
This study consists of an online survey which you may now participate. You will receive
credit immediately upon completion of the survey. The survey consists of a number of Likert
scale questions, and may be divided into a number of sections. You must complete all
sections in one sitting, as you are not allowed to resume at another time from where you left
off. While you are participating, your responses will be stored in a temporary holding area as
you move through the sections, but they will not be permanently saved until you complete all
sections and you are given a chance to review your responses.
ABOUT THE STUDY:
This research is being conducted by Cherisse Seaton (PhD candidate, Psychology) and Dr.
Sherry Beaumont. The purpose of this study is to determine whether people’s emotions and
personal strivings are related to their personal development and well-being. You are being
asked to complete online surveys regarding your daily life, personal goals, and feelings. The
questionnaires will take approximately 45 minutes to complete. If you are a student in Psyc
101, 102, 200,215,315,316, 301 orHHSC 101 you will be compensated for completion of
these questionnaires with 1% extra bonus mark to be added to your final grades as computed
by the online participant system.
Your responses to the questions are considered confidential. Only the researchers and Ms
Orlando, the system administrator, will have access to the completed data, which will be kept
in a locked and secure place for seven years, after which they will be destroyed. Only the
online system records that you have participated in this study, so that you will receive course
credit; information regarding your specific answers will be kept separately from your
identity, preserving anonymity. There are no risks associated with this research and you may
experience benefits of participating such as an increased understanding of the research
process. You are free to withdraw from this research project at any time without
consequence.
If you have any questions or concerns, or you wish to obtain a copy of the study results,
please contact either Dr. Sherry Beaumont (250-960-6501 or beaumont@unbc.ca) or
Cherisse Seaton (cseaton@unbc.ca). Any complaints regarding this study should be directed
to the Office o f Research, UNBC, 250-960-5820.
Additionally, some of the scales in the survey address psychological well-being. You may
find that thinking about these issues raises thoughts or feelings that you want to discuss
further. If you would like to discuss the study or any of the feelings it provoked confidential
counseling services are available at UNBC through student services (250-960-6369;
http://www.unbc.ca/counsel/).

95

PLEASE READ
Informed Consent Form
By clicking “Continue” following this form indicates that I have read the letter about the
research project on adult development being conducted by Dr. Sherry Beaumont and
Cherisse Seaton and I consent to participate in this study. Specifically, I confirm that:
(1) I am being asked to complete questionnaires that will take approximately 45 minutes of
my time;
(2) I understand that all the information gathered for this project is to be used for research
purposes only and will be considered confidential;
(3) I will receive ONE research credit (1% bonus mark) for completion of these
questionnaires if in Psyc 101,102,200,215, 315, 316,301, 307, 345 orHHSC 101;
(4) There are no risks associated with this research, however, my participation in this
research study is voluntary and I am free to withdraw at any time without penalty;
(5) The purposes, procedures, and benefits of this project have been explained to me;
(6) I can request a summary of the study results in May 2012 from either Dr. Sherry
Beaumont (250-960-6501 or beaumont@unbc.ca) or Cherisse Seaton (cseaton@unbc.ca);
(7) I have read and understand this informed consent and the attached information letter;
(8) I consent to participating in this study.
Student Researcher:
Cherisse Seaton
Graduate student
Psychology Program
email: cseaton@unbc.ca

Researcher Supervisor:
Dr Sherry Beaumont
Associate Professor, Psychology Department
Rm 10-3534, T&L Building
Phone: 250-960-6501
email: beaumont@unbc.ca
THANK YOU for your participation.

NOTE: You will be automatically logged out after 30 minutes of inactivity, so please keep
this in mind when completing lengthy sections.
Would you like to participate in the survey?

96

Appendix B
Study 2 Participant Information Letter
Personal Goals Study: Participant Information Letter
You may retain this sheet for your information
This research is being conducted by Cherisse Seaton (Ph.D. Candidate, Psychology)
and Dr. Sherry Beaumont. The purpose of this study is to assess people’s emotional
responses in order to determine the relationship between emotions and personal goals. You
are being asked to watch one 2 minute, soundless video clip, and fill out a questionnaire
packet regarding your personal goals and emotional reactions. In total the study should not
take more than 45 minutes to complete. If you are a student in Psyc 101, 102, 200, 215, 315,
316, 301, 307, 345, or HHSC 101 you will be compensated for your time with 1% extra
bonus mark to be added to your final grade. In 4 weeks time, we would like you to return and
report back to us on your personal goals. You will be compensated with an additional 1%
bonus mark for returning to the lab in 4 weeks.
Your responses to the questions are considered confidential. Only the online system
records that you have participated in this study, so that you will receive course credit;
information regarding your specific answers will be kept separately from your identity,
preserving anonymity. Only the researchers will have access to the completed data, which
may be used for future research in an anonymous fashion, with your consent. All completed
data will be kept in a locked and secure place (Dr. Beaumont’s research laboratory) for seven
years, after which they will be destroyed. There are no known risks associated with this
research, and you may experience benefits o f participating, such as an increased
understanding of the research process. You are free to withdraw from this research project at
any time without consequence.
If you have any questions or concerns, or you wish to obtain a copy of the study
results, please contact either Dr. Sherry Beaumont (250-960-6501 or beaumont@unbc.ca) or
Cherisse Seaton (cseaton@unbc.ca). Any complaints regarding this study should be directed
to the Office o f Research, UNBC, 250-960-6735 for reb@unbc.ca~). Additionally, some o f the
scales in the survey address psychological well-being. You may find that thinking about
these issues raises thoughts or feelings that you want to discuss further. If you would like to
discuss the study or any of the feelings it provoked confidential counseling services are
available at UNBC through student services (250-960-6369; http://www.unbc.ca/counsel/).
Researcher Supervisor:
Dr Sherry Beaumont
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Rm 10-3534, T&L Building
Phone: 250-960-6501
email: beaumont@unbc.ca
Thank you for your participation.

97

Student Researcher:
Cherisse Seaton
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Psychology
email: cseaton@unbc.ca

Appendix C
__________________ Personal Goals Study: Informed Consent Form__________________

My signature on this form indicates that I have read the letter about the personal goals
research project being conducted by Cherisse Seaton and Dr. Sherry Beaumont and I consent
to participate in this study. Specifically, I confirm that:
1. I am being asked to watch a soundless video clip, complete and return a questionnaire
that will take approximately 45 minutes of my time.
2. I understand that all the information gathered for this project is to be used for research
purposes only and will be considered confidential.
3. I will receive ONE research credit (1 % bonus mark) for completion o f this study if in
Psyc 101, 102, 200,215,315,316, 301,307, 345, orHHSC 101.
4. There are no risks associated with this research, however, my participation in this
research study is voluntary and I am free to withdraw at any time without penalty.
5. The purposes, procedures, and benefits of this project have been explained to me.
6. I can request a summary of the study results in May 2012 from either Dr. Sherry
Beaumont (250-960-6501 or beaumont@unbc.ca) or Cherisse Seaton (cseaton@unbc.ca).
7. 1 have read and understand this informed consent and the attached information letter
8. I acknowledge receipt of a copy o f this consent form.
9. I consent to participating in this study.

Participant name (please print)

Participant signature

Date

Please sign the attached copy as well, which you may keep for your records.
If you have any additional questions, about this study, please contact either Dr. Sherry
Beaumont (250-960-6501 or beaumont@unbc.ca) or Cherisse Seaton (cseaton@unbc.ca).
Any complaints regarding this study should be directed to the Office of Research, UNBC,
250-960-6735 (or reb@unbc.ca).

98

Appendix D
Demographics Information
The following demographic information is collected to allow us to accurately describe the
sample of participants.

1. Age today (Numerical value in years please):_______
2. Gender: male

female______

3. Sexuality: Heterosexual_______ Homosexual________ Bisexual________
Unsure______
4. Ethnicity:
Aboriginal
African-Canadian
Asian
Caucasian
Other
5. Occupation:
Employed full-time ____ Employed part-time

Student

O ther____
6. Check your highest education level completed:
Elementary school
Some high school
High school diploma
Trade or technical school
Some college
College diploma
______ Some university
University degree
Other
7. Current relationship status:
Single

Dating one person exclusively

Married/common law

Divorced/separated
99

Engaged____
widowed____

Unemployed

Appendix E
Ego-Undercontrol Scale

Instructions: Below you will find a number of statements about beliefs and attitudes. Using
the scale shown, please choose the number that indicates the degree to which you agree or
disagree with each statement.

1
Disagree very strongly

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.

22.
23.

2

3

4
Agree very strongly

I tend to buy things on impulse.
1 am against giving money to beggars (R).
I become impatient when I have to wait for something.
It is unusual for me to express strong approval or disapproval of
the actions of others (R).
I often say and do things on the spur of the moment, without
stopping to think.
I like to stop and think things over before I do them (R).
I can remember “ playing sick” to get out of something.
1 don’t like to start a project until I know exactly how to proceed
(R).
1 have often had to take orders from someone who did not know
as much as I did
I finish one activity or project before starting another (R).
When 1 get bored, I like to stir up some excitement.
I am steady and planful rather than unpredictable and impulsive
(R).
Some of my family have quick tempers.
On the whole, 1 am a cautious person (R).
People consider me a spontaneous, devil-may-care person.
I do not let too many things get in the way of my work (R).
I often get involved in things I later wish I could get out of.
I keep out o f trouble at all costs (R).
I have been known to do unusual things on a dare.
I consider a matter from every viewpoint before I make a decision
(R).
I have sometimes stayed away from another person because I
thought I might do or say something that I might regret
afterwards.
I am easily downed in an argument (R).
I do not always tell the truth.

100

1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2

3
3
3
3

4
4
4
4

1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4

1
Disagree very strongly

2

3

4
Agree very strongly

24. I have never done anything dangerous for the fun of it (R).
25. My way of doing things can be misunderstood or bother others.
26. My conduct is largely controlled by the customs of those about
me (R).
27. Sometimes I rather enjoy going against the rules and doing things
I am not supposed to.
28. It makes me uncomfortable to put on a stunt at a party even when
others are doing the same sort of thing (R).
29. At times, I am tempted to do or say something that others would
think inappropriate.
30. 1 find it hard to make small talk when I meet new people (R).
31. At times I have very much wanted to leave home.
32. I would like to be a journalist.
33. I like to flirt.
34. Some of my family have habits that bother and annoy me very
much.
35. At times I have worn myself out by undertaking too much.
36. In a group of people I would not be embarrassed to be called on to
start a discussion or give an opinion about something I know well.
37. I would like to wear expensive clothes.

1
1
1

2 3 4
2 3 4
2 3 4

1

2 3 4

1

2 3 4

1

2 3 4

1
1
1
1
1

2 3
2 3
2 3
2 3
2 3

1 2 3 4
12 3 4
1

(R) Item is reverse scored.
* This order presented to our participants (reversed scored items interspersed)

101

4
4
4
4
4

2 3 4

Appendix F
Ego-Resiliency Scale

Instructions: Below you will find a number o f statements about beliefs and attitudes. Using
the scale shown, please choose the number that indicates the degree to which you agree or
disagree with each statement as an accurate reflection of how you see yourself today as
compared to five years ago. There are no right or wrong answers, we are just trying to get an
impression of how you would describe yourself today.

1
2
Does not apply at
Applies slightly
all

3
Applies somewhat

4
Applies very
strongly

1.

I am generous with my friends

1 2 3 4

2.

I quickly get over and recover from being startled

3 2 3 4

3.

I enjoy dealing with new and unusual situations

1 2 3 4

4.

I usually succeed in making a favorable impression on people

1 2 3 4

5.

I enjoy trying new foods I have never tasted before

1 2 3 4

6.

I am regarded as a very energetic person

1 2 3 4

7.

I like to take different paths to familiar places

1 2 3 4

8.

I am more curious than most people

1 2 3 4

9.

Most o f the people I meet are likeable

1 2 3 4

10.

I usually think carefully about something before acting

1 2 3 4

11.

I like to do new and different things

1 2 3 4

12.

My daily life is full of things that keep me interested

1 2 3 4

13.

I would be willing to describe myself as a pretty “strong” personality

1 2 3 4

14.

I get over my anger at someone reasonably quickly

1 2 3 4

102

Appendix G
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

INSTRUCTIONS
This scale consists of a number of words that describe different feelings and emotions. Read
each item and then indicate to what extent you have felt this way OVER THE PAST 4
WEEKS.* Use the following scale to record your answers.

1
very slightly
or not at all

2
a little

3
moderately

4
quite a bit

5
extremely

Interested

1

2

3

4

5

Distressed

1

2

3

4

5

Excited

1

2

3

4

5

Upset

1

2

3

4

5

Strong

1

2

3

4

5

Guilty

1

2

3

4

5

Scared

1

2

3

4

5

Hostile

1

2

3

4

5

Enthusiastic

1

2

3

4

5

Proud

1

2

3

4

5

Irritable

1

2

3

4

5

Alert

1

2

3

4

5

Ashamed

1

2

3

4

5

Inspired

1

2

3

4

5

Nervous

1

2

3

4

5

Determined

1

2

3

4

5

Attentive

1

2

3

4

5

Jittery

1

2

3

4

5

Active

1

2

3

4

5

103

1

2

3

4

5

very slightly
or not at all

a little

moderately

quite a bit

extremely

Afraid

1

2

3

4

5

Awe

1

2

3

4

5

Amused

1

2

3

4

5

Content

1

2

3

4

5

Joy

1

2

3

4

5

Grateful

1

2

3

4

5

Hope

1

2

3

4

5

Love

1

2

3

4

5

Compassion

1

2

3

4

5

Angry

1

2

3

4

5

Sad

1

2

3

4

5

Contempt

1

2

3

4

5

Disgust

1

2

3

4

5

Embarrassed

1

2

3

4

5

Fear

1

2

3

4

5

*Note: For study 2, Time 1 these instructions were modified to say “Indicate to what extent
you feel this way right now, that is, at the present moment.” (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen,
1988).

104

Appendix H
Questionnaire for Eudaimonistic well-being

INSTRUCTIONS
This questionnaire contains a series of statements that refer to how you may feel things have
been going in your life. Read each statement and decide the extent to which you agree or
disagree with it. Try to respond to each statement according to your own feelings about how
things are actually going, rather than how you might wish them to be. Please use the
following scale when responding to each statement.

0
Strongly
disagree

1

2

3

4
Strongly agree

1■ I find I get intensely involved in many of the things I do each day.

0 12

3 4

2-

I believe I have discovered who I really am.

0 12

3 4

3-

I think it would be ideal if things came easily to me in my life. (R)

0 12

3 4

4.

My life is centered around a set of core beliefs that give meaning to
my life.
It is more important that I really enjoy what I do than that other
people are impressed by it.
I believe I know what my best potentials are and I try to develop
them whenever possible.
Other people usually know better what would be good for me to do
than I know myself. (R)
I feel best when I’m doing something worth investing a great deal of
effort in.
I can say that I have found my purpose in life.

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

10. If I did not find what I was doing rewarding for me, I do not think I
could continue doing it.
As yet, I’ve not figured out what to do with my life. (R)

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

0 12

3 4

5.
6.
7.
8.
9-

12. I can’t understand why some people want to work so hard on the
things that they do. (R)
13. I believe it is important to know how what I’m doing fits with
purposes worth pursuing.
14. I usually know what I should do because some actions just feel right
to me.
15. When I engage in activities that involve my best potentials, I have
this sense of really being alive.
16- I am confused about what my talents really are. (R)

105

0
Strongly
disagree

17.

1

2

3

4
Strongly agree

0 1 2 3 4

19.

I find a lot of the things I do are personally expressive for me.
It is important to me that I feel fulfilled by the activities that I
engage in.
If something is really difficult, it probably isn’t worth doing. (R)

20.

I find it hard to get really invested in the things that I do. (R)

0 1 2 3 4

21.

I believe I know what I was meant to do in life.

0 1 2 3 4

18.

(R) Item is reverse scored.

106

0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4

Appendix I
Personal Strivings Assessment Packet
PARTI . STRIVING LISTS
One way to describe someone’s personality is to consider the purposes or goals that the
person seems to be seeking in his or her everyday behavior. We are interested in the things
that you typically or characteristically are trying to do. We might call these objectives
“strivings”. Here are some examples of strivings:
Trying to be physically attractive to others
Trying to persuade others that one is right
Trying to help others in need of help
Trying to seek new and exciting experiences
Trying to avoid being noticed by others
Trying to avoid feeling inferior to others
Note that these strivings are phrased in terms of what a person is “trying” to do, regardless of
whether the person is actually successful. For example, a person might be “Trying to get
others to like me” without necessarily being successful.
These strivings may be fairly broad, such as “Trying to make others happy” or more
specific, as “Trying to make my partner happy.” Also note that the strivings can be either
positive or negative. That is, they may be about something you typically try to obtain or keep,
or things that you typically try to avoid or prevent. For example, you might typically try to
obtain attention from others, or you might typically try to avoid calling attention to yourself.
You can see that this way of describing yourself is different from using trait
adjectives (friendly, intelligent, honest). We do not want you to use trait adjectives. Since
you may have never thought o f yourself in this way before, think carefully about what we are
asking you to do before you write anything down.
We want you to provide us with a list of your strivings. Please write down 10
strivings in the spaces provided below. Please keep your attention focused on yourself. Do
not mentally compare the things you typically do with what other people do. Think of
yourself and your purposes alone. Be as honest and as objective as possible. Do not simply
give socially desirable strivings or strivings which you think you “ought” to have.
You might find it useful to think about your goals in different domains of your life:
work and school, home andfamily, social relationships, leisure/ recreation. Think about all
of your desires, goals, wants, and hopes in these different areas.
Take your time with this task; spend some time thinking about your goals before you
begin. When you have finished, move on to Part 2 (Striving Assessment Scales).

107

1 .1typically try to_
2 . 1 typically try to_
3 . 1 typically try to_
4 . 1 typically try to_
5 . 1 typically try to_
6 . 1typically try to_
7 .1 typically try to_
8.1 typically try to_
9 . 1 typically try to_
10.1 typically try to

108

PART 2. STRIVING ASSESSMENT SCALES
In Part 1, you listed a number of your personal strivings (things that you are “typically trying
to accomplish”). In this task, we want you to make some ratings about each goal on your list.
Begin by writing in your strivings in the left-hand column o f the answer sheet (on the
following page). There is room for you to write in 10 strivings.
Step 1. Importance
Now we would like to know how important each o f your strivings is to you in your life, or
how committed you are to working toward each of your strivings. For example, if your
striving is “Trying to get along with family,” you would choose a number from the scale
below indicating how important it is to you that you get along with your family. If your
striving is “Trying to avoid gossiping about others,” how important is it to you that you don’t
gossip about others? Perhaps it is not very important, at least relative to your other strivings.
Write that number in the column labeled “Importance” on the answer sheet.
0

1

not at all
important

slightly
important

2
somewhat
important

---

3 -------------

moderately
important

4

5

very
important

extremely
important

Step 2. Progress

0 ------ i ----------

2

not at all satisfied no
progress or setback

3

4

5

---------

neutral

6

-

Consider how much progress you have been making towards your strivings. How satisfied
are you with the amount of progress you have been making toward each of your strivings?
Using the scale below, choose a number which best represents your satisfaction with how
well you perceive yourself to be doing in each striving, then write that number in the column
marked “Progress” on the answer sheet.
7

extremely satisfied
exceptional
progress

Step 3. Positivity
Thinking about the type of striving, to what extent would you say the striving is focused on
well-being? In other words, to what extent does the striving involve a concern with
enhancing positivity and having fun or laughing, or avoiding or minimizing stress or
negativity?
0
not at all

i

2 --- ---

moderate

3 -------------

4

5
extremely

109

Step 4. Personal growth
Thinking about the type of striving, to what extent could the striving be considered to be
personal growth oriented? In other words, to what extent does the striving involve a concern
for improving aspects of your self or cultivating your inner potential (i.e., self-improvement,
learning)?
0 ------------

1 -----------

not at all

2 -------------

3

4

moderate

5
extremely

Step S. Self-transcendence
Thinking about the type of striving, to what extent could the striving be considered to be self­
transcendent? In other words, to what extent would you say the striving is oriented above and
beyond the self (e.g., “take myself less seriously”, or “be present in the moment”) or involves
a desire to integrate the self with something larger (e.g., “enhancing one’s connection with or
relationship with God”)?
0 ------------

i -----------

not at all

2 -------------

3

4

moderate

5
extremely

Step 6. Personal expressiveness
Consider now the extent each striving gives you a feeling that this is who you really are.
Personal expressiveness involves the extent to which an activity gives you strong feeling that
this is what you were meant to do, resulting in a feeling o f having a special fit or meshing
when engaging in an activity. In other words, when you engage in a given striving to what
extent do you feel more complete or fulfilled?
To what extent does each striving give you a feeling of personal expressiveness?
1 ---------

2

3

4

Not at all

5 --------

6 ------- 7
Extremely

110

NO

00

ON

-&■

u» N>

Answer Sheet

o

Strivings
Progress

Step 1 Step 2

Importance

Positivity

Step 3

Personal growth

Step 4

Self-transcendence

Step 5

Personal
expressiveness

Step 6

Appendix J
Goal List and Ratings

INSTRUCTIONS
Please begin by answering the following questions about your goals. Please complete the pages
of this questionnaire packet in order, and as you progress through the questionnaires, please do
not return to previous pages.

1. Please list the five things you wouldmostlike to accomplish within the next 4 weeks. In
other words, we’d like you to outline 5 goals for yourself thatyou’d like to see yourself
achieve within 4 weeks from now (In 4 weeks when you return, we’ll ask you to report back
to us about your progress)
In the next 4 weeks,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

I would like t o _______________________________________________________
I would like to _______________________________________________________
1 would like t o _______________________________________________________
I would like t o _______________________________________________________
I would like t o _______________________________________________________

Please tell us why you chose each of the five things you did to focus on for the next 4 weeks.
In other words, why is each o f these things important to you (or for you to focus on)?
1 .____________________________________________________________________________
2 ._________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3 .____________________________________________________________________________
4 .____________________________________________________________________________
5.

112

PART 2

In Part 1, you listed five personal goals you’d like to strive for over the next 4 weeks. In this
task, we want you to make some ratings about each goal on your list. Begin by re-writing in
your goals in the left-hand column of the answer sheet (next page). There is room for you
to write in 5 goals. Next, consider the following questions (labeled step 1-3) for each of your
goals separately, and enter your ratings in the columns corresponding to each step for each of
your goals.
Step I. Positivity
Thinking about the type o f goal, to what extent would you say the goal is focused on well­
being? In other words, to what extent does the goal involve a concern with enhancing
positivity and having fun or laughing, or avoiding or minimizing stress or negativity? Using
the scale below, write the number corresponding to your response in the column labeled step
1 on the attached answer sheet for each of 5 your goals separately.
0 ------------

1

not at all

2

3

4

moderate

5
extremely

Step 2. Personal growth
Thinking about the type of goal, to what extent could the goal be considered to be personal
growth oriented? In other words, to what extent does the goal involve a concern for
improving aspects o f your self or cultivating your inner potential (i.e., self-improvement,
learning)? Using the scale below, write the number corresponding to your response in the
column labeled step 1 on the attached answer sheet for each of 5 your goals separately.
0 ------------

j

not at all

3

2

moderate

4

5
extremely

Step 3. Self-transcendence
Thinking about the type o f goal, to what extent could the goal be considered to be self­
transcendent? In other words, to what extent would you say the goal is oriented above and
beyond the self (e.g., “take myself less seriously”, or “be present in the moment”) or involves
a desire to integrate the self with something larger (e.g., “enhancing one’s connection with or
relationship with God”)? Using the scale below, write the number corresponding to your
response in the column labeled step 1 on the attached answer sheet for each o f 5 your goals
separately.

not at all

moderate

extremely

113

Answer Sheet
Step
1

Step
2

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-e
1
2
bo
cb
C

Step
3
u
c
73
C

<
L>
O
C/5
c
2

B
Q-

Strivings
1
2
3
4
5

114

D-

IS1

Appendix K
Emotion Report
Please indicate the degree to which you felt each of the following emotions while watching
the video clip using the scale below. The strength of the feeling should be viewed as a
combination of a) the number of times you felt the emotion - its frequency; b) the length of
time you felt the emotion - its duration; and c) how intense or extreme the emotion was - its
intensity. Read each item and then circle the appropriate number next to that word.
0
none

1

3

2
a
little

4
Moderately

5

6
quite
a bit

7

8
A
great
deal

Calm

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Happy

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Frustrated

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Awe

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Curious

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Afraid

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Amused

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Expansive

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Content

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Wonder

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Appreciative

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Anxious

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Hopeful

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Joyful

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Bored

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Absorbed

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Playful

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Uplifted

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Elevated

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Irritated

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

115

Appendix L
Four Week Follow up Goal Assessment
Four weeks ago you listed five personal goals you would most like to accomplish within 4
weeks time. In this task, we want you to make some ratings about each goal on your list
Begin by reviewing the five goals you set for yourself four weeks ago (participants will be
presented with their goal list from 4 weeks ago), and re-writing in your goals in the lefthand column of the answer sheet (next page). Next, consider the following questions
(labeled step 1-3) for each o f your goals separately, and enter your ratings in the columns
corresponding to each step for each of your goals on the answer sheet.
Step 1. Achievement

0 ------ 1 --------No progress
towards goal

2 ----------- 3

4

5

Some progress, but goal has
not been attained

---------

6

-

Consider how successful you have been in attaining each of the five goals you listed 4 weeks
ago. To what extent would you say each of your goals has been achieved? Using the scale
below, choose a number which best represents your progress with each goal over the past 4
weeks then write that number in the column marked “Achievement” on the answer sheet.
7

Exceptional progress goal has been achieved

Step 2. Effort
How much effort and energy did you expend in trying to be successful in each goal? Each of
your goals involves a different set of contributions from you - some take a lot of time, others
may cost money, some inconvenience you, others drain you emotionally, etc. What we are
interested in here is how much effort or energy you exerted in order to try and be successful
in each of your goals. Indicate this by using a number from the scale below then write that
number in the column marked “Effort” on the answer sheet.
0 -----------no effort at
all

1 ------------- 2

very little
effort

some effort

3

-- 4 ------------ 5

moderate effort

much effort

very much
effort

Step 3. Progress

0 ------ 1 --------not at all satisfied

2 ----------- 3

4

neutral

5

---------

6

-

How satisfied are you with the amount of progress you have been making toward each of
your strivings? Using the scale below, choose a number which best represents your
satisfaction with how well you perceive yourself to be doing in each goal, then write that
number in the column marked “Progress” on the answer sheet.
7

extremely satisfied
116

to

Answer sheet

U>

Strivings

-t*

Achievement

Effort

Satisfaction

C /3

"

K>

O)
“O

C /3
ff

■a
i/3

W

S'
"O

Appendix M
Perceived Stress Scale

INSTRUCTIONS
The questions in this scale ask you about your feelings and thoughts during the last month.
In each case, you will be asked to indicate how often you felt or thought a certain way.
Although some of the questions are similar, there are differences between them and you
should treat each one as a separate question. The best approach is to answer fairly quickly.
That is, don’t try to count up the number of times you felt a particular way; rather indicate the
alternative that seems like a reasonable estimate.

0
never

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

1
almost never

2
sometimes

3
fairly often

In the last month, how often have you been upset because of
something that happened unexpectedly?
In the last month, how often have you felt that you were
unable to control the important things in your life?
In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and
“stressed”?
In the last month, how often have you felt confident about
your ability to handle your personal problems?
In the last month, how often have you felt that things were
going your way?
In the last month, how often have you found that you could
not cope with all the things that you had to do?
In the last month, how often have you been able to control
irritations in your life?
In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on
top of things?
In the last month, how often have you been angered because
of things that were outside of your control?
In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were
piling up so high that you could not overcome them?

118

4
Very often

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

0

1 2

3

4

Appendix N
Key to Goal Rating Variables
Avg Positivity: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from not at all (0) to
extremely (5) of the extent to which each of their goals was focused on well-being
(“to what extent does the striving involve a concern with enhancing positivity and
reducing negativity?”) averaged across all goals.
Avg Personal Growth: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from not at all (0)
to extremely (5) of the extent to which each of their goals was focused on personal
growth (“to what extent does the striving involve a concern with self-improvement?”)
averaged across all goals.
Avg Self-Transcendence: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from not at all
(0) to extremely (5) of the extent to which each of their goals was focused on selftranscendence (“to what extent is the striving oriented above and beyond the self?”)
averaged across all goals.
Avg Personal Expressiveness: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from not
at all {1) to extremely (7) of the degree of personal expressiveness (to what extent
does each striving gives you a feeling that this is who you really are?) associated with
each of their strivings averaged across all goals.
Avg Im portance: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from not at all (0) to
extremely (5) o f how important is each striving is to them averaged across all goals.
Avg Progress: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from not at all (0) to
extremely/exceptional progress (7) of how satisfied they were with their progress
towards each of their strivings averaged across all goals.

119

Avg Effort: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from no effort at all (0) to
very much effort (5) of how much effort they exerted for each striving averaged
across all goals.
Avg Achievement: Participants’ self-report ratings on a scale ranging from no progress at
all (0) to goal has been achieved (7) of how successful they were in achieving each
striving averaged across all goals.

120