The Structure of Goal Contents Across 15 Cultures.

TLDR

Goal content structure informs theories of motivation and personality. The authors investigated the structure of goal contents in 1,854 undergraduates from 15 cultures worldwide. The 11 goal types were consistently organized in a circumplex across cultures, with intrinsic versus extrinsic and self‑transcendent versus physical dimensions underlying the structure, and the model was similar in both wealthier and poorer nations with minor variations.

Abstract

The authors investigated the structure of goal contents in a group of 1,854 undergraduates from 15 cultures around the world. Results suggested that the 11 types of goals the authors assessed were consistently organized in a circumplex fashion across the 15 cultures. The circumplex was well described by positioning 2 primary dimensions underlying the goals: intrinsic (e.g., self-acceptance, affiliation) versus extrinsic (e.g., financial success, image) and self-transcendent (e.g., spirituality) versus physical (e.g., hedonism). The circumplex model of goal contents was also quite similar in both wealthier and poorer nations, although there were some slight cross-cultural variations. The relevance of these results for several theories of motivation and personality are discussed.