New York, NY: Guilford. They are frequently regarded as ‘goal units’, but I have argued that they are better regarded, as discussed previously, as PAC units (Little, 2007). Among those arising from inner, personal sources are current concerns (Klinger, 1977) and personal strivings (Emmons, 1986). Personal projects and the quality of lives: Sustainable pursuit. The social ecological framework and the constructs of personal projects and free traits provide a perspective on aspects of personality and motivation that are somewhat different from conventional views. Such contextual influences may promote a flour- ishing life or make it utterly miserable. In B. R. Little, K. Salmela-Aro, & S. D. Phillips (Eds. 51–93). Neuroticism predicts a general tendency to see projects as demanding irrespective of domain, but parti-cularly projects that are intrapersonal in nature (e.g., ‘be more outgoing’; Little, 1989; Salmela-Aro, 1992), and clinical appraisals of bipolar disorder are linked with personal project appraisals (Meyer, Beevers, & Johnson, 2004). I review a social ecological model of human development that stimulates recon- sideration of some traditional views in personality and motivational psychology. Life tasks, self-concept ideals, and cognitive strategies in a life transition. George is an exceptionally creative software entrepreneur, and his small firm, Traq, is his ‘baby’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 482–497. Côté, S., & Moskowitz, D. S. (1998). We have also proposed that sustainable pursuit of core projects should be based on an accurate reading of one’s eco-setting resources and constraints (Little, 1999b). This chapter surveys the past and present state of personality psychology as a core specialty within psychology and examines how it goes about understanding the lives of the Eves, Adams, and Nikkis of this world. George has all the affordances necessary to become totally absorbed in his creative projects. Expressive control and the leakage of dispositional introversion-extraversion during role-played teaching. ), Person Environment Psychology (2nd edn, pp. Personal projects, life stories, and happiness: On being true to traits. Sometimes, clients find George, well, curious. Personal projects can both change and be changed by the quality of life experienced by a person and have themselves been used as measures of quality of life (McGregor & Little, 1998; Omodei & Wearing, 1990). The saturation of color in this figure represents the relative degree of fixedness, or difficulty in changing the source, with greater saturation representing greater resistance to change. In his work projects at Traq, he is brilliant; in his interpersonal projects at home, he just doesn’t get it. For women, a work place facilitating social connection had a particularly salutary effect; for men, there was very little linkage at all, with one exception: the ideal work climate was one that facilitated the unimpeded pursuit of projects (Phillips, Little, & Goodine, 1997). First, it advances core projects. Brian Little: The book actually grew out of experiences you and I had at Harvard a few years ago. I thought he was talking directly to me. Journal of Psychology, 136, 521– 532. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. If so, this calls for a reconsideration of the nature of audacious human accomplishment. Figure 1: PPA Rating Matrix: What do you think about what you are doing? 2. Psychological Review, 101, 34–52. On occasion, he could meet with clients and be witty, charming and socially adroit. His introversion leads us to wonder about how he handles the interpersonal projects of his professional life. In D. Stokols & I. Altman (Eds. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Personal Projects Analysis. Can protractedly acting out of character lead to actual biogenic changes? Everyone at the office party acts ‘party’ for 2 hours as part of a sociogenic script, but this is not the protracted pattern of trait-like conduct that we are conceptualizing as free traits. In B. R. Little, K. Salmela-Aro, & S. D. Phillips (Eds. impassioned and witty explorations of contemporary personality psychology. 65–82). Our salespeople are a tough group to whom to get a message across, but you certainly did that in a captivating and lighthearted way that really engaged the mood of the audience. Third, she has become increasingly good at acting out of character over the past 2 years; she has learned how to ‘work a room’ and keep people’s attention on Traq. Conventional trait theory postulates a general concordance between geno- typic dispositions and phenotypic behavior. (1979). 7. Cantor, N., Norem, J. K., Niedenthal, P. M., Langston, C. A., & Brower, A. M. (1987). White, R. W. (1959). To be adored or to be known? Collective action, of course, may well influence these factors, but our model is primarily focused upon the forces acting upon individual lives. Little, B. R. (2005). 79–88). Vallerand, R. J., Salvy, S. J., Mageau, G. A., Elliot, A. J., Denis, P. L., Grouzet, F. M. E. et al. In B. R. Little, K. Salmela-Aro, & S. D. Phillips (Eds.). Dr. Brian Little is an internationally acclaimed scholar and speaker in the field of personality and motivational psychology. They also have bi-directional links with the block of life quality measures. Hogan, R. (2005). Little, B. R. (1983). Free traits, personal projects and ideo-tapes: Three tiers for personality psychology. ), Childhood and Adolescence in Canada (pp. Little, B. R. (2000a). What an intriguing group of individuals you are ... to a psychologist. The book examines both the internal and external dynamics of personal goals and projects and clearly demonstrates that human flourishing is enhanced when individuals a Lippa, R. (1976). When we look at George’s personal projects, how has he been doing on the day before Black Thursday? The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Science and Social Sciences, 58, 296– 304. What about George’s personality and projects? Little, B. R. (1998). McGregor, I., & Little, B. R. (1998). George’s personality traits represent the highly creative professionals studied in the classic Berkeley studies (MacKinnon, 1962). The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Happiness is everything, or is it? But, despite her interpersonal skills, the social pursuits have become increasingly onerous. Craik, K. H. (1993). This is genius. This is not just of theoretical significance; it has important impli- cations for the initial stages of empirical explorations. This is the 32nd in an occasional series where I share Eagle Scout project before-and-after photos. As an analytically astute introvert, the technical projects are easy and enjoyable for her. Feeling a sense of efficacy in the pursuit of one’s projects is consistently associated with well-being (Little, 1989) but particularly so if these pursuits are self-concordant (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). 197–221). ABSTRACT . Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Journal of Personality, 60, 501–525. A sequential model of personal projects is proposed in which the major stages of project inception, planning, action, and termination are described in detail and related to dimensions of individual differences. This software is provided ‘as is’, and the authors make no representations or warranties, express or implied. Again, this is the classic picture of the firms of highly creative individuals in the Berkeley studies. Once one falls under their influence, however, the claim of contextual force fields is exceptionally powerful. 4, pp. There are two ways in which you can think about your personality. (2002). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Emmons, R. A. Effects of free traits on life quality: Benefits and costs. New York, NY: Plenum. What about George’s environmental contexts? When viewed through this perspective seeming inconsistencies and paradoxes of daily life become less puzzling as well as more intriguing. Instead of having separate measures of stress and locus of control, for example, project analysts will examine the covariation between control and stress within the individual’s personal project system. 87–116). Individuals engaged in free-traited behavior may well be advancing core project of ultimate significance to them. This is also the one critical piece of information about life with Liz that George was missing and that has precipitated the crisis. The measurement and meaning of personal projects creativity. He rates them high on meaning, moderate on manageability, and like most creative people, he experiences above average levels of both positive and negative affect in his project pursuits. Pennebaker, J. W. (1990). The difference is best explained by invoking George Kelly’s (1955) concepts of the range and focus of convenience of explanatory constructs. These are depicted in Boxes G-1 and G-2 with Elizabeth as a concrete exemplar. Goal striving, need satisfaction and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Both normative and individual level measurement is afforded by the methodology, and there is strong evidence that patterns of relationship measured at the individual level are highly similar to those measured at the normative level (Little, 2005; Little & Gee, 2007a). 1. Personality and personal projects: Linking Big Five and PAC units of analysis. ), Personal Project Pursuit: Goals, Action and Human Flourishing (pp. PPA was influential in stimulating research on goal pursuit in the fields of personality, social, clinical, organizational and developmental psychology. She is also text messaging George, her roman- tic and business partner, but finds it hard to compress her concerns into a pithy e-pistle. Little, BR (1999b) Personality and motivation: Personal action and the conative evolution. Elizabeth has been hospitalized for serious tachycardia and an overwhelming sense of anxiety. Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. Personality science and self-regulation: Personal projects as integrative units. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. By Brian R. Little. ), Handbook of Motivation and Cognition (pp. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1178–1191. Personal projects research now comprises a substantial literature, much of it summarized in Little, Salmela-Aro, and Phillips (2007). What drives the choice of core projects? On Thursday, however, everything falls apart. Some examples of projects: 4. ), Action & Self-Development: Theory and Research Through the Life Span (pp. 403–444). Free traits, in contrast, are constructs for explaining disjunctions between genotypic propensities and phenotypic appearances. The costs of free-traited behavior can be mitigated by the provision and use of restorative resources. It also casts such behavior in a rather different light than conventional views. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 915–924. New York: Wiley. Research has established clear and robust links between traditional trait measures of personality, such as the Big Five and the content and appraisal of personal projects (e.g., Little, Lecci, & Watkinson, 1992). Second, this has a positive impact on Traq – the team is a clear beneficiary when Liz is ‘on’. ), Personal Project Pursuit: Goals, Action and Human Flourishing (pp. Avoiding such settings is one effective strategy, but not always possible. But evidence to date suggests that it offers a viable extension to and in some senses alternative to orthodox trait theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. In recent years, our research has included a larger number of affective dimensions in personal projects methodology (Chambers, 2007; Little & Gee, 2007a). These personal action constructs (or PAC units) include personal projects (Little, 1972, 1983; 1989), personal strivings (Emmons, 1986), and life tasks (Cantor, 1990). In B. R. Little, K. Salmela-Aro, & S. D. Phillips (Eds. Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective well-being: Happy and unhappy people. In J. Brandtstadter & R. M. Lerner (Eds. Like fixed traits, we see these eco-setting forces, particularly at the macro level as relatively resistant to change by the individual. Happiness and a sense of meaning in one’s life may be independent aspects of well-being (McGregor & Little, 1998; Ryff, 1989). In some senses, the answer to the question ‘how’s life?’ derives from an appraisal of how one’s projects are coming along. Box B depicts relatively stable contextual features, or eco-settings that influence the course of human lives. Part of the shared game plan is to respect George’s need to be alone, and they are open-minded about his closed door. Meyer, B., Beevers, C. G., & Johnson, S. L. (2004). Review of General Psychology, 3, 264–291. His quality of life is going to be compromised because soon, his core projects will be stopped dead in their tracks. We propose several factors that predispose individuals to engage in free-traited behavior. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Elizabeth, it will be recalled seems to be an agreeable extravert. 3. Those who only see her when she is ‘on’ will be skeptical of those who talk about her quieter, more introverted nature. Are some traits, such as those having higher biogenic strength, less easy to adopt as free traits? Palys, T. S., & Little, B. R. (1983). It relates to your kid — you've been back three times to the hospital, and they still don't know what's wrong. 197 – 221. As his colleagues say, George is awesome. Free traits can have both direct effects on well-being and indirectly through their influence on personal projects. 375–400). Carleton University and This section includes anything that is published at regular intervals—be it a blog, a print publication, a podcast, or a newsletter! Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. ), Handbook of Environmental Psychology (pp. Free traits can be understood as the negotiation of three different sources of human conduct, introduced earlier as biogenic, sociogenic, and idiogenic influences. ), Personal Project Pursuit: Goals, Action and Human Flourishing (pp. In so doing, they stimulate a reconsideration of conventional approaches to motivational and personality psychology. Thus, on this Wednesday afternoon, taking stock of his projects and life in general, George regards himself as most fortunate. Psychological Inquiry, 4, 278–281. (Mischel’s (1968) critique, which launched the debate, and reactions to it are discussed in a later section). Swann, W. B., Jr. (1990). Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55, 419–427. A key proposition of our approach is that human flourishing is contingent upon the sustainable pursuit of core projects (Little, 1999b, 2000a). For the last few weeks, she has not been the typical Liz he knows and loves. She is not particularly neurotic, although her anxiety level has been slowly rising since starting Traq with George. (1997). To provide concrete instances of these constructs in action, we will focus on George’s personal projects and on Elizabeth’s free traits. Lives in progress (3rd edn). Figure 2: Traits, contexts and personal projects: The case of George. Avoidance achievement motivation: A personal goals analysis. We can understand Elizabeth’s problems by briefly noting her status on relevant variables in Figure 1 and then homing in on the distinctive features of her free traits as represented in Figure 3. Personality and the environment. Journal of Personality, 75, 505–534. . Personal Project Pursuit is the first book to feature Brian Little’s highly respected personal projects analysis (PPA), one of the pioneering theories in contemporary personality and motivational psychology. Chambers, N. C. (2007). 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