Aspirations Index

1. Abstract

The Aspirations Index (AI) is a seminal psychometric assessment instrument developed by Tim Kasser and Richard M. Ryan to evaluate the content, structure, and psychological orientation of human life goals. Grounded firmly within Self-Determination Theory (SDT), specifically Goal Contents Theory (GCT), the instrument differentiates between intrinsic aspirations—such as self-acceptance, affiliation, community feeling, and physical health—and extrinsic aspirations—such as financial success, attractive appearance, and social recognition or fame. Unlike traditional motivational scales that assess the regulatory mechanisms or underlying motives behind behavior (the “why”), the Aspirations Index explicitly investigates the qualitative content of what individuals pursue across their lifespan (the “what”), evaluating each goal across three distinct evaluative dimensions: subjective Importance, future subjective Likelihood (expectancy of attainment), and current Attainment (the degree to which the goal has already been achieved).

Psychometrically, the Aspirations Index has demonstrated robust structural validity across multiple developmental stages, socioeconomic strata, and diverse cultural populations spanning more than fifteen countries. The inventory exists in several validated iterations, ranging from earlier 32- and 35-item batteries to comprehensive 42-, 57-, and item-triad configurations (spanning up to 105 prompt presentations across multi-dimensional rating matrices). Internal consistency estimates consistently meet or exceed acceptable psychometric standards, with Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficients typically falling between .70 and .91 for individual aspiration subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multidimensional scaling (MDS) reveal a universal circumplex structure organized along two primary bipolar axes: intrinsic versus extrinsic, and self-transcendent versus physical. Extensive empirical research indicates that individuals who place high relative centrality on extrinsic goals exhibit lower self-actualization, diminished vitality, elevated anxiety and depressive symptomatology, and lower global well-being, whereas the prioritization and attainment of intrinsic aspirations reliably predict psychological flourishing, basic psychological need satisfaction, and social adjustment.

2. Keywords

Aspirations Index, Self-Determination Theory, Goal Contents Theory, intrinsic aspirations, extrinsic aspirations, materialism, subjective well-being, life goals, basic psychological needs, psychometrics

3. Authors

The Aspirations Index was conceptualized, operationalized, and psychometrically validated by Tim Kasser and Richard M. Ryan, with substantial structural and cross-cultural expansions contributed by Frédéric E. Grouzet and colleagues.

• Tim Kasser, Ph.D.: Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Knox College (Galesburg, Illinois, USA). Dr. Kasser is an internationally renowned psychologist whose empirical inquiry focuses extensively on materialism, consumer culture, personal values, environmental sustainability, and the conditions under which capitalistic structures facilitate or undermine human flourishing.
• Richard M. Ryan, Ph.D.: Professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University (North Sydney, Australia) and Professor Emeritus of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology at the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York, USA). Dr. Ryan is the co-developer (alongside Edward L. Deci) of Self-Determination Theory, one of the most widely cited and comprehensively applied frameworks of human motivation, personality development, and psychological wellness in contemporary psychology.
• Frédéric E. Grouzet, Ph.D.: Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Victoria (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada). Dr. Grouzet collaborated closely with Kasser and Ryan to construct cross-cultural circumplex models of the Aspirations Index, examining the spatial and dimensional representation of human goal systems across diverse international cohorts.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Aspirations Index is to systematically measure individual differences in the value orientations, personal strivings, and long-term future expectations that people hold regarding their lives. Historically, social and clinical psychology conceptualized personal goals primarily through formal process-based variables—such as goal commitment, perceived efficacy, goal conflict, or structural clarity—positing that any goal pursued with high commitment and successfully attained would yield enhanced psychological well-being. The Aspirations Index directly challenges this “content-free” assumption by proposing that the specific content of one’s goals exerts profound, differential effects on psychological health, irrespective of how confident an individual feels about reaching those goals or whether those goals are ultimately attained.

In clinical, counseling, and organizational settings, the Aspirations Index serves as an essential diagnostic and reflective tool. Clinically, an overemphasis on extrinsic aspirations (such as accumulating wealth, securing social status, enhancing public image, or achieving fame) frequently signifies compensatory striving—a defensive behavioral strategy deployed to counter deep-seated feelings of insecurity, parental conditional regard, or early deficits in basic psychological need satisfaction. Therapists utilize the scale to assist clients in identifying value-behavior incongruencies, examining whether their daily energy expenditure aligns with intrinsic goals that foster authentic fulfillment or with extrinsic markers driven by societal pressure, social comparison, and contingent self-esteem. In organizational and career counseling, the tool facilitates value clarification, preventing professional burnout and the “hedonic treadmill” associated with relentless materialistic pursuit.

In empirical research, the Aspirations Index provides a standardized, methodologically rigorous vehicle for investigating how capitalistic social environments, advertising exposure, parenting styles, and sociodemographic variables shape human goal selection. Furthermore, by evaluating goals across three separate operational dimensions—Importance (how much the individual desires the outcome), Likelihood (the perceived probability of future realization), and Attainment (the subjective estimate of current achievement)—the scale enables investigators to differentiate between aspiration value systems and perceived self-efficacy or expectancy beliefs, thereby resolving complex interactions between aspiration hierarchies and actualized life outcomes.

5. Psychological Construct

The core psychological construct measured by the Aspirations Index is the Goal Contents Architecture of an individual, bifurcated into two overarching psychological domains: Intrinsic Aspirations and Extrinsic Aspirations, which are further articulated across specialized, distinct life-goal dimensions. In extended formulations (e.g., Grouzet et al., 2005), additional dimensions such as spirituality, conformity, safety, and hedonism are incorporated to map the full spectrum of the human motivational landscape.

Intrinsic Aspirations

Intrinsic aspirations represent goals that are inherently satisfying to pursue because they directly actualize the fundamental, evolved human needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. They are congruent with natural growth tendencies and humanistic self-actualization:

• Self-Acceptance / Personal Growth: Captures aspirations toward psychological maturity, self-understanding, competence, autonomous agency, and emotional integration. Exemplars include striving to know and accept who one really is, overcoming personal challenges, choosing one’s path autonomously, and gaining insight into one’s motivations.
• Affiliation / Relationships: Encompasses goals related to establishing and nurturing close, enduring, trusting, and mutually caring personal bonds. It reflects deep interpersonal intimacy with friends, romantic partners, and family members, characterized by mutual affection, emotional vulnerability, and unconditional acceptance.
• Community Feeling: Denotes the desire to contribute meaningfully to the broader social world, improve society, help individuals in need without expecting personal compensation, and leave a constructive legacy for future generations. It embodies altruism, prosocial behavior, and generativity.
• Physical Health / Fitness: Reflects goals centered on preserving bodily wellness, maintaining vitality, eating healthfully, exercising regularly, and sustaining an energetic physical state free from debilitating illness or chronic health-compromising behaviors.

Extrinsic Aspirations

Extrinsic aspirations are directed toward external manifestations of worth, instrumental outcomes, and interpersonal praise. These goals are rarely satisfying in themselves; instead, they serve as instruments to obtain social validation, contingent approval, or external compensation for underlying emotional vulnerabilities:

• Financial Success / Wealth: Encompasses aspirations toward accumulating substantial monetary resources, acquiring high-status possessions, purchasing luxury goods, and achieving high economic standing (e.g., “To be a very wealthy person”).
• Attractive Appearance / Image: Focuses on cultivating an aesthetic physical appearance that others find appealing, conforming to fashion trends, achieving an idealized body shape, and concealing the natural physiological signs of aging.
• Social Recognition / Fame: Pertains to goals centered on obtaining public admiration, having one’s name widely recognized, appearing frequently in mass media, garnering high social prestige, and ensuring one is talked about during and after life.

Extended and Cross-Cultural Dimensions

In expanded psychometric versions, researchers examine supplemental dimensions that intersect with intrinsic and extrinsic axes:

• Spirituality: Seeking answers to universal existential questions, cultivating transcendence, and aligning everyday conduct with religious or spiritual principles.
• Conformity: Endeavoring to fit in, live up to societal expectations, avoid behavioral deviance, and maintain conventional norms.
• Hedonism: Seeking experiential pleasure, intense sensory enjoyment, physical indulgence, and unrestrained leisure.
• Safety / Security: Ensuring baseline survival, food, physical protection, stable surroundings, and freedom from environmental threats.

Crucially, Self-Determination Theory emphasizes the concept of relative centrality. The absolute importance ascribed to an extrinsic goal is far less psychologically detrimental than its relative dominance within an individual’s total goal schema. When extrinsic aspirations outstrip intrinsic goals in psychological prioritization, individuals experience structural need frustration, heightened social anxiety, and diminished emotional well-being.

6. Theoretical Framework

The Aspirations Index is anchored in the theoretical architecture of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), an organismic-dialectical meta-theory developed by Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci. Within SDT, the instrument is the primary operational foundation of Goal Contents Theory (GCT), one of the six formal mini-theories of SDT.

Goal Contents Theory and Basic Psychological Needs

GCT is predicated on the foundational postulate that all human beings, regardless of cultural background, require the satisfaction of three innate, essential, and universal psychological needs to experience sustained mental health, integrity, and vitality:

• Autonomy: The experience of self-endorsement, volition, and perceived agency over one’s behavioral choices.
• Competence: The felt sense of mastery, effective interaction with the social and physical environment, and the realization of one’s capacities.
• Relatedness: The profound experience of warm belonging, reciprocal care, and meaningful connection with significant others.

According to GCT, intrinsic aspirations are natural developmental outgrowths of these basic needs. When individuals pursue personal growth, meaningful relationships, community contribution, and somatic health, their ongoing activities directly facilitate experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Consequently, the pursuit and achievement of intrinsic aspirations inherently replenish psychological energy, foster autonomous self-regulation, and nourish eudaimonic well-being.

The Compensatory Nature of Extrinsic Pursuits

In sharp contrast, extrinsic aspirations (wealth, fame, attractive image) are theoretically conceptualized as compensatory strategies. When an individual’s social environment thwarts basic psychological needs—such as during childhoods marked by cold, controlling, or conditionally affectionate parenting, or in hyper-competitive, consumerist socioeconomic contexts—the person develops internal insecurities. To shield against feelings of unworthiness, the individual develops an extrinsic value orientation, adopting the cultural premise that accumulating material markers, public accolades, and an impeccable physical image will secure interpersonal love and self-worth.

However, SDT posits that extrinsic aspirations are structurally ill-suited to satisfy basic psychological needs for several reasons:

1. Contingent Self-Esteem: Extrinsic aspirations tie personal worth to shifting social evaluations, cultivating fragile, contingent self-esteem that fluctuates with external validation.
2. Interpersonal Objectification: Pursuing wealth, fame, and image promotes an instrumental mindset, causing individuals to treat social relationships as transactions or promotional opportunities rather than sources of unconditional relatedness.
3. The Hedonic Treadmill and Adaptation: Attaining extrinsic milestones typically yields short-lived hedonic spikes followed by rapid adaptation, inducing an escalating cycle of acquisition without providing lasting need satisfaction.

Organismic Valuing Process and Existential Antecedents

The framework also integrates Carl Rogers’ humanistic concept of the organismic valuing process, which posits that humans possess an innate capacity to recognize what is genuinely growth-promoting. Extrinsic cultural indoctrination superimposes “conditions of worth” that disrupt this process, disconnecting individuals from their authentic phenomenological experience. Furthermore, drawing upon Erich Fromm’s distinction between the “having” mode and the “being” mode of existence, GCT highlights how an obsession with “having” (extrinsic orientation) alienates the self from the organic process of living and relating (intrinsic orientation).

7. Validity

The construct, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the Aspirations Index has been extensively substantiated across decades of empirical investigation spanning diverse age cohorts, developmental stages, and multinational samples.

Construct and Factorial Validity

Construct validity was initially established through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses by Kasser and Ryan (1993, 1996). When item correlations are examined, items explicitly intended to measure financial success, attractive appearance, and social recognition reliably load onto a singular higher-order extrinsic dimension, whereas items measuring self-acceptance, affiliation, and community feeling load cleanly onto a higher-order intrinsic dimension. Physical health occupies a consistent position closely aligned with the intrinsic cluster, as it reflects an internal somatic condition necessary for autonomous functioning.

In a landmark cross-cultural validation study, Grouzet et al. (2005) investigated goal contents across 1,854 undergraduate students representing 15 diverse nations across five continents (including wealthy Western nations, post-communist societies, and collectivist Asian cultures). Employing circular stochastic modeling and multidimensional scaling, the investigators confirmed that human aspirations universally map onto a two-dimensional circumplex structure. The first primary axis cleanly divided intrinsic goals from extrinsic goals, while the second orthogonal axis demarcated self-transcendent aspirations (such as community feeling and spirituality) from physical aspirations (such as hedonism, safety, and physical health). This cross-cultural stability demonstrated that the structural architecture assessed by the Aspirations Index transcends localized cultural scripts.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity

Convergent validity is robustly demonstrated through predictable correlations with standardized personality and psychological constructs:

• Positive Convergent Associations: Intrinsic aspirations correlate positively and strongly with self-actualization (measured via the Personal Orientation Inventory), subjective vitality (Subjective Vitality Scale), global self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), prosocial engagement, and higher empathy scores.
• Negative and Problematic Associations: Extrinsic aspirations correlate positively with narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory), public self-consciousness, competitive social comparison, machiavellian attitudes, and risk-taking behaviors (such as substance abuse and pathological gambling).
• Discriminant Distinctiveness: The Aspirations Index demonstrates distinctness from generalized cognitive ability, academic intelligence, and broad demographic markers. Most importantly, it discriminates between goal content (measured by the AI) and goal motive (measured by the Self-Regulation Questionnaires). Research confirms that while goal motives (autonomous vs. controlled) and goal contents (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) interact, they represent statistically and conceptually independent dimensions of motivation (Sheldon, Ryan, Deci, & Kasser, 2004).

Predictive and Longitudinal Validity

The predictive validity of the Aspirations Index is exemplified in longitudinal and experimental designs. In an influential longitudinal investigation by Niemiec, Ryan, and Deci (2009), graduating college students were tracked across one year post-graduation, measuring their aspiration importance, attainment, and mental health indices. The results were decisive: achieving intrinsic goals over the post-collegiate transition directly predicted substantial increases in self-esteem, vitality, and positive affect, mediated entirely by the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. Conversely, achieving extrinsic aspirations (such as attaining financial affluence or high social status) failed to predict any increase in basic psychological need satisfaction; instead, it was prospectively associated with marked increases in anxiety and somatic illness symptoms.

8. Reliability

The psychometric reliability of the Aspirations Index has been verified using classical test theory metrics, item-response formulations, and longitudinal test-retest paradigms.

Internal Consistency

Across empirical studies, the internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s α) for the distinct subscales of the Aspirations Index consistently fall well above the standard psychometric threshold of .70, typically spanning .72 to .91 across diverse languages and translations:

• Self-Acceptance: Values consistently range between α = .78 and α = .88.
• Affiliation / Relationships: Values consistently range between α = .81 and α = .89.
• Community Feeling: Demonstrates high internal cohesion, typically between α = .84 and α = .91.
• Physical Health / Fitness: Reliably yields coefficients between α = .75 and α = .85.
• Financial Success / Wealth: Consistently achieves high internal consistency, typically α = .85 to α = .92.
• Attractive Appearance / Image: Coefficients generally range from α = .80 to α = .88.
• Social Recognition / Fame: Internal consistency ranges from α = .79 to α = .87.

When evaluated across the composite higher-order dimensions (combining individual subscales into composite Intrinsic and Extrinsic indices), internal consistency routinely exceeds α = .90, demonstrating exceptional scale coherence.

Test-Retest Stability

Given that life aspirations represent core cognitive-affective representations of long-term personal value systems, they are conceptualized as moderately stable personality orientations. Longitudinal test-retest coefficients across intervals ranging from two weeks to three months demonstrate substantial temporal stability, with test-retest correlation coefficients (r) typically observed between .74 and .87. Over extended multi-year periods, goal importance profiles demonstrate normative developmental shifts (e.g., aging cohorts naturally shifting toward higher relative intrinsic importance), yet relative rank-order stability among individuals remains statistically significant.

9. Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the Aspirations Index has been rigorously evaluated via both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), alongside non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) and Circular Stochastic Modeling.

Confirmatory Factor Analytic Structure

Initial structural modeling by Kasser and Ryan (1996) utilized principal components and oblique factor rotations, which repeatedly yielded distinct, non-overlapping factors corresponding to each designated aspiration domain. Subsequent CFA frameworks across adult and adolescent samples demonstrate that a hierarchical model—featuring individual aspiration subscales loading onto two correlated second-order latent factors (Intrinsic Aspirations and Extrinsic Aspirations)—provides an excellent fit to empirical data. Standard model fit indices routinely meet established psychometric criteria:

• Comparative Fit Index (CFI) ≥ .92 to .96
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) ≥ .91 to .95
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) ≤ .045 to .062 (with 90% confidence intervals demonstrating robust precision)
• Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) ≤ .050

Standardized item factor loadings across dedicated subscales are uniformly high, typically loading between .60 and .85 on their primary latent construct, with minimal cross-loadings observed (rarely exceeding .20 on non-target factors).

The Circumplex Architecture (Grouzet et al., 2005)

To evaluate whether human goal systems follow a continuous circumplex structure rather than isolated categorical clusters, Grouzet and colleagues (2005) applied circular stochastic latent trait modeling and multidimensional scaling to the 57- and 47-item extended Aspirations Index across 15 nations. The results established a compelling two-dimensional circular space:

This circumplex configuration mathematically demonstrates that goals located directly opposite each other on the circle (e.g., Community Feeling versus Financial Success, or Self-Acceptance versus Attractive Image) stand in psychological and philosophical opposition. When an individual invests psychological capital into one pole, subjective commitment to the opposing pole is systematically constrained or suppressed.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The Aspirations Index is structured as a multi-dimensional, self-report psychometric battery. Multiple authorized variants exist depending on research objectives, ranging from the classic 32- and 35-item batteries to the 42-item 7-subscale inventory, the 57-item 11-subscale instrument, and the 35-goal x 3-dimension evaluative matrix (105 prompted items). Below is the comprehensive procedural breakdown of the instrument.

Inventory Structure and Properties

• Instrument Type: Self-report psychological scale; multidimensional goal orientation and value inventory.
• Target Population: Adolescents (ages 12+) and adults across educational, occupational, and clinical settings.
• Administration Time: Approximately 15 to 25 minutes depending on the specific item set and number of evaluative dimensions administered.
• Core Subscales:
  • Intrinsic: Self-Acceptance (Personal Growth), Affiliation (Relationships), Community Feeling, Physical Fitness (Health).
  • Extrinsic: Financial Success (Wealth), Attractive Appearance (Image), Social Recognition (Fame).
  • Extended Variants: Conformity, Spirituality, Hedonism, Safety.

Response Scales

Depending on the structural battery selected, respondents evaluate the scale items across one, two, or three distinct operational dimensions utilizing validated Likert-type response scales:

• Evaluation Dimension 1: Importance
  • 5-Point Response Format (42-item battery): 1 = Not at all, 2 = A little, 3 = So/So, 4 = Pretty impt., 5 = Very impt.
  • 9-Point Response Format (57-item & 47-item batteries): 1 = Not at all, to 9 = Very extremely.
  • 7-Point Response Format (105-item evaluative matrix): 1 = Not at all, to 7 = Very.
• Evaluation Dimension 2: Likelihood / Future Chances
  • 5-Point Response Format: 1 = Very low, 2 = Low, 3 = 50/50, 4 = High, 5 = Very high.
  • 9-Point Response Format: 1 = Very low, to 9 = Very high.
  • 7-Point Response Format: 1 = Not at all likely, to 7 = Very likely.
• Evaluation Dimension 3: Current Attainment / Satisfaction
  • 7-Point Response Format: 1 = Not at all attained / satisfied, to 7 = Very much attained / satisfied.

Scoring Instructions

Scoring the Aspirations Index requires calculating both absolute subscale scores and relative centrality scores. The recommended scoring protocol follows these sequential steps:

1. Raw Subscale Computation: Calculate the arithmetic mean for each individual subscale (e.g., Wealth, Fame, Image, Growth, Relationships, Community, Health) within each evaluative dimension (Importance, Likelihood, Attainment) by summing the designated items and dividing by the number of items in that subscale.
2. Higher-Order Composite Computation:
   • Composite Intrinsic Index: Mean of (Self-Acceptance + Affiliation + Community Feeling + Physical Health).
   • Composite Extrinsic Index: Mean of (Financial Success + Attractive Appearance + Social Recognition).
3. Relative Centrality Scoring (Crucial Standard Practice): Because individuals vary widely in their generalized response styles and tendency to rate all life goals as uniformly important, Self-Determination Theory researchers strongly recommend controlling for overall goal importance (mean centration). To compute Relative Centrality:
   • Calculate the Total Mean Importance (TMI) across all administered items on the scale.
   • Subtract the respondent’s TMI from their raw subscale score: Relative Subscale Centrality = Raw Subscale Mean - TMI.
   • Similarly, compute the Relative Extrinsic Centrality: Relative Extrinsic Index = Composite Extrinsic Index - Composite Intrinsic Index (or by regressing intrinsic scores out of extrinsic scores in multivariate regression models).

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original conceptualization and empirical validation of the Aspirations Index was published in 1993 by Tim Kasser and Richard M. Ryan in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, followed by significant structural expansions in 1996 and 2005. The scale was established as an open-access psychometric instrument dedicated to the advancement of scientific inquiry and human development.

Researchers, educators, and clinicians are permitted to utilize, administer, and translate the Aspirations Index for non-commercial academic research, pedagogical purposes, and therapeutic applications without paying royalty fees. The authors provide the original questionnaires and scoring rubrics through their academic repositories (e.g., via Dr. Tim Kasser’s institutional archive at Knox College and the official Self-Determination Theory research repository at selfdeterminationtheory.org). Any commercial publication, commercial software integration, or proprietary monetization of the instrument requires formal permission from the copyright holders and publishing bodies.

12. References

Below are primary peer-reviewed publications and seminal theoretical treatises establishing the psychometric foundations, cross-cultural circumplex architecture, and clinical implications of the Aspirations Index:

• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
• Grouzet, F. M. E., Kasser, T., Ahuvia, A., Dols, J. M. F., Kim, Y., Lau, S., Ryan, R. M., Saunders, S., Schmuck, P., & Sheldon, K. M. (2005). The structure of goal contents across 15 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(5), 800–816. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.800
• Kasser, T. (2002). The high price of materialism. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/3501.001.0001
• Kasser, T. (2002). Sketches for a self-determination theory of values. In E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 123–140). University of Rochester Press.
• Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 410–422. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.410
• Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1996). Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(3), 280–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167296223006
• Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (2013). Aspiration Index. In C. A. Simmons & P. Lehmann (Eds.), Tools for strengths-based assessment and evaluation (pp. 261–265). Springer.
• Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2009). The path taken: Consequences of attaining intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations in post-college life. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(3), 291–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2008.09.001
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1521/978.14625/28769
• Sheldon, K. M., & Kasser, T. (1998). Pursuing personal goals: Skills enable progress, but not all progress is beneficial. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24(12), 1319–1331. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672982412006
• Sheldon, K. M., Ryan, R. M., Deci, E. L., & Kasser, T. (2004). The independent effects of goal contents and motives on well-being: It’s both what you pursue and why you pursue it. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(4), 475–486. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203261883

13. Items of the Scale