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Broad Dispositions, Broad Aspirations: The Intersection of Personality Traits and Major Life Goals

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, broberts{at}s.psych.uiuc.edu

Richard W. Robins

University of California, Davis

Do personality traits predict the goals a person chooses to pursue in life? The present study examined the relation between personality traits and major life goals, which are broad, far-reaching agendas for important life domains (N = 672). The authors used both theoretical and empirical procedures to organize a set of life goals into thematic content clusters (economic, aesthetic, social, relationship, political, hedonistic, religious); the resulting goal clusters constitute a preliminary taxonomy of motive units based on the fundamental value domains identified in the literature. The authors examined gender differences on each goal cluster and related the goal clusters to individual differences in the Big Five and narcissism. High extraversion and low agreeableness (e.g., narcissism) was the most common profile associated with major life goals, and neuroticism was essentially unrelated to the importance of major life goals. Findings confirmed expectations derived from previous research and from Socioanalytic and narcissism theories.

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