Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Stress Moderates the Association between Action Orientation and Goal Internalization

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether stress moderates the association between action-state orientation and goal internalization. People estimated how autonomous (vs. controlled) they would feel if they pursued goals of either an extrinsic or an intrinsic type. Measures of action orientation and stressful life events were also taken. Results showed that autonomy of goal motive for action orientation was moderated by stress (failure-related and demanding) situation. Action-oriented people have less internalized goal than state-oriented people in stress situation. Implication for self-determination theory and action-control theory is discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Reno, R. R. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.

  • Baumann, N., & Kuhl, J. (2003). Self-infiltration: confusing assigned tasks as self-selected in memory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(4), 487–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, N., & Kuhl, J. (2005). How to resist temptation: the effects of external control versus autonomy support on self-regulatory dynamics. Journal of Personality, 73(2), 443–470. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00315.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, N., Kaschel, R., & Kuhl, J. (2005). Striving for unwanted goals: stress-dependent discrepancies between explicit and implicit achievement motives reduce subjective well-being and increase psychosomatic symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(5), 781. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.781.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Tice, D. M. (2007). The strength model of self-control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(6), 351–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beswick, G., & Mann, L. (1994). State orientation and procrastination. Volition and Personality: Action Versus State Orientation, 23, 391–396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandstätter, V., & Schüler, J. (2013). Action crisis and cost–benefit thinking: a cognitive analysis of a goal-disengagement phase. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(3), 543–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunstein, J. C. (2001). Persönliche Ziele und Handlungs- versus Lageorientierung. Wer bindet sich an realistische und bedürfniskongruente Ziele?

  • Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2001). On the self-regulation of behavior. Cambridge University Press.

  • Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1983). The basis of self-determination: intrinsic motivation and integrated internalizations. Academic Psychology Bulletin, 5(1), 21–29.

  • Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). The general causality orientations scale: self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19(2), 109–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diefendorff, J. M., Hall, R. J., Lord, R. G., & Strean, M. L. (2000). Action–state orientation: construct validity of a revised measure and its relationship to work-related variables. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(2), 250. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.2.250.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goschke, T., & Kuhl, J. (1993). Representation of intentions: Persisting activation in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19(5), 1211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofree, G., & Winkielman, P. (2012) On (not) knowing and feeling what we want and like. In Handbook of self-knowledge (pp. 210–224).

  • Huang, Y. P. (2009). SCL-90 as measurement of mental health in college students:a meta-analysis. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 23(5), 366–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jostmann, N. B., & Koole, S. L. (2006). On the waxing and waning of working memory: action orientation moderates the impact of demanding relationship primes on working memory capacity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(12), 1716–1728. doi:10.1177/0146167206292595.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jostmann, N. B., Koole, S. L., Van Der Wulp, N. Y., & Fockenberg, D. A. (2005). Subliminal Affect Regulation: The Moderating Role of Action vs. State Orientation. European Psychologist, 10(3), 209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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), 410–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kazén, M., Kaschel, R., & Kuhl, J. (2008). Individual differences in intention initiation under demanding conditions: interactive effects of state vs. action orientation and enactment difficulty. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(3), 693–715. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.09.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koestner, R., Lekes, N., Powers, T. A., & Chicoine, E. (2002). Attaining personal goals: self-concordance plus implementation intentions equals success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 231. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.83.1.231.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koestner, R., Horberg, E., Gaudreau, P., Powers, T., Di Dio, P., Bryan, C., et al. (2006). Bolstering implementation plans for the long haul: the benefits of simultaneously boosting self-concordance or self-efficacy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(11), 1547–1558. doi:10.1177/0146167206291782.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koole, S. L. (2004). Volitional shielding of the self: Effects of action orientation and external demands on implicit self-evaluation. Social Cognition, 22(1: Special issue), 100–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koole, S. L., & Jostmann, N. B. (2004). Getting a grip on your feelings: effects of action orientation and external demands on intuitive affect regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(6), 974. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.6.974.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, J. (1985). Volitional mediators of cognition-behavior consistency: Self-regulatory processes and action versus state orientation. In Action control (pp. 101–128). Springer.

  • Kuhl, J. (1994). Action versus state orientation: psychometric properties of the action control scale (ACS-90). Volition and Personality: Action Versus State Orientation, 47, 56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, J. (2001). A functional approach to motivation. In A. Efklides, J. Kuhl, R. M. Sorrento (Eds.), Trends and prospects in motivation research (pp. 239–268). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

  • Kuhl, J., & Baumann, N. (2000). Self-regulation and rumination: Negative affect and impaired self-accessibility. In Control of human behavior, mental processes, and consciousness: Essays in honor of the 60th birthday of August Flammer (pp. 283–305).

  • Kuhl, J., & Beckmann, J. (1994a). Alienation: Ignoring one’s preferences. In Volition and personality: Action versus state orientation (pp. 375–390).

  • Kuhl, J., & Beckmann, J. (1994b). Volition and personality: state versus action orientation. Goettingen: Hogrefe Huber.

  • Kuhl, J., & Kazén, M. (1994). Self-discrimination and memory: state orientation and false self-ascription of assigned activities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(6), 1103–1115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moskowitz, G. B., & Grant, H. (Eds.). (2009). The psychology of goals. Guilford press.

  • Ntoumanis, N., Healy, L. C., Sedikides, C., Duda, J., Stewart, B., Smith, A., et al. (2014). When the going gets tough: the “why” of goal striving matters. Journal of Personality, 82(3), 225–236. doi:10.1111/jopy.12047.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pool, E., Brosch, T., Delplanque, S., & Sander, D. (2015). Stress increases cue-triggered “wanting” for sweet reward in humans. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 41(2), 128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68. doi:10.1037//0003-066X.55.1.68.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, K. M. (2008). The interface of motivational science and personology: self-concordance, quality motivation, and multi-level personality integration. Handbook of Motivational Science, 465–476.

  • Sheldon, K. M. (2014). Becoming oneself: the central role of self-concordant goal selection. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18(4), 349–365. doi:10.1177/1088868314538549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: the self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 482. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.76.3.482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, K. M., & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance, goal attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: can there be an upward spiral? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1), 152. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.152.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, K. M., & Kasser, T. (2008). Psychological threat and extrinsic goal striving. Motivation and Emotion, 32(1), 37–45. doi:10.1007/s11031-008-9081-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., Ntoumanis, N., & Duda, J. (2007). Goal striving, goal attainment, and well-being: adapting and testing the self-concordance model in sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 29(6), 763–782.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. L., Ntoumanis, N., Duda, J. L., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2011). Goal striving, coping, and wellbeing: a prospective investigation of the self-concordance model in sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 33(1), 124–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wojdylo, K., Baumann, N., Fischbach, L., & Engeser, S. (2014). Live to work or love to work: work craving and work engagement. PloS One, 9(10), e106379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu, Z., Zhang, Z., Shi, Y., Pu, M., Yuan, Y., Zhang, X., et al. (2011). Influence and interaction of genetic polymorphisms in catecholamine neurotransmitter systems and early life stress on antidepressant drug response. Journal of Affective Disorders, 133(1–2), 165–173. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.04.011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, D., & Zhang, Y. (1993). Life event scale (LES). Mental Health Assessment Scale Manual. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 3, 39–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, C., Xu, Y., Sun, N., Ren, Y., Liu, Z., Cao, X., et al. (2010). The combined effects of the BDNF and GSK3B genes modulate the relationship between negative life events and major depressive disorder. Brain Research, 1355(2), 1–6. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2010.07.079.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported under Shaanxi Province Social Science (2015 N014), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (310850160666), and Scientific Startup Funds for Doctors of Northwest A&F University (Z109021614).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    ShiLei Zhang & Zhenhong Wang

  2. Psychological Counseling Centre, Chang’an University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    ShiLei Zhang

  3. College of Humanities, Northwest A&F University, No.3 Taicheng Road, Yangling, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China, 712100

    Rui Shi

Authors
  1. ShiLei Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rui Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhenhong Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rui Shi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was funded by Shaanxi Province Social Science (grant number: 2015 N014), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number: 310850160666 ), and Scientific Startup Funds for Doctors of Northwest A&F University (grant number: Z109021614).

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

ShiLei Zhang and Rui Shi shared first authorship

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, S., Shi, R. & Wang, Z. Stress Moderates the Association between Action Orientation and Goal Internalization. Curr Psychol 37, 842–849 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9568-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9568-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation