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LIT-1960: The path taken: Consequences of attaining intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations in post-college life

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StatusActive — read in full 2026-11-03 (NOTE-1520), from the PubMed Central author manuscript PMC2736104; worth reading as the direct longitudinal test of goal contents theory's claim about attainment, and for what it shows that its citations drop: extrinsic attainment's null is a unique-variance result, and alone it correlates positively with well-being.
Version2
Tagsmotivation, well-being
Cited as “paper” byNOTE-1520 — Niemiec, Ryan & Deci — The path taken
Cited as “source” byTHEORY-1319 — In Niemiec, Ryan and Deci's post-college sample, attaining intrinsic aspirations went with more well-being and less ill-being, and attaining extrinsic aspirations, entered alongside it, added nothing to well-being and went with more ill-being; the extrinsic null is a unique-variance result, since alone extrinsic attainment correlated positively with well-being and need satisfaction

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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. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2008.09.001.

Key takeaways

Read in full on 2026-11-03 (NOTE-1520). THEORY-1319, Proposed, is filed from it.

Standing in the record

Goal Contents Theory: attaining extrinsic aspirations, not only pursuing them. With Kasser and Ryan 1996.

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