Abstract
American culture and theories of well-being have each proposed two diverging paths to happiness: one based on obtaining rewards such as fame, attractiveness, and wealth, and the other based on striving for intimacy, personal growth, and contribution to the community. Accordingly, Kasser and Ryan (1993, 1996, in press)suggested that people’s personal goals can either be extrinsic (i.e., oriented toward rewards and praise) or intrinsic (i.e., oriented toward the satisfaction of psychological needs). This chapter presents results from several studies which demonstrate that individuals oriented toward materialistic, extrinsic goals are more likely to experience a lower quality of life than individuals oriented toward intrinsic goals. Further, extrinsically oriented individuals are shown to have shorter, more conflictual, and more competitive relationships with others, thus impacting the quality of life of those around them. In sum, the pursuit of personal goals for money, fame and attractiveness is shown to lead to a lower quality of life than the goals of relatedness, self-acceptance, and community feeling.
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Kasser, T. (2000). Two versions of the American dream: Which goals and values make for a high quality of life?. In: Diener, E., Rahtz, D.R. (eds) Advances in Quality of Life Theory and Research. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4291-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4291-5_1
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