Your motivation behind goals can determine your well-being when you reach them. (Photo by PeopleImages.com - Yuri A)
In a nutshell
- The reason behind your goals matters more than the goal itself. People who pursue goals for personally meaningful or socially connected reasons report greater well-being than those motivated by pressure, guilt, or obligation.
- Relational motivation boosts happiness across cultures. Whether participants were from Australia or Singapore, pursuing goals that involved meaningful social connections was consistently linked to higher well-being.
- Cultural background can shape how personal motivations affect happiness. In this study, only Singaporean participants saw a happiness boost from personally meaningful goals—challenging assumptions about universal benefits of individualistic goal pursuit.
JOONDALUP, Australia — What makes you chase after certain goals in your life? Maybe you’re working toward a promotion, training for a marathon, or learning a new language. But have you ever stopped to wonder why you’re pursuing those particular goals?
A new study from researchers in Australia and Singapore indicates that when it comes to our happiness, the “why” behind our goals matters much more than the goals themselves. And those motivations might work differently depending on your cultural background.
The research team, headed by Joanne M. Dickson from Edith Cowan University, looked at how different types of goal motivations affect our overall sense of well-being. Their findings, published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, reveal some surprising patterns about the hidden forces that drive our everyday ambitions.
Why We Pursue Goals: The Motivation Matrix
The researchers broke down goal motivations into four main categories. First, there’s pursuing goals because they genuinely match your personal values and bring you joy (personal autonomous reasons). Then there’s chasing goals because they meaningfully connect you with other people (relational autonomous reasons). On the flip side, some people pursue goals mainly to avoid negative outcomes for themselves (personal controlled reasons) or to meet others’ expectations (relational controlled reasons).
When examining these different motivations across Australian and Singaporean participants, clear patterns emerged. People who pursued goals, because they valued connecting with others involved in the goal, reported feeling happier and more satisfied with life. This was true regardless of nationality. Meanwhile, those who pursued goals mainly because of external pressure or to avoid feelings like guilt consistently showed lower well-being scores.
“When people feel they ‘have to’ do something rather than genuinely and freely wanting to pursue a personal goal, it can take a toll on their mental health,” says lead author Joanne Dickson from Edith Cowan University, in a statement.
Researchers also discovered a cultural difference in how personal motivations affect happiness. Singaporean participants who pursued goals because they found them personally meaningful showed significantly higher well-being. However, this connection wasn’t found among Australian participants, challenging common assumptions about Western individualism versus Eastern collectivism.
Cultural Differences in Goal Motivation
The study included nearly 200 participants (95 Australians and 102 Singaporeans) who identified their two most important current personal goals. They then answered questions about why they were pursuing these goals and rated their overall sense of well-being.
This work builds on Self-Determination Theory, which holds that human behavior is driven by either intrinsic motivations (doing things because they’re inherently rewarding) or extrinsic motivations (doing things because of external rewards or pressures). Previous research has shown that intrinsically motivated goals tend to bring more satisfaction and success, while extrinsically motivated goals often lead to anxiety and poorer outcomes.
While Singaporeans were more likely than Australians to pursue goals for personal meaning or social connection, when it came to chasing goals out of pressure or guilt, the negative impact on well-being was the same in both cultures. This points to some universal patterns in how motivations affect our happiness, despite cultural differences.
Finding Happiness Through Authentic Goal Setting
When setting goals, it might be worth asking yourself: Am I doing this because it truly matters to me or brings me joy? Or am I doing it mainly to please others or avoid feeling bad about myself?
Being aware of your underlying motivations could significantly impact your happiness. If you notice you’re pursuing important goals primarily out of obligation, guilt, or external pressure, you might be undermining your own well-being without realizing it.
The connection between our motivations and well-being affects how we experience our daily lives and find meaning in what we do. Understanding the real reasons behind our goals gives us insight into why some achievements feel empty while others bring lasting satisfaction. Success isn’t just about reaching the right targets but pursuing them for the right reasons.
Paper Summary
Methodology
The study recruited 197 participants (95 Australians and 102 Singaporeans) aged 18-70. Participants identified their two most important current goals and completed the Goal Motives questionnaire to assess four types of motivations. They also completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale to measure subjective well-being. Due to reliability issues with the two-item Relational Controlled Reasons subscale, the researchers combined it with the Personal Controlled Reasons subscale for analysis. The researchers controlled for age and gender and used moderation analysis to examine nationality’s influence on the relationship between goal motives and well-being.
Results
The analysis revealed three key findings. First, relational autonomous reasons (pursuing goals for meaningful social connections) were positively associated with well-being across both nationalities. Second, controlled reasons (pursuing goals due to external pressure or guilt) were negatively associated with well-being for all participants. Third, a cultural difference emerged: personal autonomous reasons were positively linked to well-being for Singaporeans but not for Australians. Singaporeans reported significantly higher levels of both personal and relational autonomous reasons compared to Australians. Age was positively correlated with well-being (r = .46), and women reported somewhat lower relational autonomous reasons than men.
Limitations
The cross-sectional design prevents establishing causality between goal motives and well-being. The sample size (197 participants) was adequate for detecting medium effects but relatively modest. The Australian sample included both community members and students, potentially introducing variability. The researchers had to combine personal and relational controlled motives due to measurement issues with the two-item relational controlled reasons measure. The study collected basic demographic information but lacked data on other potentially relevant factors like socioeconomic status. Replication in other countries would help establish the findings’ generalizability.
Discussion and Takeaways
The results support Self-Determination Theory’s proposition that autonomous motivation benefits well-being while controlled motivation harms it. The universal positive relationship between relational autonomous reasons and well-being suggests that meaningful social connections benefit mental health across cultures. The finding that personal autonomous reasons affected well-being for Singaporeans but not Australians challenges simplistic cultural stereotypes. For practical application, examining the motivations behind our goals could enhance both success and happiness. Psychological interventions might benefit from helping people align their goals with their autonomous motivations rather than controlled ones.
Funding and Disclosures
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of the study. This independence from external funding strengthens the credibility of the findings, as the researchers had no financial incentives that might have influenced the study design or interpretation of results.
Publication Information
The study, “Why Do We Pursue the Personal Goals We Do? The Relationships Between Distinct Goal Motives and Subjective Well-being,” was authored by Joanne M. Dickson, Vanessa Tan, and Christopher D. Huntley. It was published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology in 2025 and received ethics approval from Edith Cowan University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (REMS: 2020-01101-TAN).
