The
Evolution and Human Adaptation Program
Lecture
Series for Fall Term, 2001
Life Goals, Evolution and Mood
Do we choose our goals
or do they choose us?
How gender, cohort, and life stage
mold goal formation and attainment
Deborah Carr, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of
Sociology
The
Comments and further thoughts by
Jacque Eccles, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology Department
Professor,
Senior Research Scientist, Institute for Research
Women & Gender
Tuesday, November 13
Coffee and tea at
4448 East Hall
Précis
Under what conditions does goal attainment bolster
psychological well-being? Does failure
necessarily lead to depression? In this talk, I will argue that the extent to
which goal attainment, failure, or disengagement affects mental health is
contingent upon how freely-chosen one’s goals are. Three constraints to goal
formation and pursuit are considered: gender, life stage, and socio-historical
context. Goals that are formed in a social context (or at a life stage) where
the individual has relatively little choice may not be psychologically
meaningful, thus failure to reach these goals may carry few psychological
consequences. Findings are based on survey data and open-ended interviews with
men and women who entered young adulthood in the 1950s. Changing gender roles
and expectations, shifting allocation of personal effort to work and family
responsibilities over the life course, and macroeconomic cycles are among the
forces which confine (or expand) individual’s opportunities for goal formation
and pursuit.
In Two Weeks, November 27
Oliver Schultheiss: Uncovering the subterranean roots of elation
and despair: The role of implicit motives in commitment to, pursuit of, and
disengagement from explicit goals.
The Evolution and Human Adaptation Program Lectures
are sponsored by the LS&A Dean's Office,
the
To add your name to the mailing list of events sponsored by EHAP, send a note to ehap@umich.edu