Intrinsic - Extrinsic - Transcendent. A triarchic model of goal contents: introduction and validation

Abstract

The article refers to an 11-factor circumplex model of goal contents introduced by Grouzet et al., which suggested a consistent structure of goals allocated within two dimensions: extrinsic–intrinsic and self-transcendent–physical. A previous study showed a rather poor fit of this model in a Polish context. Therefore using data from the aforementioned replication project in Study I we re-examined the structure and found a triarchic configuration more adequately fitting existing data. This new model was further tested in Study II. To find an adequate factor structure of life goals measured by the Polish version of the Aspiration Index in Study I we ran exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in three groups of 1,762 people in total. To check psychometric characteristics of the developed AI-23 questionnaire we conducted Study II on a group of 319 students. The analyses revealed a new structure of the Aspiration Index consisting of scales related to seven life goals connected with three general groups of goals: intrinsic, extrinsic and transcendent. Results of confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and divergent validation, internal consistency and test–retest reliability allowed AI-23 to be treated as an effective tool to measure life goals. The results suggest a triarchic organization of goal contents, with self-transcendent goals supplementing well-established theoretical categories of intrinsic and extrinsic goals.