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Personal Strivings Assessment
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About Personal Strivings Assessment
Scale Name
Personal Strivings Assessment
Author Details
Robert A. Emmons
Translation Availability
Not Sure
Background/Description
The Personal Strivings Assessment (PSA) is a tool developed by Robert A. Emmons, a renowned personality psychologist, to assess an individual’s core motivations and values. Here’s a deeper dive into its background and introduction:
Emmons’ Theory of Personal Strivings:
Emmons built the PSA upon his theory of personal strivings, which highlights 12 fundamental desires driving human behavior. These strivings fall into three broad categories:
- Agentic Strivings: Focus on self-expression and growth, including achievement, autonomy, competence, power, knowledge, and challenge.
- Communal Strivings: Emphasize connection and care for others, including affiliation, intimacy, care, and contribution.
- Experiential Strivings: Seek intense emotional engagement, encompassing closeness and recognition.
Development of the PSA:
Emmons developed the PSA in the 1980s, drawing inspiration from various sources like the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and other personality measures. He aimed to create a self-report tool that could efficiently assess these crucial strivings.
Structure and Administration:
The PSA typically comprises 54 statements, each representing one of the 12 strivings. Individuals rate their agreement with each statement on a scale, indicating how important that striving is to them. Scoring involves calculating the relative significance of each striving for the individual.
Applications and Benefits:
The PSA offers valuable insights into personality and behavior in various contexts:
- Self-exploration: Individuals can understand their core motivations and priorities, guiding their goals and decision-making.
- Relationships: Identifying striving patterns can enhance understanding in romantic relationships, friendships, and work environments.
- Research: Psychologists use the PSA to explore how strivings relate to well-being, personality traits, and behavior patterns.
- Clinical settings: Clinicians may utilize the PSA for assessment and intervention in areas like career counseling and personality disorders.
Administration, Scoring and Interpretation
- Provide instructions: Clearly explain the purpose of the assessment and how to complete it. Emphasize anonymity and confidentiality if applicable.
- Review instructions: Individuals should read and understand the instructions thoroughly before proceeding.
- Rate each statement: Individuals rate their agreement with each statement using the provided scale, reflecting how important that striving is to them.
- Answer optional questions: Some versions may include additional demographics or context-specific questions.
- Collect completed assessments: Ensure all assessments are collected securely and confidentially.
Reliability and Validity
The PSA has been extensively studied and shows good reliability and validity. Here’s a breakdown of these key aspects:
- Test-retest reliability: This assesses consistency over time. Studies have shown the PSA scores remain stable within reasonable timeframes (weeks to months), indicating reliable measurement.
- Internal consistency: This examines how well items within each striving category measure the same concept. The PSA generally demonstrates good internal consistency, suggesting reliable measurement of individual strivings.
- Content validity: This ensures the statements accurately represent the intended strivings. The PSA was developed based on comprehensive research and expert review, supporting its content validity.
- Criterion validity: This compares PSA scores to established measures of related concepts. Studies have shown correlations between PSA scores and measures of personality traits, values, and well-being, supporting its criterion validity.
- Construct validity: This investigates whether the PSA measures what it claims to measure. Various studies have provided evidence that the PSA captures distinct striving patterns and relates to expected behavioral outcomes, supporting its construct validity.
Available Versions
32-Items
Reference
Emmons, R. A. (1986). Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 51(5), 1058.
Sheldon, K. M., & Kasser, T. (2001). Getting older, getting better? Personal strivings and psychological maturity across the life span. Developmental psychology, 37(4), 491.
Important Link
Scale File:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the PSA?
A self-report tool measuring core motivations and values through 12 fundamental strivings.
Who developed it?
Robert A. Emmons, a renowned personality psychologist.
How is it administered?
Individuals rate statements on a scale indicating how important each striving is to them.
Is it reliable and valid?
Yes, it shows good reliability and validity through various studies.
What are its applications?
Self-exploration, relationships, research, and clinical settings.
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