It’s All About Me: Maladaptive Self-focused Attention as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Extrinsic Goals and Well-Being

Past research has shown that not all life goals are beneficial to well-being. In particular, the pursuits of extrinsic goals – goals such as wealth and fame, whose achievements are quantified by external criteria – have been associated with negative indices of well-being. Although some explanations for the link between extrinsic goal pursuit and detrimental well-being have been suggested, past research is scarce on the cognitive mechanism(s) involved. Here, we review the relation between goals and well-being and propose a possible mediating factor, self-focused attention, as a mechanism of impaired, goal-driven affect. In particular, we argue that unlike intrinsic goals, which require awareness of the external environment and close others, the pursuit of extrinsic goals require a self-focused orientation, which in turn can produce negative affect by highlighting discrepancies with one’s ideals. The results of a preliminary study showed that extrinsic goal priming indeed increased participants’ self-focused attention, as measured by a novel, implicit task involving speeded detection of their own initials in letter arrays. Discussion focuses on the difference between adaptive and maladaptive self-focus and, particularly, self-absorption, an inability to shift one’s attention away from the self, which might moderate the link between these attentional effects and well-being.