Ken Sheldon
- Media Contact
My primary research focus is on participants' personal goals, and the effects of different types of personal goals upon growth, development, and well-being. This research has culminated in a "Self-Concordance Model" of optimal goal-striving (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999, 2001), which integrates goal-striving, need-satisfaction, and well-being change constructs into a single time-sequential model. I also study social dilemmas, and factors which enhance cooperation within such settings; creativity, and factors which promote creative functioning; and "positive psychology."
Primary Interests:
- Aggression, Conflict, Peace
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Evolution and Genetics
- Group Processes
- Health Psychology
- Interpersonal Processes
- Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Self and Identity
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Where is the Growth Impulse in Personality? A Two Systems Model
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23:11 Where is the Growth Impulse in Personality? A Two Systems Model
Length: 23:11
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29:17 Mitigating the Risk of Prioritizing Collective Over Individual Well-Being
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1:02:56 How to Be an Optimal Human
Length: 1:02:56
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44:10 Goals, Motivation, and Well-Being
Length: 44:10
Books:
- Schmuck, P., & Sheldon, K. M. (Eds.). (2001). Life-goals and well-being: Towards a positive psychology of human striving. Hogrefe.
- Sheldon, K. M. (2004). Optimal human being: An integrated multi-level perspective. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Sheldon, K. M., Joiner, T., & Williams, G. (2003). Self-determination theory in the clinic: Motivating physical and mental health. Yale University Press.
Journal Articles:
- Sheldon, K. M. (1999). Learning the lessons of tit-for-tat: Even competitors can get the message. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1245-1253.
- Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need-satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The Self-Concordance Model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 482-497.
- Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1998). Not all personal goals are personal: Comparing autonomous and controlled reasons as predictors of effort and attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 546-557.
- Sheldon, K. M., Elliot, A. J., Kim, Y., & Kasser, T. (2001). What's satisfying about satisfying events? Comparing ten candidate psychological needs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 325-339.
- Sheldon, K. M., & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance, goal-attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: Can there be an upward spiral? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 152-165.
- Sheldon, K. M., & Kasser, T. (2001). Getting older, getting better? Personal strivings and personality development across the life-course. Developmental Psychology, 37, 491-501.
- Sheldon, K. M., Kasser, T., Smith, K., & Share, T. (2002). Personal goals and psychological growth: Testing an intervention to enhance goal-attainment and personality integration. Journal of Personality, 70, 5-31.
- Sheldon, K. M., & McGregor, H. (2000). Extrinsic Value Orientation and the "tragedy of the commons." Journal of Personality, 68, 383-411.
- Sheldon, K. M., Sheldon, M. S., & Osbaldiston, R. (2000). Prosocial values and group-assortation within an N-person prisoner's dilemma. Human Nature, 11, 387-404.
Other Publications:
- Bettencourt, B., & Sheldon, K. M. (2001). Social roles as vehicles for psychological need satisfaction within groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1131-1143.
- Osbaldiston, R., & Sheldon, K. M. (2002). Social dilemmas and sustainable development: Promoting the motivation to "cooperate with the future." In P. Schmuck & W. Schultz (Eds.), The psychology of sustainability (pp. 37-58). Boston: Kluwer.
- Sheldon, K. M. (2002). The self-concordance model of healthy goal-striving: When personal goals correctly represent the person. In E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination theory (pp. 65-86). University of Rochester Press.
Courses Taught:
- Developmental Psychology
- Experimental Methods in Social Psychology
- Introductory Psychology
- Motivation and Emotion
- Personality Development
- Research Methods
- Social Psychology
- Theories of Creativity
Ken Sheldon
Department of Psychological Sciences
112 McAlester Hall
University of Missouri, Columbia
Columbia, Missouri 65211
United States of America
- Phone: (573) 884-1547
- Fax: (573) 882-7710
- Email: SheldonK@missouri.edu