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Cognitive goals
Exploration satisfying curiosity, avoiding ignorance
Understanding gaining knowledge and making sense, avoiding misconceptions, errors and confusions
Intellectual creativity engaging in original thinking and novelty, avoiding familiarity
Positive self-evaluation maintaining self-confidence or self-worth, avoiding feelings of failure and guilt
Personenvironment
Self-assertive social relationship goals
Individuality Feeling unique or special, avoiding conformity
Self-determination experiencing freedom to act or choose, avoiding feelings of pressure or coercion
Superiority winning status or success compared to others, avoiding unfavourable comparisons
Resource acquisition obtaining support and approval from others, avoiding social rejection
Task goals
Mastery meeting challenging standards for achievement, avoiding incompetence or performance drops
Task creativity engaging in artistry or creative expression, avoiding mundane or repetitive tasks
Management maintaining order or productivity, avoiding inefficiency or chaos
Material gain increasing possession of money or material goods, avoiding poverty or material loss
Safety being physically secure, avoiding threat or harm
Ford, M.E. & Nichols, C.W. (1991). A taxonomy of human goals and some possible applications. In M.E. Ford, & D.H. Ford (Eds),
Humans as Self Constructing Living Systems: Putting the Framework to Work. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence-Erlbaum, pp. 289311.
Copyright The Careers Group, University of London. The Careers Group believes this information is correct at the time of publication (12 May 2014)