Life Goals Can Shape Who You Are — And Who You Become

A groundbreaking study from the University of California, Davis reveals a powerful link between personality traits and life goals, showing that the kind of person you are significantly influences the goals you set — and that those goals, in turn, shape who you become over time.

The First Long-Term Study of Its Kind

In what researchers describe as the first study of its kind, more than 500 students were surveyed when they entered college, annually throughout college, and again 20 years later. These students, primarily from UC Berkeley, reported on their aspirations related to creativity, career success, wealth, family life, religion, and political involvement. Remarkably, about half of the original participants continued to respond over two decades, giving researchers a rare, longitudinal perspective.

“This study was a unique opportunity to examine how individuals’ personalities and major life goals were related to each other across two decades of life,” said Olivia E. Atherton, the study’s lead author and a former doctoral student in psychology at UC Davis.

The study, titled “Stability and Change in Personality Traits and Major Life Goals From College to Midlife,” was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.