Acting in our interests: Relational self-construal and goal motivation across cultures

Relationally-autonomous reasons (RARs) are motives for behavior that take into account one’s close relationships. A cross-cultural model tested the hypotheses that (a) people with a highly relational self-construal will pursue their goals for RARs, and (b) RARs will predict positive goal outcomes after controlling for variance explained by personally-autonomous reasons (PARs) and social support. One hundred seventy Americans and 219 Japanese completed a well-being and self questionnaire then generated and rated seven goals on several attributes. Results showed that relational self-construal was associated with RARs for goals. RARs predicted effort directly and predicted progress and purpose in life indirectly for both groups. In addition, Americans and Japanese differed in the types of goals they pursued and the degree to which social support predicted effort. Implications for self, culture, and motivation research are discussed.