Why are you (un)conscientious? The dynamic interplay of goals, states, and traits in everyday life

Abstract

Objective: Personality involves both trait and state components, personal goals serving a crucial regulatory function for the expression of personality states. The present study investigates the dynamic interplay between conscientiousness‐related goals, conscientious personality states, and trait conscientiousness. Method: A sample of 244 community participants responded to a baseline survey (T1), a 5‐times‐a‐day Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) for 15 days, and a post‐EMA survey (T2). Results: Pre‐registered multilevel analyses indicated significant contemporaneous positive and negative associations between momentary conscientious and unconscientious goals and state conscientiousness, respectively. Cross‐lagged associations also emerged, with goals predicting future states of conscientiousness. A latent growth model was fitted on a subsample of participants (N = 159). Results indicated that change in trait conscientiousness from T1 to T2 was explained by growth in conscientiousness‐related goals during the EMA phase, with a mediating effect of growth in state conscientiousness. Conclusions: Overall, the results corroborate the importance of goals for modeling contemporaneous and cross‐lagged personality dynamics, both in short and longer timeframes.