The Capacity for Self Direction: 245-67 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Capacity for Self Direction: 245-67

This study compares self-descriptive essays written by business-school students who were subsequently successful (N=13) and unsuccessful (N=ll) in attaining personal change goals during semester-long self-analytic groups, using a new method for self-directed behavior change. Content analysis comparisons of the two groups revealed three significant differences: (a) High-change subjects more frequently stated goals with implicit recognition that the goal had not yet been attained; (b) Low-change subjects more frequently described themselves with little recognition of alternate possibilities; (c) Low-change subjects were higher in tentativeness and uncertainty about themselves ("identity diffusion"). These findings were then cross-validated in a second sample of students who were successful (N=9) and unsuccessful (N=22) in reaching their change goals.

The results are interpreted as suggesting that successful self-directed personal change is motivated by awareness of the cognitive dissonance which is created when an individual commits himself to a valued goal that he sees as different from his present behavior. The low-change subject is one who does not create cognitive dissonance in the process of setting personal goals, either (a) because the goal is imperfectly differentiated from present behavior; or (b) because he can tolerate an unusually great amount of internal self-contradiction without experiencing dissonance.

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DAVID A. KOLB is Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University.