The lead author of \u201cOn the Value of Aiming High: The Causes and Consequences of Ambition\u201d forthcoming from the Journal of Applied Psychology<\/em>, Judge seeks to create a better understanding of ambition \u2014 a commonly mentioned but poorly understood concept in social science research \u2014 and its consequences.<\/p>\n Is it a virtue, or is it a vice? Both, says Judge.<\/p>\n \u201cIf ambition has its positive effects, and in terms of career success it certainly seems that it does, our study also suggests that it carries with it some cost<\/strong>,\u201d Judge says. \u201cDespite their many accomplishments, ambitious people are only slightly happier than their less-ambitious counterparts, and they actually live somewhat shorter lives<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Tracking 717 high-ability individuals over seven decades, Judge uses multiple criteria to measure ambition during periods of participants\u2019 lives ranging from childhood to young adults just beginning their careers. Their education ranged from attending some of the world\u2019s best universities \u2014 Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Berkeley, Oxford and Notre Dame \u2014 to more modest educations, including high school diplomas and community college degrees.<\/p>\n \u201cAmbitious kids had higher educational attainment, attended highly esteemed universities, worked in more prestigious occupations and earned more,\u201d Judge says. \u201cSo, it would seem that they are poised to \u2018have it all.\u2019 However, we determined that ambition has a much weaker effect on life satisfaction and actually a slightly negative impact on longevity (how long people lived). So, yes, ambitious people do achieve more successful careers, but that doesn\u2019t seem to translate into leading happier or healthier lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Specializing in personality, leadership, moods, emotions and career and life success, Judge has published more than 130 articles in refereed journals, including more than 80 in top-tier journals. His study \u201cDo Nice Guys \u2014 and Gals \u2014 Really Finish Last?\u201d published last year, was widely cited in the media.<\/p>\n Judge\u2019s new ambition study tracks individuals born in the early part of the last century and continued to follow them throughout their lives, which is how the mortality measure was derived; however, it doesn\u2019t address the underlying reasons for the higher mortality of ambitious people.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps the investments they make in their careers come at the expense of the things we know affect longevity: healthy behaviors, stable relationships and deep social networks.\u201d<\/p>\n Most parents want their kids to be ambitious, attend the best schools and eventually have successful careers, and while it certainly isn\u2019t wrong to have those parental hopes and dreams, Judge cautions that we shouldn\u2019t delude ourselves into thinking they will make our kids happier.<\/p>\n \u201cIf your biggest wish for your children is that they lead happy and healthy lives, you might not want to overemphasize professional success. There are limits to what our ambitions bring us \u2014 or our children.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Notre Dame press release: People who are considered ambitious attend the best colleges and universities, have prestigious careers and earn high salaries, but they don\u2019t necessarily… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,10],"tags":[108,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1717,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions\/1717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/WorkplaceStress.jpg\" "\\"stress\\"")
People who are considered ambitious attend the best colleges and universities, have prestigious careers and earn high salaries, but they don\u2019t necessarily lead more successful lives<\/strong>, according to new research by Timothy Judge, professor of management at the University of Notre Dame\u2019s Mendoza College of Business.<\/p>\n