They discuss a bunch of ways they might define ambition, from a common sense or psychology standpoint. Eventually they define it thus:
Ambition is the persistent and generalized striving for success, attainment, and accomplishment.
Ambition involves persistence and generality in that we do not expect that ambition ceases to exist once a certain level of attainment is achieved, nor do we believe that ambition is compartmentalized toward success in only a single sphere. Ambition also generally has been taken to reflect striving for position and wealth and not to indicate strivings for general well-being and socioemotional acceptance. In short, ambition is about attaining rather than achieving (though of course there is a certain relationship between the two).
This isn’t quite the thing I meant, but seems relevant enough to be interesting and keep reading.
Hypotheses
They go on to make some hypotheses:
Antecedents of ambition:
Hypothesis 1: Conscientiousness will be positively related to ambition.
2. Extraversion will be positively related to ambition.
3. Neuroticism will be negatively related to ambition.
4. General mental ability will be positively related to ambition.
5. Parents’ occupational prestige will be positively related to ambition.
Consequences of ambition
6a. Ambition will be positively related to the quantity of educational attainment.
6b. Ambition will partially mediate a significant part of the relationship of the distal attributes to educational attainment
7a. Ambition will be positively related to income
7b. Ambition will partially mediate a significant part of the relationship of the distal attributes to income.
8a. Ambition will be positively related to occupational attainment.
8b. Ambition will partially mediate a significant part of the relationship of the distal attributes to occupational attainment.
[WIP] Review of paper “On the value of Aiming High – The causes and consequences of ambition”
Link to PDF
Partial summary:
They discuss a bunch of ways they might define ambition, from a common sense or psychology standpoint. Eventually they define it thus:
This isn’t quite the thing I meant, but seems relevant enough to be interesting and keep reading.
Hypotheses
They go on to make some hypotheses:
Antecedents of ambition:
Hypothesis 1: Conscientiousness will be positively related to ambition.
2. Extraversion will be positively related to ambition.
3. Neuroticism will be negatively related to ambition.
4. General mental ability will be positively related to ambition.
5. Parents’ occupational prestige will be positively related to ambition.
Consequences of ambition
6a. Ambition will be positively related to the quantity of educational attainment.
6b. Ambition will partially mediate a significant part of the relationship of the distal attributes to educational attainment
7a. Ambition will be positively related to income
7b. Ambition will partially mediate a significant part of the relationship of the distal attributes to income.
8a. Ambition will be positively related to occupational attainment.
8b. Ambition will partially mediate a significant part of the relationship of the distal attributes to occupational attainment.
Will write up more as I find time.