Gen Y's Lowered Expectations: Wise or Misery Inducing?

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After years of economic stagnation, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t exactly blinding young Americans. The result, according to many, is a generation learning to rein in their dreams, delay major life decisions and aim lower in many areas of their lives. Are they wise to do so?

In tough times, there’s intuitive sense in managing your expectations and learning to be happy with less. But science suggests that, as long as your dreams are achievable in the long run, aiming higher will actually make you happier.

For example, in for a recent study Cecile K. Cho, a marketing professor at the University of California, Riverside along with a co-author out of Columbia, asked 134 study participants to choose a target rate of return for a stock-picking game and a goal for a set of puzzles. Even though all participants were told they had reached their goals, not everyone felt equally pleased with the positive result. High goal setters were far happier than those with modest expectations.

“The moral of the story is don��t sell yourself short,�� Cho said. ��Aim high.��

Why is this? Despite our best efforts to keep our ambitions modest, those who set low goals don’t often stick to them, setting higher benchmarks for themselves later and regretting failing to meet them. This is consistent with earlier research on the topic according to Heidi G. Halvorson,?a social psychologist and the author?of , who commented on the research for Inc. She explains:

Safe bets, generally speaking, are less valuable ones. So once you’ve achieved the relatively easy goal, it’s only natural to think about what it’s cost you in terms of value.

The result is lower satisfaction with your achievement. Of course, Cho’s study only compared the effects of low and high ambitions that were actually achieved. In the real world a third possibility looms large in the mind of most goal setters — the possibility that you’ll set a goal that will prove unreachable. Still, the science does suggest that when faced with this uncertainty, the seemingly sensible course of setting low expectations actually has hidden pitfalls you should consider. Modest ambitions may increase your chances of reaching your goals but they also increase your chances of being unsatisfied with your achievements later.

That’s worrying news for recession-battered Gen Y as many of them decide to curtail their ambitions.

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