In our unique approach to studying Aristotle’s ethics, the Goal Orientation and Life Success (GOALS) research team has been conducting a series of studies on a central set of relationships in Aristotle’s ethics: modes of goal orientation and their relationships to hedonic (pleasure oriented) and eudaimonic (meaning and growth oriented) well-being. This work has been generously supported by the Arsht Ethics Research Awards from the University of Miami Ethics Program. The first of these studies has been accepted in a peer reviewed journal (Fowers, Mollica, & Procacci, 2010). In this study, we developed a new model of eudaimonic well-being that is more elaborate, systematic, and truer to Aristotle’s thought than anything in the burgeoning psychological literature concerned with virtue and flourishing. Our model was empirically supported. Another related study involves applying this model to marital quality (Fowers & Owenz, in press). We are currently preparing manuscripts exploring a longitudinal assessment of our model, a factor analytic exploration of eudaimonic well-being, and a study of shared goal orientation.

Fowers, B. J., & Owenz, M. B. (2010). A eudaimonic theory of marital quality. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 2, 334-352.

Fowers, B. J., Mollica, C. O., & Procacci, E. N. (2010). Constitutive and instrumental goal orientations and their relations with eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 139-153.

Fowers, B. J. (2010). Instrumentalism and psychology: Beyond using and being used. Theory & Psychology, 20, 102-124.

Fowers, B. J. (March, 2012). Personhood, identity, and the good life for social beings. Keynote address, Counselling Psychology Research Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Fowers, B. J. (March, 2012). The ontology of identity: The evolved sociality of individuality and loyalty. Mid-Winter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Austin, TX.

Cohen, L. M., Owenz, M. B., & Fowers, B. J. (August, 2011). Qualitative exploration of goal importance among emerging adults. Poster presented at the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.

Fowers, B. J. (February, 2011). Benevolent purposes in Aristotle’s theory of the good life. Paper presented at the John C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values, Tallahassee, FL.

Fowers, B. J., & Cohen, L. (February, 2011). Benevolent purposive activities and well-being in college students: Three investigations. Paper presented at the John C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values, Tallahassee, FL.

Owenz, M. B. & Fowers, B. J. (September, 2010). A developmental perspective on shared goals in young adulthood. Poster presented at the American Association for Marital and Family Therapists, Atlanta, GA.

Owenz, M. B., Fowers, B. J., & Winakur, E. (August, 2010). The importance of appropriate dependency in goal pursuit among emerging adults. Presented at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA.

Owenz, M. B., Fowers, B. J., & Winakur, E. (August, 2010). The importance of appropriate dependency in goal pursuit among emerging adults. To be presented at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA.

Winakur, E., Fowers, B. J., & Owenz, M. B. (August, 2010). Goal types and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being: A longitudinal study. To be presented at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA.

Fowers, B. J. (March, 2010). Evolution, sociality, and eudaimonia: An Aristotelian integration of human nature and goods. Invited address presented at the Plakat Conference on Experimental Philosophy and the Ethics of Autonomy, Miami, FL.

Fowers, B. J. (March, 2010). An introduction to a eudaimonic ontology. Mid-Winter meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Miami, FL.

Fowers, B. J. (August, 2009). Aristotle’s philosophy of the human good. Paper presented at the 117th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.

Fowers, B. J. (July, 2009). Shared goals. Keynote address presented at the Smartmarriages Conference, Orlando, FL.

Fowers, B. J., Mollica, C. O., Procacci, E. K. (August, 2007). An exploration of constitutive goals, shared goals, and indicators of flourishing. Poster presented at the 115th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco.