Preferred Levels of Agency: Development and validation of the Goal Abstraction Preference (GAP) scale

Goals are hierarchically organized, such that the same action can be represented at either a concrete or abstract level. While existing theories account for variability in goal abstraction, they primarily conceptualize this variability as situational or contingent on performance rather than as reflecting a stable, domain-general preference. We propose that Goal Abstraction Preference (GAP) is a trait-like dimension of human agency capturing systematic individual differences in the type of goals individuals preferentially pursue, ranging from concrete, action-proximal goals, to abstract, purpose-level goals. Across two studies (total N = 970), including a preregistered replication, we developed and validated an 18-item scale distinguishing Abstractness and Concreteness. Factor analyses supported a robust two-factor structure that generalized across ten life domains, with high internal consistency and discriminant validity relative to personality, action identification, and temporal orientation. External validity was established using an open-ended goal narrative task independently coded by a large language model. Participants’ Abstractness predicted more abstract spontaneous personal narratives, whereas Concreteness predicted more concrete ones. GAP demonstrated incremental validity beyond established constructs, showed relative temporal stability, and was systematically associated with age and sociodemographic status. These findings position GAP as a reliable and behaviorally meaningful dimension of preferred agency. By identifying the types of goals individuals are inclined to pursue within hierarchical goal systems, the GAP framework offers a novel perspective on individual differences in goal regulation and suggests that matching interventions to individuals’ preferred level of goal representation may help bridge the intention-action gap.