无意识目标：激活与追求

目标自动激活模型认为,目标是行为满意状态或结果在个体头脑中的表征,它能够通过相关情境自动激活。无意识目标的激活方式有语义激活、工具激活和人际激活。无意识目标追求与有意识目标追求在目标实现、目标投射和动机特征方面相似,但其行为产生机制有所不同。未来研究应该对无意识目标的机制及其具体应用进行深入的探讨     

The effects of individual differences and goal origin on goal setting and performance

The purpose of this study is to clarify the roles played by individual differences and goal origin in the goal setting process. In order to accomplish this objective this study (a) briefly reviews the existing empirical evidence on individual differences in the goal setting literature, (b) develops a model of the goal-setting process that specifies different roles for individual differences depending upon goal origin, and (c) tests hypotheses generated by this model in a laboratory setting. The results indicate that under self-set conditions variables associated with self-perceptions of task-specific ability, but not generalized self-esteem, are related to the difficulty of the goals selected, with more difficult goals being set by individuals high in task-specific ability perceptions. Furthermore, when goals are self-set, regardless of individual differences, the expectancy and valence of goal attainment tends to be high and invariant relative to assigned conditions (i.e., the motivation to pursue the goal is high), and a strong goal difficulty-performance relationship is in evidence for all subjects. Under assigned goal conditions, individual differences determine the reaction to the assigned goal. Individuals high in task-specific self-esteem have stronger expectancies for attaining the goal relative to those low in this trait; and, individuals high in generalized self-esteem exhibit higher valence for goal attainment than those low in generalized self-esteem. In assigned conditions, there was a positive goal difficulty-performance relationship only for individuals high in generalized self-esteem. Some evidence actually suggested that for subjects low in generalized self-esteem, it is better to assign low goals. Low goals seem to increase the self-perceived task-specific ability of these subjects which relates positively with performance.     

Exploring goal taxonomies using the goal-based outcome tool in children and young people's mental health settings

Formulating goals in therapy may facilitate young people and parents/carers' engagement in mental health support settings. A number of goal taxonomies have been developed, which involve organising goals set at the outset of therapy into themes. Goal taxonomies are considered useful for service planning and outcome purposes. In order to build on the knowledge about what young people choose as goals, and to best support good practice, it is important to explore the links and differences between the existing goal taxonomies. A systematic review was conducted to identify goal taxonomies based on goals set using the goal-based outcome (GBO) tool. Framework analysis was conducted to investigate the extracted goal taxonomies. Overall, four core concepts were identified: “Goals targeting specific issues, symptoms, emotions, and behaviours,” “Return and engage in activities,” “Personal growth goals” and “Interpersonal goals.” Goals regarding specific issues, personal growth and interpersonal relationships were present in most studies. Using these overarching core concepts could be useful for practitioner-level, or service-level organisation of goal data, for activities such as service planning and delivery.     

Macro and Micro Goal Setting: In Search of Coherence

In this article we discuss macro and micro goal setting approaches, focusing on the relations between goals at different organisational levels. Translating strategic goals in a top-down manner throughout the organisation is a rather complex process. In organisations, at least one intermediate level between macro (i.e. strategic) and micro (i.e. operational) goals can be distinguished: the level of meso (i.e. tactical) goal setting. The process of a strategic dialogue is introduced to arrive at organisational goal coherence, which is defined as consensus on goal priorities within single constituencies and between multiple constituencies at different organisational levels. This process is illustrated in a case study, in which the CATPCA method has been applied to empirically operationalise degrees of consensus. Effects of the strategic dialogue on organisational goal coherence are demonstrated.     

Dimensions of perfectionism and goal commitment: A further comparison of two perfectionism measures

Research on perfectionism has suggested that a strong association exists between the setting and striving for excessively high standards. However, the motivational aspects of perfectionism have yet to be empirically identified. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness and psychometric properties of a new goal commitment scale by assessing commitment to perfection in seven content areas. In addition to identifying individual differences in perfectionism goal commitment, the current research also investigated the association between commitment to perfectionism and trait indices of perfectionism. A sample of 261 students rated degree of commitment to perfectionistic goals and completed two multidimensional perfectionism scales that assess the personal and social aspects of perfectionism. Analyses confirmed the presence of individual differences in perfectionism goal commitment. Correlational tests revealed that the trait perfectionism dimensions were correlated with the goal commitment measure, but the findings varied as a function of the specific perfectionism goal. Overall, the current data are consistent with the view that the perfectionism construct has a salient motivational component. Our findings suggest that the assessment of goal commitment is a useful means of examining specific facets of the perfectionism construct.     

Self-efficacy as a moderator of the planning-behaviour relationship in interventions designed to promote physical activity

Individuals who lack perceived self-efficacy may benefit less from planning interventions because they fail to apply their plans when encountering situations that appear challenging. Thus, self-efficacy may operate as a moderator in relation to the effects of planning interventions on behaviour. This article reports from two experimental studies using cluster randomisation. Study 1 included 58 patients with diabetes who received a face-to-face action planning intervention to improve their physical activity levels. Study 2 targeted the roles of planning and self-efficacy for the maintenance of regular running and for relapse prevention in 187 active individuals over a 2-year period. The email-delivered intervention prompted specific goal setting and facilitated planning to mobilise social support to secure relapse prevention. Results of the two studies were consistent with a moderating effect of self-efficacy in relation to the planning-behaviour relationship. Individuals with high self-efficacy benefited from planning interventions. If a person lacks self-efficacy, planning may not effectively promote physical activity.     

The automatic and co-occurring activation of multiple social inferences

People make a variety of automatic inferences when observing others' actions. These include inferences about stable dispositions as well as transitory goal states and social situations. However, models of social inference have rarely considered whether different types of automatic inferences can co-occur. We present three experiments in which participants were incidentally exposed to texts depicting behaviors that afforded inferences about actors' traits and the social situations these actors were experiencing. Results from lexical decision and probe-recognition tasks revealed heightened activation of both trait and situational inferences; furthermore, this co-occurring activation was spontaneous, unconscious, and independent of processing resources or specific impression-formation goals. A fourth experiment extended these findings by showing that when participants were asked to make deliberate attributional judgments of the same set of behaviors, typical goal-directed biases reflecting the selection of either trait or situational interpretations emerged. Implications for social inference processes are discussed.     

Social Comparison and Goal Setting in Brainstorming Groups1

Two studies were conducted to examine the influence of individual and group goal setting on brainstorming performance. Results from the studies indicated that the individual goals of nominal participants were higher than the individual goals of interactive participants. Group goal setting by consensus led to the lowest goals. There was no influence of goal setting on group brainstorming performance. However, participants who set goals rated their individual performance more favorably than did participants who did not set goals. The low group goals set by interactive groups are discussed in terms of assumptions made regarding the ability of other group members and the detrimental effects of group interaction.     

The goal structure of situations

An empirical method for analysing the goal structure within and between persons in different social situations is described. The method involves establishing the main goals of occupants of situational roles and then finding out how the different goals inter-relate in terms of degree and type/direction of conflict and compatibility. Principal components analyses were carried out on ratings of importance of goals of those in different situational roles. Criteria of high factor loadings combined with high mean importance ratings were used to produce the main higher order goals for each of the roles. The goals for the six roles studied were, in each case except one: social acceptance/developing relationships, own well being and achieving a specific situational task goal. However, the precise nature of these goals is rather different in the different situations. Inter-relationship of goals was studied using ratings of conflict or compatibility between pairs of goals within and across roles of each situation. The results were used to describe the goal structures of the different situations. The situation with the most conflict between goals was, as expected, the complaint. Ways were suggested in which knowledge of the goal structure, particularly the points of conflict, could help with skilful handling of potentially difficult social situations.     

The interplay between achievement goals and specific target goals in determining performance

This study examined relatively broad achievement goals (performance-approach, performance-avoid, mastery), and aspects of more specific target goals (goal difficulty, expectancy, framing) as predictors of academic performance. All three achievement goals predicted academic performance (with performance-avoid goal predicting poorer performance, and performance-approach and mastery goals predicting better performance). The association between performance-avoid goals and poorer performance was mediated by negative framing. The positive relations between performance-approach and mastery goals and performance were mediated by goal difficulty. In all cases, the aspects of the specific goal predicted performance independent of the broader achievement goals, but the achievement goals did not predict independent of the specific goals. Discussion focuses on how goals of different types combine to affect performance.     

Exploring the relation of independent and interdependent self-construals to why and how people pursue personal goals

The authors examined whether independent or interdependent self-construals were associated with the way in which individuals pursued personal goals. Individuals with an independent self-construal orient toward personal-goal pursuit, whereas individuals with interdependent self-construal prioritize in-group goals above personal ones. The authors used a 1-week, prospective goal-setting paradigm. The present results revealed that interdependent self-construals were significantly associated with introjected reasons for pursuing goals, experiencing conflict among goals, and achieving less goal progress. Independent self-construals were significantly associated with intrinsic and identified reasons for goal pursuit and greater goal progress. There was some evidence that the relation of interdependent and independent self-construals to goal progress was mediated by goal conflict and goal intrinsic motivation, respectively. The present results also replicated previous research indicating the goal-setting benefits of intrinsic motivation, implementation intentions, and goal harmony.     

Responses to Self-Threat: Linking Self and Relational Constructs with Approach and Avoidance Motivation

Over the past few decades, researchers have amassed a large body of evidence documenting the consequences of self-esteem (SE), attachment styles, rejection sensitivity (RS), domain-specific aspects of SE (e.g., contingencies of self-worth), and RS (e.g., race-RS; appearance-RS) following self-threats. The present article suggests that these personality constructs share a common substrate reflecting approach and avoidance temperament and motivation. Approach and avoidance temperaments are theorized to interact with intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences to shape approach and avoidance motivation. Personality constructs serve as dispositional markers of underlying approach-avoidance motivational orientations, which, in turn, lead to predictable patterns of goal pursuit following self-threats. Individuals who feel self-confident and relationally secure (e.g., high SE, securely attached, and low RS individuals) respond to self-threats by adopting approach-motivated goals to attain positive outcomes. Individuals who lack self-confidence and feel less relationally secure (e.g., low SE, avoidantly attached, and high RS individuals) respond to self-threats by decreasing approach motivation and/or increasing avoidance-motivated goals to prevent negative outcomes. Consequences of adopting approach- and avoidance-motivated goals are discussed.     

Goal-specific influences on the representation of spatial perspective

In two experiments, subjects learned an unfamiliar campus environment, either by studying a map or by navigating. During acquisition, the subjects had one of two spatial goals: to learn the layout of the building (survey goal) or to learn the fastest routes between locations (route goal). Spatial memory was tested with several tasks, some assessing survey perspective processing and some assessing route perspective processing. Results indicate multiple influences on the representation of spatial perspective. Learning condition influenced performance. Individuals studying maps gave more accurate responses to some survey perspective tasks, whereas individuals navigating gave more accurate responses to some route perspective tasks. Spatial goals also influenced performance. Having a route goal enhanced performance on route perspective tasks; having a survey goal enhanced performance on survey perspective tasks. These findings are discussed in the context of research indicating flexibility when processing spatial perspective. Individuals can use spatial information from different perspectives, often doing so in a goal-directed manner.     

The early origins of goal attribution in infancy

We contrast two positions concerning the initial domain of actions that infants interpret as goal-directed. The 'narrow scope' view holds that goal-attribution in 6- and 9-month-olds is restricted to highly familiar actions (such as grasping). The cue-based approach of the infant's 'teleological stance', however, predicts that if the cues of equifinal variation of action and a salient action effect are present, young infants can attribute goals to a 'wide scope' of entities including unfamiliar human actions and actions of novel objects lacking human features. It is argued that previous failures to show goal-attribution to unfamiliar actions were due to the absence of these cues. We report a modified replication of Woodward (1999) showing that when a salient action-effect is presented, even young infants can attribute a goal to an unfamiliar manual action. This study together with other recent experiments reviewed support the 'wide scope' approach indicating that if the cues of goal-directedness are present even 6-month-olds attribute goals to unfamiliar actions.     

Nonconscious relationship reactance: When significant others prime opposing goals

Individuals nonconsciously and unintentionally pursue goals they associate with relationship partners ( [Fitzsimons and Bargh, 2003] and [Shah, 2003]). Here, we demonstrate conditions under which individuals nonconsciously and unintentionally reject goals they associate with relationship partners and instead pursue opposing goals. In Experiment 1, participants were subliminally primed with the name of a controlling significant other who had a particular goal for them. Without awareness or intent, participants pursued a goal that directly opposed their significant other’s wishes. In Experiment 2, chronic reactance was shown to moderate this effect: Low-reactant individuals adopted a subliminally primed significant other’s goal, whereas high-reactant individuals pursued an opposing goal. This research suggests that in response to controlling significant others and among chronically reactant individuals, the nonconscious activation of relational representations can automatically elicit oppositional goal pursuits, even when pursuit of an oppositional goal results in a personally suboptimal outcome.     

Terror management and stereotyping: why do people stereotype when mortality is salient?

Three studies examine two routes by which mortality threats may lead to stereotyping. Mortality salience may activate both a comprehension goal and an enhancement goal. Enhancement goals are likely to be more active in situations where intergroup competition or conflict is salient. If this is not the case, then a comprehension goal will predominate. In line with a why-determines-how logic, when mortality salience activates a comprehension goal, both positive and negative stereotyping occur. In contrast, the activation of an enhancement goal only increases negative stereotyping.     

Alcohol affects goal commitment by explicitly and implicitly induced myopia

Alcohol commits people to personally important goals even if expectations of reaching the goals are low. To illuminate this effect, we used alcohol myopia theory, stating that alcohol intoxicated people disproportionally attend to the most salient aspects of a situation and ignore peripheral aspects. When low expectations of reaching an important goal were activated students who consumed alcohol were less committed than students who consumed a placebo. We observed less commitment regardless of whether low expectations were explicitly activated in a questionnaire (Study 1) or implicitly activated through subliminal priming (Study 2). The results imply that, intoxicated people commit to goals according to what aspects of a goal are activated either explicitly or implicitly.     

Defensive Pessimism,Anxiety, and the Complexity of Evaluating Self‐Regulation

Defensive pessimism is a motivated cognitive strategy that helps people manage their anxiety and pursue their goals. Individuals who use defensive pessimism set low expectations, and play through extensive mental simulations of possible outcomes as they prepare for goal‐relevant tasks and situations. Research on a variety of phenomena, from self‐handicapping to stereotype threat, demonstrates the potential effectiveness of defensive pessimism as a self‐regulation strategy. Review of this research provides an illustration of the complexity of self‐regulation efforts, because understanding how and why defensive pessimism works requires an integrated understanding the role of traits, motivations, and self structures within the individual, the resultant goals toward which strategies are directed, and the particular constraints of different situations and cultural contexts.