Forgetting all else: on the antecedents and consequences of goal shielding

Six studies explore the role of goal shielding in self-regulation by examining how the activation of focal goals to which the individual is committed inhibits the accessibility of alternative goals. Consistent evidence was found for such goal shielding, and a number of its moderators were identified: Individuals' level of commitment to the focal goal, their degree of anxiety and depression, their need for cognitive closure, and differences in their goal-related tenacity. Moreover, inhibition of alternative goals was found to be more pronounced when they serve the same overarching purpose as the focal goal, but lessened when the alternative goals facilitate focal goal attainment. Finally, goal shielding was shown to have beneficial consequences for goal pursuit and attainment.     

Compensatory cognition associated with egalitarian goals

Two experiments examine nonconscious processes that facilitate pursuing egalitarian goals. It was hypothesized that when working on a task not known to be relevant to egalitarian goals there is heightened ability to detect opportunities to goal pursuit (goal-relevant people) embedded in the task, even when they are best ignored for optimal performance. Further, this selective attention should cease when the goal is sated, despite increased semantic accessibility of these opportunities that results from satiation. Experiment one introduced egalitarian goals via writing an essay about failing to be egalitarian to Black men. Next, an ostensibly unrelated task presented Black and White men in an array of faces as distracters to a focal task. Task performance was disrupted only by arrays containing Black men, and only among participants primed with egalitarian goals. This was not due to increased semantic accessibility of the concept “Black men.” Experiment two had all participants write failure essays and then write second essays. Half wrote affirming essays about egalitarianism and Black men. Despite this increased semantic accessibility of the group “Black men,” distracted attention was not evidenced. Instead, the goal had been satisfied and goal pursuit shut down. In contrast, the remaining participants wrote affirming essays in an irrelevant domain. Despite the decreased semantic accessibility, goal accessibility remained and was evidenced by selective attention to Black men. These findings reveal Black men are associated not with stereotypes, but egalitarian goals. They also point to the role goal completion versus self affirmation play in goal pursuit.     

Automatic for the people: how representations of significant others implicitly affect goal pursuit

Five studies are presented that explore how representations of significant others may automatically affect goal pursuit. Specifically, evidence is presented that suggests goals may be primed by one's representation of a significant other and that this priming may be moderated by one's closeness to this other individual. It is also shown to be affected by the number of different goals associated with this person. The greater the number of goals associated with a significant other, the less likely this individual will invoke any 1 goal very strongly. Such goal priming is shown to have implications for the extent to which goals are pursued (as seen through task persistence and performance) as well as the extent to which they are inhibited or ignored (especially when an individual is associated with a goal unrelated to a current pursuit).     

Output order reflects the cognitive accessibility of goals

Goal accessibility--the ease or speed with which a goal is activated--increases the likelihood that it will be acted on. The present studies validate output order as a measure of goal accessibility that can be applied to goal lists in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. In three studies, output order (the order in which goals are listed in a free-response format) was related to self-reported goal value but was not redundant with it. Furthermore, output order was affected by motivational priming whereas value was not, and order associated with typical student goals (e.g., achievement) compared with atypical goals (e.g., power). Output order is well suited to bring the study of accessibility to naturalistic studies of goals and goal pursuit.     

The object of my protection: Shielding fundamental motives from the implicit motivational influence of others

Goal shielding theory suggests that one's focal pursuits automatically inhibit the activation of interfering goals (Shah, Friedman, & Kruglanski, 2002); however, it is not entirely clear how individuals come to identify what constitutes “interfering”. Three studies examine how this identification process may be guided by fundamental social motives that individuals possess, particularly in social situations wherein goals are primed through mere exposure to others' goal-directed behavior (“goal contagion”, Aarts, Gollwitzer, & Hassin, 2004). Participants' fundamental motives for positive self-regard (Study 1), autonomy (Study 2), and distinctiveness (Study 3) were either manipulated or measured and participants read scenarios that manipulated the goal-directed behavior of a target other. Results indicated that participants inhibited the activation of goals being primed by others when the implicit influence interfered with their fundamental motives in some way. These findings suggest that fundamental motives can guide whether individuals will catch goals from others or shield themselves from such influences.     

If You Want to Do Something About Your Own Craziness, Have Your Own Experiential Sessions

If a person is troubled by worries or fears about being crazy, out of one's mind, psychotic, the person can learn to have one's own experiential sessions aimed at two goals. One is to undergo a deep-seated, qualitative change toward becoming the person one is capable of becoming. The related other goal is to be free of the worrisome, fearful scenes or situations of being crazy, out of one's mind, psychotic. An illustration is given of how to achieve these goals by having one's own experiential session.     

执行意向对目标达成的促进及其作用过程

执行意向,也被称为“如果—那么”计划,是指将一个预期的情境与一个确定的目标定向行为联系起来,明确说明了个体在什么时间、地点以及如何追求一个特定目标的计划.大量的实验室和现场实验研究发现,执行意向能有效促进目标的达成.执行意向中“如果”成分使得预期情境线索的心理表征高度激活;而“那么”成分使得计划中的反应得以自动实施.这两个假设的认知过程已被证实,并且在执行意向影响目标达成过程中起到中介作用.在未来的研究中除了将其与动机理论进行整合以及更深入地去探讨其心理机制之外,还要积极进行本土化的实证研究.     

Implicit volition and stereotype control

Goals are mental representations that vary in accessibility and operate within goal systems. The implicit nature of goal activation and pursuit is shown here to make goals effective not merely at overturning the influence of an activated stereotype on how people respond to members of stereotyped groups, but effective at implicitly controlling the activation of stereotypes in the first place. In a set of experiments examining chronic egalitarian goals, faces and names of members of stereotyped groups presented as target stimuli led to the inhibition of stereotypes, as well as to the heightened accessibility of egalitarian goals. A separate set of experiments illustrate a similar ability of individuals to control stereotype activation when egalitarian goals are temporarily triggered within a context, rather than being chronically held. Goals that require one to inhibit stereotypic associations to a target can lead to the intended, yet implicit, control of stereotype activation, even when one is not aware the goal is active or being pursued or being regulated.     

Daily Goals, Life Goals, and Worst Fears: Means, Ends, and Subjective Well-Being

This study addressed the relations among personal strivings (daily goals) and future life goals and worst fears. Eighty undergraduate participants (62 women, 18 men) listed their daily goals, their ultimate life goals, and their worst fears, and completed questionnaire measures of subjective well-being. Daily goals were content-analyzed for relevance to attaining life goals or avoiding worst fears. Daily goals that were instrumental to life goals or that avoided worst fears were rated as more important but also more difficult by participants. Working on daily goals avoiding one's worst fears was negatively related to measures of subjective well-being, controlling for daily goal progress, difficulty, ambivalence, and importance. Working on daily goals that were instrumental to one's life goals only weakly predicted well-being. The avoidance of worst fears interacted with daily goal appraisals such that individuals who experienced little progress at daily goals that served to avoid their "worst case scenario" experienced the lowest levels of subjective well-being. In addition, progress at daily goals that were relevant to accomplishing one's life goals was significantly more strongly related to subjective well-being than progress at daily goals that were unrelated to one's life goals. Results indicate that daily goals are used to enact life goals and avoid worst fears and that these means–end relations have implications for well-being.     

Accessibility from active and fulfilled goals

In six studies participants searched for a target stimulus among other stimuli. Lexical decision and Stroop measures of accessibility showed that accessibility of target-related words was enhanced prior to finding the target and reduced after finding it, relative to both a preceding stage, relative to a control, no-goal condition and relative to a condition in which the goal was not fulfilled. In addition, Studies 4, 5, and 6 showed that goal-related accessibility and post-fulfillment inhibition were proportional to the goal’s expectancy, the goal’s value, and their interaction. Together, these studies support the notion that goals enhance accessibility of the goal-related constructs, which is maintained as long as the goal is active, goal fulfillment inhibits accessibility of goal-related constructs, and these effects are proportional to the strength of the motivation.     

Multifinality in implicit choice

This research examines the possibility that people's choices in the service of an explicit focal goal may also reflect their tendency to fulfill implicit background goals and in that sense are multifinal. We carried out 5 experimental studies to investigate this notion. In Experiment 1, a primed implicit goal affected individuals' choices even when those avowedly served an explicit "focal" goal. Experiment 2 replicated this finding with a different type of implicit goals. Experiment 3 found that primed implicit goals had no effect on choices where the options that served them undermined the explicit goal. Experiment 4 found that a primed implicit goal served by a multifinal option does not privilege it over a unifinal option if that goal had been already attained by a different means. Finally, Experiment 5, via 3 types of control groups, showed that choices were affected by both the explicit and implicit goals in isolation, and they shifted toward multifinality when these goals were conjointly present. The discussion considers the integrative potential of the multifinality framework and its implications for a variety of phenomena in the domain of motivated cognition.     

Unfulfilled goals interfere with tasks that require executive functions

Even after one stops actively pursuing a goal, many mental processes remain focused on the goal (e.g., the Zeigarnik effect), potentially occupying limited attentional and working memory resources. Five studies examined whether the processes associated with unfulfilled goals would interfere with tasks that require the executive function, which has a limited focal capacity and can pursue only one goal at a time. In Studies  and , activating a goal nonconsciously and then manipulating unfulfillment caused impairments on later tasks requiring fluid intelligence (solving anagrams; Study 1) and impulse control (dieting; Study 2). Study 3 showed that impairments were specific to executive functioning tasks: an unfulfilled goal impaired performance on logic problems but not on a test of general knowledge (only the former requires executive functions). Study 4 found that the effect was moderated by individual differences; participants who reported a tendency to shift readily amongst their various pursuits showed no task interference. Study 5 found that returning to fulfill a previously frustrated goal eliminated the interference effect. These findings provide converging evidence that unfulfilled goals can interfere with later tasks, insofar as they require executive functions.     

Social class, solipsism, and contextualism: how the rich are different from the poor

Social class is shaped by an individual's material resources as well as perceptions of rank vis-à-vis others in society, and in this article, we examine how class influences behavior. Diminished resources and lower rank create contexts that constrain social outcomes for lower-class individuals and enhance contextualist tendencies--that is, a focus on external, uncontrollable social forces and other individuals who influence one's life outcomes. In contrast, abundant resources and elevated rank create contexts that enhance the personal freedoms of upper-class individuals and give rise to solipsistic social cognitive tendencies--that is, an individualistic focus on one's own internal states, goals, motivations, and emotions. Guided by this framework, we detail 9 hypotheses and relevant empirical evidence concerning how class-based contextualist and solipsistic tendencies shape the self, perceptions of the social environment, and relationships to other individuals. Novel predictions and implications for research in other socio-political contexts are considered.     

Goal pursuit, goal self-concordance, and the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge

Recent theory suggests that personal goals influence the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge. We suggest that this effect is moderated by goal self-concordance: the extent to which a goal is pursued for autonomous rather than controlling reasons. Cueing paradigms were used to measure the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge relating to (i) goals that participants were and were not pursuing, and (ii) currently pursued goals that were high and low in self-concordance. As predicted, autobiographical knowledge relating to currently pursued goals was more accessible than autobiographical knowledge relating to non-pursued goals. General event knowledge relating to self-concordant goals was more accessible than general event knowledge relating to non-self-concordant goals, but a corresponding relationship did not emerge for event-specific knowledge.     

Goal pursuit,goal self-concordance,and the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge

Recent theory suggests that personal goals influence the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge. We suggest that this effect is moderated by goal self-concordance: the extent to which a goal is pursued for autonomous rather than controlling reasons. Cueing paradigms were used to measure the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge relating to (i) goals that participants were and were not pursuing, and (ii) currently pursued goals that were high and low in self-concordance. As predicted, autobiographical knowledge relating to currently pursued goals was more accessible than autobiographical knowledge relating to non-pursued goals. General event knowledge relating to self-concordant goals was more accessible than general event knowledge relating to non-self-concordant goals, but a corresponding relationship did not emerge for event-specific knowledge.     

The energetics of motivated cognition: a force-field analysis

A force-field theory of motivated cognition is presented and applied to a broad variety of phenomena in social judgment and self-regulation. Purposeful cognitive activity is assumed to be propelled by a driving force and opposed by a restraining force. Potential driving force represents the maximal amount of energy an individual is prepared to invest in a cognitive activity. Effective driving force corresponds to the amount of energy he or she actually invests in attempt to match the restraining force. Magnitude of the potential driving force derives from a combination of goal importance and the pool of available mental resources, whereas magnitude of the restraining force derives from an individual's inclination to conserve resources, current task demands, and competing goals. The present analysis has implications for choice of means to achieve one's cognitive goals as well as for successful goal attainment under specific force-field constellations. Empirical evidence for these effects is considered, and the underlying theory's integrative potential is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals

Unfulfilled goals persist in the mind, as asserted by ample theory and evidence (e.g., the Zeigarnik effect). The standard assumption has been that such cognitive activation persists until the goal is fulfilled. However, we predicted that contributing to goal pursuit through plan making could satisfy the various cognitive processes that usually promote goal pursuit. In several studies, we activated unfulfilled goals and demonstrated persistent goal activation over time. Unfinished goals caused intrusive thoughts during an unrelated reading task (Studies 1 and 5B), high mental accessibility of goal-related words (Studies 2 and 3), and poor performance on an unrelated anagram task (Study 4). Allowing participants to formulate specific plans for their unfulfilled goals eliminated the various activation and interference effects. Reduction of the effects was mediated by the earnestness of participants' plans: Those who ultimately executed their plans were those who also exhibited no more intrusions (Study 4). Moreover, changes in goal-related emotions did not appear to be a necessary component of the observed cognitive effects (Studies 5A and 5B). Committing to a specific plan for a goal may therefore not only facilitate attainment of the goal but may also free cognitive resources for other pursuits. Once a plan is made, the drive to attain a goal is suspended--allowing goal-related cognitive activity to cease--and is resumed at the specified later time.     

The nonconscious cessation of goal pursuit: when goals and negative affect are coactivated

Extending on the recent investigation into the implicit affective processes underlying motivation and decision making, 5 studies examined the role of negative affect in moderating goal priming effects. Specifically, experimental effects on measures that typify motivational qualities of goal systems, such as keeping a goal at a heightened level of mental accessibility and exerting effort to work for a goal and experiencing desire to attain the goal, showed that the motivation and resultant operation of social goals cease when these goals are primed in temporal proximity of negatively valenced information. These goal cessation effects resulting from the mere coactivation of a goal and negative affect are discussed against the background of present research on nonconscious goal pursuit and the role of accessibility and desirability in the regulation of automatic goal-directed behavior.     

长时记忆中目标信息的即时性通达

采用移动窗口技术和探测词再认技术,探讨文本阅读过程中长时记忆中目标信息的即时性通达。实验1探讨当原目标尚未实现,新目标处于活跃状态,进入长时记忆的未实现的原目标是否对当前阅读产生影响。实验2探讨当原目标已经实现,新目标处于活跃状态,进入长时记忆的已实现的原目标是否对当前阅读产生影响。本实验结果初步证明,在含有目标信息的文本阅读中,未实现的原目标信息和已实现的目标信息都处于活跃状态,一旦出现与原目标焦点有关的信息,就会被通达与当前的信息进行整合,只是已实现的目标信息比未实现的目标信息通达的程度低。     

Implicit coordination: Sharing goals with similar others intensifies goal pursuit

The current research explored whether sharing intentionality leads to implicit coordination, a situation in which isolated individuals independently adopt a similar standard of behavior. We propose that knowing that a given goal is experienced in common with other in-group members or similar others intensifies goal pursuit. Two experiments examined whether simply being aware that one's own individual goal was also being separately pursued by similar others results in more goal-congruent behavior. When a promotion goal was shared with similar others, participants produced greater promotion behaviors than when the same goal was shared with different others. Similarly, sharing a prevention goal with similar others led to greater prevention behavior than conditions where a) similar others had a different goal and b) different others shared the same goal. Overall, shared goals served as an intensifier of individual goal pursuit. We discuss shared goals as a foundation for the emergence of social synchrony in groups.