Goal Priming and the Affective-Motivational Route to Nonconscious Goal Pursuit

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 555-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk Aarts ◽  
Ruud Custers ◽  
Martijn Veltkamp
2004 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 975-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Oikawa

The aim of this study was to test the assumption that nonconscious goal pursuit guides behavior more efficiently and produces better performance, only when the conscious monitoring of the task is low. Some studies have documented that goals can be activated and guide behaviors outside of awareness. 66 students, 22 men and 44 women with a mean age of 18.3 yr. ( SD = 0.9) years, were randomly assigned to Achievement Goal Priming or Neutral Priming conditions. In the Achievement Goal Priming condition, concepts associated with high performance were activated outside of their awareness via a scrambled sentence task. All participants were then given a calculation task to complete. To manipulate conscious monitoring, half of the participants were presented the task as a fun filler task, and the rest were presented the task as a measure of ability and were encouraged to monitor their performance on the task consciously. Analysis showed, among participants who were presented the task as a fun filler task, the Achievement Goal Priming group completed more tasks relative to the Neutral Priming group. Those who were encouraged to monitor their performance consciously did not benefit from Achievement Goal priming. The results implied that consciously monitored behavior might be counterproductive.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine R. Gamble ◽  
Lauren C. Westbay ◽  
James H. Howard ◽  
Darlene V. Howard

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison M. Detloff ◽  
Ahmad R. Hariri ◽  
Timothy J. Strauman

Abstract Regulatory focus theory (RFT) postulates two cognitive-motivational systems for personal goal pursuit: the promotion system, which is associated with ideal goals (an individual’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations), and the prevention system, which is associated with ought goals (an individual’s duties, responsibilities, and obligations). The two systems have been studied extensively in behavioral research with reference to differences between promotion and prevention goal pursuit as well as the consequences of perceived attainment versus nonattainment within each system. However, no study has examined the neural correlates of each combination of goal domain and goal attainment status. We used a rapid masked idiographic goal priming paradigm and functional magnetic resonance imaging to present individually selected promotion and prevention goals, which participants had reported previously that they were close to attaining (“match”) or far from attaining (“mismatch”). Across the four priming conditions, significant activations were observed in bilateral insula (Brodmann area (BA) 13) and visual association cortex (BA 18/19). Promotion priming discriminantly engaged left prefrontal cortex (BA 9), whereas prevention priming discriminantly engaged right prefrontal cortex (BA 8/9). Activation in response to promotion goal priming was also correlated with an individual difference measure of perceived success in promotion goal attainment. Our findings extend the construct validity of RFT by showing that the two systems postulated by RFT, under conditions of both attainment and nonattainment, have shared and distinct neural correlates that interface logically with established network models of self-regulatory cognition.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paulina Gantman ◽  
Gabriele Oettingen ◽  
Peter M. Gollwitzer

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