Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T23:57:19.944Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Selfish Goal: Autonomously operating motivational structures as the proximate cause of human judgment and behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Julie Y. Huang  and
John A. Bargh
Julie Y. Huang
Affiliation:
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6, Canada and College of Business, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794. [email protected]
John A. Bargh
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Yale University New Haven, CT 06520. [email protected]/acmelab
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We propose the Selfish Goal model, which holds that a person's behavior is driven by psychological processes called goals that guide his or her behavior, at times in contradictory directions. Goals can operate both consciously and unconsciously, and when activated they can trigger downstream effects on a person's information processing and behavioral possibilities that promote only the attainment of goal end-states (and not necessarily the overall interests of the individual). Hence, goals influence a person as if the goals themselves were selfish and interested only in their own completion. We argue that there is an evolutionary basis to believe that conscious goals evolved from unconscious and selfish forms of pursuit. This theoretical framework predicts the existence of unconscious goal processes capable of guiding behavior in the absence of conscious awareness and control (the automaticity principle), the ability of the most motivating or active goal to constrain a person's information processing and behavior toward successful completion of that goal (the reconfiguration principle), structural similarities between conscious and unconscious goal pursuit (the similarity principle), and goal influences that produce apparent inconsistencies or counterintuitive behaviors in a person's behavior extended over time (the inconsistency principle). Thus, we argue that a person's behaviors are indirectly selected at the goal level but expressed (and comprehended) at the individual level.

Keywords

autonomygoalsinconsistencyindividual behaviormotivationprimingproximalselfself-interestunconscious
Type
Target Article
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 121 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aarts, H., Custwers, R. & Holland, R.W. (2007) The nonconscious cessation of goal pursuit: When goals and negative affect are coactivated. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92:165–78. Available at: http://goallab.nl/publications/documents/Aarts,%20Custers,%20Holland%20%282007%29%20-%20goal%20priming%20and%20negative%20affect.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aarts, H. & Dijksterhuis, A. (2000) Habits as knowledge structures: Automaticity in goal-directed behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78:53–63. Available at: http://goallab.nl/publications/documents/Aarts,%20Dijksterhuis%20%282000%29%20-%20habits%20as%20knowlegde%20structures.pdf.Google Scholar
Ajzen, I. & Fishbein, M. (1980) Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Allman, J. M. (2000) Evolving brains. Scientific American Library.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. L. (2010) Neural reuse: A fundamental organizational principle of the brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33:245–66. Available at: http://www.agcognition.org/papers/anderson_bbs_2010.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, N. H. (1968) Likableness ratings of 555 personality-trait words. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 9:272–79.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. C. & Pichert, J. W. (1978) Recall of previously unrecallable information following a shift in perspective. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 17:1–12. Available at: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Markman/PSY394/Anderson_Pichert.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aronson, E. (1995) The social animal. Worth.Google Scholar
Asch, S. E. (1952) Social psychology. Prentice-Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, J. W. & Birch, D. (1970) The dynamics of action. Wiley.Google Scholar
Austin, J. T. & Vancouver, J. B. (1996) Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin 120:338–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (2003) Working memory: Looking back and looking forward. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4:829–39. Available at: http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v4/n10/abs/nrn1201.html.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D. & Hitch, G. (1974) Working memory. In: The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 8, ed. Bower, G. H., pp. 47–89. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Baker, T. B., Piper, M. E., McCarthy, D. E., Majeskie, M. R. & Fiore, M. C. (2004) Addiction motivation reformulated: An affective processing model of negative reinforcement. Psychological Review 111:33–51. Available at: http://dionysus.psych.wisc.edu/lit/Articles/BakerT2004a.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Balcetis, E. & Dunning, D. (2006) See what you want to see: Motivational influences on perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91:612–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Balcetis, E. & Dunning, D. (2010) Wishful seeing: Desired objects are seen as closer. Psychological Science 21:147–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review 84:191–215. Available at: http://des.emory.edu/mfp/Bandura1977PR.pdf.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1986) Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bar-Anan, Y., Wilson, T. D. & Hassin, R. R. (2010) Inaccurate self-knowledge formation as a result of automatic behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 46:884–94.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (1984) Automatic and controlled processing of social information. In: Handbook of social cognition, Vol. 1, ed. Wyer, R. S. Jr. & Srull, T. K., pp. 1–41. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (1989) Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence on social perception and cognition. In: Unintended thought, ed. Uleman, J. & Bargh, J., pp. 3–51. Guilford. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Bargh1989.pdf.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (1990) Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction. In: Handbook of motivation and cognition, vol. 2, ed. Higgins, E. T. & Sorrentino, R. M., pp. 93–130. Guilford. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Bargh_1990.pdf.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (1992) Does subliminality matter to social psychology: Awareness of the stimulus versus awareness of its influence. In: Perception without awareness, ed. Bornstein, R. F. & Pittman, T. S., pp. 236–55. Guilford.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (1994) The four horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, intention, efficiency, and control in social cognition. In: Handbook of social cognition, 2nd ed., ed. Wyer, R. S. Jr. & Srull, T. K., pp. 1–40. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. (1999) The cognitive monster: The case against controllability of automatic stereotype effects. In: Dual process theories in social psychology, ed. Chaiken, S. & Trope, Y., pp. 361–82. Guilford. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Bargh_1999_Cog_Monster.pdf.Google Scholar
Bargh, J.A. (2006) What have we been priming all these years? On the development, mechanisms, and ecology of nonconscious social behavior. European Journal of Social Psychology 36:147–68. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Bargh_EJSP_2006.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargh, J. A., ed. (2007) Social psychology and the unconscious: The automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. & Chartrand, T. L. (2000) The mind in the middle: A practical guide to priming and automaticity research. In: Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology, ed. Reis, H. T. & Judd, C. M., pp. 253–316. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A., Chen, M. & Burrows, L. (1996) Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype priming on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71:230–44. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Chen_Bargh_PSPB1999.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargh, J. A. & Ferguson, M. J. (2000) Beyond behaviorism: The automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychological Bulletin 126:925–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., Lee-Chai, A., Barndollar, K. & Trotschel, R. (2001) The automated will: Unconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81:1004–27. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/AutomatedWill2001.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M. & Oettingen, G. (2010) Motivation. In: Handbook of social psychology (5th ed.), ed. Fiske, S., Gilbert, D. & Lindzey, G., pp. 268–316. Wiley.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A., Green, M. & Fitzsimons, G. (2008) The selfish goal: Unintended consequences of intended goal pursuits. Social Cognition 26:520–40. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/SelfishGoal_SocialCognition.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargh, J. A. & Morsella, E. (2008) The unconscious mind. Perspectives on Psychological Science 3:73–9. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Bargh_Morsella_Unconscious_Mind.pdf.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A. & Morsella, E. (2010) Unconscious behavioral guidance systems. In: Then a miracle occurs: Focusing on behavior in social psychological theory and research, ed. Agnew, C., Carlston, D., Graziano, W. & Kelly, J., pp. 89–118. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bargh, J. A., Schwader, K. L., Hailey, S. E., Dyer, R. L. & Boothby, E. J. (2012) Automaticity in social-cognitive processes. Trends in Cognitive Science 16:593–605.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M. & Tice, D. M. (1998) Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74:1252–65. Available at: http://faculty.washington.edu/jdb/345/345%20Articles/Baumeister%20et%20al.%20(1998).pdf.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. & Masicampo, E. J. (2010) Conscious thought is for facilitating social and cultural interactions: How mental simulations serve the animal-culture interface. Psychological Review 117:945–71. Available at: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~masicampo/BaumeisterMasicampo2010.pdf.Google Scholar
Bogen, J. E. (1995) On the neurophysiology of consciousness: II. Constraining the semantic problem. Consciousness and Cognition 4:137–58. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8521253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bongers, K. C. A., Dijksterhuis, A. & Spears, R. (2009) Self-esteem regulation after success or failure to attain unconsciously activated goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45:468–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, M. B. (1988) A dual process model of impression formation. In: Advances in social cognition Vol. 1, ed. Srull, T. K. & Wyer, R. S. Jr., pp. 1–36. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Brill, A. A. (1938) Introduction. In: The basic writings of Sigmund Freud, ed. & trans. Brill, A. A., pp. 1–32. Modern Library.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1957) On perceptual readiness. Psychological Review 64:123–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buchsbaum, B. & D'Esposito, M. (2008) The search for the phonological store: From loop to convolution. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20:762–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bugental, D. B. (2000) Acquisition of the algorithms of social life: A domain-based approach. Psychological Bulletin 126:187–19.Google Scholar
Buss, D. M., Haselton, M. G., Shackelford, T. K., Bleske, A. L. & Wakefield, J. C. (1998) Adaptations, exaptations, and spandrels. American Psychologist 53:532–48. Available at: http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Group/BussLAB/pdffiles/Adaptations_Exaptations_Spandrels_1998.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, D. T. (1974) Evolutionary epistemology. In: The philosophy of Karl Popper, ed. Schilpp, P. A., pp. 413–63. Open Court Publishing.Google Scholar
Cantor, N. & Blanton, H. (1996) Effortful pursuit of personal goals in daily life. In: The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior, ed. Bargh, J. A. & Gollwitzer, P. M., pp. 338–59. Guilford.Google Scholar
Chaiken, S. & Trope, Y. (1999) Dual process theories in social psychology. Guilford.Google Scholar
Chartrand, T. L. & Bargh, J. A. (1996) Automatic activation of social information processing goals: Nonconscious priming reproduces effects of explicit conscious instructions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71:464–78. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/chartrand_bargh_1996.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, M. & Bargh, J. A. (1999) Consequences of automatic evaluation: Immediate behavioral predispositions to approach or avoid the stimulus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25:215–24. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Chen_Bargh_PSPB1999.pdf.Google Scholar
Chen, S., Lee-Chai, A. Y. & Bargh, J. A. (2001) Relationship orientation as a moderator of the effects of social power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80:173–87. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/chen_lee-chai_bargh_2001.pdf.Google Scholar
Clark, M. S. & Mills, J. (1993) The difference between communal and exchange relationships: What it is and is not. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 19:684–91. Available at: http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/19/6/684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. D., Dunbar, K. & McClelland, J. L. (1990) On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing account of the Stroop effect. Psychological Review 97:332–61. Available at: http://www.csbmb.princeton.edu/ncc/publications/1990/CohenDunbarMcClelland1990.pdf.Google Scholar
Corballis, M. C. (2007) The evolution of consciousness. In: The Cambridge handbook of consciousness, ed. Zelazo, P. D., Moscovitch, M. & Thompson, E., pp. 571–95. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (2013) Evolutionary psychology: New perspectives on cognition and motivation. Annual Review of Psychology 64:201–09.Google Scholar
Crocker, J. & Park, L. E. (2004) The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin 130:392–414. Available at: http://wings.buffalo.edu/psychology/labs/SMRL/docs/Crocker%20and%20Park%20(2004a,%20Psych%20Bull).pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Custers, R. & Aarts, H. (2005) Positive affect as implicit motivator: On the nonconscious operation of behavioral goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89:129–42. Available at: http://goallab.nl/publications/documents/Custers,%20Aarts%20%282005%29%20-%20positive%20affect%20as%20implicit%20motivator.pdf.Google Scholar
Custers, R. & Aarts, H. (2010) The unconscious will: How the pursuit of goals operates outside of conscious awareness. Science 329:47–50. Available at: http://www.goallab.nl/publications/documents/Custers%20and%20Aarts%20-%20The%20unconscious%20will%20-%20Science%202010.pdf.Google Scholar
Custers, R., Maas, M., Wildenbeest, M. & Aarts, H. (2008) Nonconscious goal pursuit and the surmounting of physical and social obstacles. European Journal of Social Psychology 38:1013–22. Available at: http://www.goallab.nl/publications/documents/Custers,%20Maas,%20Wildenbeest,%20Aarts%20(2008)%20-%20nonconscious%20goal%20pursuit%20and%20obstacles.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darley, J. & Latane, B. (1968) Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 8:377–83. Available at: http://faculty.uncfsu.edu/tvancantfort/Syllabi/Gresearch/Readings/A_Darley.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darwin, C. (1859) The origin of species. P. F. Collier.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1976) The selfish gene. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Deacon, T. W. (1997) The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain. W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Dehaene, S. & Naccache, L. (2001) Towards a cognitive neuroscience of consciousness: Basic evidence and a workspace framework. Cognition 79:1–37. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11164022.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1991) Consciousness explained. Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1995) Darwin's dangerous idea: Evolution and the meanings of life. Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Devine, P. G. (1989) Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56:5–18. Available at: https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/wtcox/web/trishpubs_files/Devine%20%281989%29.pdf?uniq=-c4okl9.Google Scholar
Dijksterhuis, A. & Aarts, H. (2011) Goals, attention, and (un)consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology 61:467–90.Google Scholar
Dijksterhuis, A., Chartrand, T. L. & Aarts, H. (2007) Effects of priming and perception on social behavior and goal pursuit. In: Social psychology and the unconscious: The automaticity of higher mental processes, ed. Bargh, J. A., pp. 51–131. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Dijksterhuis, A. & van Knippenberg, A. (1998) The relation between perception and behavior or how to win a game of Trivial Pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74:865–77. Available at: http://www.unconsciouslab.nl/publications/Dijksterhuis%20Van%20Knippenberg%20-%20The%20Relation%20Between%20Perception%20and%20Behavior.pdf.Google Scholar
Donald, M. (1991) Origins of the modern mind. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Effron, D. A., Cameron, J. S. & Monin, B. (2009) Endorsing Obama licenses favoring whites. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 45:590–93. Available at: http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~monin/.Google Scholar
Elliot, A. J. & Fryer, J. W. (2008) The goal construct in psychology. In: Handbook of motivation science, vol. 18, ed. Shah, J. Y. & Gardner, W. L., pp. 235–50. Guilford.Google Scholar
Elster, J. (1990) Selfishness and altruism. In: Beyond self-interest, ed. Mansbridge, J. J., pp. 44–52. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Fazio, R. H. (1986) How do attitudes guide behavior? In The handbook of motivation and cognition, vol. 1, ed. Sorrentino, R. M. & Higgins, E. T., pp. 204–43. Guilford.Google Scholar
Fazio, R. H. (1990) Multiple processes by which attitudes guide behavior: The MODE model as an integrative framework. In: Advances in experimental social psychology, vol. 23, ed. Zanna, M. P., pp. 75–109. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ferguson, M. J. (2008) On becoming ready to pursue a goal you don't know you have: Effects of nonconscious goals on evaluative readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95:557–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, M. J. & Bargh, J. A. (2004) Liking is for doing: The effects of goal pursuit on automatic evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87:557–72. Available at: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/marketing/Ferguson%20BACKGROUND%20PAPER%20-%20Liking%20Is%20For%20Doing%20-%20The%20Effects%20of%20Goal%20Pursuit.pdf.Google Scholar
Ferguson, M. J., Bargh, J. A. & Nayak, D. A. (2005) After-affects: How automatic evaluations influence the interpretation of subsequent, unrelated stimuli. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 41:182–91.Google Scholar
Fishbach, A. & Dhar, R. (2005) Goals as excuses or guides: The liberating effect of perceived goal progress on choice. Journal of Consumer Research 32:370–77. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/FD_JCR_05.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishbach, A. & Ferguson, M. F. (2007) The goal construct in social psychology. In Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, 2nd ed., ed. Kruglanski, A. W. & Higgins, E. T., pp. 490–515. Guilford.Google Scholar
Fishbach, A., Friedman, R. S. & Kruglanski, A. W. (2003) Leading us not unto temptation: Momentary allurements elicit overriding goal temptation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84:296–309. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/tg.pdf.Google Scholar
Fishbach, A. & Shah, J. Y. (2006) Self-control in action: Implicit dispositions toward goals and away from temptations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90:820–32. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/FS_JPSP2006.pdf.Google Scholar
Fishbach, A. & Trope, Y. (2005) The substitutability of external control and self-control in overcoming temptation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 41:256–70. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/subst.pdf.Google Scholar
Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C. & Glick, P. (2007) Universal dimensions of social perception: Warmth and competence. Trends in Cognitive Science 11:77–83.Google Scholar
Fitzsimons, G. M. & Bargh, J. A. (2003) Thinking of you: Nonconscious pursuit of interpersonal goals associated with relationship partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84:148–64. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Fitzsimons_Bargh_JPSP2003.pdf.Google Scholar
Fitzsimons, G. M. & Fishbach, A. (2010) Shifting closeness: Interpersonal effects of personal goal progress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 98:535–49. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/FF_JPSP09.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fitzsimons, G. M. & Shah, J. Y. (2008) How goal instrumentality shapes relationship evaluations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95:319–37. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18665705.Google Scholar
Förster, J., Liberman, N. & Friedman, R. S. (2007) Seven principles of goal activation: A systematic approach to distinguishing goal priming from priming of non-goal constructs. Personality and Social Psychology Review 11:211–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Förster, J., Liberman, N. & Higgins, E. T. (2005) Accessibility from active and fulfilled goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 41:220–39. Available at: http://www.columbia.akadns.net/cu/psychology/higgins/papers/forsterlibermanhiggins2005.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, S. (1901) The psychopathology of everyday life, trans. Brill, A. A., Unwin, T. Fisher.Google Scholar
Frith, C. D., Blakemore, S.-J. & Wolpert, D. M. (2000) Abnormalities in the awareness and control of action. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 355:1771–88.Google Scholar
Gazzaniga, M. S. (1984) The social brain. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Godwin, C. A., Gazzaley, A. & Morsella, E. (2013) Homing in on the brain mechanisms linked to consciousness: Buffer of the perception-and-action interface. In: The unity of mind, brain and world: Current perspectives on a science of consciousness, ed. Pereira, A. & Lehmann, D., pp. 43–76. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999) Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist 54:493–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollwitzer, P. M. & Moskowitz, G. B. (1996) Goal effects on action and cognition. In: Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, ed. Higgins, E. T. & Kruglanski, A. W., pp. 361–99. Guilford.Google Scholar
Goodale, M. A., Milner, A. D., Jakobson, L. S. & Carey, D. P. (1991) A neurological dissociation between perceiving objects and grasping them. Nature 349:154–56.Google Scholar
Goschke, T. & Kuhl, J. (1993) Representation of intentions: Persisting activation in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 19:1211–26.Google Scholar
Greenwald, A. G. & Banaji, M. R. (1995) Implicit social cognition. Psychological Review 102:4–27.Google Scholar
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Gangestad, S. W., Perea, E. F., Shapiro, J. R. & Kenrick, D. T. (2009) Aggress to impress: Hostility as an evolved context-dependent strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96:980–94. Available at: http://www.csom.umn.edu/assets/125344.pdf.Google Scholar
Hamilton, D. L., Katz, L. B. & Leirer, V. O. (1980) Cognitive representation of personality impressions: Organizational processes in first impression formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39:1050–63.Google Scholar
Hassin, R. R. (2005) Nonconscious control and implicit working memory. In: The new unconscious, ed. Hassin, R. R., Uleman, J. S. & Bargh, J. A., pp. 196–222. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hastie, R. & Park, B. (1986) The relationship between memory and judgment depends on whether the judgment task is memory-based or online. Psychological Review 93:258–68.Google Scholar
Hastorf, A. H. & Cantril, H. (1954) They saw a game: A case study. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 49:129–34.Google Scholar
Heckhausen, H. (1991) Motivation and action. Springer.Google Scholar
Higgins, E. T. (1996) Knowledge activation: Accessibility, applicability, and salience. In: Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles, ed. Higgins, E. T. & Kruglanski, A. W., pp. 133–68. Guilford.Google Scholar
Hill, S. E. & Durante, K. M. (2011) Courtship, competition, and the pursuit of attractiveness: Mating goals facilitate health-related risk taking and strategic risk suppression in women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37:383–94.Google Scholar
Holland, R. W., Hendriks, M. & Aarts, H. (2005) Smells like clean spirit: Nonconscious effects of scent on cognition and behavior. Psychological Science 16:689–93. Available at: http://goallab.nl/publications/documents/Holland,%20Hendriks,%20Aarts%20%282005%29%20-%20noncsious%20effects%20of%20scent%20on%20behavior.pdf.Google Scholar
Jacob, F. (1977) Evolution and tinkering. Science 196:1161–66. Available at: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/196/4295/1161.full.pdf.Google Scholar
James, W. (1890/1981) Principles of psychology, Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jencks, C. (1990) Varieties of altruism. In: Beyond self-interest, ed. Mansbridge, J. J., pp. 53–67. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jost, J. T., Pietrzak, J., Liviatan, I., Mandisodza, A. N. & Napier, J. L. (2008) System justification as conscious and nonconscious goal pursuit. In: Handbook of motivation science, ed. Shah, J. & Gardner, W., pp. 591–605. Guilford.Google Scholar
Kay, A. C., Wheeler, S. C., Bargh, J. A. & Ross, L. (2004) Material priming: The influence of mundane physical objects on situational construal and competitive behavioral choice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 95:83–96. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WP2-CVX3K0-/2/e5b3aebe6709c76f8834518e97430d6e.Google Scholar
Kennedy, D., ed. (2005) 125 questions: What don't we know? [Special issue]. Science 309:5731.Google Scholar
Kenrick, D. T., Griskevicius, V., Neuberg, S. L. & Schaller, M. (2010) Renovating the pyramid of needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations. Perspectives on Psychological Science 5:292–314. Available at: http://www.csom.umn.edu/assets/144040.pdf.Google Scholar
Killeen, P. R. (2001) The four causes of behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science 10:36–40. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2600470/.Google Scholar
Kleiman, T. & Hassin, R. R. (2011) Non-conscious goal conflicts. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47:521–32.Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., Shah, J. Y., Fishbach, A., Friedman, R., Chun, W. Y. & Sleeth-Keppler, D. (2002) A theory of goal systems. In: Advances in experimental social psychology, vol. 34, ed. Zanna, M. P., pp. 331–78. Academic Press. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/ayelet.fishbach/research/advances.pdf.Google Scholar
Kuhl, J. (1984) Volitional aspects of achievement motivation and learned helplessness: Toward a comprehensive theory of action-control. In: Progress in experimental personality research, vol. 13, ed. Maher, B. A., pp. 99–171. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kuhl, J. & Weiss, M. (1994) Performance deficits following uncontrollable failure: Impaired action control or global attributions and generalized expectancy deficits? In Volition and personality: Action versus state orientation, ed. Kuhl, J. & Beckmann, J., pp. 317–28. Hogrefe & Huber.Google Scholar
Kunda, Z. (1990) The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 108:480–98. Available at: http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Kunda%20Z%20Motivated%20Reasoning%20Psych%20Bull%201990.pdf.Google Scholar
Kunda, Z. & Spencer, S. J. (2003) When do stereotypes come to mind and when do they color judgment? A goal-based theoretical framework for stereotype activation and application. Psychological Bulletin 129:522–44. Available at: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/ziva/psychbul2003.pdf.Google Scholar
Lashley, K. S. (1942) The problem of cerebral organization in vision. In: Visual mechanisms. Biological symposia, vol. 7, ed. Kluver, H., pp. 301–22. Cattell Press.Google Scholar
Lewin, K. (1926) Vorsatz, wille, und bedürfnis [Intention, will, and need]. Psychologische Forschung 7:330–85.Google Scholar
Lewin, K. (1935) A dynamic theory of personality. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Lhermitte, F. (1986) Human anatomy and the frontal lobes: Part II: Patient behavior in complex and social situations: The “environmental dependency syndrome.” Annals of Neurology 19:335–43.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (1990) A theory of goal setting and task performance. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002) Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task performance: A 35 year odyssey. American Psychologist 57:705–17.Google Scholar
Loersch, C. & Payne, B. K. (2012) On mental contamination: The role of (mis)attribution in behavior priming. Social Cognition 30:241–52.Google Scholar
Loewenstein, G. (1996) Out of control: Visceral influences on behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 65:272–92.Google Scholar
Loftus, E. F. & Klinger, M. R. (1992) Is the unconscious smart or dumb? American Psychologist 47:761–65. Available at: http://econshp2.econ.kuleuven.ac.be/consumerscience/SiteFiles/loftus-klinger-AmPsy-1992.pdf.Google Scholar
Lord, C. G., Ross, L. & Lepper, M. R. (1979) Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37:2098–109. Available at: http://www.psych.umn.edu/courses/spring07/borgidae/psy5202/readings/lord,%20ross%20&%20lepper%20%281979%29.pdf.Google Scholar
Mack, A. (2003) Inattentional blindness: Looking without seeing. Current Directions in Psychological Science 12:180–84. Available at: http://www.unc.edu/~pcg/225/documents/InattentionalBLindness2003.pdf.Google Scholar
Macphail, E. (1998) The evolution of consciousness. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G. V., Milne, A. B., Thorn, T. M. J. & Castelli, L. (1997) On the activation of social stereotypes: The moderating role of processing objectives. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 33:471–89. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJB-45KV10P-8&_user=483702&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F1997&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1577489557&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000022720&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=483702&md5=9afd6ad0e00045664577fae40a65ceda&searchtype=a.Google Scholar
Maddux, W. M., Barden, J., Brewer, M. B. & Petty, R. E. (2005) Saying no to negativity: The effects of context and motivation to control prejudice on automatic evaluative responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 41:19–35. Available at: http://faculty.insead.edu/maddux/personal/documents/JESPMotivePaper.pdf.Google Scholar
Maner, J. K., DeWall, C. N. & Gailliot, M. T. (2008) Selective attention to signs of success: Social dominance and early stage interpersonal perception. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34:488–501. Available at: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/maner/maner%20dewall%20gailliot%20PSPB%20attention%20dominance.doc.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, J. J. (1990) The rise and fall of self-interest in the explanation of political life. In: Beyond self-interest, ed. Mansbridge, J. J., pp. 3–22. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Marchetti, C. & Della Sala, S. D. (1998) Disentangling the alien and anarchic hand. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 3:191–207.Google Scholar
Marien, H., Custers, R., Hassin, R. R. & Aarts, H. (2012) Unconscious goal activation and the hijacking of the executive function. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103:399–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, R. L., Hicks, J. L. & Bink, M. L. (1998) Activation of completed, uncompleted, and partially completed intentions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 24:350–61. Available at: http://dtserv2.compsy.uni-jena.de/ss2008/psychnf_uj/72076412/content.nsf/Pages/88222F318051357DC1257441003DEEA8/$FILE/marsh%20et%20al%201998%20completed%20and%20uncompleted%20intentions.pdf.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. (1976) Evolution and the diversity of life. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
McCulloch, K. D., Ferguson, M. J., Kawada, C. & Bargh, J. A. (2008) Taking a closer look: On the operation of nonconscious impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44:614–23. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/McCulloch_et_al_JESP.pdf.Google Scholar
McKay, R. & Dennett, D. (2009) The evolution of misbelief: Our evolving beliefs about evolved misbelief. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32:493–561. Available at: http://homepage.mac.com/ryantmckay/McKay&Dennett09.pdf.Google Scholar
Mercier, H. & Sperber, D. (2011) Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34:57–74.Google Scholar
Merker, B. (2007) Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: A challenge for neuroscience and medicine. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 30:63–134.Google Scholar
Milgram, S. (1963) Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67:371–78.Google Scholar
Miller, D. T. (1999) The norm of self-interest. American Psychologist 54:1–8. Available at: http://cepr.org/meets/wkcn/3/3509/papers/Miller.pdf.Google Scholar
Milner, A. D. & Goodale, M. A. (1995) The visual brain in action. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mischel, W. (1973) Toward a cognitive social learning reconceptualization of personality. Psychological Review 80:252–83.Google Scholar
Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (1995) A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review 102:246–68.Google Scholar
Monin, B. & Miller, D. T. (2001) Moral credentials and the expression of prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81:33–43. Available at: http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~monin/.Google Scholar
Morewedge, C. K. & Kahneman, D. (2010) Associative processes in intuitive judgment. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 14:435–40. Available at: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/morewedg/personal/papers/IntuitiveJudgment.pdf.Google Scholar
Morsella, E. (2005) The function of phenomenal states: Supramodular interaction theory. Psychological Review 112:1000–21. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Morsella_2005.pdf.Google Scholar
Morsella, E. & Bargh, J. A. (2011) Unconscious action tendencies: Sources of “un-integrated' action. In: Handbook of social neuroscience, ed. Decety, J. & Cacioppo, J. T., pp. 335–47. Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/MorsellaBargh_HandbookSocNeuro.pdf.Google Scholar
Morsella, E., Krieger, S. C. & Bargh, J. A. (2009) Minimal neuroanatomy for a conscious brain: Homing in on the networks constituting consciousness. Neural Networks 23:14–15.Google Scholar
Moskowitz, G. B., Gollwitzer, P. M., Wasel, W. & Schaal, B. (1999) Preconscious control of stereotype activation through chronic egalitarian goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77:167–84. Available at: http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/99MosGollWasSchaal_Precons.pdf.Google Scholar
Murray, S. L., Derrick, J. L., Leder, S. & Holmes, J. G. (2008) Balancing connectedness and self-protection goals in close relationships: A levels-of-processing perspective on risk regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 94:429–59. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18284291.Google Scholar
Neisser, U. (1967) Cognitive psychology. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Neuberg, S. L., Kenrick, D. T., Maner, J. K. & Schaller, M. (2004) From evolved motives to everyday mentation: Evolution, goals, and cognition. In: Social motivation: Conscious and unconscious processes, ed. Forgas, J. & Williams, K., pp. 133–52. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Niedenthal, P. M. (1990) Implicit perception of affective information. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 26:505–27.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E. & Wilson, T. D. (1977) Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review 84:231–59.Google Scholar
Over, H. & Carpenter, M. (2009) Priming third-party ostracism increases affiliative imitation in children. Developmental Science 12:F1–8.Google Scholar
Panksepp, J. (1998) Affective neuroscience. The foundations of human and animal emotions. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Penfield, W. & Jasper, H. (1954) Epilepsy and the functional anatomy of the human brain. Little, Brown & Co.Google Scholar
Pervin, L. A. (1989, Ed.) Goal concepts in personality and social psychology. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Pessiglione, M., Schmidt, L., Draganski, B., Kalisch, R., Lau, H., Dolan, R. & Frith, C. (2007, 12 April) How the brain translates money into force: A neuroimaging study of subliminal motivation. Science 316:904–906. Available at: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2631941.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (1997) How the mind works. Norton.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. & Bloom, P. (1990) Natural language and natural selection. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13:707–84.Google Scholar
Popper, K. R. (1972) Objective knowledge: An evolutionary approach. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Posner, M. J. & Snyder, C. R. (1975) Attention and cognitive control. In: Information processing in cognition: The Loyola symposium, ed. Solso, R. L., pp. 55–85. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Roe, A. & Simpson, G. G., eds. (1958) Behavior and evolution. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R. & Fazio, R. H. (1992) On the orienting value of attitudes: Attitude accessibility as a determinant of an object's attraction of visual attention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63:198–211.Google Scholar
Ross, L. & Nisbett, R. E. (1991) The person and the situation: Perspectives of social psychology. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Schmidt, L., Palminteri, S., Lafargue, G. & Pessiglione, M. (2010) Splitting motivation: Unilateral effects of subliminal incentives. Psychological Science 21:977–83. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20511391.Google Scholar
Shah, J. Y. (2003) Automatic for the people: How representations of significant others implicitly affects goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84:661–81. Available at: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/84/4/661/.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shah, J. Y., Friedman, R. & Kruglanski, A. W. (2002) Forgetting all else: On the antecedents and consequences of goal shielding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83:1261–80. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12500810.Google Scholar
Sheeran, P., Gollwitzer, P. M. & Bargh, J. A. (2013) Nonconscious processes and health. Health Psychology 32:460–73.Google Scholar
Sherif, M., Harvey, O. J., White, B. J., Hood, W. R. & Sherif, C. (1961) Intergroup conflict and cooperation: The robbers cave experiment. The University Book Exchange.Google Scholar
Shiffrin, R. M. & Schneider, W. (1977) Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory. Psychological Review 84:127–90.Google Scholar
Simon, H. A. (1956) Rational choice and the structure of the environment. Psychological Review 63:129–38.Google Scholar
Simons, D. J. & Chabris, C. F. (1999) Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events. Perception 28:1059–74. Available at: http://wexler.free.fr/library/files/simons%20(1999)%20gorillas%20in%20our%20midst.%20sustained%20inattentional%20blindness%20for%20dynamic%20events.pdf.Google Scholar
Sinclair, L. & Kunda, Z. (2000) Motivated stereotyping of women: She's fine if she praised me but incompetent if she criticized me. Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin 26:1329–42. Available at: http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/26/11/1329.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1953) Science and human behavior. Macmillan.Google Scholar
Smith, E. E. & Jonides, J. (1998) Storage and executive processes in the frontal lobes. Science 283:1657–61. Available at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/283/5408/1657?ijkey=HiJyaWahcPzIA.Google Scholar
Spencer, S. J., Fein, S., Wolfe, C., Fong, C. & Dunn, M. (1998) Automatic activation of stereotypes: The role of self-image threat. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 24:1139–52. Available at: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/ogandy/C53704read/automaticactivation.pdf.Google Scholar
Srull, T. K. & Wyer, R. S. Jr. (1979) The role of category accessibility in the interpretation of information about persons: Some determinants and implications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37:1660–72.Google Scholar
Strack, F. & Deutsch, R. (2004) Reflective and impulsive determinants of behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review 8:220–47. Available at: https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/fileadmin/uniwue/_temp_/02strack_und_deutsch.pdf.Google Scholar
Strack, F. & Deutsch, R. (in press) The duality of everyday life: Dual-process and dual-system models in social psychology. In: Handbook of personality and social psychology, vol. 1, attitudes and social cognition, ed. Borgida, E. & Bargh, J.. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Stroebe, W., Mensink, W., Aarts, H., Schut, H. & Kruglanski, A. W. (2008) Why dieters fail: Testing the goal conflict model of eating. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44:26–36. Available at: http://www.goallab.nl/publications/documents/Stroebe,%20Mensink,%20Aarts,%20Schut,%20Kruglanski%20(2008)%20-%20why%20dieters%20fail.pdf.Google Scholar
Suhler, C. L. and Churchland, P. S. (2009) Control: conscious and otherwise. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13:341–47.Google Scholar
Symons, D. (1992) On the use and misuse of Darwinism in the study of human behavior. In: The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture, ed. Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J., pp. 137–59. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tetlock, P. E. (2002) Social functionalist frameworks for judgments and choice: Intuitive politicians, theologians, and prosecutors. Psychological Review 109:451–71. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12088240.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T. & Moll, H. (2005) Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28:675–91. Available at: http://email.eva.mpg.de/~tomas/pdf/BBS_Final.pdf.Google Scholar
Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (1992) The psychological foundations of culture. In: The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture, ed. Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J., pp. 19–136. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Van Bavel, J. J. & Cunningham, W. A. (2009) Self-categorization with a novel mixed-race group moderates automatic social and racial biases. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35:321–35. doi: 10.1177/0146167208327743.Google Scholar
Veling, H. & van Knippenberg, A. (2006) Shielding intentions from distraction: Forming an intention induces inhibition of distracting stimuli. Social Cognition 24:409–25. Available at: http://www.goallab.nl/publications/documents/Veling,%20van%20Knippenberg%20%282006%29%20-%20shielding%20intentions%20from%20distraction.pdf.Google Scholar
Veltkamp, M., Aarts, H. & Custers, R. (2008) Perception in the service of goal pursuit: Motivation to attain goals enhances the perceived size of goal-instrumental objects. Social Cognition 26:720–36. Available at: http://goallab.nl/publications/documents/Veltkamp,%20Aarts,%20Custers%20%28in%20press%29%20Social%20Cognition.pdf.Google Scholar
Vohs, K. D., Mead, N. L. & Goode, M. R. (2006) The psychological consequences of money. Science 314:1154–56. Available at: http://carlsonschool.umn.edu/Assets/71704.pdf.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
von Hippel, W. & Trivers, R. (2011) The evolution and psychology of self-deception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34:1–16.Google Scholar
Webb, T. L. & Sheeran, P. (2006) Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin 132:249–68.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M. (2002) The illusion of conscious will. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Whitman, W. (1855/1960) Leaves of grass. Viking Press. (Original work published in 1855.)Google Scholar
Wiers, R. W., Houben, K., Roefs, A., de Jong, P., Hofmann, W. & Stacy, A. W. (2010) Implicit cognition in health psychology: Why common sense goes out the window. In: Handbook of implicit social cognition, ed. Gawronski, B. & Payne, B. K., pp. 463–88. Guilford.Google Scholar
Wilson, T. D. & Brekke, N. (1994) Mental contamination and mental correction: Unwanted influences on judgments and evaluations. Psychological Bulletin 116:117.Google Scholar