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On the automatic evaluation of end-states.
1Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601, USA. mjf44@cornell.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|May 2, 2007
Summary
Automatic attitudes toward goals, like thinness or egalitarianism, predict goal pursuit, especially for behaviors hard to control. These implicit attitudes offer unique insights into motivation and self-regulation.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Attitude Measurement
- Self-Regulation
Background:
- Automatic attitudes influence behavior, but their role in goal pursuit is less understood.
- Implicit measures are crucial for understanding unconscious motivations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the predictive validity of automatic attitudes toward desired end-states (goals).
- To explore the role of automatic goal attitudes in predicting goal-directed behaviors, intentions, and judgments.
- To compare automatic goal attitudes with explicit motivation measures.
Main Methods:
- Four experimental studies were conducted.
- Participants' automatic attitudes toward specific goals (e.g., thinness, egalitarianism) were measured.
- Goal pursuit was assessed through behaviors, intentions, and judgments, differentiating between controllable and uncontrollable responses.
Main Results:
- Automatic attitudes toward goals significantly predicted goal pursuit, including behaviors and intentions.
- These implicit attitudes uniquely predicted behaviors and judgments difficult to monitor and control (e.g., subtle prejudice, restrained eating).
- Automatic goal attitudes showed predictive validity beyond explicit motivation measures and attitudes toward physical objects.
Conclusions:
- Automatic attitudes toward goals are valid predictors of goal pursuit, particularly for less controllable actions.
- Implicitly measured goal attitudes can serve as a valuable measure of motivation.
- Automatic evaluative processes play a significant role in goal pursuit and self-regulation.
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