Goals

The Psychology of

 We

cannot think, feel, will, or act without the perception of some goal. . . . All activity would persist in the stage of uncontrolled groupings; the economy visible in our psychic life unattained.
Alfred Adler

 Goals

are the guides that direct all nonreflexive and non-accidental human responding.

Human response
reflexive

responses accidental responses maintain a desired state willpower

4 Themes in the Study of Goals

Goals Connect the Person to the Situation

Goals Provide Meaning

Goals, as mental representations that are linked to cues in the environment, connect the person to the situation through specifying desirability (affect and value) and feasibility (efficacy and opportunity). Goals provide the person with meaning and a sense of having control over his/her environment. Goals connect the wants of the person to instrumental activity (cognitive and behavioral activity), directing his/her commerce with the world. Goals have consequences that do not require consciousness of either the goal or the consequencesone need not experience a sense of being willful.

Goals Provide a Basis for Instrumental Activity

Goals and Consciousness

WHAT ARE GOALS ?

What

Is So Special (and Non-special) about Goals?: A View from the Cognitive Perspective Goals in the Context of the Hierarchical Model of ApproachAvoidance Motivation Goal Content Theories: Why Differences in What We Are Striving for Matter The Neuroscience of Goal Pursuit: Bridging Gaps between Theory and Data The Selfish Goal

HOW ARE GOALS SELECTED?

Fantasies

Setting How Does Our Unconscious Know What We Want?: The Role of Affect in Goal Representations Goal Priming Moments of Motivation: Margins of Opportunity in Managing the Efficacy, Need, and Transitions of Striving

and Motivationally Intelligent Goal

HOW ARE GOALS PURSUED?

Five Markers of Motivated Behavior Normal and Pathological Consequences of Encountering Difficulties in Monitoring Progress toward Goals The Compensatory Nature of Goal Pursuit: From Explicit Action to Implicit Cognition When Persistence Is Futile: A Functional Analysis of Action Orientation and Goal Disengagement Goal Implementation: The Benefits and Costs of IfThen Planning Regulatory Focus: Classic Findings and New Directions

CONSEQUENCES OF GOAL PURSUIT

Self-Regulatory

Resource Depletion: A Model for Understanding the Limited Nature of Goal Pursuit Goals and (Implicit) Attitudes: A SocialCognitive Perspective Mystery Moods: Their Origins and Consequences Regulatory Fit in the Goal-Pursuit Process