Goal Contagion: Perceiving Is for Pursuing

Six studies examined the goal contagion hypothesis, which claims that individuals may automatically adopt and pursue a goal that is implied by another person's behavior. Participants were briefly exposed to behavioral information implying a specific goal and were then given the opportunity to a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2004-07, Vol.87 (1), p.23-37
Main Authors: Aarts, Henk, Gollwitzer, Peter M, Hassin, Ran R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention
Automatism
Biological and medical sciences
Contagion
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Goals
Human
Human behaviour
Humans
Imitative Behavior
Male
Motivation
Perception
Perceptions
Personality. Affectivity
Pilot Projects
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social Behavior
Social Perception
Social psychology
Stimulus Parameters
Theories
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Summary:Six studies examined the goal contagion hypothesis, which claims that individuals may automatically adopt and pursue a goal that is implied by another person's behavior. Participants were briefly exposed to behavioral information implying a specific goal and were then given the opportunity to act on the goal in a different way and context. Studies 1-3 established the goal contagion phenomenon by showing that the behavioral consequences of goal contagion possess features of goal directedness: (a) They are affected by goal strength, (b) they have the quality of goal appropriateness, and (c) they are characterized by persistence. Studies 4-6 show that people do not automatically adopt goals when the observed goal pursuit is conducted in an unacceptable manner, because the goal will then be perceived as unattractive. The results are discussed in the context of recent research on automatic goal pursuits.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.87.1.23