Output Order Reflects the Cognitive Accessibility of Goals

Goal accessibility-the ease or speed with which a goal is activated- increases the likelihood that it will be acted on. The present studies validate output order as a measure of goal accessibility that can be applied to goal lists in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. In three studies, outpu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of social psychology 2012-01, Vol.152 (1), p.5-16
Main Authors: Grimes, Carrie E., Solberg Nes, Lise, Waldman, Andrea, Segerstrom, Suzanne C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
accessibility
Aspirations (Psychology)
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Cues
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Goals
Humans
Internal-External Control
Motion Pictures
Motivation
Objectives
Power (Psychology)
priming
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social attribution, perception and cognition
Social Identification
Social psychology
Students
Students - psychology
Validation studies
value
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Summary:Goal accessibility-the ease or speed with which a goal is activated- increases the likelihood that it will be acted on. The present studies validate output order as a measure of goal accessibility that can be applied to goal lists in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. In three studies, output order (the order in which goals are listed in a free-response format) was related to self-reported goal value but was not redundant with it. Furthermore, output order was affected by motivational priming whereas value was not, and order associated with typical student goals (e.g., achievement) compared with atypical goals (e.g., power). Output order is well suited to bring the study of accessibility to naturalistic studies of goals and goal pursuit.
ISSN:0022-4545
1940-1183
DOI:10.1080/00224545.2010.538761