Physics

Neuroscience

Perception

Action (physics)

Biology

Situational ethics

Germination

Lexical decision task

Adaptation (eye)

Cognition

Cognitive psychology

Response priming

Management

Psychology

Economics

Construal level theory

Goal pursuit

Task (project management)

Botany

Quantum mechanics

Social psychology

Priming (agriculture)

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

It is proposed that goals can be activated outside of awareness and then operate nonconsciously to guide self-regulation effectively (J. A. Bargh, 1990). Five experiments are reported in which the goal either to perform well or to cooperate was activated, without the awareness of participants, through a priming manipulation. In Experiment 1 priming of the goal to perform well caused participants to perform comparatively better on an intellectual task. In Experiment 2 priming of the goal to cooperate caused participants to replenish a commonly held resource more readily. Experiment 3 used a dissociation paradigm to rule out perceptual-construal alternative explanations. Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that action guided by nonconsciously activated goals manifests two classic content-free features of the pursuit of consciously held goals. Nonconsciously activated goals effectively guide action, enabling adaptation to ongoing situational demands.

The automated will: Nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals.