The nonconscious cessation of goal pursuit: when goals and negative affect are coactivated.

Full Abstract

Extending on the recent investigation into the implicit affective processes underlying motivation and decision making, 5 studies examined the role of negative affect in moderating goal priming effects. Specifically, experimental effects on measures that typify motivational qualities of goal systems, such as keeping a goal at a heightened level of mental accessibility and exerting effort to work for a goal and experiencing desire to attain the goal, showed that the motivation and resultant operation of social goals cease when these goals are primed in temporal proximity of negatively valenced information. These goal cessation effects resulting from the mere coactivation of a goal and negative affect are discussed against the background of present research on nonconscious goal pursuit and the role of accessibility and desirability in the regulation of automatic goal-directed behavior.((c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Aarts, Henk (H); Custers, Ruud (R); Holland, Rob W (RW);

Affiliation: Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands. h.aarts(-atsign-)fss.uu.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Feb; vol 92 (issue 2) : pp 165-78

Dates: Created 2007/02/06; Completed 2007/03/13;

PMID: 17279843, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

Motives of the human animal: comprehending, managing, and sharing inner states. 30 Dec 2007
[Consciousness and emotion] 29 Nov 2007
Location and longing: the nicotine craving experience in virtual reality. 17 Feb 2008
Facing a real person: an event-related potential study. 3 Mar 2008
Botox for the brain: enhancement of cognition, mood and pro-social behavior and blunting of unwanted memories. 9 Jan 2008
The MDS Challenging Behavior Profile for long-term care. 30 Dec 2007
Free recall and forgetting of emotionally arousing words in autism spectrum disorder. 20 Mar 2008
Oxytocin attenuates affective evaluations of conditioned faces and amygdala activity. 23 Jun 2008
The effects of estradiol on central serotonergic systems and its relationship to mood in women. 29 Sep 2007
Rapid picture processing: affective primes and targets. 29 Sep 2007

See 100+ related articles.