Abstract
Goal contagion is a social-cognitive approach to understanding how other people’s behavior influences one’s goal pursuit: An observation of goal-directed behavior leads to an automatic inference and activation of the goal before it can be adopted and pursued thereafter by the observer. We conducted a meta-analysis focusing on experimental studies with a goal condition, depicting goal-directed behavior and a control condition. We searched four databases (PsychInfo, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and JSTOR) and the citing literature on Google Scholar, and eventually included e = 48 effects from published studies, unpublished studies and registered reports based on 4751 participants. The meta-analytic summary effect was small − g = 0.30, 95%CI [0.21; 0.40], τ² = 0.05, 95%CI [0.03, 0.13] − implying that goal contagion might occur for some people, compared to when this goal is not perceived in behavior. However, the original effect seemed to be biased through the current publication system. As shown by several publication-bias tests, the effect could rather be half the size, for example, selection model: g = 0.15, 95%CI [–0.02; 0.32]. Further, we could not detect any potential moderator (such as the presentation of the manipulation and the contrast of the control condition). We suggest that future research on goal contagion makes use of open science practices to advance research in this domain.
Highlights
Goals are essential to many species’ existence
As the GC effect was expected to be heterogeneous across studies, we intended to identify potential moderators of this effect, which we described in the theory section and in the supplementary materials
The results indicated a small summary effect of GC, Hedges’ g = 0.30, 95%CI [0.21, 0.40]5, which was accompanied by some heterogeneity across studies, Q(47) = 113.00, p < 0.001, τ2 = 0.05, 95%CI [0.03, 0.13], I2 = 57.57%, 95%CI [40.19%, 77.67%], H2 = 2.36, 95%CI [1.67, 4.48]
Summary
Goals are essential to many species’ existence. Understood as representations of desired states that are attainable through action (Kruglanski & Kopetz, 2009), they determine the upcoming steps of living beings as they strive to achieve something, be it nourishment, sex, company, or a place to hide. But beyond these aforementioned basic needs (Jolly, 1976; Maslow, 1943), our complex cognitive structure allows us to incorporate many goals in our daily life, like ‘catching the train to the workplace,’ ‘going grocery shopping,’ or ‘going jogging after work.’. We can plan ahead so that our daily goals serve as a means for higher-order goals like ‘earning money,’ ‘being healthy,’ or ‘keeping in shape,’ which usually serve self-regulatory purposes in the long run (Carver & Scheier, 1981, 2012). It is due to our cognitive architecture that we often monitor other people’s behavior as this can contain important information (e.g., My colleagues bring their home-cooked meals for lunch – I want to live healthily!). Observing other people’s goal-directed behavior might affect our own goals
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