Moderation of Automatic Achievement Goals by Conscious Monitoring

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the assumption that nonconscious goal pursuit guides behavior more efficiently and produces better performance, only when the conscious monitoring of the task is low. Some studies have documented that goals can be activated and guide behaviors outside of awareness. 66 students, 22 men and 44 women with a mean age of 18.3 yr. (SD=0.9) years, were randomly assigned to Achievement Goal Priming or Neutral Priming conditions. In the Achievement Goal Priming condition, concepts associated with high performance were activated outside of their awareness via a scrambled sentence task. All participants were then given a calculation task to complete. To manipulate conscious monitoring, half of the participants were presented the task as a fun filler task, and the rest were presented the task as a measure of ability and were encouraged to monitor their performance on the task consciously. Analysis showed, among participants who were presented the task as a fun filler task, the Achievement Goal Priming group completed more tasks relative to the Neutral Priming group. Those who were encouraged to monitor their performance consciously did not benefit from Achievement Goal priming. The results implied that consciously monitored behavior might be counterproductive.