The Psychology of Action
Linking Cognition and Motivation to Behavior
Edited by Peter M. Gollwitzer and John A. Bargh
“This book is a must read for...academics teaching courses such as motivation and emotion, the psychology of motivation, or cognitive psychology where the topic of affect is addressed to some degree. If you want to get the latest theorizing for your students or your own personal research, I recommend that you get your hands on this volume.”
—Journal of Psychology and Christianity
“This book is a must read for anyone interested in human motivation. In this well-edited volume, top theorists and researchers bring us up to date on their efforts to integrate cognition and motivation through the use of goal concepts and a focus on action. Not only is motivation back but along with it such important topics as intention, willpower, self-regulation, and the dynamics of action.”
—Lawrence A. Pervin, Ph.D., Rutgers University
“The artificial separation of cognition and motivation was an unfortunate by-product of the demise of grand theories in psychology. This book takes a large step toward re-integrating these constructs. It does more, however: it integrates the new with old. Although the scholarship that enlightens these chapters is impressive in its currency, the underlying issues addressed—the role of consciousness in life, the operation of choice and will in action, the basically functional nature of behavior—take us back to our roots in the great age of the classical approaches.”
—Russell G. Geen, Ph.D., Curators' Professor of Psychology, University of Missouri
“The aspiration of the editors implied in the title of this important volume—to find a link between action and cognition—is as admirable as it is risky. For decades, cognition has relied heavily on the computer model of the mind, and like the computer, had no conceptual instruments to allow for derivations about behavior and action. Action could be modeled in the robotics. But the robot that engages in motion requires an external source of energy, independent of the software that runs it. This is not so in the case of living organisms where `software' and `hardware' are intimately interlaced. The editors are to be congratulated for taking the risk and achieving a most promising breakthrough in the search for a conceptual union between cognition and action.”
—Robert B. Zajonc, Ph.D.
Table of Contents
I. SOURCES AND CONTENTS OF ACTION GOALS1. All Goals Are Not Created Equal: An Organismic Perspective on the Nature of Goals and Their Regulation, Richard M. Ryan, Kennon M. Sheldon, Tim Kasser, and Edward L. Deci
2. Self-Regulation and Ego Threat: Motivated Cognition, Self-Deception, and Destructive Goal Setting, Roy F. Baumeister
3. On the Substitutability of Self-Protective Mechanisms, Abraham Tesser, Leonard L. Martin, and David P. Cornell
4. Implicit Theories as Organizers of Goals and Behavior, Carol S. Dweck
5. Ideals, Oughts, and Regulatory Outcome Focus: Relating Afect and Motivation to Distinct Pains and Pleasures, E. Tory Higgins
II. AFFECTIVE INFLUENCES ON ACTION GOALS
6. Feelings and Their Motivational Implications: Moods and the Action Sequence, Norbert Schwarz and Gerd Bohner
7. Depression, Control Motivation, and Person Perception, Gifford Weary and Katherine Gannon
8. Emotional Influences on Cognitive Processing, with Implications for Theories of Both, Eric Klinger
III. PREPARING TO ACT
A. Mental Construction of the Goal
9. From Good Intentions to Willpower, Walter Mischel
10. Mental Stimulation, Motivation, and Action, Shelley E. Taylor and Lien B. Pham
11. Positive Fantasy and Motivation, Gabrielle Oettingen
12. Time in Action: Dynamics and the Mental Control of Behavior, Robin R. Vallacher and J. Kaufman
B: Planning and Coordinating Action
13. The Volitional Benefits of Planning, Peter M. Gollwitzer
14. Striving and Feeling: Personal Goals and Subjective Well-Being, Robert A. Emmons
15. Effortful Pursuit of Personal Goals in Daily Life, Nancy Cantor and Hart Blanton
IV. EFFORTFUl CONTROL OF ACTION
16. Volitional Choices in the Goal Achievement Process, Edwin A. Locke and Amy Kristof
17. The Directive Influence of Attitudes on Behavior, Icek Ajzen
18. Self-Regulatory and Other Non-Ability-Related Determinants of Skill Acquisition, Ruth Kanfer
19. Brehm's Theory of Motivation as a Model of Effort and Cardiovascular Response, Rex A. Wright
V. NONCONSCIOUS CONTROL OF ACTION
20. Automaticity in Action: The Unconscious as Repository fo Chronic Goals and Motives, John A. Bargh and Kimberly Barndollar
21. The Feeling of Doing, Matthew E. Ansfield and Daniel M. Wegner
VI. GOAL INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL INTERACTION
22. Person Perception under Pressure: When Motivation Brings About Egocentrism, Robert A. Wicklund and Gisela Steins
23. Expectancy Influences in Social Interaction: The Moderating Role of Social Goals, Steven L. Neuberg
24. Beyond Accuracy: Defense and Impression Motives in Heuristic and Systematic Information Processing, Shelly Chaiken, Roger Giner-Sorolla, and Serena Chen
25. Awareness of Influence as a Precondition for Implementing Correctional Goals, Fritz Strack and Bettina Hannover
VII. DISCUSSIONS
26. Goals as Knowledge Structures, Arie W. Kruglanski
27. The Role of Conscious Thought in a Theory of Motivation and Cognition: The Uncertainty Orientation Paradigm, Richard M. Sorrentino
28. Some Ways in Which Goals Differ and Some Implications of Those Differences, Charles S. Carver
About the Editors
John A. Bargh is Professor of Psychology at New York University. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1981. He has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and is currently President of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. In 1989 he received the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association for his research on the automaticity of social cognition and perception.Peter M. Gollwitzer received his Diploma in Psychology from the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (Germany) in 1977, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981. In 1983 he joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychological Research in Munich and started research on the role of volition in motivation. Since 1993, Dr. Gollwitzer has held the social psychology and motivation chair at the University of Konstanz. His research interests focus on aspects of the willful pursuit of goals (e.g., identity goals, mindsets, implementation intentions).