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The Science of Goal
Achievement
Some facts about what really
drives us
There is so much theory surrounding goal achievement it
can be hard to know what approach really works and who
to believe. Here we have gathered some facts about
what’s really going on when it comes to achieving your
goals, motivation and taking action based on published
scientific research, not hearsay!
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1. The un-conscious mind is in control
There is increasing scientific evidence to support the fact that much of our
decision-making and a lot of our feelings are based on things that we're not really
aware of, that are driven by our un-conscious mind. Below is some research that
suggests the un-conscious mind also has a large role to play in the pursuit of our
goals.
1. Hebrew University psychologists examined the benefit of non-conscious goal pursuit - moving toward a desired goal without being aware of doing so (“Non-
conscious Goal Pursuit in Novel Environments: The Case of Implicit Learning” Psychological Science March 2008).
o The non-consciously motivated group undertook a word search involving achievement based words and the control group undertook an achievement neutral word search before embarking on the task of producing a certain level of sugar in a sugar factory simulation. Neither group was told about the complex relationships within the simulation, but the non-consciously motivated group developed skills to control the factory more effectively than the control group.
o The authors concluded that “The study suggests that an unintentional, mechanism of implicit learning is related to our non-conscious wanting and works towards attaining our non-conscious goals. Such unconscious processes may be responsible for far more of human ability than is yet recognized”.
2. A researcher at Ohio State University carried out numerous research studies on how goals affect our mood. Tanya Chartrand found that unconscious goals can have significant effect on how we feel and act, and even on how well we achieve other goals.
o The experiments were designed so that some participants had a goal at succeeding at a certain task (but were not aware of this) and their mood measured. For the participants with non-conscious goals their mood was affected by success or failure, but for the control group success or failure had no affect on mood.
o "Non-conscious goal pursuit is incredibly pervasive because it saves us cognitive resources," she said. "If we constantly had to think about what we want to accomplish in every particular situation, we wouldn't be able to do anything else.”
o Her studies also showed that people who fail at non-conscious goals try to bolster their self-esteem by stereotyping or disparaging others. "If you fail at a conscious goal, you know why you're in a bad mood. But if you fail at a non-conscious goal you don't know why you're in this mystery
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mood and you're more likely to stereotype others to help enhance your self-esteem."
3. Research by the University of Illinois has shown that those who ask themselves whether they will perform a task generally do better than those who tell themselves that they will. The popular idea is that self-affirmations enhance people's ability to meet their goals, however, this study showed that when it comes to performing a specific behaviour, asking questions is a more promising way of achieving your objectives. (2010 edition of the Journal Psychological Science.)
o Professor Albarracin's team suspected that it was related to an
unconscious formation of the question "Will I" and its effects on motivation. By asking themselves a question “Will I”, people were more likely to build their own motivation then by telling themselves “I Will”.
The implication of all of this is that when it comes to achieving your goals you really need to dig below the surface and ask more probing questions of yourself. If you have a goal and you are not meeting it, it may be that you are meeting some other goal that is beneficial to you somewhere within your subconscious. Understanding this can make a big difference to how you achieve.
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2. Focus on long-term, important goals
According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, people who focus on long-term goals are more likely to resist unhealthy urges. The researchers investigated how health messages affect self-control. The authors found that participants showed less self-control on health tasks when they focused on their immediate situations. In contrast, when they looked to the future and linked the health task to important long-term goals, they exerted self-control and were not affected by being tired or depleted.
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3. Have a living plan
Professor Richard Wiseman carried out two studies into the psychology of motivation which tracked 5000 people who were attempting to achieve a wide range of goals. By the end only 10% of people had successfully achieved their aims. The key strategies that the successful people employed included:
o Having a clear plan with mini steps that lead to the overall goal achievement. This was especially the case when the steps were specific, well defined with timescales and clear measures to track progress.
o Successful participants also made their plan visible to others around them. In number of studies going public was found to be motivating in helping people achieve their goals. (Self reinforcement effects: An artefact of social setting.
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Journal of applied behaviour analysis 1985).
o The successful participants also tended to commit their plans to paper – writing in a journal, keeping a record computer or putting into an action document. The act of writing stuff down and constantly reviewing the plan had the effect of turning it into something “real” and allowed participants to track progress.
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4. The third person perspective can help
1. Switching your point of view from the first-person to a third-person perspective (watching oneself from the perspective of another person) when reviewing your progress, can help you achieve, according to studies conducted at Cornell University. (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 88, No.1, 2005).
o They found that perspective can influence your interpretation of events. “In a situation in which change is likely, we find that observing yourself as a third person -- looking at yourself from an outside observer's perspective -- can help accentuate the changes you've made more than using a first-person perspective," says Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology at Cornell. “When people perceive change, they get some satisfaction from their efforts, which, in turn, can give them more motivation to keep on working toward a goal”.
2. Three studies explored two ways to visualize future performances – first person and third person. The authors’ found that the third person perspective resulted in greater motivation to succeed at the task, especially when people imagined themselves performing well. The increased third person perspective appears to assign greater meaning to the task. (Seeing Future Success: Does Imagery Perspective
Influence Achievement Motivation? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2007)
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5. Think why not how
People who become focused on how to achieve a goal may have a harder time achieving their aims than people who think abstractly about why they want to do something, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. ("Letting
Good Opportunities Pass Us By: Examining the Role of Mindset during Goal Pursuit." Journal of Consumer Research: December 2010.)
o The authors found that when people focus on concrete aspects of how they want to achieve goals, they become more closed-minded and less likely to take advantage of opportunities that fall outside their plans. And, in contrast, people who focus on the why are more likely to consider out-of-plan opportunities to achieve their goals.
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o Planning is more effective when people think abstractly, keep an open
mind, and remind themselves of why they want to achieve a goal.
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6. Get immediate feedback
Psychology scientists at the University of Alberta in Canada investigated how the timing of expected feedback impacted individuals' performance. The results revealed a very interesting relationship between how soon students expect to receive their grades and their performance.
o Students who were told they would receive feedback quickly on their performance earned higher grades than students who expected feedback at a later time.
o Furthermore, when students expected to receive their grades quickly, they predicted that their performance would be worse than students who were to receive feedback later.
o This pattern suggests that anticipating rapid feedback may improve performance because the threat of disappointment is more prominent. As the authors note, "People do best precisely when their predictions about their own performance are least optimistic."
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If you know of other research that helps people understand the nature of goal setting and achievement
please let us know!
Contact [email protected]
For more information on our performance coaching contact us on 0161 980 1371
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