The Linear Relationship Between the Difficulty Level Connoted by a Primed Goal and Task Performance

by

Alana S. Arshoff

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources University of Toronto

© Copyright by Alana S. Arshoff 2014

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The Linear Relationship Between the Difficulty Level Connoted by

a Primed Goal and Task Performance

Alana S. Arshoff

Doctor of Philosophy

Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources University of Toronto

2014

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was conducted to determine whether the linear relationship between

goal difficulty and performance exists in the domain of subconscious goals. Specifically, the

effect of primed goals that connote three levels of difficulty on subsequent performance was

examined. Participants (n=122) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions where they

were either primed with a photograph of a person lifting 20 pounds (easy goal), 200 pounds

(moderately difficult goal), 400 pounds (difficult goal), or were not primed (control condition).

Participants were asked to press as hard as they could on a digital weight scale. Participants who

were primed with the difficult goal of a photograph of a person lifting 400 pounds pressed

significantly harder on the scale than those who were primed with the easy goal of a photograph

of a person lifting 20 pounds, the moderate goal of 200 pounds, and those who were not primed.

The results of this study are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical significance.

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Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Gary Latham, for his support, coaching,

and patience. I am incredibly grateful for everything I have learned from you. I also want to

thank my committee members, Dr. Maria Rotundo and Dr. Morley Gunderson, for their

guidance, feedback, and insight. In addition, I would like to thank the following people who have

been instrumental in my development as a doctoral student: Dr. Jelena Brcic, Dr. Michele

Campolieti, Carol Canzano-Hamala, Dr. Xiao Chen, Dr, Marlys Christianson, Dr. Katy

DeCelles, Edith Kosow, Dr. Geoff Leonardelli, and Dr. Lori Riznek.

To my parents, Fred and Marilyn, thank you for your love and support. Your

encouragement and involvement in my education has contributed significantly to my success. To

my sister, Lauren, thank you for your love and friendship. To my fiancé’s family, thank you for

your love and encouragement. Finally, to my loving fiancé, David, thank you for your love,

positivity, and optimism. I cannot thank you enough for always being there as my biggest

champion and believer.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

Goal setting theory ..................................................................................................................... 1

Mediators ............................................................................................................................ 2

Moderators .......................................................................................................................... 2

The automaticity model.............................................................................................................. 3

The replicability problem........................................................................................................... 3

Integrating research on the automaticity model with goal setting theory .................................. 4

Importance of research............................................................................................................... 4

Hypothesis................................................................................................................................... 5

Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Literature review ........................................................................................................................ 7

Goal setting theory ..................................................................................................................... 7

Mediators ............................................................................................................................ 8

Moderators ........................................................................................................................ 11

Subconscious goals .................................................................................................................. 12

The automaticity model.................................................................................................... 12

Priming ............................................................................................................................ 13

Primed subconscious goals in social psychology............................................................. 16

Automaticity research in HRM ........................................................................................ 18

Integrating results of research on the automaticity model with goal setting theory ........ 28

Current research ............................................................................................................... 30

Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 31

Experiment ............................................................................................................................... 31

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Method ..................................................................................................................................... 31

Sample............................................................................................................................... 31

Procedure .......................................................................................................................... 31

Chapter 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 33

Results ...................................................................................................................................... 33

Awareness ................................................................................................................................ 33

Hypothesis................................................................................................................................ 33

Chapter 5 ..................................................................................................................................... 35

Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 35

Theoretical and practical significance ...................................................................................... 35

Limitations and directions for future research .......................................................................... 38

References .................................................................................................................................... 41

List of tables ................................................................................................................................ 55

Table 1: Descriptive statistics ................................................................................................. 55

List of figures .............................................................................................................................. 56

Figure 1: Linear relationship between primed goal and task performance .............................. 56

List of appendices........................................................................................................................ 57

Appendix 1: Word search ........................................................................................................ 57

Appendix 2: Primed goals ........................................................................................................ 58

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Chapter 1 Introduction

In this chapter, an overview of the author’s research is presented. Chapter 2 reviews the

literature underlying the hypothesis that was tested. Chapter 3 explains the methodology for

testing the hypothesis. Chapter 4 presents the results. The discussion of the results is in Chapter

5.

Goal Setting Theory Goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002, 2013) has been studied extensively in

the field of human resource management (HRM). Four decades of empirical research has

demonstrated that goal setting theory is one of, if not the most, valid and practical theory of

motivation in the workplace (Miner, 2003; Mitchell & Daniels, 2003; Pinder, 1998). The theory

is based on more than 1000 studies conducted in eight countries, on 88 different tasks in both

laboratory and field settings for time spans ranging from one minute to 25 years where goals

were assigned to individuals, set by the individual, or set participatively by the individual and a

manager (Locke & Latham, 1990; Mitchell & Daniels, 2003). The theory states that individuals

who consciously set specific, difficult goals perform better than those who set an easy goal, no

goal, or those who are simply encouraged to do their best. In short, there is a linear relationship

between the difficulty level of a goal and subsequent performance. A goal is defined as what an

individual or team is trying to accomplish; it is the object or aim of an action (Locke, Shaw,

Saari, & Latham, 1981).

Given that goal setting theory is one of the most pervasive theories in HRM (Latham,

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1983; Latham & Arshoff, 2013), researchers have conducted studies to explain the goal-

performance relationship and to test under what conditions the relationship exists. Through this

research, scholars have identified the mediators and moderators of the goal-performance

relationship.

Mediators

Four mediators explain the goal-performance relationship. One mediator is goal choice

namely, direction or attention (e.g., Bagozzi & Warshaw, 1990). Goal specificity focuses an

individual to work in a certain direction. A second mediator is effort (e.g., Hinsz & Ployhart,

1998). A goal regulates an individual’s effort so that it is proportionate to the difficulty of the

goal. A third mediator is persistence (e.g., Bavelas & Lee, 1978). Setting a specific, challenging

goal causes an individual to work longer and harder at a task. A fourth mediator is planning and

strategizing (e.g., Durham, Knight, & Locke, 1997). Engaging in goal setting results in an

individual planning and strategizing ways to attain their goal (e.g., Latham & Arshoff, in press).

Moderators

Four variables moderate the goal-performance relationship. One moderator is ability

(e.g., Locke, 1982). While the theory states that there is a linear relationship between goal

difficulty and performance, an individual must have the knowledge and skills to attain the goal.

A second moderator is situational or resource constraints (e.g., Mawitz, Folger, & Latham,

2014). In order for a goal to increase performance, an individual must have the necessary

resources to attain it. A third moderator is feedback (e.g., Locke, Cartledge, & Koeppel, 1968).

An individual must receive feedback on goal progress in order to know what to continue, start, or

stop doing to attain the goal. A fourth moderator is commitment (e.g., Erez & Zidon, 1984).

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Locke and Latham (1990) argued that goal commitment is the most important moderator in the

goal-performance relationship because without it, by definition, one does not have a goal.

Although goal setting theory is among the most pervasive theories in HRM, a limitation

of the theory is that it focuses entirely on conscious motivation (Latham & Locke, 2007). Future

research should consider “subconscious as well as conscious motivation and the relationship

between them” (Locke & Latham, 2004, p. 395). While there have been studies in HRM that

consider the influence of subconscious processes as it relates to organizational justice (Zdaniuk

& Bobocel, 2013), trust (Huang & Murnighan, 2010), and ethical decision making (Reynolds,

Leavitt, & DeCelles, 2010), few studies have specifically considered the relationship between a

subconscious goal and subsequent performance (Stajkovic, Locke, & Blair, 2006; Shantz &

Latham, 2009, 2011; Ganegoda, Latham, & Folger, 2011; Latham & Piccolo, 2012; Chen &

Latham, 2014). The foundation of the present experiment is Bargh’s (1994) automaticity model.

The Automaticity Model The automaticity model states that goals can be activated subconsciously, and that the

pursuit of goals can occur outside of conscious awareness (Bargh, 1994; Bargh & Chartrand,

1997, 1999). The model rejects the idea that conscious choice is always required for goal

activation and operation. According to the automaticity model, a subconscious goal guides an

individual’s actions in the absence of conscious awareness, or the monitoring of goal attainment

(Bargh, Gollwitzer, Lee-Chai, Barndollar, & Troetschel, 2001).

The Replicability Problem Recently, many cognitive psychologists have questioned the automaticity model because

of failed replications (e.g., Pashler & Harris, 2012; Pashler, Coburn, & Harris, 2012). Moreover,

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the “replicability problem” has led to an e-mail debate between skeptics and believers of findings

from primed goal experiments. This e-mail exchange was started by Kahneman (2012) who

circulated a warning of a “train wreck looming” unless the results of priming experiments can be

replicated. Further, the general public has also become aware of this issue as the New Yorker

(Marcus, 2013) labeled this problem “the crisis of replicability,” and raised the possibility that

the results of primed goals may be trivial or easily overrun by other factors.

Integrating Research on the Automaticity Model with Goal Setting Theory

Another criticism of research on primed goals is the lack of a theoretical framework

(Dijksterhuis, 2014). A theoretical framework is necessary because it allows researchers and

practitioners to predict, explain, and influence outcomes. Furthermore, a theory identifies the

mediators and moderators that explain under which conditions the theory works. In terms of the

“replicability problem,” Cesario (2014) noted that without a theory that identifies the boundary

conditions, it is impossible to know the reason for a failed replication. Cesario argued that a

theory of priming is needed that specifies exactly what features of an experiment are important.

In addition, Stroebe and Strack (2014) suggested that a theory of priming is needed to enable

replications.

Locke and Latham’s (1990, 2013) goal setting theory is among the most pervasive

theories of motivation in organizational psychology (Miner, 2003; Mitchell & Daniels, 2003;

Pinder, 1998). The theory appears relevant to the automaticity model because it has been shown

that primed goals follow the same processing stages, predict the same phenomena, and produce

the same outcomes as consciously set goals (Bargh et al., 2010).

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Importance of the Research

As noted above, goal setting research has demonstrated that consciously setting specific,

challenging goals leads to a significant increase in performance. Goal setting theory has largely

ignored the subconscious as a storehouse of knowledge beyond that found in conscious

awareness at any given point in time (Locke & Latham, 2002, 2005). Yet people are only able to

process a limited amount of information consciously (Anderson, 1985). Because a subconscious

goal consumes minimal cognitive resources, it should be beneficial to people in enabling them to

focus on learning ways to perform complex tasks without depleting their limited cognitive

resources (Miller, 1956).

A catalyst to continue the study of primed goals is the “replicability crisis” noted above.

Given the scrutiny that this field of research has experienced, it is necessary for researchers to

apply a theoretical framework that will bring to order to the research on priming. Goal setting

theory may be used as a framework for conducting priming research because primed goals are

hypothesized by the automaticity model to operate in the same way as conscious goals (Bargh et

al., 2010). Several studies in social psychology and in HRM suggest that goal setting theory can

explain and predict the results of priming a subconscious goal.

The present experiment contributes to the extant HRM literature on primed goals because

it is the first to test whether there is a linear relationship between the difficulty level of a primed

goal and subsequent performance. Given that we know that there is a linear relationship between

goal difficulty and performance in terms of conscious goals, that is, the more difficult the

conscious goal, the higher the performance (Locke, 1967; 1968), it is important from the

standpoint of performance improvement to determine if this also applies to primed goals.

6

Hypothesis

Based on goal setting theory and the automaticity model, the laboratory experiment

presented in Chapter 3 investigated the effect of priming a subconscious goal of various

difficulty levels on an individual’s performance. Goal setting theory (Locke & Latham 1990,

2013) states that given ability, high goals lead to higher performance than easier goals. As such,

it is important to determine whether primes that connote different levels of goal difficulty

influence task performance. The following hypothesis was tested:

There is a linear relationship between degree of goal difficulty that is primed and task

performance.

Chapter 2 elaborates on the theoretical framework for, and the empirical research

underlying, the hypothesis.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

This chapter provides a review of the literature relevant to the experiment that was

conducted. This review provides the theoretical framework from which the hypothesis for the

study, discussed in Chapter 1, was derived.

Goal Setting Theory Performance is a function of ability and motivation (Maier, 1955). Motivation is not only

central in HRM, it is also important in other domains including athletics and academia. Goal

setting theory, a cognitive theory of motivation, has provided managers, trainers, and educators

with an effective means to increase the motivation of employees (Latham & Arshoff, 2013),

athletes (Williams, 2013), and students (Morisano & Peterson, 2013).

Goal setting theory states that individuals who consciously set specific, difficult goals

perform better than those with no goal, or those who are simply encouraged to do their best

(Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002, 2013). For example, Brown and Latham (2000) demonstrated

that unionized employees at a Canadian telecommunications company who set specific, difficult

goals had significantly higher performance than those who were told to “do your best.” In

addition, Galinsky and Mussweiler (2001) found that pursuing a challenging goal in a

negotiation improved a negotiator's final outcome. Similarly, Huber and Neale (1987) found that

in a bargaining situation, negotiators who were assigned specific, difficult goals were more

profitable than negotiators who were assigned easy or vague goals.

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Goal setting theory also states, and empirical research shows, that there is a positive

linear relationship between the difficulty level of the goal that is set and an individual’s task

performance. For example, Locke (1967) found that the performance of participants with the

highest goal was over 250% higher than those with the easiest goal. Further, based on the results

of 12 studies, Locke (1968) derived an empirical function. In all 12 experiments the functions

were linear except when participants reached the limit of their ability. Meta-analyses have

supported the linear relationship (Mento, Steele, & Karren, 1978; Tubbs, 1986; Wood, Mento, &

Locke, 1987).

As noted in Chapter 1, research has identified the mediator and moderator variables of

the goal-performance relationship.

Mediators

Research on goal setting theory reveals that goal setting leads to high performance for

four main reasons. These four reasons are the mediator variables in the goal-performance

relationship. A mediator is an explanatory variable that identifies why a causal relationship exists

between an independent and dependent variable.

As noted in Chapter 1, one mediator variable is choice / attention or direction. Bagozzi

and Warshaw (1990) found that goal pursuit is related to behavioural intentions, and that

direction is a result of one’s choice to attain a specific goal. Hinsz and Ployhart (1998) conducted

a laboratory experiment where participants were asked to study a list of word pairs to be used in

a memory test. The researchers examined whether the participants were “trying” while

performing the memory test. The measure of “trying” included four self-report measures, namely

directed attention, effort, persistence, and the use of effective strategies. Goal attainment and task

performance were predicted by the measure of trying, which was associated with directed

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attention. Attention was assessed based on two items. The first item asked the participants what

percentage of the time spent studying the work list that their mind wandered. The second item

assessed how distracted or focused the participants were while studying the word list.

Both Kernan and Lord (1990) and Kanfer, Ackerman, Murtha, Dugdale, and Nelson

(1994) found that direction occurs through the prioritization of multiple goals that is affected by

the importance of one goal relative to another, rewards, and feedback. In an experiment

conducted by Locke and Bryan (1969), participants were assigned to either an experimental or a

control group. Participants performed a driving task where they were asked to drive a 3.4-mile

course. Each participant drove around the course three times. Driving performance was assessed

on five dimensions. After the first trip, participants in the experimental group were shown their

scores on all five of the dimensions. They were then given a specific goal to improve their scores

on specific dimensions during the second trip. After the second trip the experimental group was

again shown their scores on specific dimensions, and were given goals to improve their scores on

specific dimensions during the third trip. The control group drove the course without explicit

goals. The results showed that the driving scores of those in the experimental group changed

only on the dimensions for which they were given a goal for improvement.

A second mediator is effort. Setting a specific, difficult goal regulates effort so that it is

proportionate to the difficulty level of the goal. In a study involving software engineers, Rasch

and Tosi (1992) found that the difficulty level of the goal influenced the effort that participants

expended which in turn affected performance. Latham and Locke (1975) conducted a study on

woods workers who were paid on a piecework basis. When logging crews were given a limited

number of day for mill deliveries, the crews harvested as much wood or more in those restricted

number of days than they did in a normal 5-day work week. The limited time for mill deliveries

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imposed on the loggers became a challenging goal for them and as such, increased their effort to

attain it.

A third mediator is persistence. Goal setting improves performance because it increases

an individual’s persistence until the goal is attained. In a series of six experiments conducted by

Bavelas and Lee (1978), participants with easier goals stopped working sooner than those with

harder goals. Huber (1985) found that participants with high goals worked longer to complete a

maze than did those with moderate, easy or “do best” goals.

A fourth mediator is planning/strategizing. Setting goals enhances an individual’s

planning and strategizing ways to attain the goal. Latham and Baldes (1975) conducted a field

study at a forest products company. The company was losing money because the truck drivers

were not loading their trucks to full capacity. As such, the drivers were given a goal to load their

truck to the maximum legal weight. To attain their goal, the drivers devised a plan to raise the

forward stakes on their trucks to enable them to better judge their trucks’ weight. Performance

improved, and according to the company, the same increase in performance would have required

a significant investment in additional trucks. In another study, Durham, Knight, and Locke

(1997) found that plans and strategies mediate the goal-performance relationship on complex

tasks. In short, goal effects are strongest on complex tasks only when plans are developed to

attain them.

Each of the four mediators do not necessarily work in isolation. For example, an

experiment conducted by Theodorakis, Laparidis, Kioumourtzologou, and Goudas (1998) found

that athletes who set specific high goals exerted more effort, persisted longer, and thought of

more task strategies which, taken together, increased their performance on an endurance task

relative to those who did not set goals. Weingart and Weldon (1991) and Weldon, Jehn, &

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Pradhan (1991) examined the mediators of goals set by groups. As is the case with goals set by

an individual, effort, persistence, and the identification of strategies/plans to attain the group’s

goal explained the goal-performance relationship. Unlike goals set for or by an individual, goal

commitment and performance monitoring (i.e., feedback) were found to be mediators rather than

moderators.

Moderators

A moderator is a boundary condition that explains the circumstances where the theory is

valid. In essence, it answers the question: “When does this theory work and when does it not?”

(Latham, 2012). The theory states and empirical research shows that four moderators strengthen

or weaken the impact of goals on performance.

One moderator is ability. Studies have shown that goals are linearly related to

performance when the goals range from easy to difficult. Performance drops when the goal is, or

is perceived as, impossible to attain. For example, Locke (1982) conducted an experiment where

participants were asked to brainstorm uses for common objects. The participants were assigned

goal levels ranging from 2 to 28 uses. Goals were linearly related to performance when the goals

ranged from easy to difficult, but were unrelated to performance after the goals became

impossible to attain. Lee et al. (1997) showed that if goals are perceived as impossible to attain,

offering a bonus for goal attainment can actually decrease motivation. In a study of Air Force

trainees, Kanfer and Ackerman (1989) showed that setting specific, high performance goals are

detrimental to individuals if they do not have the requisite ability to attain the goal. This finding

will be discussed further in the section on learning goals.

Situational resources / constraints is a second moderator. When individuals lack the

necessary resources to obtain their goal, the goal-performance relationship is attenuated. This

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was demonstrated in a correlational study (Mawitz, Folger, & Latham, 2014). When supervisors

perceived that they lacked the resources to attain their goal, they reported hindrance stress, which

in turn was related to abuse of their subordinates.

Feedback is a third moderator variable. This is because feedback provides information as

to what one needs to continue doing, start doing, stop doing, or be doing differently to attain the

goal (Locke, Cartledge, & Koeppel, 1968). Cellar, Degrendel, Sidle, and Lavine (1996) found

that receiving feedback in relation to a goal leads to higher performance than goal setting alone.

A fourth moderator variable is commitment. Erez and Zidon (1984) showed that goal

difficulty level is more highly and positively related to performance for people with high rather

than low goal commitment. In addition, a field study conducted by Porter and Latham (2013)

showed that leaders should not only focus on goal setting, but they must also focus on ways to

ensure that employees are committed to goal attainment because both goal setting and goal

commitment were strongly related to their department’s performance.

Subconscious Goals A limitation of goal setting theory is that it focuses entirely on conscious motivation

(Latham & Locke, 2007). In addressing future directions for the study of motivation, Locke and

Latham called for research on “subconscious as well as conscious motivation and the

relationship between them” (Locke & Latham, 2004, p. 395).

The Automaticity Model

The automaticity model (Bargh,1994; Bargh & Chartrand, 1997, 1999) argues that goals

can be activated subconsciously and that the pursuit of goals can occur outside of conscious

awareness. The model further states that a subconscious goal guides an individual’s actions in

13

the absence of awareness or conscious monitoring of goal attainment (Bargh, Gollwitzer, Lee-

Chai, Barndollar, & Troetschel, 2001). It is important to also note that the model maintains that

the engagement of a subconscious goal follows the same processing stages, predicts the same

phenomena, and produces the same outcomes as consciously set goals.

Specifically, Bargh’s model proposes that (1) goals are represented in memory in the

same way that traits and stereotypes are represented. (2) Because traits and stereotypes are

capable of being automatically activated by features of the environment, goals should have this

capability as well. (3) When a person consistently chooses to pursue a particular goal in a certain

situation, over time, the representation of that goal becomes automatically linked in memory to

the features of that situation. Finally, (4) the goal becomes automated and operates within that

situation without the need for conscious awareness (Bargh, 1990). However, no study in the

social psychology literature, to the author’s knowledge, has examined subconscious goals within

the theoretical framework of goal setting theory. Instead, the focus of these studies has been

largely methodological, namely on ways of priming goals in the subconscious and the different

dependent variables that are affected.

Priming

Lashley (1951) introduced priming in the psychology literature. He argued that there is an

intervening variable that occurs between an individual’s intention and the actual production of a

response or behaviour. He called this the priming of a response. When social psychologists

currently refer to priming, they are referring to the passive, subtle, and unobtrusive activation of

relevant mental representations by external stimuli, such that people are not aware of the

influence exerted by those stimuli (e.g., Bargh & Huang, 2009). This occurs through the spread

of activation from one concept or neural site to another (Klatzky & Creswell, 2014).

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The automaticity model states that priming effects are ubiquitous and pervasive in terms

of an individual’s motivation in general, and in terms of goal pursuit in particular (Bargh, 2006).

Priming research has shown that the passive perception of environmental stimuli directly triggers

higher mental processes in the absence of conscious intent (Bargh & Huang, 2009). As such,

goals can be activated through priming various stimuli in the absence of an individual’s

awareness. Once activated, a primed goal operates in the same way as a conscious goal (Bargh,

Gollwitzer, & Oettingen, 2010). The only difference is that it does so outside of awareness.

However, when Bargh as well as other social psychologists who study this phenomenon refer to

a conscious goal, they are referring to a vague goal (e.g., focus on quality) rather than a goal that

is specific (e.g., improve quality by 15%) as is emphasized by goal setting theory.

There are two types of primes, namely, supraliminal or subliminal. They produce the

same behavioural outcomes (Bargh & Chartrand, 1997). Supraliminal primes are presented to

individuals as part of a conscious task, but the individual is unaware of the influence of the prime

on his or her subsequent behaviour. Subliminal primes, on the other hand, are presented below

perceptual threshold, and hence are not identifiable by the individual. Chartrand and Bargh

(2002) have argued for the use of supraliminal rather than subliminal primes as the latter lack

ecological validity. As such, a supraliminal prime was used in the present experiment.

A frequent method used for supraliminal priming is the Scrambled Sentence Test (Cosin,

1969) where participants are told that the purpose of the task is to assess their language ability.

They are instructed to make coherent sentences out of a set of scrambled words. Only the

participants in the experimental condition are given words that are related to the prime (e.g.,

honest).

15

When conducting supraliminal priming, manipulation checks for awareness of the

independent-dependent variable relationship are essential since the prime is presented at the

conscious level. This is done through a funneled debriefing (Chartrand & Bargh, 1996) where

participants are probed in a systematic way to determine if they had suspicions of, or knowledge

as to, the purpose of the experiment. Participants should be unaware of the influence of the prime

on their subsequent behaviour (Chartrand & Bargh, 1996). For example, Fitzsimons and Bargh

(2003) conducted an experiment where participants were randomly assigned to either a friend-

priming condition or a coworker-priming condition. In the friend condition, participants were

asked to think of a good friend. In the coworker condition, they were asked to think of a

coworker, with whom they have a positive relationship, and who is approximately equal in terms

of status at work. They were then asked to complete a questionnaire about their friend or

coworker. After the questionnaire, participants were asked whether they would be willing to

participate in a longer study to help the researcher. After answering the question, participants

completed a debriefing questionnaire to determine whether they were aware of the purpose of the

study. The results demonstrated that participants in the friend-priming condition were more

likely to subsequently volunteer to help the researcher, and to participate in an additional, longer

study than participants in the coworker-priming condition.

In contrast to supraliminal priming where participants see the prime, subliminal priming

involves a brief presentation of a prime below perceptual threshold, which is then immediately

masked by another stimulus. This is followed by an awareness check to see if an individual

detected the prime. For example, Zhong and DeVoe (2010; Experiment 1) used subliminal

primes in a laboratory experiment where participants in the experimental condition were

subliminally exposed to flash images of six fast food restaurants (McDonald’s, KFC, Subway,

Taco Bell, Burger King, and Wendy’s) for 12 milliseconds. Participants in the control condition

16

were exposed to blank squares. Following the subliminal prime, participants were asked to read a

description of the city of Toronto, and then to turn to the next page. The dependent variable was

the speed at which the participants turned to the next page after reading the description.

Participants subliminally primed by the fast food logo had significantly faster reading speed than

those in the control group who were primed by blank images. In the check for awareness none of

the participants noticed the primes on the computer screen.

Priming Subconscious Goals in Social Psychology

Social psychologists have investigated the influence of priming on many dependent

variables. Several of these experiments have examined behaviours that are arguably relevant to

organizational contexts. For example, Bargh, Gollwitzer, Lee-Chai, Barndollar, and Trotschel

(2001) subliminally primed a goal for cooperation. Participants were then required to engage in a

negotiation exercise using a computer that was alleged to be connected to another participant.

The prime involved the Scrambled Sentence Test, (Costin, 1969) where participants in the

experimental condition were primed for cooperation through 10 sets of scrambled words related

to cooperation (e.g., dependable, helpful, support, reasonable, honest, cooperative, fair, friendly,

tolerant, and share). In the control condition, all the scrambled words were neutral (e.g., salad,

umbrella, city, gasoline, wet, purposeful, switch, lead, mountain, and zebra). After forming

sentences from the scrambled words, the participants engaged in the negotiation, specifically a

resource-management game, where they assumed the role of a fisherman. In the conscious-

cooperation goal condition, the instructions stated that it was important that participants

cooperate to ensure that there are 70 fish in the lake. They then made decisions at the end of each

fishing season (i.e., trial) on how many fish to keep, and how many to return to the lake. Both the

primed and the conscious-goal manipulations were effective in inducing cooperative behaviour.

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The effect of two types of goals were additive. Cooperation, however, was greater when

participants were given a conscious goal to do so.

Aarts, Chartrand, Custers, Danner, Dik, Jefferis, and Cheng (2005) conducted a

laboratory experiment to test whether priming a social stereotype activates a goal of helping

people. Participants were told that they would be participating in a set of experiments by several

different researchers. The first task was a computer-skill task in which the participants were told

that the researcher was interested in their ability to use a computer mouse. Next, participants

were subliminally primed with a stereotype, nursing, as nursing is traditionally known for

helping others. After the priming manipulation, participants were asked to provide feedback on

the computer-skill task that they performed at the beginning of the study that was allegedly

designed by an undergraduate student. At this point, participants could either immediately leave

the laboratory or stay to give the undergraduate student feedback. Those who were subliminally

primed with the word nurse were more likely to remain to give feedback than those in the control

group.

Chartrand, Huber, Shiv, and Tanner (2008) conducted a series of experiments using a

supraliminal priming technique that involved the Scrambled Sentence Test (Srull & Wyer, 1979).

Participants were shown words related to the desired prime, namely spend versus save. They

were then told to make grammatically correct sentences from four of the five words (e.g., spend:

“he prestige what want did” answer: “what did he want”; save: “he frugal what want did”

answer: “what did he want”). They were then given an unrelated task to purchase socks.

Participants chose the higher-priced socks in the “spend condition” significantly more often than

did those in the “save condition.”

18

In a second experiment, the time interval between the goal-priming task and the choice

task was manipulated. Again, the choice of the more expensive option was higher in the primed

“spend condition” than in the primed “save condition.” In addition, the results showed that the

choice of the expensive option increased as the time interval increased from three to eight

minutes. Similarly, the choice of the expensive option decreased in the primed save condition as

the time interval increased. This suggests that there was no satiation of the primed goals; rather

the effects of the two primes persisted across time.

In their third study, the same priming method was used. However, the moderating role of

realism on choice was examined by looking at the impact of the first choice, that was either real

or hypothetical, on a second actual, rather than hypothetical, choice. The primed goals carried

over to the subsequent final choice only when goal satiation was low, that is, only when the

initial choice was hypothetical. When the choice was real, that is, the goal was truly attained, the

effect of the two primes were attenuated.

Automaticity Research in HRM

As noted earlier, a limitation of goal setting theory is that it does not take into account

that the subconscious is a storehouse of knowledge and values beyond that which is found in

awareness at any given point in time (Latham & Locke, 2007; Locke & Latham, 2002, 2005).

The subconscious mind has a large storage capacity which frees the conscious mind to focus on

new facts and to make new integrations (Latham, 2012). This is important for HRM because as

Hassin, Bargh, and Zimmerman (2009) noted:

“Automatic processes in general, and automatic goal pursuit in particular, are usually conceived of as the opposite of controlled processes: They are unintentional, nonconscious, relatively effortless, and ballistic (running to completion once started, without any further conscious direction or guidance). Their main advantage lies in freeing our very-limited-capacity consciousness from many burdens, and they thus improve the

19

efficiency with which we cope with our complex and ever-changing environment.” (Hassin et al, 2009, p. 21)

An emerging research stream in HRM, based on priming studies in social psychology,

suggests that a novel way to increase performance in the workplace is through priming a goal in

the employee’s subconscious (Friedman, 2013; Latham, Stajkovic, & Locke, 2010; Latham &

Locke, 2012). To date, only a few studies have considered the effects of primed goals on

organizationally related behaviour.

Stajkovic, Locke, and Blair (2006) conducted the first laboratory experiment on the effect

of both subconscious and specific conscious goals for performing a brainstorming task, an

organizationally relevant dependent variable. Consistent with Bargh’s methodology, they used a

supraliminal priming technique, namely the Scrambled Sentence Test, to prime achievement

motivation. Consistent with goal setting theory, the participants were also given a specific

difficult, easy, or “do your best” goal. A main and an interaction effect for both the conscious

and primed goals were obtained. A day later, participants were asked to recall the sentences they

had unscrambled and/or the specific assigned goal they were given. They then engaged in a

second brainstorming task where they were asked to brainstorm uses for a wooden ruler. Again,

main and interaction effects were obtained for the two types of goals on performance. The

interaction effect, however, was a methodological artifact due to the easy goal condition. The

participants in the easy goal condition stopped working after the goal was attained. When this

condition was deleted, the interaction effect disappears (Locke, personal communication). The

important finding of this experiment is that the effect of the two types of goals on performance is

additive.

Social psychology experiments have been content to show that a primed goal can affect

behaviour in the absence of awareness. They have not investigated whether the prime affects the

20

subconscious. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), developed by Morgan and Murray

(1935), is a projective technique that assesses covert, unconscious motivation (Murray, 1943).

Participants write an imaginative story about each of a set of neutral picture cue cards.

The TAT was used by McClelland (1989) to develop a theory of implicit motives.

Implicit motives theory states that there are “motivational dispositions that operate outside of a

person’s conscious awareness” (Schultheiss, 2008, p. 603). Implicit motives are different from

explicit motives in terms of antecedents and behavioural outcomes. Since implicit motives occur

outside an individual’s conscious awareness, they cannot be measured using self-report

(McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989; Schultheiss & Pang, 2007; Schultheiss &

Brunstein, 2010).

To determine whether a primed goal actually affects the subconscious, Shantz and

Latham (2009) used the TAT to determine whether the primed goal influenced a person’s

implicit motive for achievement. After viewing the prime, namely a photograph of a woman

winning a race, participants were asked to write three stories based on three pictures that were

shown to them, specifically, a dog, a tree, and a car. Each story was analyzed using a computer

software program, namely, the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) (Pennebaker,

Francis, & Booth, 2001). The LIWC counts the extent to which people use different categories of

words in their stories. Individuals who were primed wrote stories using significantly more

achievement-related words than those in the control condition even though the length of the

stories in terms of number of works used did not differ significantly between conditions.

Schultheiss (2013) found that the LIWC software yields results similar if not identical to the

content coding of picture stories developed by Morgan and Murray (1935) and used by

McClelland et al. (1989).

21

Shantz and Latham (2009) then tested the effectiveness of a primed goal alone and in

conjunction with a specific, difficult, consciously set goal in the workplace. Employees in a call

center were either primed using a photograph of a woman winning a race, or given a specific

high goal to collect $1200 from donors during their 3-hour shift. Performance was assessed

based on the amount of dollars raised from donors. At the end of the shift, all the employees

were administered a questionnaire consisting of five open ended questions to assess their

awareness of the purpose of the photograph: (1)”What do you think is the purpose of this

experiment?” (2) ‘‘What do you think this experiment was trying to uncover?” (3) ‘‘Did you

think that the information sheet you were given at the beginning of your shift was related in any

way to your performance on your shift?” (4) ‘‘If so, how?” and (5) ‘‘Did anything on the

information packet affect what you did?” These questions were adapted from Bargh and

Chartrand (2000) and Stajkovic et al. (2006). None of the employees were aware of the primed

goal-performance relationship. There was a significant main effect for both the primed and the

specific, high conscious goal. Similar to Bargh et al. (2001), the conscious goal had a stronger

effect on the amount of money raised than did the primed goal. The practical significance of this

experiment for HRM is the additive effect of the two types of goals on an employee’s

performance.

The results of this first field experiment on priming were replicated in two additional

field experiments (Shantz & Latham, 2011). The results from these three field experiments

provided further evidence that a primed goal can have a positive effect on job performance. A

meta-analysis of the data from these three experiments was conducted as the number of

employees in each of them was relatively small. The results revealed an average d-statistic of

0.56 (Shantz & Latham, 2011).

22

Because goal setting theory emphasizes the importance of goal specificity, Latham and

Piccolo (2012) conducted a field experiment in another call center to test whether a subconscious

goal that is context specific to the work that is to be performed leads to a significant increase in

job performance relative to a primed general achievement goal. The prime for the context-

specific condition was a photograph of three call center employees performing their job. The

prime for the general achievement condition was the same photograph of a woman winning a

race used by Shantz and Latham (2009, 2011). Employee performance was measured in terms of

the number of pledged dollars to an organization. Those who saw a photograph of people calling

donors raised 16% more money than the employees who viewed a photograph of a racer, and

85% more than those in the control group. Those who saw the photograph of the racer raised

60% more money than those in the control group. To prevent demand effects and experimenter

bias from influencing the results, the call-center supervisor, rather than the researchers, gave the

information packets to each caller. In addition, the supervisor did not make any mention that the

employees were participating in a study, did not draw attention to the experimental material, and

separated callers by condition so that each would be unaware of the differences among fact

sheets in terms of type of photograph.

Dennis, Minas, and Bhagwatwar (2013) tested whether priming can be used to influence

creativity in a group brainstorming task. Creativity was defined by novelty, workability, and

relevance (Dean et al., 2006). Participants were either primed with a neutral prime or an

achievement prime using a modified version of the Scrambled Sentence Test, where they

developed newspaper headlines from a set of words. They then worked as a group on the

brainstorming task on ways to increase tourism or ways to reduce pollution within the state. In

order to measure creativity, the authors created a master list of all the ideas mentioned in the

study and then assessed the creativity of each idea on the list. Each idea was then given a score

23

and the performance of each group was then scored on total creativity of their ideas. The results

showed that individuals in the achievement prime condition generated significantly more ideas

and were more creative than those in the control condition.

In a laboratory experiment, Ganegoda, Latham, and Folger (2011) used mission

statements of organizations to prime a goal to behave fairly on a subsequent task of importance

in HRM in general and industrial relations (IR) in particular, namely negotiations. Specifically,

participants in the experimental group circled words in the mission statements they associated

with fairness. Participants in the control group merely rank ordered their preference for the

mission statements. This was followed by a filler task where all participants generated ways to

decrease health costs in organizations. The purpose of the filler task was to minimize the

possibility of participants seeing the relationship between the prime, the negotiation task, and the

dependent variables that assessed fairness. The participants then engaged in a negotiation where

measures of profit inequality were assessed. Those who were primed with the fairness goal

displayed lower levels of profit inequality with their negotiation partner, higher levels of

perceived fairness regarding the offer, and higher levels of offer acceptance compared to those in

the control group.

Zdaniuk and Bobocel (2013) also conducted a laboratory experiment to examine whether

subconscious processes influence the enactment of fair and unfair behaviour. In Phase 1 of the

experiment, participants read a description of a fair and an unfair leader, along with their

respective photographs. They were then subliminally exposed to the face of the fair, the unfair

leader, or a neutral face. In Phase 2, the participants assumed the role of a manager and wrote a

letter communicating a dismissal decision to a subordinate. Participants were significantly less

fair when communicating their dismissal decision after being subliminally exposed to the face of

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the unfair leader compared to those in the other two conditions. These results demonstrate that

priming fairness/unfairness can influence subconscious cognitive processes and the enactment of

fairness towards a third party.

Trust is a dependent variable that has been examined primarily in terms of conscious

processes (Butler, 1991; Montest & Irving, 2008; Malhortra & Murninghan, 2002).

Consequently, Huang and Murnighan (2010) conducted a series of studies to determine whether

trusting others begins subconsciously. Participants listed and ranked the names of three people

they liked and disliked as well as two to four reasons for doing so. They were then subliminally

primed with the names they generated. Participants then engaged in a trust game where they

were given the opportunity to allocate up to $5 to another participant who would receive three

times the amount. The other person could choose how much of this amount they would return to

the participant. After this game, participants answered questions regarding whether they trusted

the person they allocated money to without knowing how much money they will receive back.

The primed names influenced subsequent trusting behaviour as measured by the amount of

money a participant allocated to another participant.

Reynolds, Leavitt, and DeCelles (2010) examined the automatic aspects of moral

decision making. Participants first completed the Implicit Association Test (IAT) that measures

implicit assumptions about the morality of business. They then completed an in-basket exercise

in the role of a manager. The primes were manipulated in a corporate memo where the CEO

praised the corporate culture, and in doing so either described a culture that emphasizes success

or one that emphasizes values. Immoral behaviour was measured in terms of the responses to an

insurance claim. Participants were informed that company product had been destroyed and they

were asked to file the insurance claim. Participants were provided with information about the

25

product including the cost of the product, the advertised cost of the product and the going rate of

the product on the black market. They were asked to indicate the value of the product for

reimbursement. Behaviour was considered to be moral if the price indicated was at or just below

the advertised price. In contrast, behaviour was considered immoral if the value was above the

advertised price. The results showed that participants who had the general belief that business is

moral as assessed at the beginning of the experiment and were then exposed a competitive prime

actually engaged in immoral behaviour.

Wang, Zhong, and Murninghan (in press) investigated whether priming a calculative

mind set would lead participants to overlook the social and moral consequences of their

subsequent decisions and thus act selfishly and unethically. A calculative mind set was primed

by exposing participants to a calculative task, namely by asking them to calculate net present

value or asking them to complete a series of math problems from the Graduate Record

Examination. In a series of four experiments, participants first completed a calculative or

comparable non-calculative task (i.e., determining the impact of the Industrial Revolution or

completing a series of verbal problems from the Graduate Record Examination) followed by a

supposedly unrelated decision task. The unrelated decision involved participants acting as a

dictator or engaging in a modified ultimatum game. Compared to participants in the non-

calculative task condition, participants in the calculative task condition behaved more selfishly in

the Dictator Game, by keeping more money, and behaved more dishonestly in the modified

Ultimatum Game by lying.

While studies have tested the effect of priming a subconscious goal on performance, only

one has examined the effect of priming both a performance and a learning goal. Goal setting

theory differentiates between learning and performance goals for two reasons. First, a

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performance goal focuses attention on a task outcome whereas a learning goal focuses on

learning ways to perform a task as opposed to relying on extant knowledge or skill (Seijts &

Latham 2005). Second, on novel tasks, a performance goal diverts limited attentional resources

away from mastering the task (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989), whereas a learning goal shifts

attention to thinking of task relevant strategies (Seijts & Latham 2001; Seijts, Latham, Tasa, &

Latham, 2004).

Chen and Latham (in press) conducted a laboratory experiment to examine the effect of

priming a performance goal, a learning goal, and both a performance and a learning goal on a

task that requires an individual to acquire knowledge in order to perform it effectively. The

primed performance goal was the photograph of the racer that had been used by Shantz and

Latham (2009; 2011) and Latham and Piccolo (2012). The learning goal was a photograph of

Rodin’s “The Thinker.”

Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (The Thinker vs.

control group) x 2 (racer vs. control group) x 3 (trials) factorial design, namely, (1) a photograph

of The Thinker, (2) a photograph of a racer, (3) photographs of both the Thinker and the racer,

and (4) a control group. All participants were first given instructions for a scheduling task. This

task, developed by Earley (1985), meets Wood’s (1987) criteria for a complex task as it requires

an individual to consider large amounts of information and coordinate information from different

sources. All participants were given four minutes to practice making schedules. They were then

tasked to turn to the Picture Story Exercise (PSE) (McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989).

As is the case with the TAT, participants write imaginative stories about a series of photographs

of different social situations (Schultheiss & Pang, 2007). The PSE differs from the TAT in that

the pictures for the PSE were obtained from magazines and other print sources; thus they pertain

27

to current, everyday contexts. The pictures on the TAT cards were designed and chosen for

clinical psychology purposes. In short, the PSE is an approach to “studying and measuring

motivations systematically and scientifically” (Pang, 2010b, p. 32). Moreover, the PSE has been

found by implicit motives researchers to have low cue ambiguity, and both high test-retest and

inter-rater reliabilities (Pang, 2010a, 2010b; Schultheiss & Pang, 2007; Schultheiss, Liening, &

Schad, 2008).

In the upper-left hand quadrant of each page of the PSE used by Chen and Latham, there

were (1) four identical photographs of a woman winning a race (a primed performance goal), (2)

four identical photographs of the Thinker (a primed learning goal), (3) photographs of two

woman racers and two photographs of The Thinker, or (4) a photograph of two trees and two

rocks (control). Analysis of the stories showed that the stories written by participants primed

with The Thinker contained significantly more insight words than those written by participants in

the control condition and those primed with the racer. The stories written by participants primed

with the racer contained significantly more achievement words than those written by those in the

control condition as well as those primed with The Thinker. The stories written by participants

primed with both photographs contained significantly more insight and achievement words than

did those in the control condition. Finally, the stories written by participants primed with both

photographs contained marginally significantly more insight words than did those in the racer

only condition. However, the stories contained significantly more achievement words than did

those in the Thinker only condition.

Following the administration of the PSE, the participants returned to the scheduling task.

They were asked to complete as many accurate class schedules as possible on three separate

trials. Each trial lasted 8 minutes. Participants then completed the funnel debriefing questionnaire

28

to check for awareness. Analysis of the answers to the funneled debriefing showed that no

participant reported an awareness of the priming technique and no participant correctly identified

the purpose of the experimental procedure. Hence, no participant was dropped in the subsequent

data analyses.

In terms of the dependent variable, namely, the number of correct schedules generated on

each of the three trials, the results showed a significant main effect for only the primed learning

goal. The results of this experiment are consistent with those conducted on consciously set

learning and performance goals (e.g., Winters & Latham, 1996).

Integrating Research on the Automaticity Model with Goal Setting Theory

As noted earlier, the automaticity model has been criticized for its lack of theory

(Latham, Stajkovic, & Locke, 2010; Strack & Deutsch, 2004; Dijsterhuis, 2014; Cesario, 2014;

Strobe & Strack, 2014). Goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002) may prove useful in

this regard.

Goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002, 2013) states that goals enhance

performance. Shantz and Latham (2009, 2011) showed that priming goals in the subconscious

too increases job performance. In addition, Latham and Piccolo (2012) demonstrated that

priming goals that are context specific further enhances job performance. The importance of goal

specificity is central to goal setting theory.

Several mediators and moderators specified by goal setting theory explain why a primed

goal influences behaviour. With regard to the theory’s mediators, studies by social psychologists

have shown that a primed goal affects behaviour through effort and persistence (e.g., Hassin,

29

2008). As noted earlier, effort and persistence are two of the four mediators in goal setting

theory.

Dik and Aarts (2007) also demonstrated that primed goals affect performance through

effort. In their experiment, they randomly assigned participants to either no, low, medium, or a

high effort condition. An animated film was shown of one “ball” helping another “ball” get a kite

out of a tree by finding a ladder behind one or more doors. Effort was manipulated by varying

the number of movements of the “ball.” Participants were then given a word completion task

where they were asked how much effort they exerted on the word completion task. After

completing this task they were asked to help a researcher, a seemingly unrelated request.

Perceiving more effort by the “ball” led to greater self-reported effort on the word completion

task, as well as willingness (effort) to help the researcher.

Aarts, Custers, and Marien (2008) obtained further support for the contention that primed

goals affect performance through effort. The author’s randomly assigned participants to one of

three conditions namely, a primed, a primed plus a reward, and a control condition. Participants

had to detect dots that were presented either above or below words that were briefly presented on

a screen. Exertion related words were either primed alone, paired with positive affect (i.e., a

reward) or there was no prime. They then squeezed a handgrip. Those in the goal priming and

priming plus reward condition squeezed significantly earlier and harder compared to those in the

control condition.

As noted earlier, a moderator in goal setting theory is ability. When a person lacks ability,

specific, difficult performance goals are not effective. When a task requires the acquisition of

knowledge, a conscious learning rather than a performance goal enhances performance. When

30

individuals are given a task they lack the ability to perform, priming a learning goal is an

effective way to enhance performance.

Current Research While there has been progress in determining the applicability of goal setting theory to

the automaticity model, there remains a key question. As noted earlier, goal setting theory asserts

that there is a positive linear relationship between degree of goal difficulty and performance

(Locke, 1967). As such, this study seeks to determine the extent to which the difficulty level of

subconscious goals also increases performance.

31

Chapter 3 Experiment

An experiment was conducted to test the extent to which different primes that connote

various levels of goal difficulty influence performance on a strength task. As noted in Chapter 1,

the following hypothesis was tested:

There is a linear relationship between the degree of goal difficulty that is primed and task

performance

This hypothesis was tested because it is a core premise of goal setting theory (Locke &

Latham, 1990, 2002, 2013).

Method

Sample

This study was conducted in a laboratory in a large Canadian university. Participants

either received course credit or $2 for participating in the study. The sample size was 126 males

between ages 18 and 46 (M=22.6; SD=4.68). A Cohen’s Power test suggested a sample size of

90 was needed to determine a statistically significant difference between the means. Participants

were randomly assigned to four conditions. The dependent variable was how hard they pressed

on a digital food scale. This task was chosen because it assesses performance on an objective

“hard criterion” measure. Thus this dependent variable is relatively uncontaminated by factors

beyond an individual’s control.

32

Procedure

All participants sat at a desk. They were asked to complete a word search puzzle for five

minutes. The purpose of the word search puzzle was to give participants a filler task to minimize

the probability of them becoming aware of the hypothesized relationship between the prime and

performance on the strength task. The word search only contained neutral words (e.g., dog,

strawberry, window, chocolate, pencil, purple) (see Appendix 1). In the top right corner of the

document of the word search appeared one of the primes (see Appendix 2). In one condition,

there was a photograph of a person lifting 20 pounds (easy goal). In the second condition, there

was a photograph of the same person with slightly bigger muscles lifting 200 pounds

(moderately difficult goal). In the third condition, there was a photograph of this person with

even bigger muscles lifting 400 pounds (difficult goal). Thus the picture of the weightlifter was

held constant across the condition. These weights were chosen based on the performance of

Olympic weightlifters who typically lift, on average, 568 pounds (International Weightlifting

Federation, 2014). As such, a goal of 400 pounds is specific and difficult, 200 pounds is

moderately difficult, and 20 pounds is considered relatively easy. Using their little finger, each

participants was then asked to “press as hard as you can on the middle of the digital food scale”

(Starfruit 5-kg digital weight scale).

After completing the strength task, participants turned to the next page and answered the

following four questions to assess for their awareness of the purpose of this experiment (Bargh &

Chartrand, 2000; Shantz & Latham, 2009): (1) What was the purpose of this exercise? (2) What

do you think this study was trying to uncover? (3) Did you think that any of the tasks you did

were related in any way? If yes – in what way were they related? (4) When you were pressing on

33

the scale, did you notice anything unusual? Participants were also asked to include their age.

After completing the awareness check, participants were then debriefed by the researcher.

34

Chapter 4 Results

Awareness Three participants were aware of the purpose of the experiment, as determined by the

answers to the funneled debriefing questions. Consequently, they were dropped from the study.

A fourth participant did not complete the awareness check and hence was also dropped from the

study. Thus the number of participants who saw the photograph of the person lifting 400 pounds,

200 pounds, 20 pounds and in the control group were 31, 30, 30, and 31, respectively.

The remaining participants did not show any awareness to the purpose of this experiment

based on their answers to the funneled debriefing question. In response to the first question

regarding the purposes of the experiment, typical answers included: no idea, unsure, the

relationship between physical energy and concentration, and the relationship between strength

before and after a task. Answers to the second question regarding what the study was trying to

uncover included: I don’t know, concentration, ability to find words, and whether performance

on a word search task influences physical strength. Answers to the third question regarding

whether any of the tasks were related included: no, I don’t know, and my physical power was

weaker after concentrating on the word search. Finally, when asked whether participants noticed

anything unusual when pressing on the scale, the answers included: no, and I found myself using

a lot of concentration.

Hypothesis A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant main effect [F

(3,121)=2.80, p<0.05, d=0.66]. Table 1 reports descriptive statistics for all four conditions. A

planned independent two-tailed t-test indicated that participants who saw the photograph of the

35

person lifting 400 pounds (M=3.54, SD=0.96) pushed significantly harder than those that saw the

photograph of the person lifting 200 pounds (M=2.91, SD=1.20, t (58)=2.23, p<0.05), pushed

significantly harder than those who saw the photograph of the person lifting 20 pounds (M=2.73,

SD=1.02, t (59)=3.16, p<0.01) and pushed significantly harder than those in the control group

(M=2.93, SD=1.37, t (59)=1.99, p<0.05).

The Pearson product moment correlation between the level of goal difficulty that was

primed and task performance was significant (r=.30, p<.004). A trend analysis was also

conducted to determine whether there is a linear relationship between the difficulty level

connoted by the prime and performance on the task. Consistent with Locke’s (1967, 1982) two

experiments, the control group was deleted from the analysis because the purpose of this

experiment was solely to determine whether there is a linear relationship between primes that

connote different levels of goal difficulty and performance. Given that the weights were not

equally spaced, the process described by Keppel and Wickens (2004; p. 105) was used to

determine the coefficients for unequal trends. Specifically, the appropriate coefficients for the

spacing between the goals connoted in the prime were selected. The coefficients 10, 100, and

200 were selected, as they are equal to the spacing between the goals connoted by the prime

namely, 20, 200, and 400 pounds. The average of the three coefficients is expressed as 310/3.

Consistent with Keppel and Wickens, the average of the three coefficients was subtracted from

the coefficients. As such the linear coefficients are {-280/3, -10/3, 290/3}. To convert the fractions

into integers, each coefficient was multiplied by 3. Finally, the values entered into the linear

weighted contrasts were {-280, -10, 290). The results revealed that there is a significant linear

relationship between the difficulty connoted by the three primes and subsequent task

performance [F(1, 90) = 8.61 p< 0.01, d=0.33]. Therefore, as shown in Figure 1, the hypothesis

was supported.

36

Chapter 5 Discussion

The purpose of the present experiment was to determine whether there is a linear

relationship between subconscious goal difficulty and performance as specified by goal setting

theory (Locke & Latham, 1990, 2002, 2013). The answer to this question provides further

evidence as to whether goal setting theory explains the performance effects of subconscious

goals. The present hypothesis was supported. There is a significant linear relationship between

the difficulty level connoted by a prime and task performance.

Theoretical and Practical Significance Priming research has been under scrutiny by cognitive psychologists (Harris et al. 2013;

Pashler, Coburn, & Harris, 2012, Kahneman, 2012, Marcus, 2013). There are two major

criticisms. The first is that there has been no theoretical framework to explain the results. The

second is that there have been failed replications of priming research (Cesario, 2014; Strobe &

Strack, 2014; Dijksterhuis, 2014). In a special issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science,

researchers suggested that the application of theory would help solve the replicability problem

(Cesario, 2014; Strobe & Strack, 2014; Dijksterhuis, 2014). Further, Cesario (2014) argued that

what is needed is a sufficiently developed theory of priming that specifies exactly what features

of an experiment are important and with what effect. Moreover, he suggested that without a

theory that specifies moderators, a failure to replicate another researcher’s findings is ambiguous

with respect to the inferences that can be drawn. Similarly, Stroebe and Strack (2014) suggested

that a theoretical framework to bring order to priming research is necessary in order to enable

replications to ascertain the experimental contributions that reflect the theoretical variables

37

manipulated and measured in the original study. The contribution of the present experiment in

terms of theoretical significance is that it provides support for the application of goal setting

theory as a framework for conducting priming research with the purpose of influencing

behaviour (e.g., task performance).

While goal setting theory is one of the most cited theories of motivation in HRM (Miner,

2003; Mitchell & Daniels, 2003; Pinder, 1998), it has been over-looked by the social

psychologists who conduct research on the effects of primed goals. This is surprising given that

one of the premises of the automaticity model is that primed goals appear to operate in the same

way as conscious goals in that they follow the same processing stages and predict the same

outcomes (Bargh, et al., 2010). The only difference is that primed goals influence performance

outside of awareness (Bargh, et al., 2010). Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that goal

setting theory explains the results obtained from using the automaticity model. For example, it

has been shown that a primed goal affects behavior through effort and persistence (e.g., Hassin,

2008), two mediators in goal setting theory. In addition, a core tenet of goal setting theory is that

goals need to be specific in order to enhance performance. Latham and Piccolo (2012) showed

that call center employees who saw a context specific prime namely, a photograph of call center

employees, raised significantly more pledged dollars to an organization in comparison to those

who saw no photograph and those that saw a general photograph.

The present study tested a core tenet of goal setting theory, namely that the difficulty

level of a primed goal affects performance. This finding is significant theoretically because it is

the first to consider whether subconscious goals of different difficulty levels influence

performance. In the present experiment, participants who saw the difficult prime of a weightlifter

attempting to lift 400 pounds performed better on the strength task than those who saw a

38

photograph of a weightlifter lifting 200 pounds and 20 pounds or those who did not see any

photograph. The participants who saw the photograph of the weightlifter lifting 20 pounds had

the lowest performance on the strength task. This finding is consistent with goal setting theory

and empirical research on consciously set goals (Locke et al., 1989). Taken together, both of

these findings suggest that goal setting theory is an appropriate theoretical framework to guide

research on the automaticity model (Bargh et al., 2010).

In addition, this study builds on the study by Aarts, Custers, and Marien (2008) who

showed that priming exertion and providing a reward led participants to squeeze significantly

earlier and harder on a handgrip. Their results support goal setting’s theory’s contention that

specific, high goals affect performance through effort. The present study builds on this research

as it demonstrates that there is a linear relationship between the difficulty level connoted by a

prime and task performance.

The practical significance for HRM-IR of this study is at least four-fold. Organizations

should consider posting photographs that prime difficult goals, as they will likely yield higher

performance than showing a photograph of an easy goal or showing no photograph. For example,

in a negotiation context, priming a specific, difficult goal might have a positive influence on the

negotiated outcome. These images can be placed on the walls of the workspace, on memos, and

other documents that employees are exposed to in the workplace.

Second, the results of the experiments are particularly applicable to work settings that

involve manual or physical labour. For example, photographs that connote difficult goals

associated with certain levels of production may yield higher levels of performance for

employees who work in manufacturing. Third, pictures that connote difficult goals associated

with safety might positively influence employees in dangerous jobs to engage in safe behaviours.

39

Fourth, the results of this experiment also have practical significance for athletic settings.

Coaches should consider the use of photographs that connote difficult goals to enhance the

performance of athletes in training and in competition. The photographs may be placed in

dressing rooms and in sports arenas.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research A number of limitations of this study should be noted. First, this study was conducted in a

laboratory. As such, the external validity of the study is limited. It is important to test the linearty

hypothesis in this study in an organizational context. For example, how do primes that connote

various difficult goals influence total sales made by employees.

A second limitation is that only one type of photograph was studied. It is important to

determine whether difficult goals outside of weightlifting also influence performance. Do

different pictures that connote difficult goals influence behaviour on all types of tasks? Are there

photographs that inhibit performance?

A third limitation is the sample. The participants were male. In future research it is

necessary to test the influence of subconscious goals that vary in difficulty level on females. For

example, it is important to determine whether primes connoting various goal difficulty levels

influence the performance of females.

Given the infancy of priming research in HRM-IR, an important avenue for future

research is determining the various boundary conditions of priming research. This can be

accomplished through both exact and conceptual replications. Replications might serve to

identify boundary conditions.

40

Another avenue for future research would be to consider the application of priming

context specific and difficult goals together. This study and the study by Latham and Piccolo

(2012) reveal that specific and difficult goals in isolation influence performance. Given that goal

setting theory suggests that goals need to be both specific and difficult, combinations that are

most effective in terms of subconscious goals should be considered. For example, would a

photograph of call center employees and a given difficult goal of the number of pledges be most

effective in terms of influencing call center employees performance relative to a photograph of

call center employees only or a photograph of the number of pledges received. The results of the

present study suggest that a photograph of call center employees and a given difficult goal of the

number of pledges would be highly effective.

Another tenet of goal setting theory is that goals need to be attainable in order to be

effective. That is, if goals are set too high they will not yield high performance, as they are not

motivating to individuals. This study did not consider the effect of unattainable subconscious

goals. For example, would a photograph of a person lifting 1000 pounds have negatively

influenced performance on the strength task.

Given that goal setting theory states that goals are effective because they increase

persistence. For example, Huber (1985) found that participants with high consciously set goals

worked longer to complete a maze than did those with moderate, easy or “do best” goals. Future

research should consider the extent to which primes influence persistence. For example are there

primes in the environment that would improve persistence during bargaining for a labour

contract between union and management.

In further applying goal setting theory to the automaticity model, there are many

questions regarding the application of mediators and moderators in goal setting theory to the

41

automaticity model. Given that feedback is an important moderator in goal setting theory, it is

important to determine whether feedback influences the effectiveness of primes. Furthermore,

commitment has been shown to influence the goal-performance relationship. In the context of

priming, the question remains as to whether commitment influences the primed goal-

performance relationship. Conducting research on the extent to which the mediators and

moderators that are specified by goal setting theory apply to subconscious processes provides a

framework to conducting future priming research on HRM relevant issues.

Research should also consider the various boundary conditions in priming research. For

example how does culture influences results of priming research? In addition, how long are

primes effective? The answers to these types of questions would also help to decrease the

replicability problem as researchers would have a better understanding of the different mediators

and moderators that are important in the relationship between subconscious goals and

performance. Future research should also consider examining additional dependent variables that

are organizationally relevant, such as improving outcomes during labour negotiations. In

addition, since this study demonstrated that primes influence the physical strength of individuals,

it would be important to consider other physical behaviours that primes may influence. For

example, can certain photographs influence the speed at which employees perform their work?

The automaticity model describes the pursuit of a primed goal as ballistic (Hassin et al,

2009). Is it possible that this can have a negative effect on performance in that the effect of a

prime might not be capable of being altered, cancelled, or reversed?

Setting a specific challenging conscious goal has been shown to create a strong situation

and thus mask personality variables (e.g., Adler & Weiss, 1988; Seijts, Latham, Tasa, &

Latham). At the present time it is not known whether the same is true for primed goals. Future

42

research should consider the extent to which trait activation theory (Tett & Burnett, 2003)

applies to priming research. This theory states that personality traits are expressed as responses

to trait-relevant situational cues. According to the theory, the variance in trait-expressive

behavior is maximized in “weak” situations. In “strong” situations, extrinsic rewards overpower

individual differences in intrinsic rewards associated with trait expression. Trait relevant cues

and the strength of the situation are both important. The automaticity model (Bargh, 2006)

proposes that (1) goals are present in memory in the same way as trait concepts and stereotypes

because of the frequency/consistency principles, and (2) just as trait concepts and stereotypes are

automatically activated by features of the environment, so too are goals. As noted earlier, Shantz

and Latham (2009), Latham and Piccolo (2012), and Chen and Latham (in press) showed that

primes activate achievement motivation.

43

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Tables

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics

Condition Mean (lbs)

Standard Deviation

(lbs) 95% Confidence Interval

Control 2.93 1.37 2.45 3.43 20 pound weight 2.73 1.02 2.35 3.11 200 pound weight 2.91 1.2 2.46 3.36 400 pound weight 3.54 0.96 3.18 3.89

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Figures

Figure 1: Linear Relationship between Primed Goal and Task Performance

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Word Search

APARTMENT

BANANA BINDER

CAKE CHOCOLATE

DOG FLOWER

LAMP LIST

ORANGE PENCIL PURPLE STOVE

STRAWBERRY TELEVISION

WINDOW

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Appendix 2: Primes