Automaticity in Goal Pursuit

-fh. incersection of competence and motiI vation involves the ability to attain one's goals, to accomplish what one sets out to do. Both modern and classic theory and research on goal pursuit have focused mainly on the conscious and deliberate ways that people strive toward desired end states. In this chapter, we focus on the role played by automatic or unconscious motivations in the competent pursuit of one's important goals. How can such unconscious goal pursuit add to a person's competencies in a given domain? \u/e show that unconsciously pursued goals are especially effective in keeping a person "on task" and moving in thought and action toward the desired goal, even when the conscious mind is distracted or focused elsewhere. Automatic or unconscious motivations respond immediately and effortlessly to environmental conditions (triggers) that promote or support the goal in question, such as in recognizing and acting upon opportunities that otherwise might have been missed. And the efficient nature of unconscious motivation makes it an especially effective means of goal pursuit in complex and busy social environments in which conscious attention is divided and in short supplv. Two main forms of unconscious goal pursuit have been featured in our research: one (automatic motivations) a long-term, chronic form that develops out of extended experience; the other (implementation intentions) a temporary and strategic form by which one sets up intended actions in advance, so that they later unfold in an automatic fashion. Before describing these two lines of research, we begin with some historical background on the concept of uRconscious motivation as it has come and gone within psychology over the past century.