The Psychology of Action: Linking Cognition and Motivation to Behavior

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Overview

Moving beyond the traditional, and unproductive, rivalry between the fields of motivation and cognition, this book integrates the two domains to shed new light on the control of goal-directed action. Renowned social and motivational psychologists present concise formulations of the latest research programs which are effectively mapping the territory, providing new findings, and suggesting innovative strategies for future research. Ideally structured for classroom use, this book will effectively familiarize ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Moving beyond the traditional, and unproductive, rivalry between the fields of motivation and cognition, this book integrates the two domains to shed new light on the control of goal-directed action. Renowned social and motivational psychologists present concise formulations of the latest research programs which are effectively mapping the territory, providing new findings, and suggesting innovative strategies for future research. Ideally structured for classroom use, this book will effectively familiarize readers with important theories in the psychology of action.

The book contains black-and-white illustrations.

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Editorial Reviews

From The Critics
Reviewer: Peter B. Zeldow, PhD(Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: This book consists of 28 chapters organized around the general theme of linking cognition and motivation to action. Different sections of the book examine the sources, contents, and regulation of action goals; the effects of mood on goals; how goals are constructed; and how they affect social interaction.
Purpose: The purpose is to bring together the often disparate perspectives on goal-directed action of cognitive and motivational psychologists. Because the fields of social cognition and motivation have traditionally been distinct, this is indeed a timely and worthy objective.
Audience: The book is intended for graduate students and researchers interested in personality, social and cognitive psychology, and human motivation. The editors and authors are credible authorities in their fields.
Features: The chapters are organized into seven parts, each of which is introduced by a brief, introductory overview that is quite helpful. The references are current, the tables and figures enhance the text, and the attractive layout and careful organization of the book increase its readability.
Assessment: This book is a collection of high-quality chapters that collectively portray the state-of-the-art in the study of goal-directed action. It is a valuable resource that belongs in any library that aspires to collect important works in contemporary general psychology.
From the Publisher
"This book is a must read for anyone interested in human motivation. In this well-edited volume, top theorists and researchers bring us up to date on their efforts to integrate cognition and motivation through the use of goal concepts and a focus on action. Not only is motivation back but along with it such important topics as intention, willpower, self-regulation, and the dynamics of action." --Lawrence A. Pervin, Ph.D., Rutgers University

"The artificial separation of cognition and motivation was an unfortunate by-product of the demise of grand theories in psychology. This book takes a large step toward re-integrating these constructs. It does more, however: it integrates the new with old. Although the scholarship that enlightens these chapters is impressive in its currency, the underlying issues addressed--the role of consciousness in life, the operation of choice and will in action, the basically functional nature of behavior--take us back to our roots in the great age of the classical approaches." --Russell G. Geen, Ph.D., Curators' Professor of Psychology, University of Missouri

"The aspiration of the editors implied in the title of this important volume--to find a link between action and cognition--is as admirable as it is risky. For decades, cognition has relied heavily on the computer model of the mind, and like the computer, had no conceptual instruments to allow for derivations about behavior and action. Action could be modeled in the robotics. But the robot that engages in motion requires an external source of energy, independent of the software that runs it. This is not so in the case of living organisms where software' and hardware' are intimately interlaced. The editors are to be congratulated for taking the risk and achieving a most promising breakthrough in the search for a conceptual union between cognition and action." --Robert B. Zajonc, Ph.D.

Journal of Psychology and Christianity
"This book is a must read for...academics teaching courses such as motivation and emotion, the psychology of motivation, or cognitive psychology where the topic of affect is addressed to some degree. If you want to get the latest theorizing for your students or your own personal research, I recommend that you get your hands on this volume."--Journal of Psychology and Christianity
Peter B. Zeldow
This book consists of 28 chapters organized around the general theme of linking cognition and motivation to action. Different sections of the book examine the sources, contents, and regulation of action goals; the effects of mood on goals; how goals are constructed; and how they affect social interaction. The purpose is to bring together the often disparate perspectives on goal-directed action of cognitive and motivational psychologists. Because the fields of social cognition and motivation have traditionally been distinct, this is indeed a timely and worthy objective. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers interested in personality, social and cognitive psychology, and human motivation. The editors and authors are credible authorities in their fields. The chapters are organized into seven parts, each of which is introduced by a brief, introductory overview that is quite helpful. The references are current, the tables and figures enhance the text, and the attractive layout and careful organization of the book increase its readability. This book is a collection of high-quality chapters that collectively portray the state-of-the-art in the study of goal-directed action. It is a valuable resource that belongs in any library that aspires to collect important works in contemporary general psychology.
Booknews
Integrates the motivational and cognitive approaches to shed new light on the control of goal-directed action, presenting new findings and suggesting strategies for future research. An introduction outlines themes in the field, and chapters examine issues such as sources and contents, affective influences, effortful control, and the influence of personal goals on social interaction. For graduate students and researchers. Based on papers from a July 1993 conference. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

4 Stars! from Doody
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781572300323
  • Publisher: Guilford Publications, Inc.
  • Publication date: 1/22/1995
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 704
  • Sales rank: 762,556
  • Product dimensions: 6.14 (w) x 9.21 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Meet the Author

John A. Bargh is Professor of Psychology at New York University. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1981. He has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and is currently President of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. In 1989 he received the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association for his research on the automaticity of social cognition and perception.

Peter M. Gollwitzer received his Diploma in Psychology from the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (Germany) in 1977, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981. In 1983 he joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychological Research in Munich and started research on the role of volition in motivation. Since 1993, Dr. Gollwitzer has held the social psychology and motivation chair at the University of Konstanz. His research interests focus on aspects of the willful pursuit of goals (e.g., identity goals, mindsets, implementation intentions).

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Table of Contents


I. SOURCES AND CONTENTS OF ACTION GOALS
1. All Goals Are Not Created Equal: An Organismic Perspective on the Nature of Goals and Their Regulation, Richard M. Ryan, Kennon M. Sheldon, Tim Kasser, and Edward L. Deci
2. Self-Regulation and Ego Threat: Motivated Cognition, Self-Deception, and Destructive Goal Setting, Roy F. Baumeister
3. On the Substitutability of Self-Protective Mechanisms, Abraham Tesser, Leonard L. Martin, and David P. Cornell
4. Implicit Theories as Organizers of Goals and Behavior, Carol S. Dweck
5. Ideals, Oughts, and Regulatory Outcome Focus: Relating Afect and Motivation to Distinct Pains and Pleasures, E. Tory Higgins
II. AFFECTIVE INFLUENCES ON ACTION GOALS
6. Feelings and Their Motivational Implications: Moods and the Action Sequence, Norbert Schwarz and Gerd Bohner
7. Depression, Control Motivation, and Person Perception, Gifford Weary and Katherine Gannon
8. Emotional Influences on Cognitive Processing, with Implications for Theories of Both, Eric Klinger
III. PREPARING TO ACT
A. Mental Construction of the Goal
9. From Good Intentions to Willpower, Walter Mischel
10. Mental Stimulation, Motivation, and Action, Shelley E. Taylor and Lien B. Pham
11. Positive Fantasy and Motivation, Gabrielle Oettingen
12. Time in Action: Dynamics and the Mental Control of Behavior, Robin R. Vallacher and J. Kaufman
B: Planning and Coordinating Action
13. The Volitional Benefits of Planning, Peter M. Gollwitzer
14. Striving and Feeling: Personal Goals and Subjective Well-Being, Robert A. Emmons
15. Effortful Pursuit of Personal Goals in Daily Life, Nancy Cantor and Hart Blanton
IV. EFFORTFUl CONTROL OF ACTION
16. Volitional Choices in the Goal Achievement Process, Edwin A. Locke and Amy Kristof
17. The Directive Influence of Attitudes on Behavior, Icek Ajzen
18. Self-Regulatory and Other Non-Ability-Related Determinants of Skill Acquisition, Ruth Kanfer
19. Brehm's Theory of Motivation as a Model of Effort and Cardiovascular Response, Rex A. Wright
V. NONCONSCIOUS CONTROL OF ACTION
20. Automaticity in Action: The Unconscious as Repository fo Chronic Goals and Motives, John A. Bargh and Kimberly Barndollar
21. The Feeling of Doing, Matthew E. Ansfield and Daniel M. Wegner
VI. GOAL INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL INTERACTION
22. Person Perception under Pressure: When Motivation Brings About Egocentrism, Robert A. Wicklund and Gisela Steins
23. Expectancy Influences in Social Interaction: The Moderating Role of Social Goals, Steven L. Neuberg
24. Beyond Accuracy: Defense and Impression Motives in Heuristic and Systematic Information Processing, Shelly Chaiken, Roger Giner-Sorolla, and Serena Chen
25. Awareness of Influence as a Precondition for Implementing Correctional Goals, Fritz Strack and Bettina Hannover
VII. DISCUSSIONS
26. Goals as Knowledge Structures, Arie W. Kruglanski
27. The Role of Conscious Thought in a Theory of Motivation and Cognition: The Uncertainty Orientation Paradigm, Richard M. Sorrentino
28. Some Ways in Which Goals Differ and Some Implications of Those Differences, Charles S. Carver
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