Goals as Excuses or Guides: The Liberating Effect of Perceived Goal Progress on Choice

Abstract

Consumer choices are often driven by multiple goals (e.g., career and family), each of which if viewed in isolation may appear to suggest conflicting choices. This article examines the effect of initial goal pursuit on consumers' interest in pursuing unrelated or even conflicting goals. Four studies were conducted to test whether perceived goal progress hinders the pursuit of the focal goal. These studies demonstrate that in the course of self-regulation progress along one goal liberates people to pursue inconsistent goals. Furthermore, merely planning to make goal progress in the future may facilitate incongruent choice of immediate action. (c) 2005 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

The Friendly Taking Effect: How Interpersonal Closeness Leads to Seemingly Selfish Yet Jointly Maximizing Choice

“…We then manipulated perceived closeness by imposing a low versus high closeness standard (Fishbach and Dhar 2005) and retrieval ease (Schwarz et al 1991). Specifically, participants read that friends usually share resources (e.g., books, seats).…”

Can Previous Pro-Environmental Behaviours Influence Subsequent Environmental Behaviours? The Licensing Effect of Pro-Environmental Behaviours

“…Regarding goal progress, individuals consider their previous goalrelated behaviour as evidence of having made progress to the goal, which could produce a sense of achievement and goal fulfilment. Consequently, they shift their cognitive resources away from this initial goal and focus on achieving other goals (Dhar & Simonson, 1999;Monin & Miller, 2001;Fishbach & Dhar, 2005). However, in terms of goal commitment, previous goal-related behaviour can be regarded as evidence of commitment to the goal, which could still maintain cognitive resources focused on the goal, strengthening one's firm determination to achieve the goal.…”

“…Due to different goal foci, motivations can differ and lead to distinct behaviours. For instance, when individuals are focused on goal progress, they may feel a sense of achievement associated with goal fulfilment, and their cognitive resources would then switch to other unattained goals, motivating them away from the initial goal (Dhar & Simonson, 1999;Monin & Miller, 2001;Fishbach, & Dhar, 2005). This can manifest as a licensing effect.…”

The dilution model: How additional goals undermine the perceived instrumentality of a shared path.

“…People often simultaneously hold multiple goals they hope to accomplish (Cantor & Langston, 1989;Emmons & King, 1988;Fishbach & Dhar, 2005), and they may wish to maximize goal attainment by choosing means that serve more than a single goal. For example, a person who holds commuting and exercising goals may choose to commute by bike.…”