The roles of goal representations and conflict monitoring in the initiation of goal-relevant actions
Final Report Abstract
Conflict is omnipresent in our life. People might, for instance, want to eat healthier, but have trouble resisting the high-caloric dessert options at the cafeteria. Or they learn something that threatens an important belief they hold such as how likely they are to get cancer in their life. Or they might have to decide which action would be the morally right decision and their emotions lean toward one action but their cognitions lean toward another action. If we want to get a better understanding when and why people fail to act in line with their long-term goals, how people learn from information that contradicts their beliefs, or how people decide what is right and what is wrong, then we have to study how people handle the conflict inherent in all of these areas. In my research, I did that. Specifically, with colleagues in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, I looked at how conflict shapes self-regulation and self-control (Part 1), learning from challenging information (Part 2) and moral decision making (Part 3). The results of part 1 of the research project on the role of conflict in self-regulation and selfcontrol highlight the importance of understanding conflict. Specifically, the results suggests that once people make a connection between a desired future and conflicting aspect, people will invest in fulfilling their feasible wishes such as spending more time with their children, prepare for their job presentation, or take a creative writing class, and once the connection is weakened they will let go from unfeasible ones to turn to more promising endeavors. The creation of conflict in goal pursuit then becomes a watershed moment, where people either fully commit to their wishes or let them go. But when people commit to their goals, conflict becomes the motor that drives people to fulfill their wishes. This research line also suggests that the detection of conflict during goal pursuit depends on whether or not people have committed themselves do the pursuit of specific goal. Only if they have, they will see conflicting aspects of their lives as obstacles which helps them to muster the needed effort to overcome them. Finally, our results also suggest that the detection of conflict during goal pursuit will help people to attain their goals. Specifically, in three studies we found that the detection conflict during goal pursuit is a viable mechanism to instigate the needed self-control to successful pursuit one’s goals. The results of part 2 of the research project examined the role of valence in learning from information that conflicts with our beliefs. How do we handle such information? Our research shows that people seem to have a hard-wired, automatic tendency to disregard undesired information, but readily integrate desired information. We find such update bias for information that contradicts personal beliefs about the likelihood of negative future events such as cancer or credit card dept, but also in the interpersonal domain when processing the opinions of others. Furthermore, the update bias is related to a relative failure to code for negative estimation errors (i.e. the difference between a prior belief and unexpected negative information) compared to adequate coding of positive estimation errors in frontal (for example the inferior frontal gyrus) and subcortical (e.g., amygdala) regions. Such systematic bias in updating our beliefs leads to optimism and overconfidence – people, for instance, overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen to them, and underestimate that negative things will happen to them. Optimism and overconfidence in itself are a double-edge sword, which can enhance productivity and happiness, but also lead to risky decision making. In the third part of the research project, we examine the role of conflict between emotion and cognition in moral decision making. Our research suggests an important extension to theories of moral judgment. Extant theories emphasize either the dominance of automatic, affective reactions towards moral stimuli or the possibility for post hoc corrective control to intervene once an intuition is triggered. In contrast, we found evidence that top-down processes might determine a priori how a moral dilemma is perceived, tuning intuitive responses. This research suggests that people may have the capacity to shape their moral intuitions by deliberatively re–framing situations and offers hope for policy makers who aim to cultivate pro-social behavior and bridge intergroup conflicts over sacred issues.
Publications
- (2012). Mental contrasting instigates goal-pursuit by linking obstacles of reality with instrumental behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 811-818
Kappes, A., Singmann, H., & Oettingen, G.
- (2013). Mental contrasting changes the meaning of reality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 49, Issue 5, September 2013, Pages 797-810
Kappes, A., Wendt, M., Reinelt, T. & Oettingen, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.03.010) - (2014). The emergence of goal pursuit: Mental contrasting connects future and reality.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume 54, September 2014, Pages 25-39
Kappes, A., & Oettingen, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.03.014)
