This dissertation examines whether a nonconscious goal can change preferences between binary options, one favoring a conscious goal (e.g., undiluted but non-healthy iced tea) and the other a nonconscious goal (e.g., diluted but healthy iced tea). Across four laboratory experiments, we demonstrate that when participants are only given a conscious goal (e.g., to choose the tastier drink), the majority of them seek the alternative that is more instrumental to this goal. However, when a nonconscious goal is also primed (e.g., to be healthy), their preferences can shift to the alternative that is perceived to be instrumental to this goal but is inferior from the conscious goal standpoint. We propose a two-stage model to explain these findings. In the first stage, when a nonconscious goal is primed, individuals attend to goal-relevant cues (e.g., health-signaling label) and automatically form a positive evaluation toward the option that facilitates the nonconscious goal relative to the option that does not satisfy the goal. In the second stage, the positive automatic evaluation is then used to distort perceptions of the option’s conscious goal instrumentality such that the option is perceived as having a more favorable taste compared to when the goal is not primed. While the positive automatic evaluation influences the option’s taste, it does not affect the evaluation of the option’s other attributes (e.g., scent, color). By manipulating the timing of nonconscious goal activation and by adopting an evaluative conditioning task, we find support for our conceptual model while ruling out alternative explanations and identifying a boundary condition of task difficulty. The findings of the experiments contribute to the literature on nonconscious goals 1) by showing that these goals can play a central role in decision making when choice options pit them against conscious goals, and 2) by identifying a mechanism (i.e., attribute distortion) that can resolve goal competition in choice.

Management pressure has been increasing for most companies due to fierce competition from the same industry and rapid changes and complexities in the larger context. To survive the competition and ensure sustainable management, the introduction of organization yearly performance management system is necessary. It allows a company to clarify its overall yearly goals and to extend them to individual employees according to departmental functions, linking the goals of the company, its departments, and its individual employees together. The present study takes a semiconductor packaging assembly company as case study and analyzes the factors influencing its yearly performance management system. The study first conducts a literature review, delineating the theoretical bases and results of related literature, in order to establish the theoretical model for this research. It then provides the research hypothesis based on the case company, which will be tested by analyzing the data collected from questionnaires using SPSS. Questionnaires are designed according to the four hypothesized indices of the case company: the supervisors¡¦ recognition of the function of yearly performance management, departmental yearly goals not linked with the company¡¦s yearly goals, routine management functions not synchronized with performance goals, and information system. SPSS testing shows that the Cronbach¡¦s £\ is all higher than 0.7, indicating a high reliability of scale, in other words, high conformity. The research results demonstrate that: 1. Mean and standard deviation analysis shows that different levels of supervisors in the case company have conformed recognition regarding the influence of the four indices on the organization¡¦s yearly performance. 2. Correlation analysis of the four hypothesized indices shows that they are highly correlated. This study evaluates the turnover and gross profit of the past three years from the case company based on the four indices that influence its yearly performance management system and finds that there is much room for improvement. Therefore, the four indices still have considerable influence with regard to a company¡¦s administration of performance management.

Achievement goal research in physical education (PE) settings relies heavily on the traditional dichotomous achievement goal framework. Few studies use the trichotomous or 2*2 achievement goal model to explore and examine high school students?? achievement goals and behaviors in PE settings. Additionally, few studies to date have examined social and achievement goals simultaneously for high school students in PE settings. The purposes of this study were to: (1) examine whether the trichotomous and 2*2 achievement goal models reported in university undergraduate classrooms are appropriate in high school PE classes and (2) examine achievement goals and social goals simultaneously to see how they impact students?? persistence/effort toward physical education. The results revealed that the 2*2 model is appropriate for high school students in PE settings and provides a better fit to the data than the trichotomous model. The results also revealed that social responsibility goals represent the greatest contributor to students?? persistence/effort toward physical education. This is followed by masteryapproach goals, mastery-avoidance goals, and performance-approach goals. Performance-avoidance goals and social relationship goals did not significantly affect students?? persistence/effort toward physical education. Based on the findings, we advocate using both achievement and social goals when examining student motivation and achievement in high school physical education.

This dissertation examines the types of messages used for organizational dissent, and argues for connections between dissent messages, choice of audience and influence goals. The organizational dissent literature has explored the situations that may trigger dissent and the variables that lead a dissenter to approach various audiences, but few studies have examined dissent messages. Additionally, this line of research has tended to neglect coworkers as a possible audience for dissent and has been characterized as atheoretical (Waldron, 1999). Much of the research on interpersonal influence has examined influence in romantic relationships, but influence may play an important role in workplace relationships as well, suggesting that interpersonal influence is an appropriate theoretical perspective from which to examine dissent. This dissertation examines the messages, audiences, and goals associated with dissent using a two-part study with interviews and surveys. Messages differed according to audience, but, surprisingly, not according to the quality of relationship between the dissenter and the audience. Dissent expressed to supervisors is more likely to involve message types such as assertiveness, rational arguments, solution presentation, humor, ingratiation, sanctions, threatening resignation, while dissent expressed to coworkers is more likely to involve message types such as displaying emotion or coalitions. The primary goal of expressing emotion and the secondary goal of identity were most prevalent in terms of considerations as study participants expressed dissent. The analyses indicate that the goal of expressing emotion was significantly related to messages of displaying emotion, goals of providing guidance or changing opinion were significantly more associated with solution presentation than with asking for information, the goal of gaining assistance was significantly more associated with coalitions, and the goal of relational resource was significantly less associated with messages threatening resignation. These results suggest that interpersonal influence offers a fruitful perspective from which to view dissent messages, and more research is needed to examine the goals associated with workplace influence as the goals that motivate interpersonal interactions differ from the goals that motivate organizational dissent. Additionally, these results indicate that the position of a person is more important than a relationship in determining how a person will express dissent.

The allocation of attentional resources to a focal task can influence performance on that task, but within-person changes in allocation policy is typically understudied. This study investigates the off-task pull of emotional experiences and the competing on-task pull of goals. Emotional experience was manipulated using an ostracizing event and goals were experimenter-assigned. The results did not support the off-task pull of emotional experiences or the on-task pull of goals. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

This thesis examines the association between the role that an individual’s partner and relationship alternatives play in his or her goal pursuits and the individual’s commitment to his or her relationship. Individual’s preference for others that aid in the achievement of his or her goals has been theoretically and empirically established (Fitzsimons & Shah, 2008). This thesis extends that work by examining the relation between multiple interpersonal dimensions of an individual’s goal pursuits and his or her romantic commitment. Rusbult’s (1980) investment model was used as a framework to develop a questionnaire that examined the degree to which an individual believed his or her partner facilitated, impeded, shared, and valued his or her goals, as well as whether the individual could accomplish the goal without his or her partner or if anyone other than his or her partner could help him or her to achieve the goal. It was hypothesized that individuals who believe that their partner facilitates and shares their goals, and that their alternative partners do not facilitate their goals, will be more committed to their relationship. These hypotheses were tested with a survey that asked participants to list three of their personal goals and rate each of them on the six interpersonal goal dimensions, as well as complete measures of relationship satisfaction, investment, alternatives, and commitment. Participants were recruited and responded to the survey through the Amazon.com Mechanical Turk marketplace. The final sample included 475 individuals that were involved in a romantic relationship at the time survey. Two structural equation models were constructed to analyze the data. Primary findings show significant associations between several of the interpersonal goal dimensions and the constructs of the investment model. Results are addressed in the context of the relevant literature, with relationship evaluation serving as the suggested mechanism. Implications and future directions are then discussed. / text

Recent research has demonstrated that over time, consecutive high performance goals can increase unethical behavior by depleting one's self-regulatory resources (Welsh & Ordóñez, 2014). In this study, I extend the mediated model connecting goals, depletion, and unethical behavior. First, I propose that the depleting effects associated with a single goal can increase depletion and facilitate unethicality both in pursuit of the goal and also in unrelated areas. Second, I draw from the goal-setting literature to hypothesize that high levels of goal commitment will moderate the relationship between high performance goals and depletion by strengthening this effect. Third, I integrate research related to information processing to hypothesize that because automatic processing influences behavior more when participants are depleted, subconscious ethical priming will moderate the relationship between depletion and unethical behavior by attenuating this effect. A laboratory study is presented to test the expanded model combining mediation and moderation, adding to our understanding of the factors that influence the strength of the relationship connecting high performance goals and unethical behavior. Results generally did not support the developed model and a number of potential limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

In this dissertation two studies are reported to explore the relation between parents’ goals for, beliefs about, and behaviour during parent-child shared book reading. In the first study, 92 parents rated the importance of potential reasons for reading with their children using the Parent Goals for Shared Reading Questionnaire (Evans & Williams, 2003). Ratings were completed longitudinally each year from their child’s junior kindergarten to grade 1 year. Factor analysis largely confirmed previous cross-sectional findings that the questionnaire items reflect distinct parent goals for shared book reading, including fostering reading skills, stimulating development, engaging in an enjoyable activity, and experiencing closeness with their child. The second study used data from the senior kindergarten year of this same sample of children to investigate the relation between parents’ beliefs about how to teach reading, how highly they rated fostering reading skills as a goal versus non-reading goal subsets, and their behaviour during shared book reading (i.e., the nature of the extratextual comments and error corrections made). Results demonstrated that, as parent goals to foster children’s reading skills increase, their tendency to provide the correct word in response to their child’s miscues decreases. When goals to foster reading skills were high, parents were more likely to use strategies that help their child to read misread words, regardless of their ratings of goals to engage in a positive experience with their child. However, when goals to foster reading skills were low, increasing ratings of the goal to engage in a positive experience related to decreasing instances of parents helping their child to read misread words. Furthermore, the goal to engage in a positive experience with one’s child was positively related to extratextual conversation not related to teaching reading but only when goals to foster reading skills were also low. Finally, goals to foster reading and constructivist beliefs both made independent contributions to the prediction of parents’ use of context cues to correct reading errors. Implications of these findings for literacy intervention programs targeted at the shared-book reading interaction are discussed.

Organisational commitment has been suggested as a function of the degree of integration and congruence of individual and organisational goals and values. The more employees can satisfy their needs through work, the more they will be committed to an organisation. The organisational conditions that influence such need satisfaction are generally known as quality of worklife (QWL). The purpose of the study was to examine the relative importance and perceived presence of factors associated with QWL, their relationships with organisational commitment (OC), and demographic patterns of their relationships for nonsupervisory employees in Malaysia. Underlying questions explored were the crosscultural universality of theories of QWL and OC and their utility for management policy and action. The research instrument employed was a survey questionnaire in the Malaysian language based on Western models of QWL and OC and using Likert scaling. Usable responses were obtained from 672 employees in 671 organisations. Statistical analysis was carried out using factor analysis, t-test, analysis of variance and multiple regressions. The Western model and measures of affective, normative and continuance commitment were generally supported, but two sub-factors emerged for continuance commitment relating to cost of leaving and lack of alternatives. The collectivist nature of Malaysian culture emerged as an important determinant of QWL and, in turn, OC. The most important QWL factors were workplace integration, work environmenta nd supervision. The first two of these were perceived as those most present. Different demographic relationships emerged between affective, normative and continuance commitment and QWL. Indicators for changing management policies and action to improve QWL and hence OC among non-supervisory employees in Malaysia concern work environment, workplace integration and the social relevance of work. The equity of pay and benefits, though itself an unimportant QWL factor, was also related to affective commitment.

In this study it is argued that quality of health is predominantly influenced by health behaviour and health-risk behaviour. Self-regulation as an important factor in health and health-risk behaviour was operationalised by three phases, namely goal establishment, goal execution and self-reflection and adjustment. In addition, mindfulness is an important metacognitive skill applied throughout the process of self-regulation. The lack of research on self-regulation and health behaviour, especially with reference to South African youth and young adolescents is surprising. Health programmes seem to pay insufficient attention to the enhancement of self-regulatory skills in preventing health risk behaviour. Another limitation is the lack of qualitative data regarding self-regulation research. 'This study aims to explore the self-regulation of health-related goals in a group of young adults. Insight to this process could contribute to the development of more appropriate health promoting programmes. A qualitative research design with content analysis as data analysis technique was applied. An availability sample of 92 participants, aged between 18 and 30, completed self-compiled questionnaires on health-risk behaviour and self-regulation. Results indicate a high prevalence of health risk behaviour, supporting other South African findings. Various differences were found between participants engaging in high risk behaviour and those with low risk behaviour with reference to the phases and processes of self-regulation. The high risk group's goal setting seems to be problematic as it does not address identified high risk behaviours. This may be as a result of insufficient mindfulness in that they are ignorant of their health risk behaviour and its implication or alternatively, that they attempt to avoid the risk of failure. In addition, the high risk group is more dependent on external motivation regarding health-related goals and is, therefore, more influenced by controlled regulation. In contrast, the low risk group more often relies on individual personal resources as a source of motivation for their health related goals. Furthermore, the high risk group experiences regulatory non-fit as 'their actions were more often inappropriate. No major differences were found between the groups concerning stumbling blocks and self-observation. Participants in the high risk group evaluate their performance less favourably and are more likely to experience negative emotions in the face of failure compared to participants in the low risk group. When taking the whole self-regulation process into account, it can thus be concluded that participants of the high risk group have poor self-regulation in relation to participants in the low risk group. In general, the findings of this study support the findings of other researchers, confirming the importance of self-regulation in health and health-risk behaviour. The main implication is that there should be a much stronger emphasis on self-regulatory skills in health promotion and illness prevention programmes. Certain limitations of this study were also taken into account. Future studies should consider the role of individuals' risk perceptions with regard to the goal establishment phases as well as the manner in which individuals deal with stumbling blocks in the action phase. Finally, the way in which self-regulation as a dynamic process should be accurately assessed is still not clear. As this study is one of the first to explore self-regulation from a qualitative perspective, future studies could shed more light on the usefulness of other qualitative and even mixed method designs. / Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.