How Other's Behavior Gives You New Goals
Psych 🧠- 424/500
heyy reader,
Ever catch yourself wanting something just because you saw someone else doing it?
This paper explores that sneaky phenomenon called "goal contagion," where we subconsciously adopt the goals we see others pursuing.
What is it?
The study investigates whether people automatically adopt the goals implied by another person's behavior, even without conscious awareness.
It focuses on how these "contagious" goals can influence an individual's own behavior in unrelated situations.
Key Findings:
People are more likely to pursue a goal if they see someone else working towards it, even if they don't realize they're adopting the goal.
This "goal contagion" is stronger when individuals have a high need for that goal.
Goals perceived as unacceptable do not lead to goal contagion.
Support this newsletter by buying the psychology handbook!👇
This Handbook explains 150+ biases & fallacies in simple language with emojis.
Or the Amazon Kindle copy from here.
What do I need to know:
We can be influenced by the actions of others more than we think.
Understanding goal contagion can help explain how social environments shape our motivations and behaviors.
The findings also indicate that conscious thought is not necessary for others’ behaviors to influence you to adopt a certain goal.
Source:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15250790/