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What's in a goal? The role of motivational relevance in cognition and action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Baruch Eitam
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel. beitam@psy.haifa.ac.ilhttp://hevra.haifa.ac.il/~psy/index.php/en/faculty?id=88
E. Tory Higgins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. tory@psych.columbia.eduhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/indiv_pages/higgins.html

Abstract

We argue that it is possible to go beyond the “selfish goal” metaphor and make an even stronger case for the role of unconscious motivation in cognition and action. Through the relevance of a representation (ROAR) framework, we describe how not only value motivation, which relates to “selfish goals,” but also truth motivation and control motivation impact cognition and action.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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