The Influence Of Significant Others On The Athletes’ Unconscious Goal Pursuit

Unconscious goal pursuit means that an individual goal can be automatically activated by clues closely related to the goal,and the individual will automatically pursue and achieve the goal,but completely unaware of the guiding effect of the goal on his behavior(Bargh,1990).Interpersonal relationship(especially significant others),as an important environmental clue,can automatically activate relevant clues in the individual’s mind,so that the individual can unconsciously pursue related goals(Fitzsimons,Shah,Chartrand,& Bargh,2005).In this study,three experiments were conducted to explore the influence of significant others priming on unconscious goal pursuit and the mediating role of approach motivation.Study 1 explores the influence of subliminal priming significant others on the pursuit of unconscious goals.The experiment adopted the between-subject experiment design with three levels of single factor.The independent variable was the priming type(significant others/non-significant others/neutral control group),the dependent variable was the goal accessibility and goal persistence.The results show that the main effect on the lexical decision task significant others priming group is not significant,nor is the interaction with the lexical type.In terms of the goal accessibility score,the significant other priming group performed significantly better than the neutral control group.In terms of the persistence of the pursuit of unconscious goals,the persistence time of the significant others priming group was significantly higher than that of the non-significant others priming group and the neutral control group.Study 2 explores the influence of supraliminal priming of significant others on the pursuit of unconscious goals.The experiment adopted the between-subject experiment design with three levels of single factor.The independent variable was the priming type(significant others/non-significant others/neutral control group),the dependent variable was the goal accessibility and goal persistence.The results showed that in terms of the accessibility of unconscious goal pursuit,the vocabulary response related to success in the lexical decision task was significantly lower than that in the non-significant others priming group and the neutral control group.The performance of the goal accessibility score was significantly higher than that of the non-significant other priming group and the neutral control group.In terms of the persistence of unconscious goal pursuit,the significant others priming group had significantly higher persistence time in grip task and maze task than the non-significant others priming group and the neutral control group.In study 3 explores the influence of individuals’ degree of control perception on the pursuit of unconscious goals,as well as the mediating role of approach motivation.The experiment adopted the between-subject experiment design at the level of single factor.The independent variable was the priming type(authoritarian group/democratic group),the dependent variable was the goal accessibility,and the goal persistence.The results showed that there was no significant difference between the democratic group and the autocratic group in terms of the accessibility of the unconscious goal.In terms of the persistence of unconscious goal pursuit,the democratic group was significantly higher than the autocratic group in holding task and maze task persistence time.The high approach motivation plays a mediating role in the priming group type and goal pursuit persistence,while the low approach motivation does not.Conclusion:(1)The activation of significant other subliminal and supraliminal can activate the unconscious target pursuit behavior of individuals to different degrees.In general,the supraliminal priming of significant other representation performed better in the accessibility and persistence of unconscious goal pursuit than the subliminal priming.(2)When individuals’ perception of the degree of control over significant others was activated supraliminal,the democratic group showed more goal persistence.(3)High approaching motivation plays a mediating role in the process of significant others promoting the pursuit of unconscious goals.