Goal Systems Theory : Psychological Processes and Applications

Twenty years ago, a group of investigators joined forces to propose a new conceptual paradigm based on a cognitive approach to motivation. This approach, referred to as goal systems theory, offered a broad perspective on behavioral phenomena and inspired research programs in diverse domains of psychological science. This volume collects the rich body of insights and findings that the goal systemic approach has yielded over the last two decades.

Using the major cognitive architectures of goal systems, leading researchers from some of the world's most renowned universities push the envelopes of their respective fields to discover new psychological phenomena and relationships through applications. These include fundamental topics such as attitude-behavior relations, intrinsic motivation, consumer behavior, violent extremism, addiction, and interpersonal relations among others. In all those domains, applications of goal systemic analyses provide novel insights and guide real world interventions. Chapters in this volume present the authors' work in these varied domains of application thus offering concrete illustrations of the theory's reach and usefulness.

Arie W. Kruglanski is Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland. He received the National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Award, the Donald Campbell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Psychology, the University of Maryland Regents Award for Scholarship and Creativity and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and from the Society for the Science of Motivation. He was Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, and is Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. He was editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and AE of the American Psychologist. He also served as President of the Society for the Study of Motivation.

Ayelet Fishbach is the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. She is the past president of the Society for the Science of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network. She is an expert on motivation and decision making. Dr. Fishbach's groundbreaking research on human motivation has won the Society of Experimental Social Psychology's Best Dissertation Award and Career Trajectory Award, and the Fulbright Educational Foundation Award.

Catalina Kopetz is Associate Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University. Her research focuses on the mechanisms that underlie multiple goal pursuit and management of goal conflict and their implications for risk taking.