The Unconscious Will: How the Pursuit of Goals Operates Outside of Conscious Awareness

Abstract

Blissful Ignorance? Although recent research has established the remarkable ways in which cognitive processing can occur without our being aware of it—for instance, casual exposure to retiree-related words, such as “elderly,” induces us to walk more slowly—behavior that is directed toward goals still seems to be the product of conscious thought. Custers and Aarts (p. 47 ) review a set of findings that point toward the possibility that goals may, in fact, also be vulnerable to manipulation via avenues of which we remain blissfully unaware. They place these results within a framework that reveals how thoroughly unconscious processes permeate our everyday activities.