Two laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the extent to which goal setting theory explains the effects of goals that are primed in the subconscious on task performance. The first experiment examined the effect on performance of three primes that connote the difficulty levels of a goal in the subconscious. Participants (n 5 91) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions where they were primed with either a photograph of a person lifting 20 pounds (easy goal), 200 pounds (moderately difficult goal), or 400 pounds (difficult goal). Following a filler task, participants were asked to "press as hard as you can" on a digital weight scale. Participants who were primed with the difficult goal exerted more effort than those who were primed with the moderate or easy goal. The second experiment examined whether choice of goal difficulty level can be primed. Participants (n 5 133) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Those primed with a difficult goal consciously chose to set a more difficult goal on a brainstorming task than those who were primed with an easier goal. Similarly, their performance was significantly higher. Conscientiousness moderated the subconscious goal-performance relationship while the selfset conscious goal partially mediated the subconscious goal-performance relationship.Priming began as an experimental technique to show how information is stored in memory despite the individuals inability to recall it (Bargh, 2014;Koriat & Feuerstein, 1976). The term refers to the facilitative effect of a stimulus in the environment that activates stored knowledge, in the absence of awareness, whenever the situation allows (Higgins, 1996). For this reason, Latham, Stajkovic, and Locke (2010) argued for the use of the term subconscious rather than unconscious or preconscious. Automaticity refers to a lack of awareness that a mental representation stored in memory has been 26 LATHAM ET AL.

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One hundred twenty-five astronaut autobiographies, interviews, and oral histories were content analyzed and scored for references to values (Schwartz, 1992). The current study extended methods tested in 2 pilot studies of space veterans from many nations, of both sexes, and with different experiences within the history of human spaceflight. Value references reflected a high degree of concern with individualism, with Achievement, Enjoyment, and Self-direction ranked highest. There were relatively few value differences across demographic categories, demonstrating the impact of the spaceflight experience. After returning, the astronauts showed increased concern with Universalism, Spirituality, and Power (social recognition), a broadened set of references to values oriented toward the collective good.

The effect of a context‐specific prime for cooperation on goal commitment and team performance were examined. In the first experiment, the participants (n = 139) performed the Lost on the Moon simulation (Hall & Watson, 1970) individually and as a team (n = 50). The teams were randomly assigned to a condition where they were assigned the same goal. They were then primed (n = 23) through a photograph of cooperation or to the control condition (n = 27). Consistent with NASA’s directions for performing the simulation, performance was measured by how well a team performed relative to the answers of experts, namely, staff at NASA. The results showed that a primed behavioural goal to cooperate has a positive effect on team performance. These results were replicated in a second and third experiment involving a social dilemma where both a pro‐social, group‐centric goal and a pro‐self, egocentric goal could be self‐set for the amount of points to make. Thus the positive effect of a goal primed for cooperation on a team’s performance was shown to be robust even when there was an explicit mixture of cooperative and competitive incentives. This finding was replicated in a third experiment with actual money. Consistent with goal setting theory, commitment to the team’s goal moderated the primed goal‐performance relationship.

President Obama's weekly radio addresses to the nation during his first two years in office were scored using thematic content analysis (TCA). TCA is a method for deriving quantitative data from qualitative materials through the use of detailed scoring manuals applied to oral or written texts by trained, reliable scorers. We scored the addresses for integrative complexity (IC), motive imagery (MI), and universal values. Obama's mean IC was second highest among recent presidents. His IC fluctuated in response to situational parameters, rising when he was negotiating and maneuvering his policies through Congress, falling when stress was high and a problem seemed amenable to a simple solution. His MI showed Achievement as his predominant motive. Achievement, Security, and Power were highest in his value hierarchy, which remained stable throughout the period; surprisingly, his ranking of Self-Direction was much lower than a previously published pan-cultural average. Last, we identified six clusters, time periods when his IC and Power imagery moved in opposite directions. The implications of this pattern for cooperative versus adversarial approaches in problem solving are discussed.