Notes on Chartrand et al. (2008) – Nonconscious Goals and Consumer Choice

Paper: “Nonconscious Goals and Consumer Choice” (Chartrand et al. 2008)

Main Topic or Phenomenon

This paper examines how consumer goals can be activated and pursued outside of conscious awareness, specifically focusing on how incidental exposure to environmental cues can trigger thrift versus prestige goals that subsequently influence purchasing decisions without consumers realizing it.

Theoretical Construct

Nonconscious Goal Pursuit: The automatic activation and pursuit of desired end states through environmental cues, operating without conscious awareness or intent but producing behavioral consequences parallel to consciously set goals.

Key characteristics:

• Goals are mentally represented constructs that become linked to environmental features through repeated pairing
• Once activated by situational cues, goals operate automatically through stimulus-response conditioning mechanisms
• The process includes goal activation (source), goal pursuit (process), and behavioral outcomes, with individuals typically unaware of the source and process but aware of their behavior
• Distinguished from mere cognitive priming by exhibiting motivational properties like temporal escalation and goal satiation

Key Findings

1. Basic Effect: Exposure to prestige-related cues (vs. thrift-related cues) increases choice of expensive, prestigious options across multiple product categories
2. Temporal Escalation: Goal effects strengthen over time - longer delays between prime exposure and choice task lead to stronger goal-driven behavior
3. Goal Satiation: Real choices satisfy nonconscious goals and reduce their influence on subsequent decisions, while hypothetical choices do not provide satiation
4. Subliminal Brand Activation: Retail brand names (Nordstrom, Wal-Mart) can subliminally activate corresponding goals and influence preferences
5. Persistence Across Categories: Goal effects remain consistent across different product categories within the same choice session

Boundary Conditions and Moderators

Time Delay: Acts as an enhancer - longer intervals between goal activation and choice strengthen the effect (supporting temporal escalation criterion)

Choice Realism: Real vs. hypothetical choices moderate goal satiation:

• Real choices lead to goal satisfaction and diminished effects on subsequent decisions
• Hypothetical choices fail to satiate goals, allowing effects to persist

Goal Specificity: Effects demonstrated for abstract-level goals (thrift/prestige) that encompass various subgoals and action plans

Building on Previous Work

Extends Goal Research: Moves beyond conscious goal setting (Bagozzi & Dholakia, 1999) to demonstrate automatic goal activation in consumer contexts

Builds on Nonconscious Goal Literature: Applies Chartrand & Bargh’s (1996) impression formation findings to consumer choice, using established criteria (temporal escalation, goal satiation) to distinguish from trait priming

Novel Contribution to Priming Research: First to demonstrate goal satiation effects with nonconsciously activated goals and shows retail brands can serve as subliminal goal cues

Major Theoretical Contribution

This research fundamentally challenges the rational decision-making model by demonstrating that consumer goals can be automatically triggered and pursued outside awareness. It provides the first empirical evidence of nonconscious goal satiation and establishes that environmental brand cues can automatically activate purchasing goals, contributing to understanding of how contextual factors shape consumer behavior through nonconscious mechanisms.

Major Managerial Implication

Retailers can strategically influence consumer choices through environmental design:

• Position prestige cues near entrance/high-traffic areas to activate goals early in shopping experience
• Create “pockets of prestige” adjacent to target product categories
• Time exposure to maximize goal strengthening before critical purchase decisions
• Consider goal satiation effects when designing multi-purchase experiences
• Leverage brand associations as automatic goal triggers in advertising and store design

Unexplored Theoretical Factors

Individual Difference Moderators:

• Chronic accessibility of thrift vs. prestige goals
• Need for cognition or cognitive capacity
• Self-control resources/ego depletion
• Cultural values (individualism/collectivism)

Contextual Factors:

• Competing goal activation (multiple simultaneous cues)
• Social presence/observability effects
• Mood states and their interaction with goal activation
• Shopping context (utilitarian vs. hedonic)

Goal Characteristics:

• Goal hierarchy effects (abstract vs. concrete goal levels)
• Goal commitment strength
• Approach vs. avoidance goal orientations
• Regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention)

Temporal Dynamics:

• Optimal timing for goal activation
• Duration of goal effects
• Interference between multiple activated goals
• Recovery time between goal activations

Reference

Chartrand, Tanya L., Joel Huber, Baba Shiv, and Robin J. Tanner (2008), “Nonconscious Goals and Consumer Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (2), 189–201.