Traci Sitzmann, Bradford S Bell
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,Vol. 138, Pages: 1-14.

We test two potential boundary conditions for the effects of subconscious goalsthe nature of the goal that is activated (achievement vs. underachievement) and conscious goal striving. Subconscious achievement goals increase the amount of time devoted to skill acquisition, and this increase in resource allocation leads to higher performance when conscious goals are neutral. However, specific conscious goals undermine the performance benefits of subconscious achievement goals. Subconscious underachievement goals …
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