14 The history of the concept of goals

Research and theorizing on goals and their effects on thought, affect and behaviour have become very popular in social psychology, as documented by many recently edited books (e.g. Frese and Sabini 1985; Gollwitzer and Bargh 1996; Halisch and Kuhl 1987; Kuhl and Beclanann 1985; Pervin 1989) and review chapters (e.g. Gollwitzer and Moskowitz 1996; Karniol and Ross 1996; Karoly 1993). The reasons for this are manifold. Some are rooted in theoretical developments in the psychology of motivation (see Heckhausen 1991; Geen 1995; Gollwitzer 1990, 1993; Kuhl 1984) which has moved beyond explaining the choice ofactions to the wilful control ofactions. This new interest in volition has led to the embracing of the goal concept, as goals are at the starting point of any volitional control of action. But the renaissance of the concept of goals is also promoted by recent developments in the field of social psychology known as 'social cognition'. First, following William James' (1890) observation that 'my thinking is first and always for the sake of my doing:, it is increasingly recognized that much of people's thinking is to control their actions. Second, the metaphor that governs current theorizing on human information processing is changing from the 'faulty computer' or the 'cognitive miser' to the 'flexiQle strategist' (Fiske 1993). All this has created a tremendous interest in issues of volition. Thus the goal concept, allowing a cognitive analysis and being at the core of the volitional control of behaviour, is also embraced by researchers interested in social cognition.