Goal Priming and Self-Efficacy: Independent Contributions to Motor Performance

It is well-established that goal pursuit and performance are responsive to the goal characteristics (e.g., difficulty, specificity) and beliefs about self and the task (e.g., self-efficacy). Also, contextual factors may lead to nonconscious goal activation and pursuit. Nevertheless, much remains to be discoverd concerning the way conscious and nonconscious goals are related. In this study, the way in which self-efficacy and nonconscious goal priming may affect a goal-directed activity was explored. 67 right-handed participants with high or low self-efficacy on their motor skills performed a drawing task associated with an accuracy instruction. Before task performance, they were primed with accuracy-related words (goal-compatible condition), inaccuracy-related words (goal-incompatible condition), or received no priming manipulation (control condition). Analysis indicated that performance of the motor task was independently influenced by self-efficacy and goal priming.