Question

The study by shariff and norenzayan (2007) presented in your text showed that under some conditions, participants would bemore likely to leave more money for a stranger. what is the larger contribution to understanding social cognition that this studymakes?

Answer 1

The answer is: Goals can be activated and influence people's behavior without their knowledge

According to the study, having a goal in our life would make us become more likely to do various form of improvements that will bring us closer to the goal. This can influence our behavior without our knowledge.

For example, let's say we put 'improving the well beings of others' as our main goal. Subconsciously, this would make us much more likely to give donation to stranger,  being careful in our spending, and make us more likely to pay attention to other people's problems.