Turning dreams into reality: attributions of goals, fantasies and action accomplishment

Abstract

This thesis consisted of four studies that examined folk distinctions between goals, fantasies and the accomplishment of actions. University students read fictional scenarios about actors wanting to complete a common action, and rated the likelihood that the actor had a goal or a fantasy. In Studies 1 and 2, the presence and absence of desire and belief were manipulated. When desires and beliefs were present, participants rated goals more likely than fantasies. In contrast, participants rated fantasies more likely than goals when desires were present and beliefs were absent. Study 3 examined whether preconditions and beliefs influenced participants' ratings of goals or fantasies and the likelihood that actions would be accomplished. The results showed that participants rated goals more likely when beliefs were present than absent, whereas they rated fantasies similarly when beliefs were present and absent. In Study 3, participants rated actions more likely to be accomplished when preconditions and beliefs were both present than when they were both absent. In addition, participants' ratings of action accomplishment were predicted by the presence of goals, beliefs and preconditions. However, the results also showed that goal ratings mediated the effect of beliefs on ratings of action accomplishment. Therefore, beliefs influenced ratings of action accomplishment by being represented in participants' ratings of goals. Study 4 replicated the findings of Study 3 but without definitions of goals and fantasies.