According to a study by Canada's University of Alberta, when it comes to working out where the future lies, your unconscious mind is smarter than you think and can be a great motivator.
Alberta School of Business researcher Sarah Moore and colleagues from Duke and Cornell University say unconscious feelings about objects in the environment influence the pursuit of long-term goals.
Previous studies have shown when it comes to short-term, finite goals, such as responding to basic needs like thirst or hunger, the unconscious will evaluate objects and form preferences based on whether the object will help an individual achieve the goal.
Moore says in the case of thirst, items such as a water fountain or a bottle of Coke will be seen favorably, while a chocolate bar or KFC sign would not.
However, she explains that, once the goal is reached, those same objects will be evaluated differently.
"Once your thirst is quenched, you don't evaluate the water fountainpositively anymore because you've accomplished the goal," she said. "However, the unconscious deals differently with these objects during progress towards long-term goals."
The unconscious will continue to positively value objects related to the long-term goals even after a level of success has been achieved.
She said, if we successfully finish the small steps toward our long-term goals, we feel good about it; therefore, we continue to feel good about the long-term goal. So it becomes a cycle.



据英国《每日邮报》8月30日报道,加拿大阿尔伯塔大学的研究表明，提到规划未来，我们的直觉要比我们想象的更加灵敏，它能给人提供强大的动力。

阿尔伯塔商学院的研究员萨拉•摩尔与他来自杜克大学和康奈尔大学的同事称，对一种事物在特定情境下的无意识情感（直觉）会影响到人们长期目标的达成。

先前的研究已经证实，为达到一个短期特定的目标，例如解决口渴或饥饿的问题，直觉会先对某目标物件做出判断然后形成选择参数，参数是根据该物品是否会帮助个人实现目标而设定的。


摩尔说，口渴时，诸如饮水机或可乐这样的东西就会更受人待见，而巧克力棒或KFC就不会太受欢迎。

然而，她解释说，一旦目标达成，人们对同一类目标事物的评价就会不同。

她说："当人不再感到口渴时，他就不会再给予饮水器积极的评价，因为他已经完成了目标。但是，直觉在完成长期目标的过程中对事物的评估与短期目标时的不同。"


直觉会持续对与长期目标相关的事物做出积极的评价，即使这个目标已经在某种程度上实现了。

她表示，在完成长期目标的过程中，如果我们只是向前成功地迈了一小步，我们都会对此感觉良好。因此，我们就会对长期目标保持良好的感觉，这样就形成一种（良性）循环。

• working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
• pursuit [pə´sju:t] n.追踪；追击；事务 (初中英语单词)
• thirst [θə:st] n.渴，口渴；渴望 (初中英语单词)
• hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
• achieve [ə´tʃi:v] vt.完成；达到；获得 (初中英语单词)
• fountain [´fauntin] n.泉水；源泉；根源 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• unconscious [ʌn´kɔnʃəs] a.无意识的；不觉察的 (高中英语单词)
• environment [in´vaiərənmənt] n.郊区；周围；条件 (高中英语单词)
• positively [´pɔzətivli] ad.确实；断然；绝对 (高中英语单词)
• differently [´difrentli] ad.不同地，有差别地 (高中英语单词)
• related [ri´leitid] a.叙述的；有联系的 (高中英语单词)
• successfully [sək´sesfəli] ad.成功地 (高中英语单词)
• accomplished [ə´kʌmpliʃt] a.完成了的；熟练的 (英语四级单词)