How Sensory Cues Affect Our Thinking
THE HUMAN MIND is highly adaptive, constantly adjusting itself to situational demands. Situations that tap into our motives are particularly effective at getting the mind going. For example, if your selfesteem or moral standing is threatened, a host of mental mechanisms kick in to defend your sense of competence and integrity.
A growing body of research examines the surprising power of subtle physical states to shift the mental processes underlying our ‘motivated cognition’. Motivated cognition refers to the influence of our motives on various types of thought processes, such as memory, information processing, reasoning, judgment and decision making — all of which have significant effects on people in the workplace.
In this article I will summarize four themes from my recent research in an effort to help leaders understand that mental processes are not devoid of physical influence.
1. Flexibility in Goal Pursuit
Not surprisingly, people who are skilled at adapting their goals to life’s changing circumstances tend to
