Positive Psychology at Work:

Goal Seeking

Before examining goal-setting behaviour in organizations, I want to review goal-seeking behaviour in organisms. To do this I want to introduce some important neuroscience research that underpins much of what we shall consider later. This research has revealed, among other things, that the brain contains two behavioural systems: a behavioural activation system and a behavioural inhibition system (Pickering and Gray, 1999). These can be characterized as approach and avoidance systems. They are independent of each other and only one can be activated at any one time. Differences in the responsiveness of these systems in individuals go a long way to explaining reliable behaviour differences, which in essence are what we know as personality differences. For example, it seems possible that extraversion may be related to patterns of activation of the behavioural approach system and that neuroticism may be related to differences in the activation of the behavioural inhibition system (Patterson and Newman, 1993). These two systems also help to explain differences in our day-to-day patterns of behaviour. These daily patterns are an expression of our accumulated learning about the world: its rewards and dangers. Our past experience affects what we find engaging and what we recognize as a rewarding goal. It also affects what we experience as punishing. Our accumulated learning about the punishing aspects of life is reflected in the activation of the behavioural inhibition system. ...