加拿大和美国研究人员发现，当设定目标时，人脑中跳出来的直觉往往正确，因为直觉比人们想象中更“聪明”，直觉可以成为成功实现长期目标的一大助力。
加拿大艾伯塔大学商学院副教授萨拉•穆尔和美国杜克大学、康奈尔大学的同事揭示了潜意识如何对与个人目标相关事物作出反应，一旦目标达成，无论结果好坏，潜意识又如何继续影响这些事物。
穆尔告诉英国《每日邮报》记者：“过去几年中，我们承认，（西格蒙德•）弗洛伊德一些关于潜意识的想法确实正确，人的一些决定和感觉基于一些我们并不知道的东西。这次，我们研究了人对环境事物的潜意识如何影响目标实现。”
穆尔说，先前研究结果显示，针对短期、有限的目标，譬如饥渴等基本需求，潜意识会根据事物是否有助实现目标来进行评估，优先选择。以口渴为例，人们会优先看见饮水器或一瓶饮料，而不容易注意到巧克力或快餐店招牌。
一旦目标达成，潜意识对同样事物的评估发生改变，使人不再优先看待饮水器和饮料。
“当人们看待长期目标时，情况有所不同，”穆尔说。她的研究主要关注长期目标，譬如减肥、学习计划等。
她说，无论哪种目标，潜意识能识别环境中有利目标实现的事物和契机，作出积极反应，这一过程类似；但是在追求长期目标过程中，即便取得一定程度的成功，潜意识将继续积极评估相关事物。
穆尔说，这种现象说明目标的不确定性。“从某种意义而言，人们的长期目标永无止境，”她说，“如果成功完成实现长期目标的一小步，会形成一个循环：人们迈一小步，取得成功，感觉良好，因此继续对长期目标感觉良好，这让人们更愿意朝着实现长期目标再迈一步。”
研究对象失败后，其潜意识对相关事物作出的反应令研究人员感到意外。
研究人员原本以为，研究对象失败后会对相关事物作出消极反应，或者表达不喜；结果却是中立看待相关事物。
“你不讨厌与目标有关的事物，因为从长远来看，那个目标对你具有非常重要的意义，”穆尔说，“你的潜意识告诉你，‘现在不是追求目标的时候，你刚遭遇失败，暂且放在一边’。于是，人们不去追求环境中这些东西，而是转向其他目标。”
生物探索推荐英文文章阅读：
Why we're right to trust our gut instincts: Scientists discover first decision IS the right one
Go on your gut feeling when setting goals - because more often than not it'll be right, researchers have revealed.
According to a study by Canada's University of Alberta, when it comes to working out where the future lies your unconscious mind is both smarter than you think and can be a great motivator.
Alberta School of Business researcher Sarah Moore and colleagues from Duke and Cornell universities say unconscious feelings about objects in the environment influence the pursuit of long-term goals.
Their study explores how the unconscious mind responds to objects in relation to an individual's goals - and how the unconscious continues to influence feelings about these objects once the goals are reached, whether or not the outcome has been successful.
'In the past few years, we recognised that some of [Sigmund] Freud's ideas on the unconscious mind were, in fact, correct and that a lot of our decision-making and a lot of our feelings are based on things that we're not really aware of,' said Moore, who is an assistant professor in the Alberta School of Business.
In our study, we looked at how our unconscious feelings about objects in the environment influence how we pursue goals.'
Moore notes 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.
She says in the case of thirst, items such as a water fountain or a bottle of Coke will be seen favourably, 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 fountain positively anymore because you've accomplished the goal,' she said. 'But there are differences when we look at long-term goals.'
Moore's research focused on longer-term goals, such as getting in shape or undertaking educational pursuits.
For both types of goals, she says, the process is similar in that the unconscious identifies and responds to positively to objects and triggers in the environment that support the goal.
However, the unconscious deals differently with these objects during progress towards long-term goals.
Moore says, unlike with short-term finite 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 says this phenomenon points to the indeterminate nature of the goal.
'In some sense, we're never "finished" long-term goals,' said Moore.
'If we successfully finish the small steps toward our long-term goals, it becomes a cycle: we take a small step, we succeed, we feel good about it; therefore, we continue to feel good about the long-term goal.
'This process makes us more likely to take the next small step toward achieving that goal.'
What was surprising for the researchers was how participants in their study reacted to objects after a failure.
While the researchers expected the participants who failed to react negatively or express dislike for objects related to their test goal, Moore and her colleagues found that failure resulted in a neutral view of the objects.
'You don't hate the objects related to the goal because that goal is very important to you in the long run,' said Moore.
'Your unconscious is telling you 'now is not the time to pursue the goal. You just failed, let's leave it alone for a while.
'We're not going to pursue these objects in the environment; we're going to switch to some other goal.'
