Goal Disruption Theory represents a ten-year journey that started when I dusted off Tolman’s (1932) Purposive Behavior of Animals and Men from a dark and dusty corner of the library. The ideas put forth by Tolman, particularly his discussion of expectations, disruption, and behavior when in a heightened drive state seemed to offer an explanation of human behavior that was on par with the well-known theories I was being taught in graduate school.
I spent the next ten years reading everything Tolman wrote and following his line of reasoning. Lewin influenced Tolman, so Lewin’s readings were an early stop on the tour. I also dove into research on frustrations, goals, stress, and anything else that would increase my knowledge of Tolman’s framework and the related components.
Many of Tolman’s ideas have been explored by other scholars, many unaware of Tolman’s initial theorizing. I gravitated toward one concept: disruption. Tolman described disruption as an upset and break down in behavior caused when expectations are violated.
Guided by the scholarship of Tolman and Lewin, Goal Disruption Theory seeks to explain when an unexpected goal violation is most likely to cause psychological disequilibrium and the breadth of outcomes that occur as a result. To determine the predictors and antecedents of a goal violation myself, along with a team of highly dedicated graduate students, read volumes upon volumes of classic and contemporary literature that spanned psychological divides. To test what we uncovered, we conducted numerous experiments, many of which are now under review at various journals.
While the there is a great deal of work remaining, the results of the experiments we have recently conducted are promising. Many steps remain, but it is an exciting beginning. The site was created as a way to organize our work, offer scholars easy access to out scale and manipulations, and to promote the theory.
I hope you find the site, and theory, useful.
Jason T Siegel
I spent the next ten years reading everything Tolman wrote and following his line of reasoning. Lewin influenced Tolman, so Lewin’s readings were an early stop on the tour. I also dove into research on frustrations, goals, stress, and anything else that would increase my knowledge of Tolman’s framework and the related components.
Many of Tolman’s ideas have been explored by other scholars, many unaware of Tolman’s initial theorizing. I gravitated toward one concept: disruption. Tolman described disruption as an upset and break down in behavior caused when expectations are violated.
Guided by the scholarship of Tolman and Lewin, Goal Disruption Theory seeks to explain when an unexpected goal violation is most likely to cause psychological disequilibrium and the breadth of outcomes that occur as a result. To determine the predictors and antecedents of a goal violation myself, along with a team of highly dedicated graduate students, read volumes upon volumes of classic and contemporary literature that spanned psychological divides. To test what we uncovered, we conducted numerous experiments, many of which are now under review at various journals.
While the there is a great deal of work remaining, the results of the experiments we have recently conducted are promising. Many steps remain, but it is an exciting beginning. The site was created as a way to organize our work, offer scholars easy access to out scale and manipulations, and to promote the theory.
I hope you find the site, and theory, useful.
Jason T Siegel
