1. Seen it. Pinned it. Done it:
The effects of vicarious goal satiation and “pinning” on Pinterest users’ goal motivation
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Assessable word count: 9,935
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3. i
Abstract
This study explored mechanisms which may decrease goal motivation in Pinterest users,
specifically: vicarious goal satiation and the act of pinning images. Pinterest users may
encounter vicarious goal satiation when observing completed goals, which then satiates the
drive to achieve the same goal. Further, the act of pinning may reduce motivation through
various mechanisms; either perceived goal progress or increased attendance to desired goal
outcomes. Participants (N = 163) were randomly assigned to conditions where they saw
complete or incomplete creative projects, pinned images they liked or did not pin any images,
and were asked to look for a project they would like to try or were provided no additional
instructions. Motivation to complete creative goals was measured by performance on a
creative word association task. The study predicted that participants who saw complete
creative projects would have less motivation for creative goals than those who saw incomplete
creative projects (vicarious goal satiation). Secondly, it explored whether having a conscious
goal facilitated or protected against vicarious goal satiation. Finally, it was expected
participants who pinned images would have less motivation on the creative word association
task than those who did not pin images. Results found no significant effects of project
completion or pinning. Having a conscious goal did not facilitate or protect against vicarious
goal satiation. Post hoc analysis of the second half of the word task was conducted to
introduce an artificial delay revealing a marginal pin by seek interaction. Participants who
had a conscious goal and did not pin images had greater motivation than those who did pin
images. Further research addressing the limitations of this study is needed to explore goal
satiation effects on Pinterest users.

4. ii
Table of Contents
Abstract i
List of tables iv
List of figures v
Introduction 1
Catching motivation 3
Catching de-motivation 5
Effects of pinning 7
Current research 9
H1: Vicarious goal satiation 9
H2: Holding a conscious goal 10
H3: Effect of pinning 10
Method 11
Participants 11
Measures 12
Pinterest images 12
Remote Associates Test 12
Design & procedure 13
Ethics 15
Contributions 15
Results 16
Dependent measures 16
Transformation of data 17
Manipulation checks 17
Complete versus incomplete projects 17
Pin versus not pinning projects 18
Seeking versus not seeking a project 18
Main hypotheses 18

5. iii
Post hoc analyses 20
Discussion 22
Pinterest images 23
Identification and familiarity with Pinterest 25
Measuring creative motivation 26
Second half of the RAT 27
Delay versus distractor task 28
Multiple measures 28
Future research 29
Conclusion 31
References 33
Appendix A. Pinterest Feeds 39
Appendix B. Pinterest Instructions 40
Appendix C. RAT Items 43
Appendix D. Information Sheet 44
Appendix E. Debrief Sheet 45
Appendix F. Dependent Measures Correlations 46
Appendix G. Main Hypothesis ANOVAs 47
Appendix H. Post Hoc ANOVAs 52

6. iv
List of Tables
Table 1. Number of participants in each condition 15
Table 2. Correlation coefficients of Participants’ Performance Measures on the Remote
Associates Test 16
Table 3. Means, Standard Deviations, and p Values for Main Hypotheses Independent
Groups ANOVAs on RAT Performance Scores 19

7. v
List of Figures
Figure 1. Number of RAT items attempted as a function of holding a conscious goal and
pinning images 22

9. 1
Seen it. Pinned it. Done it: The effects of vicarious goal satiation and “pinning”
on Pinterest users’ goal motivation
Social interaction infiltrates many aspects of our lives and, as online social networks
continue to gain popularity, we are becoming increasingly exposed to other people. This
constant flow of social information is not restricted to back-and-forth interaction, which
immediately springs to mind when we think of socialising, but includes an endless stream of
passive thoughts, emotions, and desires, coming from close and extended networks
(Anderson, Fagan, Woodnutt, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2012; Robinson & Lee, 2014; Wilson,
Gosling, & Graham, 2012). The range of online social networks has dramatically increased
the amount of social information that we have access to. Facebook allows personal
connections between people and a way to share life events and news stories. Twitter’s micro-
blogging format focuses on sharing immediacy information (i.e., what users are doing now).
Instagram and Vine allow people to capture and share their daily lives through the visual
media of photography and video, respectively. And Pinterest, a relatively recent entrant into
the social media landscape, invites users to curate collections of images, sourced from the
internet, and display them in categorised boards.
The social curation website entered the online sphere in 2011 and was the first social
networking site to reach 10 million users in less than a year. The user base is predominately
female (approximately 80%) aged 25 to 45 (Duggan & Smith, 2013). While other social
network sites have focused on sharing life experiences, Pinterest users collect content from
online sources. This content is arranged on personal pages (called ‘boards’) to create curated
collections of images based on a theme (e.g., recipes, weddings, creative projects etc.). As
such, the site is like a physical scrapbook. Instead of pasting clippings from a magazine,
users ‘pin’ images that link external websites into user-generated boards. Users also ‘re-pin’
images that are already within Pinterest allowing them to spread virally within the site.

10. 2
It is this ability to amass and present desirable images that has allowed a majority of
Pinterest users to utilise the website to organise and share goals, and this has been supported
by consumer research into the site (Bernadini et al, 2014; Engauge, 2012; Gilbert et al., 2013;
Hall & Zarrow, 2012; Mull & Lee, 2014; Linder et al., 2014). Instead of broadcasting to
followers information about personal thoughts and daily events, Pinterest’s architecture and
marketing encourage users to bring together ideal versions of their lives. Pinterest’s slogan is
‘a place to discover ideas for all your projects and interests’, showing the company’s insight
into the aspirational way people utilise the site. Over half of users utilise Pinterest to get
inspiration for careers or hobbies, and similar numbers use it to store images of things they
dream of having (Engague, 2014). Pinterest has reported users shaping their searches based
on how much they ‘need’ a desired outcome and how ‘soon’ they want to achieve it (Brown,
2014). When comparing the words people used in Pinterest comments to the words they used
on Twitter, a distinct difference emerged. While the words selected for Twitter posts focus on
social interaction and immediacy (e.g., ‘thanks’, ‘friend’, and ‘today’), comments on Pinterest
are full of aspirational language (e.g., ‘want’ and ‘need’) (Gilbert, Bakhshi, Chang, &
Terveen, 2013). Given that users are visiting the site to organise and share their goals, and
Pinterest has leapt on this as a marketing strategy, it is important to understand what impact
the website has on goal motivation. While it appears intuitive that spending time browsing
goal-related images and saving these for future browsing will enhance motivation to reach
those goals, the literature surrounding goal motivation suggests otherwise. But first, let’s take
some time to explain what a goal actually consists of.
As we move through life we follow a path signposted by aspirations and goals. These
can be large long term goals like re-decorating a room, or more immediate, everyday goals
like cooking a meal for dinner. In cognitive terms, goals are represented as movement
towards a desired outcome, and require multiple smaller goals to be reached in order to attain
that outcome (Fishbach & Dhar, 2005; Touré-Tillery & Fishbach, 2011). For example, if a

11. 3
person wants to re-decorate they must first decide on a style, select a colour scheme, locate
furniture and so on until they are enjoying their new decor. Active goals facilitate motivation
to reach these desired outcomes (Brown, 1948). As cognitive concepts, goals are represented
as memories and related thoughts that vary in accessibility. Because of this, motivation to
pursue goals can vary depending on situational factors which affect how accessible they are
(Bargh, 1990; Fishbach & Ferguson, 2007; Higgins, Bargh, & Lombardi, 1996; Kruglanski,
1996). When activated goals also affect how we interact with the world. This facilitates goal
pursuit by making tasks and concepts that are related to the goal more accessible so the
individual pursuing that goal is more likely to attend to them. These goal-related concepts are
anything that helps an individual reach the goal outcome (Fishbach & Ferguson, 2007;
Norman, 1981). Using the example of re-decorating, having this goal active will make
concepts relating to the task more accessible: the decorator will be more attuned to colour
scheme ideas and when the local furniture store has a sale. It is tempting to think that as
individuals we are independent in what goals we pursue and that we drive how motivated we
are to reach them. Yet, social interaction influences our goals and goal motivation more than
we think (Aarts, Gollwitzer, & Hassin 2004; Loersch, Aarts, Payne, & Jefferis, 2008;
Palomares, 2013). Understanding how we can ‘catch’ goals from our social network is vital
in the realm of social media and the resulting onslaught of social information.
Catching Motivation
It seems unlikely that by simply observing another person they can influence our own
goals. But that is exactly what goal contagion describes. Goal contagion is the process by
which individuals catch a goal by observing another person pursue that goal (Aarts et al.,
2004). It occurs when goal-related concepts become cognitively activated, or primed, by
another person’s behaviour. To explain how this works, imagine an individual who
consciously chooses to pursue a goal for themselves; related concepts become cognitively
activated which directs their behaviour in order to complete the goal. In goal contagion

12. 4
activation of goal-relevant concepts still occurs, but this time the concepts are subconsciously
primed by seeing another person pursue their own goal. This results in the observer being
motivated as if they had decided to pursue the goal themselves – they literally catch the goal.
It is necessary to differentiate goal contagion from semantic priming, as while both can
result in changes to goal-relevant behaviour, only the effects of goal contagion are sustained
long-term. Semantic priming is exposure to a word or concept resulting in similar concepts
becoming more accessible for a short period of time (Atkinson & Birch, 1970; Bargh,
Gollwitzer, Lee-Chai, & Barndollar., 2001; Chartrand & Bargh, 1996; Higgins, Bargh, &
Lombardi, 1996; Wyer & Srull, 1986). To clarify the difference, recall the home decorator
from earlier. Previously they had no desire to re-decorate. Then they had lunch with a friend
who is currently re-styling their lounge-room, and now they find themselves thinking about
painting over the burnt orange feature wall in their own lounge-room. What led to this
thought process? If the goal of re-decorating was activated by their friend’s decorating
anecdotes, this goal will persist until it is once the goal is reached. If, however, the
conversation semantically primed re-decorating, similar concepts become immediately more
accessible and quickly fade once the conversation has moved on. In order to differentiate
between semantic priming and goal contagion, researchers used a delay of five minutes
between participants observing a target pursue a goal and the measure of participants’
motivation on a similar goal (Aarts et al., 2004). It was expected that if the effect was due to
goal contagion, increased motivation would still occur after the delay, as goal activation is
sustained. If the effects were the result of semantic priming, however, there would be no
increased motivation after the delay, as the priming effect would have faded before the
measure of motivation took place. This is exactly what the researchers found. Participants
were more motivated after the delay, leading to the conclusion that they did indeed catch the
goal they observed, and semantic priming was not the cause of increased motivation.

13. 5
The goal contagion effect has been shown to be robust across various situations (Aarts
et al., 2005; Dik & Aarts, 2007; Jia, Tong, & Lee, 2004; Leander & Shah, 2013; Loersch et
al., 2008; Palomares, 2013). This body of research suggests that by witnessing another person
pursue a goal, this goal can be adopted by the observer without their awareness. Based on
this, we would expect goal contagion to occur readily on Pinterest – if users are spending time
looking at images that show beautifully prepared meals, well decorated houses, and successful
creative projects, the goals of cooking, decorating, and creating should be adopted. Users’
motivation for pursuing these activities should increase, and users’ expectations that the site
will facilitate their reaching their goals will be met. However, researchers have added to the
goal contagion story. Recent findings suggests that if goal motivation can be caught by
watching someone pursue a goal, de-motivation may also be caught when the observed target
reaches their desired goal outcome (McCulloch, Fitzimons, Chua, & Albarracin, 2011).
Catching De-motivation
Once the desired outcome of a goal has been reached, motivation to pursue goal-related
activities decreases, freeing up resources required to meet other goals the individual may
currently hold. Once a goal is reached, the accessibility of goal-related concepts is no longer
required and could impede progress on other goals that now have greater importance, so these
concepts are deactivated and become less accessible. This effect is described as goal satiation
(Forster, Liberman, & Higgins, 2005). Just as witnessing another individual pursuing a goal
activates goal-related concepts and increases motivation for similar goals (goal contagion),
witnessing another individual reach their goal deactivates goal-related concepts and decreases
motivation. This is vicarious goal satiation (McCulloch et al., 2011). This effect was shown
when participants performing an anagram task showed less motivation if they had previously
viewed the same anagram task being completed by another person. A follow up study
replicated the findings using a vignette about a man looking for his boss.

14. 6
Pinterest is full of opportunities for vicarious goal satiation to occur. The aspirational
nature of the site has resulted in literally millions of images depicting people who have
reached their goals. Whether this includes building the dream home, hosting the perfect
wedding, cooking an amazing meal, or creating a unique piece of art, the website is a constant
stream of other people’s completed projects. For those who utilise the site to seek inspiration
and organise ideas required to reach their goals, the effects of vicarious goal satiation could be
detrimental. Is spending time on a website designed to be ‘a place to discover ideas for all
your projects and interests’ preventing people from ever completing those projects? The effect
of vicarious goal satiation has only been tested with participants following a target throughout
the goal pursuit process, either visually or by reading a vignette (McCulloch et al., 2011).
This methodology focuses on an individual paying attention to one person pursuing one goal.
Social media, and in particular Pinterest, presents individuals with a seemingly infinite
amount of people pursuing multiple goals. Given this increased exposure to potential de-
motivating factors, it is critical to explore the role vicarious goal satiation could play on social
media.
Another aspect of both goal contagion and vicarious goal satiation is that they occur
automatically and beneath conscious awareness (Aarts et al., 2004; McCulloch et al., 2011).
Individuals are not aware that they are adopting the goals of those they are observing.
Similarly, after witnessing a person reach a goal, people are not aware that this has decreased
their motivation to pursue similar activities. As Pinterest markets itself as a website to get
inspiration, and the literature supports this is how users are engaging with it (Bernadini et al,
2014; Engauge, 2012; Gilbert et al., 2013; Hall & Zarro, 2013; Mull & Lee, 2014; Linder et
al., 2014) it is important to investigate if having a conscious goal will have an impact on
vicarious goal satiation. As yet, there is no research into what role vicarious goal satiation, if
any, can have on existing goals people may already have. However, previous research into

15. 7
subconscious goal priming and goal contagion may give some ideas as to how holding
conscious goals could affect vicarious goal satiation.
Research into how subconscious goal priming affects goal pursuit behaviour found that,
while people may experience goal pursuit differently when it is conscious compared to
subconscious, there are no differences in behaviour (Bargh et al., 2001). Further research into
whether conscious goals conflict with subconscious priming found that when goals conflict,
the non-conscious goal takes precedence due to a hierarchical application of mental resources.
That is, non-conscious priming uses cognitive resources to attend to relevant input before the
conscious goal, and as such it is more likely to drive behaviour (Légal, J.-B., Meyer, T., &
Delouvée, S., 2007). By contrast, holding a similar goal facilitates goal contagion as the goal
is already activated. In the case of vicarious goal satiation, holding a conscious goal could
either protect against or facilitate goal satiation. A conscious goal may prevent vicarious goal
satiation through stronger activation of goal concepts that are not easily suppressed
vicariously. Alternatively, a conscious goal may facilitate goal satiation by allowing an
already activated goal to be targeted. It is one of the aims of this study to explore what effect
holding a conscious goal may have on vicarious goal satiation.
Effects of Pinning
Another way users engage with Pinterest is by creating personal ‘boards’ that allow
users to pin images based on a theme. Pinning to a board is like pasting magazine clippings
into a scrapbook or bookmarking links in a web-browser for future reference. When a new
board is created, Pinterest supplies the examples ‘Places to go’ and ‘Recipes to make’,
reinforcing the goal-oriented nature of the site and encouraging goal-setting behaviour. A
potential outcome of pinning images is the perception that users are making progress towards
reaching their goal. By pinning images, Pinterest users are taking time to organise their ideas
regarding their goal. They may be planning colour choices, menu options, or travel
itineraries−all of which involve thinking about how they would like to proceed towards these

16. 8
goals. This suggests they are taking steps towards the larger goal of attaining the desired
outcome. If this is the case, this perceived progress may be negatively impacting Pinterest
users’ motivation to reach these goals. The impact of goal progress on subsequent motivation
to engage in goal-relevant behaviour showed that motivation shifts depending upon the
perception of how much progress towards the goal outcome has been made (Fishbach & Dhar,
2005; Koo & Fishbach, 2012). The more progress perceived towards the outcome, the less
motivated people are to pursue that goal.
Another reason pinning images may negatively impact motivation is increased
attendance to goal outcomes. By taking time to pin images, Pinterest users are likely thinking
about the desired goal outcome. They may imagine their dream home, what that meal will
taste like, and how great the ideal holiday would be. Attending to the goal outcome decreases
motivation as it focuses on the reward of achieving the goal rather than the experience of
pursuing that goal itself (Fishbach & Choi, 2012; Zhang, Fishbach, & Dhar, 2007). This
research suggests that attending to the desired outcome of a goal, rather than the process
needed to reach it, acts as a reward in itself; and when the individual is no longer thinking
about the goal outcome, the reward is removed. Once this reward is gone, the justification to
pursue that goal also disappears. Increased attendance to goal outcomes has been found to
impact motivation in several ways. After spending time attending to goal outcomes,
compared to how to reach that goal, individual’s persistence at goal-related behaviour
declines, ultimately resulting in less behaviour. It also reduces individuals’ intentions and
self-reported motivation to pursue the goal (Fishbach & Choi, 2012). This suggests that
thinking about the desired outcome of a goal reduces motivation to pursue that goal, so people
are less likely to ever reach it. When Pinterest users pin images, it is likely their focus is on
the desired outcome of their goal rather than what they need to do to reach it. In this way,
pinning may decrease Pinterest users’ motivation to reach their goals.

17. 9
Current Research
While Pinterest appears to be the perfect medium to gather inspiration for goals and
organise ideas on how to pursue them, there may be a downside to the continuous feed of
finished projects users are exposed to. What’s more, the act of pinning images may be having
a negative impact on users’ motivation. Could Pinterest be preventing people from reaching
their goals? The previous literature into goal motivation appears to suggest this is the case. It
is the aim of this study to explore how Pinterest may be decreasing goal motivation through
the mechanism of vicarious goal satiation and the act of pinning images.
Participants in this study browsed a Pinterest feed of creative projects before having
their motivation to complete a creative word task (the Remote Associates Test) measured.
They saw a feed that included images of either complete or incomplete creative projects; they
were asked to look for a creative project they would like to do themselves or given no
conscious goal-seeking instructions; and they were asked to pin images they liked onto a
provided Pinterest board or to not pin any images at all. Creative projects were chosen, as this
is one of the most popular categories on Pinterest (Engauge, 2014; Gilbert et al., 2013; Hall &
Zarro, 2013; Han, Choi, Kwon, & Kim, 2014). Additionally, measuring motivation for
creative goals within a lab environment is easier than measuring other forms of goal
motivation that may be present on Pinterest (e.g., motivation to travel, cook a meal, exercise
etc.).
Hypothesis one: Vicarious goal satiation. My first hypothesis is that vicarious goal
satiation will occur in participants who view complete creative projects, and this will reduce
their motivation to pursue similar goal-related activities. Observing the completed goal is
crucial to developing a decrease in motivation for similar goal-relevant behaviour (McCulloch
et al., 2011). If the goal appears incomplete, no vicarious goal satiation should occur. While
vicarious goal satiation has been found when participants witnessed a target pursuing a goal,
similar vicarious satiation effects have been found when observing static images. Larson,

18. 10
Redden, and Elder (2013) were able to reduce desire for salty peanuts by exposing
participants to repeated images of salty foods. This suggests that static images (which are the
primary medium of Pinterest), rather than a full scenario, is sufficient to elicit satiation
effects. H1 – Individuals who viewed the Pinterest feed of complete creative projects will
perform worse on a creative task (show less motivation) than those who viewed the feed of
incomplete projects.
Hypothesis two: Holding a conscious goal. My second hypothesis addressed whether
holding a similar conscious goal affects vicarious goal satiation. Having a conscious goal
when being subconsciously primed with the same goal has been shown to have no impact on
goal pursuit (Bargh & Gollwitzer, 2001). Research into goal contagion, however, showed
that holding similar conscious goals facilitates goal contagion (Leander & Shah, 2013). It is
not known what effect having a conscious goal has on vicarious goal satiation. This is
important to explore in this study as it is likely many Pinterest users hold conscious goals
when browsing the site. Given the conflicting findings that conscious goals can both facilitate
or have no impact on subconscious goal motivation this is an exploratory hypothesis. H2 – If
holding a conscious goal facilitates vicarious goal satiation, those who are seeking a creative
project (holding a similar conscious goal) will be less motivated on a creative word task after
exposure to vicarious goal satiation (viewing complete projects) compared to those who do
not have a similar conscious goal of seeking a project. However, if holding a similar
conscious goal protects against vicarious goal satiation, those seeking a project will not
experience de-motivation on a creative word task after viewing complete projects compared
to those who do not have a similar conscious goal.
Hypothesis three: Effect of pinning. Finally, this study looked at the impact of
pinning on goal motivation. As there is currently no available research into the cognitive
processes of Pinterest users, it is unclear what cognitions drive pinning behaviour. The act of
pinning may represent different ways of interacting with a goal. It may be that the pinning is

19. 11
perceived as progress towards that goal (if pinning is thought of as a planning stage), or it
could possibly allow for increased attendance to the desired goal outcome (by thinking about
the desired outcome instead of how to reach it). Given the restrictions of this specific study, I
focused only on the pinning behaviour rather than the cognitive mechanisms behind it.
However, I made the prediction that pinning would decrease motivation based on the
conclusion that Pinterest users may be engaging in either perceptions of goal progress or
increased goal attendance, both of which have been shown to decrease motivation by previous
researchers as discussed earlier (Fishbach & Choi, 2012; Fishbach & Dhar, 2005; Koo &
Fishbach, 2012; Zhang et al, 2007). H3 – Participants who pin images will show less
motivation, and as such perform worse, on a creative word task than those who do not pin
images.
Method
Participants
Participants were 183 first-year psychology students from the University of Queensland
who participated for course credit (147 were female, 35 were male, one did not report
gender). The mean age was 19.50 (SD = 7.08). Nationalities were 121 Caucasian, 48 Asian,
13 other, and one participant did not report nationality. Twenty participants were excluded
from the final analyses: 11 because they did not correctly identify the RAT was measuring
creativity; one because they had limited English language skills, which affected performance
on the RAT; three participants viewed other websites during the experiment; one participant
did not read the instructions and asked the experimenter to assist; two were observed using
their mobile phones while performing the RAT indicating they were distracted during the
task; and two participants had technical failures and were unable to complete the experiment.
All future analyses exclude these participants. The final sample contained 163 participants
(132 female, 31 male). The mean age was 18.86 (SD = 2.98). Nationalities were 110
Caucasian, 42 Asian, and 11 other.

20. 12
Measures
Pinterest images. Participants were presented with 130 images of creative projects that
were sourced from the ‘DIY and Crafts’ category of the image sharing website Pinterest.
They included a range of simple and complex creative projects that involved re-purposing
existing objects, sewing, painting, and knitting. The images were arranged on a Pinterest
board labelled ‘DIY’ (do-it-yourself) and displayed as they would appear if searching the
website, including number of re-pins each image had and descriptions given by the original
uploader of that image (see Appendix A for screenshots of each Pinterest feed). All images
were collected from Pinterest and were re-pinned onto the research board in order to replicate
the experience of searching Pinterest. Two DIY Pinterest boards were used: one that
contained 130 images of complete creative projects and one that contained 130 images of
incomplete creative projects.
A pilot study was conducted to ensure the images selected were clearly recognisable as
complete or incomplete. An initial sample of 510 creative projects were sourced from
Pinterest (250 complete and 260 incomplete). Using a Qualtrics survey, participants (N = 38,
7 males, 28 females, Mage = 33.14 SDage = 16.05) were presented a random selection of 250
images from this sample and were asked to categorise them as complete, incomplete, or
unsure. Images that had more than 5% incorrect responses (‘incomplete’ for complete images
and ‘complete’ for incomplete images) and less than 75% correct responses were removed
from the study stimulus set. This procedure left 130 images in the incomplete stimulus set
and 134 in the complete set. In order to keep the conditions balanced at 130 images each,
four images were removed from the complete set at random.
Remote Associates Test. Participants completed 30 items from the Remote Associates
Test (RAT) (Mednick, 1962; Shames, 1994) (see Appendix C). The RAT is an associative
task that presents three apparently unrelated words (e.g., rat, blue, cottage) and requires the
participant to come up with a fourth word that ties them together (for the previous example,

21. 13
the fourth word is ‘cheese’). The RAT has been found to predict scores in creativity, as
associating unrelated concepts to form new concepts is seen as a key element of this ability
(Houston & Mednick, 1963; Mednick, 1962; Mednick, 1963). As the RAT was used as a
measure motivation to complete creative goals, the task was specifically framed within the
experiment as a test of creativity. Items of varying difficulty were selected from Shames’
(1994) revised RAT. Items were selected that were relevant to an Australian sample. The
difficulty of items varied randomly throughout the set in order to allow analysis of later items
in the RAT without the additional confound of item difficulty. Each participant received the
same difficulty-order of RAT items. As the dependent variable in this study was not
creativity but motivation to complete creative goals, the performance on the RAT was
measured several ways: time taken to complete the RAT (in minutes), number of items
attempted overall, and number of correct items. Each of these has been successfully used to
measure goal motivation. (Aarts et al., 2005; Aarts & Gollwitzer, 2004; Forster, Liberman, &
Higgins, 2005; Johnson & Stapel, 2007; Leander & Shah, 2013; Loersch et al., 2008;
McCulloch et al., 2011).
Design and Procedure
A 2 (project completion: complete, incomplete) x 2 (pinning behaviour: pin, no pin) x 2
(goal-seeking: seek, no seek) independent groups study was conducted. Participants
completed the study on a computer using MediaLab with each stimulus and questionnaire
presented automatically. Participants could move through each section at their own pace by
clicking the ‘continue’ button. Before beginning the experiment they were given a brief
orientation to Pinterest to ensure all participants had a basic understanding of how to use the
site. These instructions were identical for participants with the exception of participants in the
no pinning conditions who did not receive instructions on how to pin images, to avoid them
being confused by conflicting instructions. All example images in the instructions were of
animals in order to be unrelated to the creative goals used in the experiment. (See Appendix

22. 14
B for full Pinterest instructions). Participants received instructions based on their randomly
assigned condition (see Table 1 for number of participants in each condition) before being
redirected to a Pinterest feed.
Those in the Pin conditions were told to ‘Pin images you like to the board provided’
while those in the no Pin conditions were told ‘DO NOT Pin any images during this time’.
For those in the goal-seeking conditions they received the instruction: ‘Look for a creative
project you would like to try out’. Participants in the no goal-seeking conditions did not
receive any directions to look for a project. Half of the participants were then directed to a
Pinterest board containing only complete creative projects, while the other half were directed
to a Pinterest board containing only incomplete creative projects. All participants were given
two minutes to browse the board, enlarge any image they liked, and Pin images to the
provided DIY board if they had been instructed to do so. After this time, the computer
advised participants they would be completing a word task (the RAT). They received the
following statement: ‘We would now like to assess your creativity with a word task. This
task is frequently used to measure creativity within psychological research. Try to answer the
questions as accurately and quickly as possible.’ Thirty items from the RAT were then
presented to them. Participants could skip any items they did not know the answer to by
placing a hyphen (-) in the answer field, and they were not time restricted. Participants also
received an example item and instructions as to how they should complete the task: ‘You will
be shown 30 three-word sets. Your task is to find a fourth word that is related to all three.
For example: Room, Mirror, Foot. Answer: Ball (Ballroom, Mirrorball, Football).’
Finally participants answered demographic (gender, age, and nationality) items and
items exploring previous Pinterest use including if they had used Pinterest before and how
often they used it. Participants also answered several questions to check their understanding
of the manipulations and what they believed the study to be about. The manipulation checks
included items about whether the images they saw included projects that were complete,

23. 15
incomplete, or a mixture of both; whether they pinned any images and, if so, how many;
whether they were looking for a creative project or not; and what they believed the RAT
measured. They were then debriefed and thanked for their time.
Table 1
Number of participants in each condition
Instructions
Pin No Pin
Pinterest Feed Seek No Seek Seek No Seek
Complete 17 19 23 21
Incomplete 19 23 21 20
Ethics
This study received ethical approval by the University of Queensland School of
Psychology Ethics Review officers (ethical clearance number: 14-PSYCH-4-40-TS). Before
beginning, all participants were given an information sheet to read (See Appendix D). This
included details of the study background and procedure as well as details of the ethical
clearance. Participants were notified that all their responses would be anonymous and that
they could withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. All participants were
thoroughly debriefed verbally after they had completed the experiment and provided a debrief
sheet which explained the predictions of the study (See Appendix E).
Contributions
The project was designed by me with guidance from my supervisor. I designed the pilot
study in order to create the stimulus materials. I set up and ran the pilot study in Qualtrics,
then analysed and interpreted the results. I selected the stimulus materials based on the pilot
study. I selected items of varying difficulty from the Remote Associates Test for the
dependent measure. I created the experiment materials in MediaLab and tested all
participants. My supervisor and I merged and cleaned up the data sets (removing errors and
outliers) before I ran the statistical analyses.

24. 16
Results
Dependent Measures
Motivation on the RAT was measured three ways: amount of time taken to complete the
RAT (in minutes), number of items attempted, and total correct items. Correct answers were
matched to Shames’ (1994) revised RAT. In one item a synonym (road) to the correct answer
(street) was also marked as correct. It was expected that all three measures would be
positively correlated as the longer a participant takes to complete the task, it is logically
expected they attempted more items. Similarly, the more items they attempt, the chance of
getting answers correct increases. A bivariate correlation was conducted on the RAT
performance measures and found a significant positive correlation between the length of time
taken to complete the RAT and the number of items participants got correct. No other
correlations were found. That the three measures were not correlated does not limit
interpretation, however, as each measure has been used successfully by previous researchers
as discussed in the method. Correlation coefficients for the performance measures are
displayed in Table 2.
Table 2
Correlation coefficients of Participants’ Performance Measures on the Remote
Associates Test
Measure 1 2 3
1. Time - -.013 .207*
2. Attempts - .088
3. Correct -
Note: Time = time taken to complete the RAT is measured in
minutes; Attempts = number of items of the RAT attempted;
Correct = number of items of the RAT scored correct.
* p < .05

25. 17
Transformation of data
Time taken to complete the RAT was positively skewed due to two participants who
took an exceptionally long time to complete the task. These outliers were normalised by
reducing their score to the extreme end of the normal distribution (three standard deviations
from the mean) (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Analyses were run on both transformed and
untransformed data. As this did not have any impact on whether results were non-significant
or significant, analyses using the untransformed data are reported below. Number of RAT
items attempted and number of RAT items correct were both normally distributed so no
transformation was required.
Manipulation Checks
In order to check that the experimental manipulations were successful, a series of
Pearson’s chi-square tests were conducted on each manipulation check item: complete versus
incomplete items, pinning versus not pinning, and seeking a creative project versus not
seeking a creative project. The results are detailed below:
Complete versus incomplete projects. A chi-square test revealed there was a
significant association between participants who viewed a Pinterest feed of complete creative
projects and their perception of project completion, χ2
(2) = 56.65, p < .001. Of the
participants who viewed complete projects 60% reported they were complete, 3% reported
they were incomplete, and 37% reported they were a mixture of both. However, of the
participants who viewed incomplete projects only 27% reported they were incomplete. The
majority of participants (66 %) in the incomplete condition reported seeing a mixture of
complete and incomplete projects, while 7% reported seeing complete projects. This suggests
that the manipulation of complete versus incomplete projects may not have been strong
enough. This has implications for the vicarious goal satiation hypothesis, which are
addressed further in the discussion.

26. 18
Pinning versus not pinning projects. A chi-square test revealed there was a
significant association between participants who were instructed to pin images and their
reporting they had pinned images, χ2
(1) = 136.61, p < .001. Of the participants who were
instructed to pin images they liked, 92% reported pinning behaviour. There was a similarly
strong effect in the no pinning conditions, with 99% of participants who were instructed to not
pin images reporting they did not pin any images. These results suggest the pinning
manipulation was successful.
Seeking versus not seeking a project. A chi-square test revealed there was a
significant association between participants who were instructed to look for a creative project
they would like to try and their reporting of seeking a project, χ2
(1) = 10.80, p = .001. Of the
participants who were given instructions to look for a creative project 83% reported seeking a
project. However, for those participants who were not given explicit goal-seeking
instructions, the majority (59%) reported they had been looking for a project to try while
viewing the Pinterest feed. These results have implications for the conscious goal-seeking
hypothesis as the majority of participants had an active goal while viewing the images and
implications of this will be addressed in more detail in the discussion.
Main Hypotheses
To test the main hypotheses of this study, a series of 2 (project completion: complete,
incomplete) x 2 (pinning behaviour: pin, no pin) x 2 (goal-seeking: seek, no seek)
independent groups ANOVAs were conducted on each of the RAT performance dependent
measures: total RAT time (in minutes), total RAT items attempted, and total RAT items
correct. Recall that the study predicted three main hypotheses. Firstly, that there would be a
vicarious goal satiation effect such that participants who saw the feed of complete projects
would have less motivation on the RAT than those who saw the feed of incomplete projects
(H1). Secondly, I explored if holding a conscious goal would facilitate vicarious goal
satiation or protect against it (H2). Finally, I expected those who pinned items to show less

27. 19
motivation than those who did not pin images (H3). After I analysed the results, I found that
none of these hypotheses were supported. The results of these ANOVA’s, including means
and standard deviations are displayed in Table 3.
Table 3
Means, Standard Deviations, and p Values for Main Hypotheses Independent Groups
ANOVAs on RAT Performance Scores (Time taken, Attempts, & Correct items)
RAT Performance Measures
Time Attempts Correct
Condition
Levels
p M (SD) p M (SD) p M (SD)
Completion
Complete
Incomplete
.590
9.20 (7.29)
9.63 (7.13)
.876
18.66 (8.96)
18.81 (8.76)
.615
7.24 (5.58)
6.93 (5.45)
Pinning
Pin
No pin
.444
9.11 (7.38)
9.76 (7.04)
.814
18.85 (9.07)
18.62 (8.65)
.936
7.11 (5.64)
7.06 (5.39)
Seeking
Seek
No seek
.583
9.20 (7.29)
9.64 (7.13)
.399
19.15 (8.96)
18.32 (8.76)
.672
6.95 (5.45)
7.21 (5.58)
Completion x Pinning .606 .695 .717
Completion x Seeking .620 .380 .555
Pinning x Seeking .160 .144 .902
Completion x Pinning x
Seeking
.753 .666 .356
Total 9.42 (0.02) 18.76 (6.19) 7.09 (3.82)
Note: Time = time taken to complete the RAT is measured in minutes; Attempts = number of
items of the RAT attempted; Correct = number of items of the RAT scored correct.
No significant main effects emerged for each of the independent variables. H1 was not
supported as there were no differences between the participants who saw the complete versus
incomplete projects (no vicarious goal satiation effect). H3 was not supported as there were

28. 20
no differences between those that pinned or did not pin images (no effect of pinning). There
were also no significant two-way interactions or a significant three-way interaction. As such,
H2 was also not supported as there was no 2-way interaction between seeking and
completion. Therefore, holding a conscious goal did not facilitate nor protect against
vicarious goal satiation. This result is not surprising, as no differences between participants
who saw complete versus incomplete projects arose (no vicarious goal satiation effect).
Further investigation into why these hypotheses were not supported is included in the
discussion.
Post Hoc Analyses
As the initial hypotheses were not supported, further post hoc investigation was
conducted to see if the effects were detectable after a delay. Previous research into
subconscious goal priming (Bargh et al., 2001) and goal contagion (Aarts & Gollwitzer, 2004)
has suggested that the effects of primed goal activation are sustained after a filler task, while
semantic priming effects are not. This is due to goal pursuit being persistent over time
compared to semantic priming, which fades quickly (Atkinson & Birch, 1970; Bargh et al.,
2001; Higgins et al., 1996; Tolman, 1949; Wyer & Srull, 1986). It is possible that all
participants were primed semantically with creativity after looking at creative projects
(whether complete or incomplete); as such it is helpful to explore motivational differences
after a delay when semantic priming is likely to have dissipated. This delay was created by
analysing the performance measures (time taken to complete the RAT, items attempted, and
items correct) on only the last 15 RAT items.
A series of 2 (project completion: complete, incomplete) x 2 (pinning behaviour: pin, no
pin) x 2 (goal-seeking: seek, no seek) independent groups ANOVAs were run on the three
performance measures using only the last 15 items of the RAT. As with the analyses of the
entire 30 items of the RAT, there were no significant main effects of condition. Again, I
found no support for H1 as there was no difference between the complete or incomplete

29. 21
conditions (no vicarious goal satiation effect). There was no support for H3 as there was no
difference between those who pinned or did not pin images (no effect of pinning). There was
also no support for H2 as no interaction between goal-seeking and image completion was
found. As with the initial a priori analyses, this is not surprising given no vicarious goal
satiation effect was found.
However, a marginally significant pinning by seeking interaction on number of RAT
items attempted emerged, F (1,155) = 3.16, p = .078, η2
= 0.02, (see Figure 1). This
interaction was followed up with a simple effects analysis. A marginal simple effect of
seeking was found among participants who were in the no pinning condition, F (1,155) =
2.74, p = .100, η2
= 0.02, such that those who did not pin items and received instructions to
seek a creative project attempted more of the later RAT items (M = 9.86, SD = 6.63) than
those who received no instructions (M = 8.62, SD = 6.86). This effect was not found among
participants in the pinning condition, F (1,155) = 0.77, p = .382, η2
< 0.00, (Mseek = 8.98,
SDseek = 7.33; Mnoseek = 9.66, SDnoseek = 6.81). This finding was not expected and further
interpretation can be found in the discussion.
For full details of the results, ANOVA tables for the a priori tests of hypotheses and the
post hoc analyses of the last 15 RAT items are included in Appendix F.

30. 22
Figure 1. Number of RAT items attempted as a function of holding a
conscious goal (instructed to seek a creative project versus not given
any explicit instructions) and pinning images (instructed to pin images
versus instructed to not pin any images).
Discussion
Social media website Pinterest has grown in popularity since its launch in 2011.
Among the millions of images that are shared on the site, a common use has emerged in terms
of goal-setting. Pinterest itself markets the website as ‘a place to discover ideas for all your
projects and interests’ adding weight to the view of the site as aspirational. The purpose of
this study was to explore if the people who are using Pinterest to gain motivation are actually
de-motivating themselves. The study’s specific predictions were that, by looking at
completed creative projects on a Pinterest feed, participants would encounter vicarious goal
satiation and become less motivated to perform a creative task. Secondly, this study explored
whether having a conscious goal impacted vicarious goal satiation. Finally, this study
predicted that the act of pinning images on Pinterest would have a de-motivational effect,
such that those who pinned creative projects would show less effort on a creative task.
Results revealed these predictions were not supported. I found no differences in participants
who had seen the complete versus incomplete projects (no vicarious goal satiation effect) or
7.6
7.8
8
8.2
8.4
8.6
8.8
9
9.2
9.4
9.6
9.8
10
Pin No Pin
Seek
No Seek
0
Attempts
Pinning Instructions

31. 23
were instructed to pin images or to not pin images (no effect of pinning). Because no
vicarious goal satiation occured, the hypothesis that holding a conscious goal would either
facilitate or protect against goal satiation could not be tested. There are several possible
reasons why the study’s main hypotheses were not supported which are discussed below.
Post hoc analysis of the second half of the RAT also did not find support for these hypotheses.
These analyses did reveal an unexpected interaction, and interpretation of this is included
below.
Pinterest Images
The first limitation arose during the manipulation check for complete versus incomplete
projects, which showed that this manipulation may not have been strong enough. The
majority of participants who saw incomplete projects were incorrect at identifying these
projects as incomplete. Similarly, even though the majority of those who saw complete
projects correctly identified these as complete, there were still 40% of participants who did
not perceive these projects as complete. Given vicarious goal satiation occurs when
individuals witness other people completing a goal, the manipulation check revealing that
participants had difficulty interpreting project completion makes it near impossible to detect
any vicarious goal satiation occurring. While a pilot study was conducted to select the
stimulus materials, future research should aim to have distinctly complete versus incomplete
images.
Another possible reason for the lack of vicarious goal satiation was the nature of the
stimulus used. Previous research into both vicarious goal satiation and goal contagion has
used vignettes or video footage where participants follow a target pursuing a goal through to
completion. In this study, participants saw static images that depicted only one point in time
during the goal pursuit process: either the outcome of the completed goal (in the complete
condition), or during goal pursuit (in the incomplete condition). For vicarious goal satiation
to have occurred, participants would require several additional mechanisms in order to infer

32. 24
goal progress taking place. Firstly, those in the complete condition needed to interpret the
images as an outcome to a goal. This requires an understanding of the goal pursuer’s
behaviours and motivations that led up to the image of the completed projects they saw.
Participants must also have understood there is a person responsible for the completed project
and take on their perspective as goal pursuer. It is not known if people automatically fill in
this prior information when looking at an image of a completed project. The prediction that a
static image would elicit vicarious goal satiation was expanded from research that showed
static images could induce physical satiation for certain types of food (e.g., salty). However,
this involved specific neural mechanisms in the sensory areas of the brain (Larson, Redden, &
Elder, 2013). Goal motivation is a more complex cognitive mechanism so may require
greater processing in order to elicit activation.
While this study did not find that viewing static images of completed goals reduced
motivation, there is still evidence to suggest it may be possible. Previous research shows that
individuals are capable of automatic goal inferences in social interactions (Hassin, Aarts &
Ferguson, 2005; Magliano, Skowronski, Brill, Guss & Forsythe, 2007; Overwalle, Van
Duynslaeger, Coomans, & Timmermans, 2012; Uleman & Moskowitz, 1994). It has been
suggested that people create cognitive narratives when observing other people, which allows
them to determine what goal they are likely pursuing (Magliano et al., 2007). These
narratives are created by taking the cues surrounding the goal pursuer into consideration,
specifically the context in which the behaviour is taking place (e.g., waving a hand to greet a
friend versus hailing a taxi). This suggests that individuals do not rely solely on behaviour to
gain insight into what goals others are pursuing, but also look to external cues. Pinterest
creates this context and gives additional cues for people, which could facilitate automatic goal
inferences when viewing static images.
When Pinterest users are looking at the ‘DIY and Craft’ category, they can interpret the
context that the images being looked at were made by people as creative projects rather than

33. 25
products to be purchased. The question then arises: can Pinterest users infer that the person
who made the object had a goal of creativity? This logic has yet to be tested, as the research
into automatic goal inferences has been carried out using person-present scenarios where
individuals have the opportunity to observe the targets’ behaviour throughout their goal
pursuit. This exploration would be relevant to the body of literature surrounding automatic
goal inferences, goal contagion, and vicarious goal satiation. As without automatic goal
inferences neither goal contagion nor vicarious goal satiation can occur. It is not known at
this stage how much of the goal pursuit process needs to be observed in order for observers to
infer goal pursuit, and as such have goal-related concepts activated (or deactivated, in the case
of vicarious goal satiation). Future research should focus on identifying the amount of
observation required for it to take place.
Identification and Familiarity with Pinterest
Another possible reason my hypotheses were not supported could be that participants
did not have sufficient identification and familiarity with the website. A majority of the
sample were non-Pinterest users, and of the 35% who had used the site before, only 21% were
regular users (using once or twice a month or more). Previous research into goal contagion
has shown that the effect is more likely when the person being observed is the same in-group
as the observer (Loersch et al., 2008). This is not restricted to close peer groups or family
circles. Loersch et al. (2008) found goal contagion was stronger when participants thought
the people they were observing were from the same university as them. A similarly strong
effect emerged when participants viewed a target of the same gender, suggesting the effect of
group membership can be very broad. Given the mechanisms of goal contagion are similar to
that of vicarious goal satiation, it is likely that the similar in-group identification would play a
role here as well. People who identify as Pinterest-users may be more susceptible to vicarious
goal satiation on Pinterest compared to people who had never even seen the website. As the

34. 26
majority of the sample had never used Pinterest before, it is reasonable to conclude they did
not identify strongly enough to elicit vicarious goal satiation.
In addition to lack of identification, non-Pinterest users do not have the same familiarity
with the website, making them potentially less susceptible to the effects of pinning. I suspect
the act of pinning would be understood more complexly by Pinterest-users compared to non-
Pinterest users. This is because Pinterest-users, who have had experience pinning images to
their personal boards, are more likely to perceive pinning in terms of goal progress or
increased attendance to desired goal outcomes. Users have already spent time creating
boards, some of which are likely goal-related. They will have memories that can be activated
that link pinning to making progress on a goal or thinking about the goal outcome. Compare
this to non-Pinterest users, who may view the act of pinning as simply moving an image from
one place (the website’s feed) to another (a ‘DIY’ board). They do not have the past
experiences of using Pinterest to organise ideas or goals. This is especially relevant to this
study as they were pinning to a research board created for the experiment that they will never
see again. This would make non-users less susceptible to any de-motivational effects that
might be taking place. The number of active Pinterest users in my sample did not allow
adequate power to analyse them separately or as an additional moderator so I was not able to
test these assumptions. Further investigation into this study’s hypotheses using a larger
sample of Pinterest users should be explored.
Measuring Creative Motivation
Another limitation of this study is the incongruity between the measure of creativity (the
RAT) and the creative projects seen in the Pinterest feed, so any changes in goal motivation
that occurred as a function of the manipulations used may not have been measured accurately.
Previous research into goal satiation has used identical tasks or tasks that are very similar to
measure motivation after observing a target pursue a goal (Atkinson & Birch, 1970; Bargh et
al., 2001; Higgins et al., 1996; Tolman, 1949; Wyer & Srull, 1986). While the RAT has been

35. 27
used as a creative measure throughout the literature, and it was framed as a creative task
within this study, it may have been too dissimilar for the purposes of this study. The goal
pursuit participants observed was artistic forms of creativity, expressed through visual means,
whereas the RAT measured creativity via a word-based association task. This incompatibility
should be rectified in future research on possible de-motivational effects of Pinterest. A
solution to this would be to have participants work on a visually creative task, similar to the
images they viewed.
Second Half of the RAT
While the initial predictions of this study were not supported, post hoc analysis of the
second half of the RAT did reveal an unexpected finding. Participants who had a conscious
goal and did not pin any images had greater motivation for creative goals (attempting more
RAT questions) compared to those who did not have a conscious goal. While this marginally
significant effect must be interpreted cautiously, it is important to explain what mechanisms
may be driving it. Note that it is participants who were given the conscious creative goal of
seeking a project who showed more motivation in working on the RAT. These participants
could have had goal-relevant concepts activated before observing the Pinterest images, and
this likely carried over to the RAT. Those who did not have a conscious creative goal might
not have had goal-relevant concepts activated. So why was this only present in participants
who did not pin images? This gives some support for the act of pinning decreasing
motivation. By pinning images, participants satiated their conscious creative goal as indicated
by the fact that they attempted less items than the participants who did not pin any images.
The participants who did not pin still had the conscious creative goal active while completing
the RAT and were more motivated. The effect of pinning on goal motivation when
individuals hold a conscious goal should be investigated further, especially given that the
seeking manipulation in this study was not shown to be entirely effective. The majority of
participants who were not given explicit instructions to look for a creative project still

36. 28
reported seeking a project while viewing the images. This failed manipulation may be
responsible for only getting a marginally significant effect. The conscious goal-seeking
manipulation in this study was created by giving explicit instructions while those in the no
seeking condition were given no instructions. This introduces the chance that participants
will automatically form a goal of their own, even when they had no instructions to do so.
Future research may introduce a competing task while browsing Pinterest, for example
instructing participants to focus on the colour and form of the creative projects. This will aid
in distracting participants to stop them from forming their own conscious goal.
Delay versus Distractor Task
It was relevant to investigate the performance on the second half of the RAT because
previous research into subconscious goal priming and goal contagion has showed that goal
motivation effects are sustained after a delay, while any initial semantic priming fade quickly.
A delay enables exploration into whether all participants were semantically primed with
creativity after looking at creative projects (either complete or incomplete) (Aarts &
Gollwitzer, 2004; Bargh et al, 2001; Toure-Tillery & Fishbach, 2011; Wyer & Srull, 1986).
In this study I analysed the second half of the RAT in order to artificially create a delay that
may allow any true goal satiation effects to be detected, however this method is not ideal. In
previous research delays are created by giving participants a distractor task that is not related
to the goal prime or the motivation task (in this case, creativity). By not including a distractor
delay task and instead analysing the second half of the RAT, there is the possibility that
creativity was still semantically primed, as participants were working on a creative task for
the first 15 items of the RAT. Future research should incorporate an unrelated distractor task
to create a delay that would facilitate detecting any potential goal satiation effects.
Multiple Measures
As previously discussed, the RAT may not have been a compatible dependent variable
in order to measure creative goal motivation after looking at creative projects. However, the

37. 29
performance measures used to detect motivation (time taken to complete the task, number of
items attempted and correct responses) were key strengths to this study. One of the
challenges in motivation research is that often increased effort can lead to impaired
performance. Participants may look like they aren’t displaying effort when in fact, they are
(Jamieson & Harkins, 2012; Jarosz, Colflesh & Wiley, 2012; Mendl, 1999; Teigen, 1994).
Specifically with the RAT, one study has shown greater performance by participants who are
intoxicated (Jarosz et al., 2012). This finding was based on the assumption that creative
problem solving often involves taking peripheral cues (or distractions) into consideration. It
is these distractions that result in more creative thinking. The researchers argued that
increased attention to the creative task would actually decrease performance on the task and
as such, participants who have mild attentional impairment through alcohol intoxication
would perform better on creative tasks. This argument is relevant to motivation research that
uses creative tasks to measure effort, as the increased effort driven by motivational forces may
impair performance. For this reason it is useful to measure effort on a task multiple ways and
not simply through performance.
In this study, time taken to complete the RAT and performance (measured by correct
responses) was positively related. While my participants did not fall prey to the common
problem of increased effort leading to decreased performance, I could not have known that
before running the experiment. The use of multiple measures to detect motivation in this
study protected against this potential problem. If increased effort had decreased performance,
the study still had two other measures of effort: time taken on the RAT and number of items
attempted. I recommend future motivation researchers utilise multiple measures of effort to
ensure detection of any effects.
Future Research
Future research should first address the limitations of this study identified above, but
beyond this there is a need to develop the literature in two areas. As previously mentioned, it

38. 30
is important to determine the extent to which goals can be inferred from limited exposure to
goal pursuit (e.g., viewing a static image) and how this impacts vicarious goal activation (goal
contagion) and satiation. With the increase of social media and online interaction, there are
growing opportunities for individuals to receive limited situational cues about goals, and it is
not known if goal pursuit can be inferred from such limited information. For example, does
reading a friend’s social media status update, that only reveals limited information about their
goals, impact people’s own goals and motivations? As yet, there has been no research into
whether observing only part of the goal pursuit process leads to goal inferences made by an
observer. If these inferences can be made from only observing a small amount of goal
pursuit, it is important to know if they can lead to goal contagion and vicarious goal satiation.
Another important direction for future research should be the cognitive mechanisms
involved in Pinterest use. This study focused on behaviours of Pinterest users (pinning and
browsing images) created artificially within a lab context based on the logical assumptions of
possible mechanisms at play. While this study proposed two possible mechanisms behind the
act of pinning (perceived goal progress and increase attendance to desired goal outcomes) this
has not been empirically tested, and other mechanisms may play a role (e.g., increased
commitment to a goal). Future researchers are encouraged to explore how Pinterest users
perceive their actions on the website and the content they are engaging with in order to
determine the specific cognitions and drives behind online behaviour. Users are also able to
‘like’ and comment on images, and these interactions may result in different cognitions and
behaviours. Given the sample of this study was primarily non-Pinterest users, it would be
useful to engage in research on Pinterest users specifically to fully understand their
interactions within the website and the cognitions behind these.
There is some suggestion in the limited Pinterest literature that the website functions
differently to other social media in that there is less direct social interaction that the users

39. 31
engage with. While sites like Facebook and Twitter encourage users to interact directly with
each other, studies into activity on Pinterest find that the primary focus of attention is on the
pins themselves and not the individuals behind them (Bernadini et al, 2014; Engauge, 2012;
Gilbert et al., 2013; Hall & Zarro, 2013; Han et al., 2014; Gelley & John, 2014; Mull & Lee,
2014; Linder et al., 2014). This may be due to the fact that users can follow individual boards
while not following the user who created it. Pinterest also does not have the ability for users
to privately send messages to each other. Nor can users restrict their content to followers
only. This open functionality appears to put more focus on the content rather than the creator
and may play an important role in goal motivation. This is especially likely as previously
supported moderators, such as group identification, have been shown to enhance goal
contagion (Loersch et al., 2008). As such, further exploration into Pinterest users is
necessary.
Conclusion
While this study did not find support for its predictions, the issues that arose are
relevant for future research into vicarious goal satiation and Pinterest use. The outcomes of
this study reveal the limitations of the current body of literature into goal priming effects and
the need to explore further the effects of observing only limited parts of the goal pursuit
process. In terms of Pinterest, it is evident that much work has yet to be done in order to build
a body of literature on the way this website is used. The lack of knowledge into cognitions
and behavioural drives of Pinterest users should be addressed before further empirical
research is carried out. By understanding how users think about the way they engage with the
site, both Pinterest and the businesses that use Pinterest to market their products would be
able to make better marketing decisions in order to target their audiences. Beyond Pinterest,
developing the research into goal satiation effects and what impacts these have on the
observer’s own goals and motivation can be applied to other social media sites where goals
are shared (e.g., via status updates on Facebook etc.). It is clear there is much research still to

40. 32
be done on goal satiation effects and how it plays out on social media, and this study is the
first step in advancing that research.

41. 33
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Appendix A. Pinterest Feeds
Complete creative projects
To view all images: http://www.pinterest.com/cproresearch/diy/
Incomplete creative projects
To view all images: http://www.pinterest.com/iproresearch/diy/

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Appendix B. Pinterest Instructions
When you open Pinterest you will see lots of images
If you want to see more scroll down the page
If you want to look at an image closer Click on the image
You will see other images in this view DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THESE IMAGES
If can pin the image from this view
Do not click any of the other navigation buttons at the top of the page

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If you want to Pin this image
1. click on the red Pin It button
2. then click the Pin it button in the dialogue box that appears
To escape this view right anywhere but the picture and select ‘Back’

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When scrolling through the images you can hover over images and see navigation buttons
These include: Pin it Send ♥(like)
You can pin from this view. Do not click Send or the Heart
To Pin an image here click on the red Pin It button
1. click on the red Pin It button
2. then click the Pin it button in the dialogue box that appears

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Appendix C. RAT Items
Word Sets Answer
Falling Actor Dust STAR
Widow Bite Monkey SPIDER
Time Hair Stretch LONG
Coin Quick Spoon SILVER
Room Blood Salts BATH
Square Cardboard Open BOX
Manners Round Tennis TABLE
Playing Credit Report CARD
Pure Blue Fall WATER
Square Telephone Club BOOK
High Book Sour NOTE
Ache Hunter Cabbage HEAD
Blade Witted Weary DULL
Walker Main Sweeper STREET
Notch Flight Spin TOP
Mouse Sharp Blue CHEESE
Silk Cream Even SMOOTH
Hall Car Swimming POOL
Measure Desk Scotch TAPE
Big Leaf Shade TREE
Thread Pine Pain NEEDLE
Lapse Vivid Elephant MEMORY
Athletes Web Rabbit FOOT
Rock Times Steel HARD
Note Dive Chair HIGH
Foot Collection Out STAMP
Jump Kill Bliss JOY
Cloth Sad Out SACK
Bump Throat Sum LUMP
Stick Light Birthday CANDLE

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Appendix D. Information Sheet
Perceptions of Pinterest
The purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to examine people’s perceptions of Pinterest. This study is being
conducted by student name as part of the requirements for the Bachelor of Psychological Science
degree at the University of Queensland under the supervision of supervisor.
Participation and withdrawal
Participation in this study is completely voluntary and you are free to withdraw from this study at any
time without prejudice or penalty. If you wish to withdraw, simply stop completing the exercises. If
you do withdraw from the study, the materials that you have completed to that point will be deleted
and will not be included in the study.
What is involved?
Participants are asked to look through Pinterest for a specified period of time, then complete a word
task. After this participants will fill out a questionnaire about the prior two tasks they performed.
Participation in this study will take approximately half hour.
Risks
Participation in this study should involve no physical or mental discomfort, and no risks beyond those
of everyday living. If, however, you should find any question or procedure to be invasive or
offensive, you are free to omit answering or participating in that aspect of the study.
Confidentiality and security of data
All data collected in this study will be anonymous. Responses will not be able to be linked to any
individual. The data you provide will only be used for the specific research purposes of this study.
Ethics Clearance and Contacts
This study has been cleared in accordance with the ethical review processes of the University of
Queensland and within the guidelines of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human
Research. You are, of course, free to discuss your participation with project staff (contactable on:
studentname@uqconnect.edu.au or supervisor@uq.edu.au). If you would like to speak to an officer of
the University not involved in the study, you may contact one of the School of Psychology Ethics
Review Officers: Jolanda Jetten (j.jetten@psy.uq.edu.au, tel 3365 4909), Jeanie Sheffield
(jeanie@psy.uq.edu.au, tel 3365 6690), Thomas Suddendorf (tsuddend@psy.uq.edu.au, tel 3365 8341)
or Alex Haslam (uqshasla@uq.edu.au, tel 3346 7345). Alternatively, you may leave a message with
Danico Jones at tel 3365 6448 for an ethics officer to contact you, or contact the University of
Queensland Ethics Officer, Michael Tse, on 3365 3924, e-mail: humanethics@research.uq.edu.au
If you would like to learn the outcome of the study in which you are participating, you can contact me
at the email above after 31st October, and I will send you an Abstract of the study and findings.
Thank you for your participation in this study.

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Appendix E. Debrief Sheet
The effects of Pinterest use on creativity
Thank you for taking part in this study. We appreciate your contribution.
In this study we were investigating the effects Pinterest has on goal motivation. One of the major uses of
Pinterest is to store images of things and lifestyles that people aspire to. But could “pinning” your goals and
viewing other people’s goals actually be demotivating you?
Previous studies suggest several mechanisms that could drive a decrease in goal motivation. This study explores
two of these mechanisms in relation to Pinterest: 1) Perceived Goal Progress and 2) Vicarious Goal Satiation.
Perceived Goal Progress impacts goals when we assess that we have made adequate progress towards a goal and
feel comfortable switching to other goal incongruent behaviours (e.g. watching TV when we feel we have
progressed on an academic goal). Vicarious Goal Satiation refers to the effect of seeing someone else complete a
goal which then satiates our drive to achieve the same goal.
In this study spent time looking at a Pinterest feed which contained either completed creative projects or
incomplete creative projects. You were also given the instructions to Pin or not to Pin images and to seek a
creative project you would like to try or given no instructions about seeking a creative project. You may have
also been in the control condition which involved free use of Pinterest. After this you completed the Remote
Associates Test (RAT), which is known to be a measure of creativity, and answered several questions about your
previous Pinterest use.
According to past research on Vicarious Goal Satiation we predict that those who saw the completed creative
projects would perform worse on the RAT than those who saw the incomplete creative projects and control
condition. We also predicted that this effect would be stronger for those who also Pinned images as they would
have the combined effect of Vicarious Goal Satiation and Perceived Goal Progress. We do not predict any
differences between the groups who were told to seek a creative project versus those given no instruction as
previous research has shown that similar vicarious effects occur when a goal is conscious or unconscious.
This study has been cleared in accordance with the ethical review processes of the University of Queensland
and within the guidelines of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. If you would like
to speak to an officer of the University not involved in the study, you may contact one of the School of
Psychology Ethics Review Officers: Jolanda Jetten (j.jetten@psy.uq.edu.au, tel 3365 4909), Jeanie Sheffield
(jeanie@psy.uq.edu.au, tel 3365 6690), Thomas Suddendorf (tsuddend@psy.uq.edu.au, tel 3365 8341) or Alex
Haslam (uqshasla@uq.edu.au, tel 3346 7345). Alternatively, you may leave a message with Danico Jones at tel
3365 6448 for an ethics officer to contact you, or contact the University of Queensland Ethics Officer, Michael
Tse, on 3365 3924, e-mail: humanethics@research.uq.edu.au
If you would like to learn the outcome of the study in which you are participating, you can
contact me at studentname@uqconnect.edu.au after 31st October, and I will send you an
Abstract of the study and findings.
Thank you again for your participation in this study.
Bargh, J. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2001). The Automated Will: Nonconscious Activation and Pursuit of Behavioral
Goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(6), 1014-1027. doi: 1O.1037//O022-
3514.81.6.1O14
Fishbach, A., & Dhar, R. (2005). Goals as Excuses or Guides: The Liberating Effect of Perceived Goal Progress on
Choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(3), 370-377. doi: 10.1086/497548
McCulloch, K. C., Fitzsimons, G. M., Chua, S. N., & Albarracín, D. (2011). Vicarious goal satiation. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 47(3), 685–688. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.12.019

54. 46
Appendix F. Dependent Measure Correlations
Descriptive Statistics
Mean Std.
Deviation
N
timemins 9.4245 5.02265 163
ratatt_Tota
l
18.7607 6.18524 163
ratcor_Tot
al
7.0920 3.82295 163
Correlations
timemins ratatt_Tota
l
ratcor_Tot
al
timemins
Pearson
Correlation
1 -.013 .207**
Sig. (1-tailed) .436 .004
N 163 163 163
ratatt_Tota
l
Pearson
Correlation
-.013 1 .088
Sig. (1-tailed) .436 .133
N 163 163 163
ratcor_Tot
al
Pearson
Correlation
.207**
.088 1
Sig. (1-tailed) .004 .133
N 163 163 163
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).

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Appendix G. Main Hypothesis ANOVAs
Time taken to complete RAT (in minutes)

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Total RAT items attempted

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58. 50
Total RAT items correct

59. 51

60. 52
Appendix H. Post Hoc ANOVAs
Total time taken to complete RAT (in minutes)

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Number of RAT items attempted

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63. 55
Follow up of Pin x Seek interaction on number of RAT items attempted

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Number of RAT items correct

65. 57

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