Context-dependent effects of goal primes

We provide evidence that goal priming effects are context dependent. We show that goal primes encourage prime-consistent behavior when the behavioral context is common and prime-inconsistent behavior when the behavioral context is uncommon. While the prime-consistent behavior is compatible with existing theory, the prime-inconsistent behavior poses a theoretical challenge. We argue that uncommon behavioral contexts encourage the release of a primed goal and, as a consequence, an increase in the relative activation of information inconsistent with the primed goal and prime-inconsistent behavior.