The dependence of human cognitive and motivational processes on institutional systems

How do institutional systems affect behavior? I suggest that these systems do not simply affect behavior via incentives or habits, but have an important impact on the cognitive and motivational processes that are vital for social coordination and cooperation. More specifically, I argue that institutional systems affect overarching goals that “set the mind” and heavily influence what people pay attention to andwhat they ignore, what information they are sensitive to, what they like and dislike, expect from others, and call success or failure. I describe these links between institutional systems and overarching goals in some detail and argue that, without understanding these influences, analyses of institutions would be seriously incomplete.