FOR YOU CANT ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT - WHEN PRECONDITIONS ARE BETTEREXPLANATIONS THAN GOALS

Heider (1958) claimed that goals are normally better explanations of a ctions than preconditions, because people can manipulate the precondit ions required for the action. Recent research supporting this view exa mined common actions where the conditions necessary for the action are readily available. The present studies show that when the preconditio ns necessary for an action are difficult to obtain, the availability o f those conditions comprises a better explanation than the relevant go al. This trend is dearest with actions requiring substantial skills or money, although preconditions also rise in importance with common act ions that are obstructed. These findings have important implications f or theories of attribution, and they provide the basis for conceptual links between goal-based theories and covariation models.