Enhancing Congruence between Implicit Motives and Explicit Goal Commitments: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective: Theory and research suggest that the pursuit of personal goals that do not fit a person's affect-based implicit motives results in impaired emotional well-being, including increased symptoms of depression. The aim of this study was to evaluate an intervention designed to enhance motive-goal congruence and study its impact on well-being.Method: Seventy-four German students (mean age = 22.91, SD = 3.68; 64.9% female) without current psychopathology, randomly allocated to three groups: motivational feedback (FB; n = 25; participants learned about the fit between their implicit motives and explicit goals), FB + congruence-enhancement training (CET; n = 22; participants also engaged in exercises to increase the fit between their implicit motives and goals), and a no-intervention control group (n = 27), were administered measures of implicit motives, personal goal commitments, happiness, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction 3 weeks before (T1) and 6 weeks after (T2) treatment.Results: On two types of congruence measures derived from motive and goal assessments, treated participants showed increases in agentic (power and achievement) congruence, with improvements being most consistent in the FB+CET group. Treated participants also showed a trend-level depressive symptom reduction, but no changes on other well-being measures. Although increases in overall and agentic motivational congruence were associated with increases in affective well-being, treatment-based reduction of depressive symptoms was not mediated by treatment-based agentic congruence changes.Conclusion: These findings document that motivational congruence can be effectively enhanced, that changes in motivational congruence are associated with changes in affective well-being, and they suggest that individuals' implicit motives should be considered when personal goals are discussed in the therapeutic process.

Implicit Motives, Laterality, Sports Participation and Competition in Gymnasts

“…Although implicit motives are assumed to represent genuine motivational dispositions that direct and energize behavior in response to presently perceived or imagined cues, research indicates that under certain circumstances their enactment benefits from being well-aligned with the explicit beliefs a person holds about her or his motivational needs -that is, when implicit and explicit motives are congruent (e.g., Brunstein and Maier, 2005). Positive effects of motivational congruence have been documented for task performance (Brunstein and Maier, 2005), but also for emotional well-being (Brunstein et al, 1998;Hofer and Busch, 2013;Roch et al, 2017), volitional strength (Gröpel and Kehr, 2014), and identity development (Hofer et al, 2006). We therefore explored whether the congruence between a person's implicit motive and her or his self-attributed motive in the same domain (e.g., achievement) predicts outcomes related to sports performance above and beyond a main effect of the implicit motive.…”

The Interplay of Achievement Motive-Goal Incongruence and State and Trait Self-Control: A Pilot Study Considering Cortical Correlates of Self-Control

“…Our results, however, suggest that two ingredients make up the perfect mixture: Motive congruent goal setting, which leads to well-being, makes self-control capacity easier available and results in high performance as well as high trait self-control that helps to compensate motivational deficits in phases of goal striving in which motive-relevant incentives are less strong. Previous research has already provided support for both ways to success that we recommend to combine: congruence-enhancement training (Roch et al, 2017; see also Schultheiss and Brunstein, 1999; Job and Brandstätter, 2009) and self-control trainings to built up one’s self-control capacity (Muraven, 2010; Job et al, 2016).…”

Future orientation in successful therapies: Expanding the concept of goal in the working alliance

“…Over the past decades, there has been ample research that may throw light on the present findings. For example, the various forms of therapist future‐oriented activity identified in the present study are consistent with current evidence around what seems to facilitate goal investment and goal achievement both in treatment and elsewhere in life, such as focusing on concrete, personalized goals (e.g., Grosse Holtforth, 2008; Grosse Holtforth et al, 2009; Klinger & Cox, 2004; Michalak & Grosse Holtforth, 2006), the value of identifying and clarifying conflicts and potential obstacles and contradictions to change (e.g., Michalak et al, 2004; W. R. Miller & Rose, 2009; Moyers & Rollnick, 2002; Norcross et al, 2011), the importance of therapists having a vision for their future to grow professionally (Rønnestad & Skovholt, 2013), and the value of identifying not only explicit intentions and goals but also the unconscious, implicit ones (e.g., Brunstein, 2010; Grosse Holtforth et al, 2019; Roch et al, 2017; Silbershcatz, 2017). Moreover, our findings of the therapists’ collaborative, agency promoting acts, along with their persistent attention to clients’ implicit and explicit intentions and cues, are compatible with the empirical evidence supporting self‐determination theory (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2000).…”