Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans.

Abstract

When people encounter problems in translating their goals into action (e.g., form New Year's resolutions earn at best a sympathetic smile when they announce their heroic intentions (e.g., exercising regularly, avoiding unhealthy foods). Though the audience may concede that such resolutions are made with good will (Oscar Wilde is less trusting), they doubt their effectiveness. This suspicion is deeply rooted. Folklore tells us that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Do good intentions deserve this bad reputation? As the many empirical studies based on Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior demonstrate, there is no reason to assume that good intentions have nil effects or even negative effects on behavior. Quite to the contrary, strong intentions (e.g., "I strongly intend to do x") are reliably observed to be realized more often than weak intentions (see reviews by Ajzen, 1991; Conner & Armitage, in press;Godin & Kok, 1996). However, the correlations between intentions and behavior are modest; intentions account for only 20% to 30% of the variance in behavior. As well, the strength of the intention-behavior relation varies drastically with the type of behavior that is specified, and people's past behavior commonly turns out to be a better predictor than their intentions. Most interesting, the weak intention-behavior relation is largely due to people having good intentions but failing to act on them (Orbell & Sheeran, 1998).In light of these findings, it seems unjustified for applied psychologists to advise people who are motivated to do good to refrain from forming good intentions, but suggesting that good intentions are an effective self-regulatory tool is also unwarranted. What is needed is a theoretical and empirical analysis of how people's good intentions can be made more effective. Once this is known, forming good intentions and effective ways to implement them can be suggested to people who are motivated to change their behavior.How good intentions can be implemented effectively has been analyzed in recent research on goal striving (for a review, see Gollwitzer & Moskowitz, 1996). Forming good intentions or setting goals is understood as committing oneself to reaching desired outcomes or to performing desired behaviors. For various reasons, people may often refrain from such binding goal commitments (e.g., Oettingen, in press), but even if people make goal commitments, the distance between goal setting and goal attainment is often long (Gollwitzer, 1990). Successful goal attainment requires that problems associated with getting started and persisting until the goal is reached are effectively solved.The question of how goals, once set, can be made more effective therefore boils down to asking for the variables that determine effective goal pursuit. Some answers are suggested by recent research on goal striving. First, it matters how people frame their good intentions or goals. For instance, better performances are observed when people set themselves challenging, specific goals as compared...

Social-cognitive predictors of dietary behaviors in South Korean men and women

“…Both resources are needed, especially for implementing difficult or complex behaviors, such as dietary behaviors. After a person develops an inclination toward a particular health behavior, the "good intention" has to be transformed into detailed instructions on how to perform the desired action (action planning; see Gollwitzer, 1999). Once an action has been initiated, it has to be maintained.…”

“…Leventhal, Singer, and Jones (1965) have stated that fear appeals can facilitate health behavior change only when combined with specific instructions on when, where, and how to perform them. Renewed attention to planning emerged when the concept of implementation intentions was introduced (Gollwitzer, 1999). Writing down when and where to eat healthy foods makes people more apt to eat such foods, compared with control persons who do not plan in such detail (Verplanken & Faes, 1999).…”

“…Planning is more than simply an extension of the intention since it includes situation parameters ("when," "where") and a preprogrammed sequence of action ("how"). It is more effective than intentions when it comes to the likelihood of performance and speed of performance, 5 mainly because the behavior is being elicited almost automatically when the relevant situational cues are encountered (Gollwitzer, 1999;Sniehotta, Schwarzer, Scholz, & Schüz, 2005). People also do not forget their intentions easily when specified in a when, where, and how manner (Armitage, 2004).…”

Predicting and explaining behavioral intention and hand sanitizer use among US Army soldiers

“…It is based on the summation of a person's attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, illustrated as BI = ∑ i = ATT i SN i PBC i (Figure 2.1) (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980;Gollwitzer, 1999). Although, the TPB has been used extensively in health belief and health behavior research to uncover beliefs, other researchers have also used these beliefs to implement interventions within the restaurant environment (Godin & Kok, 1996;York et al, 2009a;York et al, 2009b).…”

Conceptualisation of self-management intervention for people with early stage dementia

“…These should be used in a self-management programme for people with early dementia. Goal setting should be simplified to emphasise that doing something active is the key, rather than the standard more cognitively complex planning of implementation intentions (Gollwitzer 1999). The self-management task here is to maintain activity and through this maintain quality of life.…”