L13 - Self-Regulation II Flashcards
how to make self-regulation more effortless?
What are implementation intentions?
very specific plans about how you will achieve a goal in a particular situation
link a situation with a specific action
- “When situation X arises, I will perform response Y”
solve problem of goals being too vague and increases your commitment by focusing on one method of achieving a goal
What happens if you come up with too many ways of completing a goal?
having too many ways to complete a goal reduces commitment to any one particular option making you less likely to complete the goal
having many options can also be overwhelming
Describe Gollwitzer & Brandstatter’s study on implementation intentions and achieving goals (1997).
do implementation intentions help people achieve goals?
Method: Ps were instructed to write a report about how they spent Chrsitmas Eve that was due on December 26th
- experimental manipulation:
– implementation intentions: think about when and where you will write report
– control: simply asked to write report
- who completed report?
results
- implementation intentions group was more likely to complete goal
Describe Milne et al.’s study on implementation intentions vs. motivational boost (2002).
Method: recruited people who wanted to exercise more
Ps tracked how often they exercised for 2 weeks
three experimental groups:
- Control: track how often you exercise
- motivation: track how often you exercise + read about benefits of exercise
- Implementation intention: track how often you exercise + read about benefits of exercise + set implementation intention
– implementation intentions set at T2 (after one week)
- who exercised at least once per week?
Results:
- no benefit of increased motivation intervention
- implementation intentions doubled the rate of exercise
– suggests that when we don’t reach goals, not because of lack of motivation or lack of monitoring, but because of lack of specific plan
What are the beneficial effects of implementation intentions?
Implementation intentions facilitate goal achievement, such as:
- exercising more
- eating a healthy diet
- reaching personal goals
- writing a CV
- managing anger
- increasing perspective-taking
- increasing public transportation use
- increasing voter turn-out
- increasing flu shot rates
Describe Gollwitzer & Brandstatter’s study on the moderating role of goal difficulty (1997).
Method: Ps identified personal projects they intended to achieve during Christmas break
- experimental manipulation:
– easy goal
– difficult goal
- assessed implementation intentions
results:
- implementation intentions were useful for completing difficult goals, less relevant for completing easy goals
Why are implementation intentions helpful?
-
Heightened accessibility of situational cues (“when”)
– improves ability to detect the situational cue relevant to our goal -
Formation of a strong mental link between the situation cue and the action
– consequently, automates action initiation
What do implementation intentions imply?
implementation intentions allow goal pursuit to become automatic
- remove need for a conscious decision to pursue a goal at the relevant time
- relying less on effortful self-control
- intended action is executed more effortlessly
goes against assumption that goal setting and pursuit are always consicous, deliberate, and willful
What is automatic self-regulation?
self-regulation can be improved by engaging in processes that make it feel more effortless/automatic
- setting goals that feel intrinsically valuable
- habits
- structuring your life to avoid temptations
- forming implementations for goals, especially if they’re difficult
What is the auto-motive model?
much of human behaviour is guided by automatic processes rather than conscious deliberation
1. learned associations: people develop automatic associations between situations and actions due to past experiences of having repeatedly pursued a goal in a particular way in that situation
– links between situation, goal, and action do not need to be set consciouslly first
2. Because of these learned associations, the situation can automatically activate the goal and its associated action outside of conscious awareness
– means that goal pursuit can occur outside of conscious awareness
explains how habits are formed
Compare auto-motive model with implementation intentions
auto-motive model
- situation-goal-action metnal links created unconsciously
– repeated pursuit of that goal in a specific situation
- long-term and chronic
implementation intentions
- situation-goal-action mental linkes created consciously
– consciously making a specific action plan for a specific situation
- temporary and strategic
– but can become long-term and chronic
Describe Fitzsimons & Bargh’s first study on unconscious pursuit of interpersonal goals (2003).
(what kind of goals do people pursue in differnet relationships?)
main question: Does thinking about a specific relationship automatically trigger interpersonal goals that are then pursued unconsciously?
Hypothesis: thinking about a particular person activates goals specific to that relationship, which then guide behaviour in goal congruent fashion
classmate –> self-enhancement
- but not with friend or romantic partner
friend –> “helping friend” + “having fun together”
mother –> “wanting to make mom proud”
- but not with friend or romantic partner
Describe Fitzsimons & Bargh’s second study on automatic activation of goals
does thinking about a specific relationship automatically trigger interpersonal goals usually pursued in that relationship?
Method:
- randomly assigned to 1 of 3 priming conditions: form a vivid picture in your mind and write about…
– mother
– best friend
– bedroom (control)
- part 2: read about “Mark” and form an impression
- hypothesis: mother prime –> will see Mark as more motivated to succeed (vs. friend prime)
– the goal of wanting to make mom proud/be successful will be more accessible and thus attributed to Mark
thinking about mother increased accessbility of Ps’ own goal with mother (i.e., wanting to succeed) which they then projected onto Mark
evidence that relationship-specific goals can be automatically activated by just thinking about that person
Describe Fitzsimons & Bargh’s third study on moderation by goal important (2003).
Does goal strength/importance moderate this effect?
Method:
- pre-study questionnaire about presence of different goals
– goal to make mom proud?
– “yes” –> goal group
– “no” –> no goal group
- in the lab, prime:
– imagine Mom
– imagine bedroom (control)
- “verbal test”: generated as many words as they could from a string of letters
People who had the goal of making their mom proud AND were in the mom-prime condition performed the best
evidence that goals need to be activated by situation to influence behaviour (presence of a goal is not enough)
What does unconscious interpersonal goal pursuit imply?
relationship partners can unconsciously activate interpersonal goals which are then pursued unconsciously
relationships have the power to influence our motivations and behaviours, even when the relationship partner is not physically present
