Integrating concepts from goal theories to understand the achievement of personal goals

The aim of this research was to integrate concepts from goal theories to understand the factors that distinguish between successful versus unsuccessful achievement of a personal goal. In two studies participants completed a questionnaire that measured 17 constructs identified from research on goals in relation to a recent situation in which they either succeeded or failed to see a task through to the end (Study 1) or in relation to their performance on an undergraduate course (Study 2). Factor analyses of the responses revealed 12 factors underlying self‐regulatory efforts. Discriminant analysis showed that self‐regulatory success was associated with high levels of motivation and task‐focus, and with forming an implementation intention. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cooling the heat of temptation: Mental self‐control and the automatic evaluation of tempting stimuli

The present research investigated whether mental self‐control strategies can reduce the automatic positivity elicited by tempting stimuli. In two studies employing chocolate as the temptation of interest, we found that participants instructed to imagine a chocolate product in a nonconsummatory manner exhibited significantly less automatic positivity with regard to the product as compared to participants instructed to imagine the hedonic, consummatory aspects of the product and control participants engaged in a neutral task. These findings were replicated in a second study. Additionally, in Study 2 we found that automatic evaluations of chocolate were lowest for participants instructed to form implementation intentions to refrain from consumption. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that mental self‐control strategies such as nonconsummatory transformation and implementation intentions extend to the level of automatic processing by reducing the positivity of automatically activated affective responses. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying good opportunities to act: Implementation intentions and cue discrimination

Forming an implementation intention (‘If I encounter situation X, then I'll perform behaviour Y!’) is thought to increase the likelihood that the person will detect a good opportunity to act. Experiment 1 found support for this hypothesis in a novel context where detection of the specified cue was very difficult. Experiments 2 and 3 extended existing paradigms to test whether this improved cue detection has costs in terms of increased false positives and/or slower responses to ambiguous stimuli. This hypothesis was not supported. Forming an implementation intention led to more accurate (Experiment 2) and faster (Experiment 3) responses to the specified cue without compromising responses to non‐relevant, or ambiguous, stimuli. Overall, the findings suggest that forming an implementation intention is an effective self‐regulatory tool because the specified cues are discriminated swiftly and with precision. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Power,Leadership, and Self‐Regulation

Power has been linked to both self‐regulatory success and failure. Power typically aids self‐regulation of task performance by making people motivated and goal‐oriented. However, because people’s self‐regulatory resources are limited, as powerful people exert effort on their focal tasks, they may fail to self‐regulate in other domains. This type of goal myopia may lead to detriments in impulse control. Wielding power, by making decisions and leading subordinates, can deplete people’s self‐regulatory resources, making subsequent acts of self‐control more difficult.     

Self‐ambivalence and reactions to success versus failure

People differ in the extent to which their self‐evaluations fluctuate in response to positive and negative events. This research tests whether self‐ambivalence predicts this self‐evaluative reactivity. Participants first completed measures of self‐ambivalence and baseline self‐esteem. Next, they were induced a success or failure experience in a cognitive task and finally rated their cognitive self‐evaluations (task‐specific ability, state self‐esteem) and affective reactions (self‐feelings, mood). Self‐ambivalence was associated with stronger effects of the success/failure manipulation on cognitive self‐evaluations but not on affective reactions, with baseline self‐esteem controlled. Possible underlying mechanisms are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intending or Pretending? Automatic Evaluations of Goal Cues Discriminate True and False Intentions

This research presents a novel approach to discriminating between true and deceptive statements about intended future behavior. Arguing that true intentions are goal‐directed, we predict that people who genuinely intend to pursue a reported goal will implicitly evaluate goal‐relevant cues positively, whereas people who do not intend to pursue the goal will not. Participants in an experiment were instructed to tell the truth about a planned future behavior (true intention) or to falsely report that same behavior to mask their actual mock‐criminal intention (false intention). As predicted, an evaluative priming task showed that participants with true intention exhibited implicit positive evaluations of cues relevant to the reported goal, whereas participants with false intention did not. Subsequent analyses showed that implicit positivity significantly discriminated between true and false intentions. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical contributions and implications for the development of future detection tools. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Compensatory Role of Implementation Intentions for Young Adults with Low Working Memory Capacity

Many factors improve prospective memory performance both inside and outside of the laboratory, including the detailed planning of the situational cue and intended action (i.e., implementation intentions). In the current study, we obtained measures of working memory capacity and laboratory event‐based prospective memory performance in college‐aged adults. Half of our participants formed an implementation intention in the prospective memory task. Because of evidence that implementation intentions increase the encoding/retrieval efficiency of the prospective memory, it was predicted that forming an implementation intention would serve as a compensatory strategy for those with low working memory ability. Our results supported this hypothesis in that working memory capacity no longer correlated with prospective memory performance when participants employed an implementation intention encoding strategy. These findings suggest that implementation intentions may be an effective way for individuals with low working memory capacity to improve their performance in an attentionally demanding prospective memory task. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paradoxical effects of famous music in retail venues

The present study analyzes the effects of famous versus nonfamous ambient music in retail venues on actual shoppers' emotions and cognitions, which, in turn, affect buying intention and brand images. Our theoretical model was basically validated by the data collected in actual shopping venues in 2 studies. Study 1 explores the effects of music famousness on buying intention through the mediation of affect, self‐congruity, and product quality (N = 304). Study 2 explores the effects of music famousness on perceived brand quality through the mediation of self‐congruity and store attitude (N = 351). As expected, famous music has positive effects on shoppers' responses according to the mediating role of affective and cognitive responses and their sequential mediating effects. Paradoxically, famous music has also negative effects on these variables because it distracts consumers from their shopping, reducing cognitive activities. We draw theoretical and managerial conclusions from these findings.     

Developmental differences in the use of task goals in a cued version of the stroop task

The ability of children (M= 8.8 years) and adults (M= 25.6 years) to maintain task goals was examined by comparing their performance on a cued version of the Stroop colour‐word task. The experimental task presented a cue on each trial that instructed the participant to either read aloud the forthcoming word or name the colour of the word's lettering. Participants were tested with each of two cue‐stimulus delays (1,000 and 5,000 ms). Analysis of error rates in the colour‐naming condition revealed that children experienced greater interference than adults at each of the cue‐stimulus delays. In an effort to separate the relative contributions of colour‐naming and word‐reading processes, additional analyses were performed based on the process dissociation procedure of Lindsay and Jacoby (1994) . While colour‐naming process estimates did not vary with age group or cue‐stimulus delay, word‐reading process estimates were found to vary with age group and cue‐stimulus delay. Specifically, adults were superior to children in the inhibition of irrelevant word information only during a long cue‐stimulus delay. Collectively, these findings indicate that children have difficulty maintaining task goals in order to suppress stronger, goal‐irrelevant responses.     

Assessing Biobehavioural Self‐Regulation and Coregulation in Early Childhood: The Parent‐Child Challenge Task

Researchers have argued for more dynamic and contextually relevant measures of regulatory processes in interpersonal interactions. In response, we introduce and examine the effectiveness of a new task, the Parent–Child Challenge Task, designed to assess the self‐regulation and coregulation of affect, goal‐directed behaviour, and physiology in parents and their preschoolers in response to an experimental perturbation. Concurrent and predictive validity was examined via relations with children's externalizing behaviours. Mothers used only their words to guide their 3‐year‐old children to complete increasingly difficult puzzles in order to win a prize (N = 96). A challenge condition was initiated midway through the task with a newly introduced time limit. The challenge produced decreases in parental teaching and dyadic behavioural variability and increases in child negative affect and dyadic affective variability, measured by dynamic systems‐based methods. Children rated lower on externalizing showed respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression in response to challenge, whereas those rated higher on externalizing showed RSA augmentation. Additionally, select task changes in affect, behaviour, and physiology predicted teacher‐rated externalizing behaviours four months later. Findings indicate that the Parent–Child Challenge Task was effective in producing regulatory changes and suggest its utility in assessing biobehavioural self‐regulation and coregulation in parents and their preschoolers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes

Implementation intentions are plans that specify the when, where, and how of goal striving in advance, and have been shown to enhance rates of goal attainment compared to merely forming respective goal intentions. The present research investigated whether the accessibility of the specified situation (cue accessibility) and the strength of the association between the specified situation and the intended response (cue-response linkage) explain the impact of implementation intentions on goal achievement. Findings indicated that participants who planned how to undertake a verbal task better attained their goal compared to participants who did not form a plan. Crucially, implementation intention effects were mediated by the accessibility of the specified cue and by the strength of cue-response links. These findings support the idea that implementation intentions benefit performance because control of behavior is delegated to specified situational cues that initiate action automatically.     

Blocked goals, persistent action: Implementation intentions engender tenacious goal striving

Research on goal attainment has demonstrated that people are more likely to reach their goals when they form implementation intentions. Three experiments tested whether implementation intentions lead to tenacious goal striving following blockage of an initial attempt to reach the goal. In all three experiments some participants were instructed to form an implementation intention and other participants were not. Subsequently, the initial goal-directed attempt of all participants was unexpectedly blocked. Experiment 1 found that implementation intentions resulted in more attempts to realize one’s goal. Experiment 2 showed that when participants formed an implementation intention their repeated attempt was acted out as intensely as their first, blocked attempt. Experiment 3 found that implementation intentions still allow people to seize an alternative, more onerous means to realize their intention. These results imply that implementation intention conserve self-regulatory strength. After goal blockage, the remaining strength can be used to continue goal-directed action.     

Implementation intentions as goal primes: Boosting self‐control in tempting environments

People often forget their long‐term strivings because their environment confronts them with attractive temptations. Previous research suggests that self‐control failures can be prevented by reminding people of their higher‐order goal. Therefore, we hypothesized that using implementation intentions as a tool to directly re‐activate people's higher‐order goal in tempting situations would effectively enhance self‐control. We tested this in the domain of dieting behavior. Results demonstrated that this specific planning strategy activated the dieting goal for unsuccessful dieters when exposed to tempting food cues (Study 1) and reduced their consumption of calorically dense food across 2 weeks (Study 2) compared to those in control conditions. This suggests that preparing people to think of their higher‐order goal when tempted can be used to protect ongoing goal striving. Appealing to higher‐order goals potentially makes implementation intentions flexible instruments of self‐regulation as this should trigger motivated behavior to reach goals and initiate various goal‐instrumental actions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How formulating implementation plans and remembering past actions facilitate the enactment of effortful decisions

Building on prior research studying effortful decision making and enactment processes (Bagozzi, Dholakia, & Basuroy, 2003; BDB), we identify and provide an in‐depth understanding of two specific self‐regulatory strategies: (1) formulating an implementation plan, and (2) remembering past actions, that decision makers can use in facilitating enactment of effortful decisions. The results of three experiments, in which the decision maker's goal and self‐regulatory strategy were manipulated, showed that for goals that decision makers chose volitionally, the motivational effects of both these strategies lay in increasing levels of proximal implementation‐related variables (implementation intentions, plan completeness, plan enactment, and goal realization) significantly. In contrast, for goals that were assigned to participants, these strategies' motivational effects additionally extended to significantly increasing distal goal‐related variables (goal desire, goal intentions, perceived self‐efficacy, and implementation desires). The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed, and future research opportunities are explored. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

自我面孔加工与注意——来自反眼跳的证据

作为一种具有重要生物学意义和社会性的视觉刺激,面孔比一般的视觉刺激更容易吸引注意.本研究以Eyelink 2000车载眼动仪为工具,在混合呈现的反眼跳任务中考察了32名大学生被试对自我面孔、恋人面孔和陌生面孔加工中的注意捕获和维持注意方面的特点.结果发现:在朝向眼跳任务中,自我面孔和恋人面孔的眼跳错误率显著低于异性陌生面孔,并且自我面孔和恋人面孔都表现出了保持注意的优势;而在反眼跳任务中,自我面孔、恋人面孔与陌生人面孔的反眼跳错误率和眼跳潜伏期没有显著差异.这一结果表明:自我面孔、恋人面孔与陌生面孔之间在高水平视觉特征上的差异没有达到影响反眼跳的最小可觉察差别量.因此,在反眼跳任务中面孔的优势效应掩盖了自我相关信息加工的优势,导致了自我面孔与陌生面孔没有表现出对注意捕获或保持注意上的差异.     

When Arousal Influences Ad Evaluation and Valence Does Not (and Vice Versa)

This research examines, across 2 studies, the interplay between the valence and arousal components of affective states and the affective tone of a target ad. In the first study, music was used to induce a pleasant or unpleasant mood, while controlling for arousal. Participants were subsequently exposed to an ad that either had a positive‐affective tone or was ambiguous in its affective tone. As predicted, the valence of the affective state colored the evaluation of the ad in a mood‐congruent direction, but this coloring effect occurred only when the ad had an ambiguous‐affective tone. In the second study, the target ad had a clear positive or negative affective tone, and the valence and arousal dimensions of the mood state were manipulated independently. As predicted, the arousal dimension, but not the valence dimension, influenced ad evaluation. Ad evaluations were more polarized in the direction of the ad's affective tone under high arousal than under low arousal. This effect was more pronounced for self‐referent evaluations (e.g., “I like the ad”) than for object‐referent evaluations (e.g., “The ad is good”), favoring an attributional explanation—the excitation transfer hypothesis—over an attention‐narrowing explanation—the dynamic complexity hypothesis. Taken together, the results of the 2 studies stress the important contingency of the affective tone of the ad, when examining the effects of the valence and arousal dimensions of a person's affective state on ad evaluation. The results also provide additional insights into how and when affect serves as information in judgment processes.     

A facilitative effect of negative affective valence on working memory

Gotoh, F., Kikuchi, T. &Olofsson, U. (2010). A facilitative effect of negative affective valence on working memory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 185–191. Previous studies have shown that negatively valenced information impaired working memory performance due to an attention‐capturing effect. The present study examined whether negative valence could also facilitate working memory. Affective words (negative, neutral, positive) were used as retro‐cues in a working memory task that required participants to remember colors at different spatial locations on a computer screen. Following the cue, a target detection task was used to either shift attention to a different location or keep attention at the same location as the retro‐cue. Finally, participants were required to discriminate the cued color from a set of distractors. It was found that negative cues yielded shorter response times (RTs) in the attention‐shift condition and longer RTs in the attention‐stay condition, compared with neutral and positive cues. The results suggest that negative affective valence may enhance working memory performance (RTs), provided that attention can be disengaged.     

The Valley task: Understanding intention from goal‐directed motion in typical development and autism

A novel paradigm investigates the ability to understand an agent's intended goal in children with autism (N = 25), typically developing children (N = 46), and adults (N = 16+12) by watching a non‐human agent's kinematic properties alone. Computer animations depict a circle at the bottom of a U‐shaped valley rolling up and down its slopes and getting closer to a target resting at the top of either side of the valley. The circle's persistent motion and improving attempts evoke the attribution of the intention to reach the target, regardless of whether the circle fails or attains its goal. Children with autism are as able as controls to infer an agent's intended‐goal, disregarding its failure to reach the target. In addition, the study showed that the perception of persistent motion is a sufficient but not a necessary cue for very young children and children with autisn to attribute intention to an agent, whereas adults consider the persistent motion cue as a sufficient and necessary cue to attribute intention to an agent.     

拖延行为的干预:计划行为理论和实施意向的影响

本研究以计划行为理论为理论框架,通过实验操纵实施意向,采用日记法进行为期5天的纵向追踪,考察计划行为理论的4个核心变量和实施意向如何影响拖延行为的程度及其动态过程。134名大学生在前一周末共列举了接下来5个工作日内拟完成的668项学习相关任务,随后每天报告当天的任务完成情况。多层线性模型分析结果表明:(1)行为意向中介态度和行为控制感对拖延程度的影响,主观规范影响拖延程度的直接效应显著,但经由行为意向的间接效应不显著;(2)形成实施意向能显著降低拖延程度;(3)行为控制感和实施意向加速任务完成进程,行为控制感越强,或形成实施意向,均显著加快任务完成速度。研究结果对于如何进行拖延行为的干预有一定启示和借鉴。     

Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress

Researchers have theorized that changing the way we think about our bodily responses can improve our physiological and cognitive reactions to stressful events. However, the underlying processes through which mental states improve downstream outcomes are not well understood. To this end, we examined whether reappraising stress-induced arousal could improve cardiovascular outcomes and decrease attentional bias for emotionally negative information. Participants were randomly assigned to either a reappraisal condition in which they were instructed to think about their physiological arousal during a stressful task as functional and adaptive, or to 1 of 2 control conditions: attention reorientation and no instructions. Relative to controls, participants instructed to reappraise their arousal exhibited more adaptive cardiovascular stress responses-increased cardiac efficiency and lower vascular resistance-and decreased attentional bias. Thus, reappraising arousal shows physiological and cognitive benefits. Implications for health and potential clinical applications are discussed.