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.     

Escalation in organizational decision making a case of recruiting an incompetent employee

This paper analyses a case of hiring a manager who subsequently proves to be incompetent. Analysis reveals the importance of structural factors in escalation, especially politics. When these are considered, persistence emerges as both escalatory and rational. Likewise, behaviours manifest of information bias are actually logical managerial strategies and may mask political calculation. New potential escalation variables are identified including power, visibility, and organization culture. Withdrawal reflects an intricate balancing of factors including risk and opportunity. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Acceptance and commitment therapy versus tinnitus retraining therapy in the treatment of tinnitus: a randomised controlled trial

The study compared the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) on tinnitus impact in a randomised controlled trial. Sixty-four normal hearing subjects with tinnitus were randomised to one of the active treatments or a wait-list control (WLC). The ACT treatment consisted of 10 weekly 60 min sessions. The TRT treatment consisted of one 150 min session, one 30 min follow-up and continued daily use of wearable sound generators for a recommended period of at least 8 h/day for 18 months. Assessments were made at baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 18 months. At 10 weeks, results showed a superior effect of ACT in comparison with the WLC regarding tinnitus impact (Cohen’s d = 1.04), problems with sleep and anxiety. The results were mediated by tinnitus acceptance. A comparison between the active treatments, including all assessment points, revealed significant differences in favour of ACT regarding tinnitus impact (Cohen’s d = 0.75) and problems with sleep. At 6 months, reliable improvement on the main outcome measure was found for 54.5% in the ACT condition and 20% in the TRT condition. The results suggest that ACT can reduce tinnitus distress and impact in a group of normal hearing tinnitus patients.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for ADHD in medication-treated adults with continued symptoms

The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential efficacy, patient acceptability, and feasibility of a novel, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who have been stabilized on medications but still show clinically significant symptoms. Thirty-one adults with ADHD and stable psychopharmacology for ADHD were randomized to CBT plus continued psychopharmacology or continued psychopharmacology alone. Assessments included ADHD severity and associated anxiety and depression rated by an independent evaluator (IE) and by self-report. At the outcome assessment, those who were randomized to CBT had lower IE-rated ADHD symptoms (p < .01) and global severity (p < .002), as well as self-reported ADHD symptoms (p < .0001) than those randomized to continued psychopharmacology alone. Those in the CBT group also had lower IE-rated and self-report anxiety (p's < .04), lower IE-rated depression (p < .01), and a trend to have lower self-reported depression (p = .06). CBT continued to show superiority over continued psychopharmacology alone when statistically controlling levels of depression in analyses of core ADHD symptoms. There were significantly more treatment responders among patients who received CBT (56%) compared to those who did not (13%) (p < .02). These data support the hypothesis that CBT for adults with ADHD with residual symptoms is a feasible, acceptable, and potentially efficacious next-step treatment approach, worthy of further testing.     

Vicissitudes of goal commitment: Satisfaction,investments, and alternatives

Constructs typically used to understand commitment between individuals were used to elucidate individual differences in goal commitment. In Study 1, 299 college students completed assessments of goal satisfaction, investments, alternatives and commitment regarding an academic goal. Structural equation modeling demonstrated confirmatory evidence for satisfaction’s, investments’, and alternatives’ collective impact on people’s goal commitment. In Study 2, the model components were manipulated by having 236 college students considered the goal to learn a new language and read information suggesting they were high or low in satisfaction, investments, and alternatives. Results demonstrated all three factors had a causal impact on people’s level of goal commitment. Both studies found an individual’s level of goal commitment was strongest when satisfaction and investments were high and the impact of alternatives was low.     

Using Mental Imagery to Enhance the Effectiveness of Implementation Intentions

Past research shows that forming implementation intentions increases the probability of carrying out goals. The present research proposes that mental imagery can strengthen the effects of implementation intentions on goal achievement. Participants were assigned a mundane goal and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: implementation intentions only or implementation intentions plus mental imagery. Results support the hypothesis that using mental imagery when forming implementation intentions leads to higher rates of goal achievement.     

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.     

Efficacy of an early intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy for adults with depressive symptomatology: Evaluation in a randomized controlled trial

Objective

The current study examined the efficacy of an early intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for depressive symptomatology. The ACT intervention is aimed at increasing the acceptance of negative thoughts and emotions and living a mindful and value-based life.

Method

Adults with mild to moderate depressive symptomatology were randomly assigned to the ACT intervention (n = 49) or to a waiting list (n = 44). The mean age of the participants was 49 years. The majority of the participants was female and of Dutch origin. All the participants completed measures before and after the intervention, as well as three months later at follow-up to assess depression (CES-D), anxiety (HADS-A), fatigue (CIS), alcohol use and acceptance (AAQ-II).

Results

The ACT intervention led to statistically significant reduction in depressive symptomatology (Cohen’s d = .60). These reductions were maintained at the three-month follow-up. Also significant reductions in anxiety and fatigue were observed. Moreover, mediational analysis showed that the improvement of acceptance during the intervention mediated the effects of the intervention on depressive symptomatology at follow-up.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that an early intervention based on ACT, aimed at increasing acceptance, is effective in reducing depressive symptomatology.     

Can a twelve-week intervention reduce barriers to bicycling among overweight adults in low-income Latino and Black communities?

This pilot study summarizes perceived barriers to bicycling among overweight adults in two low-income communities of color and evaluates the impact of a bicycling intervention on these perceived barriers. A randomized controlled trial with 38 total participants from one predominantly Latino and one predominantly Black neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was conducted during summer 2015. The twelve-week intervention consisted of group bicycle rides and bicycling instruction. Several barriers identified prior to the intervention declined significantly among intervention group members soon after it was completed: not feeling healthy enough to bike, being physically uncomfortable while biking, not having a bicycle to use, not having other people to bicycle with, not knowing the best routes to use, not feeling safe from crime, not feeling safe from car traffic, and worrying that neighbors do not think it is normal for an adult to ride a bike. Eight weeks after completion, the intervention group reported significantly greater reductions than the control group with respect to the barriers of not feeling healthy enough to bike and not feeling safe from car traffic. In addition to decreasing barriers, qualitative analysis suggested that increasing support from family and friends as well as emphasizing personal health benefits could help motivate people to bicycle.     

Problem-solving training via videoconferencing for family caregivers of persons with spinal cord injuries: a randomized controlled trial

Objective

To examine the effectiveness of an individualized problem-solving intervention delivered in videoconferencing sessions with family caregivers of persons living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) and possible contagion effects on care recipients.

Design

Family caregivers were randomly assigned to an education-only control group or an intervention group in which participants received problem-solving training (PST) in monthly videoconference session for a year.

Participants

Sixty-one caregivers (54 women, 7 men) and their care recipients (40 men, 21 women) consented to participate.

Main outcome measures

The Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised was administered to caregivers. Caregivers and care recipients completed the Inventory to Diagnose Depression, the SF-36 and the Satisfaction with Life scale at pre-treatment, 6 months and 12 months.

Results

Twenty-eight caregivers discontinued the study and their follow-up data were unavailable at the final assessment. Older caregivers were more likely than younger caregivers to remain in the study. Intent-to-treat analyses projected a significant decrease in depression among caregivers receiving PST; efficacy analyses indicated this effect was pronounced at the 6th month assessment. ITT analyses and efficacy analyses revealed that care recipients of caregivers receiving PST reported gains in social functioning over time.

Conclusions

Community-based, telehealth interventions may benefit family caregivers and their care recipients, but the mechanisms of these effects are unclear. Attrition and sample issues should be considered in future studies with these populations.     

Strategic demonstration of problem solutions by groups: The effects of member preferences,confidence, and learning goals

Research indicates that groups perform best, and their members learn the most, when they solve problems with demonstrably correct solutions. These outcomes are often attributed to correct members demonstrating to incorrect members how to solve such problems. However, because few studies have directly observed group interaction (Moreland, Swanenburg, Flagg, & Fetterman, 2010), the extent to which correct members actually demonstrate problem solutions remains unclear. Assuming that groups are strategic and desire to solve problems both accurately and efficiently, we predicted that initially correct minorities would be more likely than initially correct majorities to demonstrate problem solutions. Results from two studies support this prediction, in the form of member behavioral intentions (Study 1) and observed group interaction processes (Study 2). Study 1 also highlights the role of confidence in this effect, while Study 2 reveals that demonstration is overall more likely when groups have a goal that encourages member learning.     

First and second language vowel perception in early bilinguals

Previous research has shown that the perception of speech sounds is strongly influenced by the internal structure of maternal language categories. Specifically, it has been shown that stimuli judged as good exemplars of a phonemic category are more difficult to discriminate from similar sounds than bad exemplars from equally similar sounds. This effect seems to be restricted to phonemes present in the maternal language, and is acquired in the first months of life. The present study investigates the malleability of speech acquisition by analysing the discrimination capacities for L2 phonemes in highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals born in monolingual families. In Experiment I subjects were required to give goodness of fit judgments to establish the best exemplars corresponding to three different vowel categories (Catalan /e/ and /ε/ Spanish /e/). In Experiments 2 and 3, bilinguals were asked to perform a discrimination task with materials in their maternal language (Exp. 2) and in their second language (Exp. 3). Results reveal that bilinguals show a reduced discrimination capacity only for good exemplars of their maternal language, but not for good exemplars of their second language. The same pattern of results was obtained in Experiment 4, using a within-subjects design and a bias-free discrimination measure (d'). These findings support the hypothesis that phonemic categories are not only acquired early in life, but under some circumstances, the acquisition of new phonemic categories can be seriously compromised, in spite of early and extensive exposure to L2.     

Mindfulness-based stress reduction for patients with anxiety disorders: evaluation in a randomized controlled trial

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for patients with heterogeneous anxiety disorders. Seventy-six self-referred patients were randomized to MBSR or a waiting-list control condition. Eight participants did not complete the eight-week MBSR intervention. Treatment completers improved significantly on all outcome measures compared to controls. The completer sample showed medium to large effect sizes on measures of anxiety (Cohen’s d = 0.55–0.97), and a large effect size for symptoms of depression (Cohen’s d = 0.97). Intention-to-treat analyses yielded effect sizes in the small to moderate range (Cohen’s d = 0.32–0.76). Gains were maintained at six months follow-up. The percentage of participants reaching recovered status was highest for symptom measures of depression and anxiety, and lower for worry and trait anxiety. Mediation analyses indicated that mindfulness fully mediated changes in acute anxiety symptoms, and partially mediated changes in worry and trait anxiety. However, the present study did not find evidence of temporal precedence for the proposed mediator. In the absence of true mediation and an active control condition, it cannot be ruled out that results are due to non-specific aspects of treatment. Despite these and other limitations, we conclude that MBSR is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders and related symptomatology.