Goal Achievement: The Role of Intentions

The intention-to-behavior process is analyzed with respect to implementation intentions. These intentions link an intended goal-directed behavior to an anticipated situational context. The reported experimental evidence suggests that implementation intentions create a heightened accessibility of the mental representation of the specified situational cues and induce direct (automatic) control of the intended behavior through these cues. The formation of implementation intentions promotes goal achievement through both of these processes because they eliminate classic problems associated with the control of goal-directed action. Similarities and differences to other theoretical approaches on intentions, planning, and action control are discussed.

[1]  W. James,et al.  The Principles of Psychology. , 1983 .

[2]  N. Ach.  Über die Willenstätigkeit und das Denken : eine experimentelle Untersuchung mit einem Anhange, Über das Hippsche Chronoskop , 1905 .

[3]  N. Ach,et al.  Über den Willensakt und das Temperament : eine experimentelle Untersuchung , 1910 .

[4]  A. Michotte,et al.  Étude expérimentale sur le choix volontaire et ses antécédents immédiats , 1910 .

[5]  N. Ach,et al.  Uber den Willensakt und das Temperament. , 1910 .

[6]  E. Thorndike.  The psychology of learning , 1925 .

[7]  Kurt Gottschaldt,et al.  Über den Einfluß der Erfahrung auf die Wahrnehmung von Figuren , 1926 .

[8]  K. Lewin,et al.  Vorsatz, Wille und Bedürfnis , 1926 .

[9]  K. Lewin,et al.  Untersuchungen zur Handlungs- und Affektpsychologie , 1927 .

[10]  Maria Ovsiankina,et al.  Untersuchungen zur Handlungs- und Affektpsychologie , 1928 .

[11]  Kurt Gottschaldt,et al.  Über den Einfluß der Erfahrung auf die Wahrnehmung von Figuren , 1929 .

[12]  G. Birenbaum.  Untersuchungen zur Handlungs- und Affektpsychologie , 1930 .

[13]  Wera Mahler.  Ersatzhandlungen verschiedenen Realitätsgrades , 1933 .

[14]  K. Lissner.  Die Entspannung von Bedürfnissen durch Ersatzhandlungen , 1933 .

[15]  K. Lewin,et al.  Untersuchungen zur Handlungs- und Affektpsychologie , 1934 .

[16]  Narziß Kaspar Ach,et al.  Analyse des Willens , 1935 .

[17]  B. Skinner,et al.  Principles of Behavior , 1944 .

[18]  J. Bruner,et al.  Value and need as organizing factors in perception. , 1947, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[19]  J. Bruner,et al.  Symbolic value as an organizing factor in perception. , 1948, The Journal of social psychology.

[20]  J. Bruner.  IV. PERCEPTUAL THEORY AND THE RORSCHACH TEST , 1948 .

[21]  J. Bruner,et al.  On the perception of incongruity; a paradigm. , 1949, Journal of personality.

[22]  H. A. Witkin.  Individual differences in ease of perception of embedded figures. , 1950, Journal of personality.

[23]  Jerome S. Bruner,et al.  Personality dynamics and the process of perceiving. , 1951 .

[24]  Kurt Lewin,et al.  Intention, will and need. , 1951 .

[25]  C. L. Hull,et al.  A Behavior System , 1954 .

[26]  J. Bruner.  On perceptual readiness. , 1957, Psychological review.

[27]  G. Miller,et al.  Nondynamic aspects of personality. , 1960 .

[28]  D. Campbell.  Social Attitudes and Other Acquired Behavioral Dispositions. , 1963 .

[29]  B. Underwood,et al.  ASSOCIATION BY CONTIGUITY. , 1964, Journal of experimental psychology.

[30]  E. E. Jones,et al.  Foundations of Social Psychology , 1967 .

[31]  A. W. Wicker.  Attitudes Versus Actions: The Relationship of Verbal and Overt Behavioral Responses to Attitude Objects. , 1969 .

[32]  G. Miller,et al.  Plans and the structure of behavior , 1960 .

[33]  Shalom H. Schwartz,et al.  A test of a model for reducing measured attitude-behavior discrepancies. , 1972 .

[34]  W. T. Powers.  Behavior, the control of perception , 1973 .

[35]  D. Kahneman.  Attention and Effort , 1973 .

[36]  E. Klinger,et al.  Consequences of commitment to and disengagement from incentives. , 1975 .

[37]  L. S. Newman,et al.  Increasing attitude-behavior correspondence by broadening the scope of the behavioral measure. , 1976 .

[38]  D. Zillmann,et al.  Effect of timing of information about mitigating circumstances on emotional responses to provocation and retaliatory behavior , 1976 .

[39]  R. E. Warren,et al.  Time and the spread of activation in memory. , 1977 .

[40]  J. H. Neely.  Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited-capacity attention. , 1977 .

[41]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. , 1977 .

[42]  Walter Schneider,et al.  Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. , 1977 .

[43]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[44]  M. Posner.  Chronometric explorations of mind , 1978 .

[45]  W. Johnston,et al.  Flexibility and capacity demands of attention , 1978 .

[46]  P. Werner.  Personality and attitude-activism correspondence. , 1978 .

[47]  Bertram C. Bruce,et al.  Interacting plans , 1978, SGAR.

[48]  K. Walsh.  Neuropsychology: A Clinical Approach , 1978 .

[49]  Harry T. Reis,et al.  Comparison of Three Models for Predicting Altruistic Behavior. , 1978 .

[50]  W. Johnston.  The intrusiveness of familiar nontarget information , 1978, Memory & cognition.

[51]  P. Bentler,et al.  Models of attitude–behavior relations. , 1979 .

[52]  Barbara Hayes-Roth,et al.  A Cognitive Model of Planning , 1979, Cogn. Sci..

[53]  G. Logan,et al.  On the Use of a Concurrent Memory Load to Measure Attention and Automaticity , 1979 .

[54]  H C Triandis,et al.  Values, attitudes, and interpersonal behavior. , 1980, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation.

[55]  G. Logan.  Attention and automaticity in Stroop and priming tasks: Theory and data , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.

[56]  E. Klinger,et al.  Motivational correlates of thought content frequency and commitment. , 1980 .

[57]  A. Luria.  Higher Cortical Functions in Man , 1980, Springer US.

[58]  P. Bentler,et al.  Attitudes "cause" behaviors: A structural equation analysis. , 1981 .

[59]  C. Carver,et al.  Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior , 1981 .

[60]  D. Norman.  Categorization of action slips. , 1981 .

[61]  Irwin G. Sarason,et al.  Emotion, Personality, and Selective Attention , 1981 .

[62]  M. Dawson,et al.  Electrodermal responses to attended and nonattended significant stimuli during dichotic listening. , 1982, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[63]  J. Bargh.  Attention and Automaticity in the Processing of Self-Relevant Information , 1982 .

[64]  T. Shallice.  Specific impairments of planning. , 1982, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[65]  C. Gallistel.  The Organization of Action: A New Synthesis , 1982 .

[66]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. , 1982 .

[67]  Peter M. Gollwitzer,et al.  Symbolic self-completion , 1982 .

[68]  J. Kuhl,et al.  Motivation, Konflikt und Handlungskontrolle , 1983 .

[69]  R. L. Cohen,et al.  The effect of encoding variables on the free recall of words and action events , 1983, Memory & cognition.

[70]  J. Reason.  Lapses of attention , 1984 .

[71]  Lars-Göran Nilsson,et al.  Aging effects in free recall: An exception to the rule. , 1984 .

[72]  Christopher Spencer,et al.  Understanding seat‐belt use: A test of Bentler and Speckart's extension of the ‘theory of reasoned action’ , 1984 .

[73]  A. Liska.  A critical examination of the causal structure of the Fishbein/Ajzen attitude–behavior model. , 1984 .

[74]  Lyle E. Bourne,et al.  Decisions and memory: Differential retrievability of consistent and contradictory evidence , 1984 .

[75]  J. Beckmann,et al.  Action control : from cognition to behavior , 1985 .

[76]  M. Frese,et al.  Goal Directed Behavior: The Concept of Action in Psychology , 1985 .

[77]  A. Bandura.  Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[78]  Fred D. Davis,et al.  Disentangling behavioral intention and behavioral expectation , 1985 .

[79]  Robin R. Vallacher,et al.  A Theory Of Action Identification , 1985 .

[80]  Icek Ajzen,et al.  From Intentions to Actions: A Theory of Planned Behavior , 1985 .

[81]  R. Fazio.  How do attitudes guide behavior , 1986 .

[82]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Attention to Action , 1986 .

[83]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Prediction of goal directed behaviour: Attitudes, intentions and perceived behavioural control , 1986 .

[84]  Robert S. Wyer,et al.  The role of chronic and temporary goals in social information processing , 1986 .

[85]  Robin R. Vallacher,et al.  The Presentation of Self Through Action Identification , 1987 .

[86]  Bruce J. Biddle,et al.  Norms, Preferences, Identities and Retention Decisions , 1987 .

[87]  H. Markus,et al.  THE DYNAMIC SELF-CONCEPT: A Social Psychological Perspective , 1987 .

[88]  L. Kvavilashvili.  Remembering intention as a distinct form of memory , 1987 .

[89]  Robin R. Vallacher,et al.  What do people think they're doing? Action identification and human behavior. , 1987 .

[90]  P. M. Gollwitzer,et al.  Jenseits des Rubikon : der Wille in den Humanwissenschaften , 1987 .

[91]  P. M. Gollwitzer,et al.  Jenseits des Rubikon , 1987 .

[92]  G. Logan.  Toward an instance theory of automatization. , 1988 .

[93]  H. Heckhausen,et al.  Thought contents and cognitive functioning in motivational versus volitional states of mind , 1987 .

[94]  I. Ajzen.  Attitudes, Traits, and Actions: Dispositional Prediction of Behavior in Personality and Social Psychology , 1987 .

[95]  P. Callero,et al.  Role identity and reasoned action in the prediction of repeated behavior , 1988 .

[96]  I. Ajzen.  Attitudes, Personality and Behavior , 1988 .

[97]  Blair H. Sheppard,et al.  The Theory of Reasoned Action: A Meta-Analysis of Past Research with Recommendations for Modifications and Future Research , 1988 .

[98]  Hermann Brandstätter,et al.  Sechzehn Persönlichkeits-Adjektivskalen (16 PA) als Forschungsinstrument anstelle des 16 PF , 1988 .

[99]  J. Engelkamp,et al.  Memory for action events: A new field of research , 1989, Psychological research.

[100]  J. Brehm,et al.  Energization and goal attractiveness. , 1989 .

[101]  A. Tesser,et al.  Toward a motivational and structural theory of ruminative thought. , 1989 .

[102]  K. Ohbuchi,et al.  Apology as aggression control: its role in mediating appraisal of and response to harm. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[103]  H. Heckhausen,et al.  Motivation und Handeln , 1989 .

[104]  Peter M. Gollwitzer,et al.  Effects of deliberative and implemental mind-sets on illusion of control. , 1989 .

[105]  E. Tory Higgins,et al.  Knowledge accessibility and activation: Subjectivity and suffering from unconscious sources. , 1989 .

[106]  Sherry K. Schneider,et al.  Coping and the Simulation of Events , 1989 .

[107]  Lawrence A. Pervin,et al.  Goal concepts in personality and social psychology. , 1989 .

[108]  J. Bargh.  Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence in social perception and cognition. , 1989 .

[109]  H. Heckhausen,et al.  Deliberative and implemental mind-sets: Cognitive tuning toward congruous thoughts and information , 1990 .

[110]  C. Carver,et al.  Origins and Functions of Positive and Negative Affect: A Control-Process View. , 1990 .

[111]  R. Fazio.  Multiple Processes by which Attitudes Guide Behavior: The Mode Model as an Integrative Framework , 1990 .

[112]  John A. Bargh,et al.  Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction. , 1990 .

[113]  A. Bandura.  Self-regulation of motivation through anticipatory and self-reactive mechanisms. , 1990, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation.

[114]  From velleity to specific plans: How planning affects attitude, intention, behavior relations , 1990 .

[115]  P. Gollwitzer.  Action phases and mind-sets , 1990 .

[116]  H. Heckhausen,et al.  Intentional action and action slips. , 1990 .

[117]  Peter M. Gollwitzer,et al.  From weighing to willing: Approaching a change decision through pre- or postdecisional mentation , 1990 .

[118]  Martin Fishbein,et al.  The Role of Desires, Self‐Predictions, and Perceived Control in the Prediction of Training Session Attendance1 , 1990 .

[119]  Henry L. Tosi.  A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance , 1991 .

[120]  Abwägen und Planen : Bewußtseinslagen in verschiedenen Handlungsphasen , 1991 .

[121]  Jutta Heckhausen,et al.  Motivation and action , 1991 .

[122]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Routine Computing Tasks: Planning as Understanding , 1991, Cogn. Sci..

[123]  E. Higgins,et al.  Handbook of motivation and cognition : foundations of social behavior , 1991 .

[124]  S. Chaiken,et al.  The generality of the automatic attitude activation effect. , 1992, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[125]  S. Chaiken,et al.  The psychology of attitudes. , 1993 .

[126]  J. Bargh,et al.  Environmental control of goal-directed action: automatic and strategic contingencies between situations and behavior. , 1994, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation.