Self-regulatory Problems
As well as features of respective if-then plans (e.g., the precision, viability, and instrumentality of the plan components), two other factors are important in determining the strength of implementation intention effects. The first concerns the presence of a self-regulatory problem. When there are few barriers to goal achievement, then favorable goal intentions and self-efficacy can suffice in promoting performance, and implementation intention formation might be superfluous (e.g., Gollwitzer & Brandstätter, 1997 xClose
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstätter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 186-199., Studies 1 & 2; Sheeran & Orbell, 1999 xClose
Sheeran, P., & Orbell, S. (1999). Implementation intentions and repeated behavior: Augmenting the predictive validity of the theory of planned behavior. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 349-369., Study 1). However, when goal striving is difficult, or when people have chronic difficulties in striving to obtain their goals (e.g., schizophrenic patients, opiate addicts, patients with a frontal lobe injury; see Brandstätter et al., 2001 xClose
Brandstätter, V., Lengfelder, A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2001). Implementation intentions and efficient action initiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 946-960.; Lengfelder & Gollwitzer, 2001 xClose
Lengfelder, A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2001). Reflective and reflexive action control in patients with frontal brain lesions. Neuropsychology, 15, 80-100.) then it is especially worthwhile to engage in if-then planning (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006 xClose
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119.).
Strength of Goal Intentions
A second determinant of the strength of implementation intention effects is the state of the respective goal intention. When people have no intention of pursuing a health goal then they are unlikely to form an implementation intention that spells out adequately when, where, and how the goal will be pursued, even when asked to do (Sheeran, Milne, Webb, & Gollwitzer, 2005 xClose
Sheeran, P., Milne, S. E., Webb, T. L., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2005). Implementation intentions. In M. Conner & P. Norman (Eds.), Predicting health behavior (2nd ed., pp. 276-323) Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.). Sheeran, Webb, and Gollwitzer (2005) xClose
Sheeran, P., Webb, T. L., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2005). The interplay between goal intentions and implementation intentions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 87-98. showed that strong effects of implementation intentions were obtained predominantly when the underlying goal intention was strong and activated (see also Seehausen Bayer, & Gollwitzer, 1994, cited in Gollwitzer, 1996 xClose
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1996). The volitional benefits of planning. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 287 - 312). New York: Guilford.). Similarly, Koestner, Lekes, Powers, and Chicoine (2002) xClose
Koestner, R., Lekes, N., Powers, T. A., & Chicoine, E. (2002). Attaining personal goals: Self-concordance plus implementation intentions equals success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 231-244. showed that if-then plans benefited the completion of personal projects more when those projects were consistent with personal interests and values than when projects were motivated by external reasons such as social pressure. Because implementation intentions are formed for the purpose of enhancing the translation of goal intentions into action, it is important to ensure that strong positive goal intentions exist among one’s target sample. If goal intentions are unfavorable, then studies may need to start out with a motivational intervention to promote the requisite goal intentions before having participants form implementation intentions that are designed to strengthen intention-behavior consistency (Oettingen, Barry, Guttenberg, & Gollwitzer, 2007 xClose
Oettingen, G., Barry, H., Guttenberg, K. B., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2007). Improving self-discipline and self-esteem: A mental contrasting with implementation intentions intervention. Manuscript under review. ).
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