The emergence of goal pursuit: Mental contrasting connects future and reality

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volumn 54, Issue , 2014, Pages 25-39

  Kappes, Andreas ^a   Oettingen, Gabriele ^b,c  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF HAMBURG   (Germany)

Author keywords

Expectations; Goal pursuit; Mental associations; Mental contrasting; Self regulation

Indexed keywords

EID: 84899694631     PISSN: 00221031     EISSN: 10960465     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2014.03.014     Document Type: Article

References (54)

1. Adriaanse M.A., Oettingen G., Gollwitzer P.M., Hennes E.P., de Ridder D.T.D., de Wit J.B.F. When planning is not enough: Breaking unhealthy snacking habits with mental contrasting and implementation intentions. European Journal of Social Psychology 2010, 40:1277-1293.
2. Aiken L.S., West S.G. Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions 1991, Sage, Newbury Park.
3. Alter A.L., Oppenheimer D.M. Effects of fluency on psychological distance and mental construal (or why New York is a large city, but New York is a civilized jungle). Psychological Science 2008, 19:161-167.
4. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review 1977, 84:191-215.
5. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control 1997, Freeman, New York.
6. Bargh J.A., Chaiken S., Govender R., Pratto F. The generality of the automatic attitude activation effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1992, 62:893-912.
7. Bargh J.A., Chaiken S., Raymond P., Hymes C. The automatic evaluation effect: Unconditional automatic attitude activation with a pronunciation task. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1996, 32:104-128.
8. Baron R.M., Kenny D.A. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1986, 51:1173-1182.
9. Baumeister R.F., Vohs K.D., DeWall C.N., Zhang L. How emotion shapes behavior: Feedback, anticipation, and reflection, rather than direct causation. Personality and Social Psychology Review 2007, 11:167-203.
10. Bower G.H. Mood and memory. American Psychologist 1981, 36:129-148.
11. Cantor N., Norem J.K., Niedenthal P.M., Langston C.A., Brower A.M. Life tasks, self-concept ideals, and cognitive strategies in a life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1987, 53:1178-1191.
12. Carver C.S., Scheier M.F. Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality-social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological Bulletin 1982, 92:111-135.
13. De Houwer J. The propositional approach to associative learning as an alternative for association formation models. Learning & Behavior 2009, 37:1-20.
14. Dickinson A. What are association formation models?. Learning & Behavior 2009, 37:21-24.
15. Dickerson S.S., Kemeny M.E. Acute stressors and cortisol responses: A theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychological Bulletin 2004, 130:355-391.
16. Dijksterhuis A., Aarts H. Goals, attention, and (un)consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology 2010, 61:467-490.
17. Emmons R.A. Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1986, 51:1058-1068.
18. Fishbach A., Eyal T., Finkelstein S.R. How positive and negative feedback motivate goal pursuit. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2010, 4:517-530.
19. Fishbach A., Friedman R.S., Kruglanski A.W. Leading us not unto temptation: Momentary allurements elicit overriding goal activation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003, 84:296-309.
20. Förster J., Friedman R., Liberman N. Temporal construal effects on abstract and concrete thinking: Consequences for insight and creative cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2004, 87:177-189.
21. Förster J., Liberman N., Higgins E.T. Accessibility from active and fulfilled goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2005, 41:220-239.
22. Gollwitzer P.M. Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist 1999, 54:493-503.
23. Gollwitzer P.M., Sheeran P. Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 2006, 38:69-119.
24. Gollwitzer P.M., Wicklund R.A. Self-symbolizing and the neglect of others' perspectives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1985, 48:702-715.
25. Goschke T., Kuhl J. Representation of intentions: Persisting activation in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 1993, 19:1211-1226.
26. Kappes A., Oettingen G., Pak H. Mental contrasting and the self-regulation of responding to negative feedback. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2012, 38:845-856.
27. Kappes A., Singmann H., Oettingen G. Mental contrasting instigates behavior by linking reality with instrumental behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2012, 48:811-818.
28. Kappes A., Wendt M., Reinelt T., Oettingen G. Mental contrasting changes the meaning of reality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2013, 49:797-810.
29. Kashy D.A., Donnellan M.B., Ackerman R.A., Russell D.W. Reporting and interpreting research in PSPB: Practices, principles, and pragmatics. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009, 35:1131-1142.
30. Kawada C., Oettingen G., Gollwitzer P.M., Bargh J.A. The projection of implicit and explicit goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2004, 86:545-559.
31. Kirschbaum C., Pirke K.M., Hellhammer D.H. The 'Trier Social Stress Test'-a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology 1993, 28:76-81.
32. Kressel L.M., Uleman J.S. Personality traits function as causal concepts. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2010, 46:213-216.
33. Lewin K. A dynamic theory of personality 1935, McGraw-Hill, New York.
34. Mitchell C., De Houwer J., Lovibond P. The propositional nature of human associative learning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 2009, 32:183-198.
35. Muller D., Judd C.M., Yzerbyt V.Y. When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2005, 89:852-863.
36. Neely J.H. Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited-capacity attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 1977, 106:226-254.
37. Oettingen G. Expectancy effects on behavior depend on self-regulatory thought. Social Cognition 2000, 18:101-129.
38. Oettingen G. Future thought and behavior change. European Review of Social Psychology 2012, 23:1-63.
39. Oettingen G., Mayer D., Sevincer T.A., Stephens E.J., Pak H., Hagenah M. Mental contrasting and goal commitment: The mediating role of energization. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009, 35:498-512.
40. Oettingen G., Mayer D., Stephens M.E.J., Brinkmann B. Mental contrasting and the self-regulation of helping relations. Social Cognition 2010, 28:490-508.
41. Oettingen G., Mayer D., Thorpe J.S. Self-regulation of commitment to reduce cigarette consumption: Mental contrasting of future with reality. Psychology and Health 2010, 25:961-977.
42. Oettingen G., Mayer D., Thorpe J.S., Janetzke H., Lorenz S. Turning fantasies about positive and negative futures into self-improvement goals. Motivation and Emotion 2005, 29:237-267.
43. Oettingen G., Pak H., Schnetter K. Self-regulation of goal-setting: Turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2001, 80:736-753.
44. Pennebaker J.W., Beall S.K. Confronting a traumatic event. Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1986, 95:274-281.
45. Pennebaker J.W., Mayne T., Francis M.E. Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1997, 72:863-871.
46. Preacher K.J., Hayes A.F. Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods 2008, 40:879-891.
47. Rothermund K. Automatic vigilance for task-related information: Perseverance after failure and inhibition after success. Memory & Cognition 2003, 31:343-352.
48. Sevincer A.T., Oettingen G. Spontaneous mental contrasting and selective goal pursuit. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2013, 39:1240-1254.
49. Taylor S.E., Brown J.D. Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin 1988, 103:193-210.
50. Taylor S.E., Pham L.B., Rivkin I.D., Armor D.A. Harnessing the imagination: Mental simulation, self-regulation, and coping. American Psychologist 1998, 53:429-439.
51. Webb T.L., Sheeran P. How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2007, 43:295-302.
52. West S.G., Aiken L.S., Wu W., Taylor A.B. Multiple regression: Applications of the basics and beyond in personality research. Handbook of research methods in personality 2007, 149-169. Guilford, New York. R. Robins, R.C. Fraley, R.F. Krueger (Eds.).
53. Zeigarnik B.W. Das Behalten erledigter und unerledigter Handlungen. Psychologische Forschung 1927, 9:1-85.
54. Zirkel S., Cantor N. Personal construal of life tasks: Those who struggle for independence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1990, 58:172-185.