Implementation intentions and efficient action initiation.

By V. Brandstätter, Angelika Lengfelder, Peter M. Gollwitzer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001

600 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Implementation intentions ("If I encounter Situation X, then I'll perform Behavior Y!") are postulated to instigate automatic action initiation. In 4 studies, the hypothesis was tested that implementation intentions lead to immediate action initiation once the specified situation is encountered, even under conditions of high cognitive load. First, individuals whose action control is known to be hampered by disruptive cognitive business, such as opiate addicts under withdrawal (Study 1) and schizophrenic patients (Study 2), benefited from forming implementation intentions. Second, the beneficial effect of implementation intentions was also found in 2 experiments with university students (Studies 3 and 4) in which cognitive load was experimentally induced by using dual task paradigms. Results of the 4 studies suggest that forming implementation intentions instigates immediate action initiation that is also efficient.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1e1c145abe3ba075cb56a5e7e889b0e527dc90ac

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In Applied Psychology

1. Peter M. Gollwitzer
2. G. Oettingen
3. P. Sheeran
4. Thomas Llewelyn Webb
5. Anja Achtziger
6. Ute C. Bayer
7. G. Maio
8. I. Ajzen

In Cognitive Neuroscience

1. Peter M. Gollwitzer
2. Henk Aarts
3. Thomas Llewelyn Webb
4. P. Sheeran
5. G. Maio
6. Christopher J. Armitage
7. G. Oettingen
8. G. Haddock

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

1. Peter M. Gollwitzer
2. G. Oettingen
3. P. Sheeran
4. Carol S. Dweck
5. Thomas Llewelyn Webb
6. Utpal M. Dholakia
7. P. Gable
8. Eddie Harmon-Jones

Citations in the corpus

• Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes (2006, methodology): “Findings showed that, excluding two studies (Lengfelder & Gollwitzer, 2001, Study 2; Brandstätter et al., 2001, Study 2).”
• Implementation intentions and test anxiety: Shielding academic performance from distraction (2010, background): “undings of Pall l'!rson and Miscl1el (1976). Only the temptalioninhibiting implementation intentions improved performance in the high performance pressure condition.”
• The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking (2008, background): “…the content-specific pathway, in that recent evidence shows that problems activate counterfactual thinking automatically (Goldinger et al., 2003), counterfactuals activate intentions automatically (Smallman & Roese, 2007), and intentions activate behavior automatically (Brandstätter et al., 2001).”
• “Meaningful” social inferences: Effects of implicit theories on inferential processes (2006, background): “Finally, Brandstätter, Lengfelder, and Gollwitzer (2001) have shown that prior intentions to implement speciWc actions in speciWc situations can allow those actions to be performed eYciently and without the need for cognitive resources.”
• Self-Accountability Emotions and Fear Appeals: Motivating Behavior (2006, background): “Our findings add to the work on goal achievement (Brandstatter et al. 2001) by showing that emotions spontaneously”
• Planning promotes goal striving. (2011, background): “…using critical samples—that is, individuals with poor self-regulatory abilities, such as people with schizophrenia or substance abuse disorders (Brandstätter et al., 2001, Studies 1 and 2), people with frontal lobe damage (Lengfelder & Gollwitzer, 2001), and children with…”
• Staying on track: Planned goal striving is protected from disruptive internal states (2010, background): “…is void of conscious efforts to control the use of stereotypes (for related findings on the issue of automatic action control by implementation intentions see Bayer et al., 2009; Brandstätter et al., 2001; Gollwitzer & Schaal, 1998; Mendoza, Gollwitzer, & Amodio, in press; Stewart & Payne, 2008).”
• Responding to subliminal cues: Do if-then plans facilitate action preparation and initiation without conscious intent? (2009, background): “…by action control problems (Brandstätter, Lengfelder, & Gollwitzer, 2001, Studies 1 and 2; Gawrilow & Gollwitzer, 2008), dual task paradigms (Brandstätter et al., 2001, Studies 3 and 4), and tasks that burden a person's cognitive capacity (e.g., intelligence tests; Bayer & Gollwitzer, 2007).”
• Self‐regulation strategies improve self‐discipline in adolescents: benefits of mental contrasting and implementation intentions (2011, background): “’ In the presence of the critical situation, the intended goal‐directed behaviour is initiated immediately (Gollwitzer & Brandstatter, 1997 ), effortlessly (Brandstatter, Lengfelder, & Gollwitzer, 2001 ) and without conscious intent (Bayer, Achtziger, Gollwitzer, & Moskowitz, 2009 ).”