Strategies of Setting and Implementing Goals Mental Contrasting and Implementation Intentions - Oettingen & Gollwitzer - 2010 - Article

What is this article about?

How to master challenges in life? When Viktor Frankl (1959-1984) reflected on this question, he suggested that taking charge of one's own actions is the way to master the challenges of daily life. But, how to take charge of your own actions? In this chapter, the authors suggest an effective way of taking charge of one's own actions, namely through self-regulating one's goal pursuits.

What are the two core tasks of successful goal pursuit?

In order to obtain successful goal pursuit, two sequential tasks need to be solved: goal setting and goal implementation.

How to effectively set goals?

Goal setting

In order to achieve goals, one first needs to set a framework in such a way that it maximizes the attainment of reaching those goals. One such effective mechanism here is to frame goals in terms of promising, positive outcomes (promotion) rather than framing goals in terms of negative outcomes (prevention goals). Another is to attempt to acquire competence rather than demonstrate the possession of competence (learning versus performance goals). Third, anticipating internal rewards instead of external rewards is associated with more successful attainment. Fourth, goals with a proximal (near) time frame are more likely to be attained successfully than goals with a distal (far away / long term) time frame. Fifth, goals to which one can strongly commit are beneficial, in particular when they are based on highly desirable and feasible beliefs. Here, desirability refers to the pleasantness of expected consequences of attaining that goal. Feasibility refers to expectations that future events or actions will occur.

In sum, the following characteristics are recommended in the event of developing a framework for setting goals:

• Positive (versus negative) outcomes
• Learning (versus performance) goals
• Internal (versus external) rewards
• Proximal (versus distal) time frame
• Strong (versus weak) commitment

Mental contrasting

Another way of effective goal setting is by means of the self-regulation strategy of mental contrasting. Mental contrasting is one of the three modes of self-regulatory thought. That is, the model of fantasty realization differentiates the following three modes of self-regulatory thought:

1. Mental contrasting
2. Indulging
3. Dwelling

In mental contrasting, one imagines the attainment of a desired future (for instance becoming a doctor) and then reflects on the present reality that hinders the attainment of the desired future (for instance high competition for the qualified programs). Contrasting present and future helps people to make up their mind about whether to commit to the goal or not. When feasibility (expectations of success) is high, people are likely to commit strongly to the goal. Thus, mental contrasting enables one to become sensitive to the question of which goals are reachable and enables people to go for the reachable goals rather than the unreachable ones. To conclude, only the simultaneous process of mental contrasting adjusts goal commitments to people's expectations of success, not one-sided elaborations of either the future of the present. Reversing the order (reverse contrasting), thus first elaborating the negative present and subsequently the desired future, fails to elicit goal commitment congruent with expectations of success. Lastly, the results of mental contrasting do not occur as a result of changes in expectation (feasibility) or incentive value (desirability). Instead, they occur as a result of the mode of self-regulatory thought, aligning commitmens with expectations.

One mediating variable in mental contrasting is planning for upcoming hindrances. Specifically, research has shown that high-expectancy mental contrasting is an effective facilitator of goal striving. This refers to spontaneously forming if ... then ... statements. For instance, if I come home feeling overworked, then I will still spend at least one hour with my partner.

Another important mechanism of mental contrasting is energization, identified by Locke and Latham (2002) as critical to promoting goal-directed behavior. In essence, desired futures that are more challenging to achieve give rise to greater effort than less challenging desired futures.

Mental contrasting is a highly cognitively demanding tasks. It requires one to look into the present, past, and future to form goal commitments that are in line with one's expectations. Hence, mental contrasting has been shown to be associated with greater activity in several brain regions related to working memory processes, episodic memory, vividly imagining events, and holding intentions and action preparation.

To conclude, research examining the model of fantasy realization have shown that perceiving the future as desirable (positive attitude, high incentive value) and feasible (high expectations of success) are only prerequisites for the emergence of strong goal commitment. To create strong goal commitments, one needs to translate these positive attitudes and high expectations into binding goals. This process is facilitated by means of mental contrasting, which in itself is based on the motivational process of energization and the cognitive process of if ... then ... planning. Finally, mental contrasting has been shown to be associated to higher activity in several brain regions, typical of purposeful problem solving based on past experiences and performance history.

How to effectively implement goals?

Next to effective setting goals and forming strong goal commitments, a second mechanism is important, namely implementing a chose goal (goal striving). When implementing goals, one needs to prepare himself or herself so that the chances of overcoming major difficulties of goal implementation are high. Yet, what are these difficulties of problems that one needsto overcome? Four problems commonly stand out:

1. Getting started with goal pursuit
2. Staying on track
3. Calling a stop to futile goal striving
4. Not overextending oneself

For all four problems, the self-regulation strategy of goal implementation has been shown to be beneficial. In particular, forming implementation intentions appears to be an effective way of overcoming these issues. An implementation intention specifies when, where, and how to do the task. For instance, implementations intentions may help students to act on their task goal (for instance, performing math homework) on time (for instance, at 10 A.M. every Wednesday morning).

The problem of getting started with goal pursuit can be solved by forming implementation intentions. Because many goals cannot be accomplished by simple, discrete, "one-shot" actions, it requires that people continue to strive for the goal over a long, extended period of time. This staying on track process may become difficult when certain internal stimuli (for instance being tired, overburned) or certain external stimuli (for instance distractions) interfere with ongoing goal striving. Again, implementation intentions may suppress the negative influence of interferences from outside the person. A second protective mechanism is to form if ... then ... plans. For calling a stop to futile goal striving as well as for not overextending oneself, again, forming implementation intentions are beneficial.

Various moderators of the effects of implementation intentions have been identified, for instance: pertaining to characteristics of the superordinate goal (that is, intrinsic interest, strength of commitment and activation state), the implementation intention itself, as well as charachteristics of the individual (for instance, poor self-regulatory abilities in people with schizophrenia or a substance abuse disorder).

To conclude, implementation intentions aid people in coping more effectively with the four major problems of goal striving: (1) getting started; (2) staying on track; (3) calling a halt; and (4) not overextending oneself.

How can psychotherapies support effective self-regulation?

In the last section of this chapter, the authors discuss an intervention to enhance one's self-regulatory skills. In sum, they propose to combine mental contrasting with implementation intentions. This intervention is called MCII, which stand for mental contrasting and implementation intentions. MCII can also be considered as a metacognitive strategy for everyday life. Various studies have shown positive outcomes on a wide variety of groups and goals (e.g., health behavior in middle-age professional women, increasing self-discipline and self-esteem in college students, and so forth).