Intention-behavior gap

A quick & dirty instruction to get from WANTING to the DOING! Have fun and don't forget to also DO after reading! ;-)

What is self-control & what do we need it for?

 * Self-control is the exertion of control over the self by the self by altering one's response to a situation
 * The attempts to change the way one would otherwise think, feel, or behave
 * Self-control behaviors are designed to maximize the long-term best interests and goals of the individual/bring them into line with standards such as ideals, values, morals etc.
 * Self-control is the deliberate, conscious, effortful - in contrast to homeostatic processes such as maintaining a constant body temperature, which may be called self-regulation but not self-control
 * Thus, coping with stress, regulating negative affect, and resisting temptations require self-control
 * Without self-control, the person would carry out the normal/habitual/typical behavior (e.g., would fall to delay gratification or would respond automatically) → self-control is crucial for making an automatic process a controlled one
 * Self-control involves overriding or inhibiting competing urges, behaviors, or desires
 * Because the self already has certain characteristics, which include its forms of thinking, feeling, and behaving, changing the self requires overriding those preexisting patterns and responses of thought, emotion, and behavior; some of these preexisting patterns are stronger (and hence more resistant to change) than others

The strength model

 * The exertion of self-control appears to depend on a limited resource. Just as a muscle gets tired from exertion, acts of self-control cause short-term impairments (i.e. ego depletion) in subsequent self-control, even on unrelated tasks!


 * Research has supported the strength model in the domains of eating, drinking, spending, sexuality, intelligent thought, making choices, and interpersonal behavior


 * Motivational or framing factors can temporarily block the deleterious effects of being in a state of ego depletion (e.g. giving people money)


 * Blood glucose/sugar is an important component of the energy

Intention-behavior gap
Following a few general information about the intention-behavior gap:

→ Behavior change very often means changing a habit:
 * 1) Coming up with the motivation to change
 * 2) Developing the intention to change (that is based on beliefs/attitude change like "I should start to work out")
 * 3) Creating a plan/strategy how to change
 * 4) Initiating the new behavior
 * 5) Maintaining the behavior by resisting temptations
 * 6) Coping with setbacks by becoming flexibly resilient


 * Although some people may develop an intention to change their behaviour, they might not take any action. This discrepancy has been labelled the ‘‘intention–behaviour gap.’’ Detailed action planning, perceived self-efficacy, and self-regulatory strategies/action control (=self-monitoring, awareness of standards, and effort) all mediate between intentions and behaviour. One useful strategy to cross the gap are implementation Intentions. Thus, having formed a goal (a realistic one!), the challenge is to get from the intention to the actual behavior, that is bridging the intention-behavior gap. To do so, there are multiple strategies that make it more likely that the actual behavior is realized and that the individual won't stop short in the intention-phase (which has been called "inclinde abstainers")


 * So what leads to the actual behavior? → While attitudes and perceived behavioural control accounted for 51% of variance in intentions to engage in the behavior, intentions explained only 23% of the variance in actual behavior! The critical space we have to look at is the one between the motivational phase and the volitional phase.

The motivational phase: will I WANT to do it?
In this phase, a person develops an intention to change, based on self-beliefs, such as:


 * risk perceptions: e.g. "smoking is dangerous"


 * outcome expectancies: e.g. "if I exercise I will control my weight" → however, at the same time it is very resource-demanding and exhausting to work out (‘‘if I exercise I will have less time for my work’’). If the positive outcome expectancies (pros) outweigh the negative ones (cons), the likelihood of developing an intention to change the behaviour increases

→ Thus, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies together with risk awareness are the best predictors of intentions! They account for 69% of the variance in intentions (i.e. if you ask when a person will form an intention, you can explain the formation of intention by 69% if you consider these three variables)
 * perceived self-efficacy: beliefs about one’s own capability to accomplish a certain task by one’s own actions and resources even in the face of obstacles or barriers (e.g., ‘‘I am certain that I can practice regular muscle training, even if there are time constraints’’). These beliefs are especially critical in novel or difficult situations

The volitional phase: will I DO it?
Once a behavioural intention to engage in regular exercise is formed, the motivation phase is completed (you ARE motivated now, even if you don't feel energized to act) and the person enters the volitional phase. The intended behaviour must be planned, initiated, maintained and restarted when setbacks occur. Step by step: The intended behaviour must be...


 * 1) Planned: develop a mental representation of a suitable future situation (‘‘when’’ and ‘‘where’’) and a behavioural action (‘‘how’’), which is expected to be effective for the goal pursuit to be performed in that situation. Thus, which behavior, when to engage in it, where and what do I need for it in the sense of which environment should I create beforehand. Such precise action planning is called "implementation intentions" (by Gollwitzer, 1991) as opposed to "goal intentions". Why planning is so important? When self-regulatory action must be executed, persons can rely on their plans. Beyond that, a direct effect of planning on behaviour can be assumed. Some studies have provided evidence for unconscious effects of planning based on automaticity. That is, according to this research, behaviour can be elicited by situational cues without active self-regulation, meaning that e.g. only seeing the note on your fridge "Cook something" might elicit your previously devised plan of cooking so that you don't really have to think about it anymore now but just automatically engage in the behavior → exactly this IS what is called implementation intentions! (see below for more information and this short video). Put differently, action planning cognitions can activate automatization processes! You don't have to think, worry, or put effort into it anymore when you're running on auto-pilot!
 * 2) Initiated:in this phase, self-efficacy determines, among others, the effort spent in initiating and maintaining the behaviour → seizing the moment/using an impulse to start
 * 3) Maintained: Maintenance self-efficacy refers to the perceived capability to maintain a newly adopted behaviour, develop routines, and cope with unexpected barriers during the maintenance phase. A new health behaviour might turn out to be much more difficult to adhere to than expected, but a self-efficacious person responds confidently with better strategies, more effort, and prolonged persistence to overcome such hurdles. Self-efficacious persons set clear goals, monitor themselves with optimism, and spend much effort in goal attainment. Likewise, it can be assumed that self-efficacy promotes action planning → shielding against distractions, maintaining the motivation and goal-focus
 * 4) Setback coping: Relapses must be managed, continuing the behavior despite setbacks, i.e. developing a form of resilience to ward off obstacles in the sense of adapting the behavior if the situation requires this


 * Thus, action planning, self-efficacy, and action control play a crucial role!

Implementation Intentions: When people encounter problems in translating their goals into action (e.g., failing to get started, becoming distracted, or falling into bad habits), they may strategically call on automatic processes in an attempt to secure goal attainment. This can be achieved by plans in the form of implementation intentions that link anticipated critical situations to goal-directed responses ("Whenever situation x arises, I will initiate the goal-directed response y!" → or "when I have counted from 3 to 0 in my head, I will get up and start to write a to-do list"). Implementation intentions delegate the control of goal-directed responses to anticipated situational cues, which (when actually encountered) elicit these responses automatically. A program of research demonstrates that implementation intentions further the attainment of goals, and it reveals the underlying processes.

Implementation intentions are subordinate to goal intentions and specify the when, where, and how of responses leading to goal attainment. They have the structure of "When situation X arises, I will perform response Y!" and thus link anticipated opportunities (e.g. "when getting home") with goal-directed responses ("putting on shoes and going out of the door to start running"). It is not a person's self that is linked to a desired end state ("I want to be a healthier person"); rather, the person commits himself or herself to respond to a certain situation in a specific manner → simple as that! :) Implementation intentions serve the purpose of promoting the attainment of the goal specified in the goal intention.

How do the implementation intentions actually work, what is the underlying mechanism that makes them effective? → Because implementation intentions imply the selection of a suitable future situation (i.e., a good opportunity), it is assumed that the mental representation of this situation becomes highly activated and thus more easily accessible (in line with findings that decisions make decision-consistent information more easily accessible). This heightened accessibility should make it easier to detect the critical situation ("when I see a cookie on the table") in the surrounding environment, to readily attend to it even when one is busy with other things, and to recall it more effectively when the question arises when and where one wanted to get started on one's goal pursuit.

However, implementation intentions also imply the selection of an effective goal-directed behavior, which is then linked to the chosen critical situation. This mental act is assumed to lead to the automatization of the intended goal-directed behavior once the critical situation is encountered. Action initiation becomes swift, efficient, and does not require conscious intent (i.e., it acquires features of automaticity). In a way, implementation intentions pass the control of one's behavior on to the environment (i.e. the anticipated situations). By forming implementation intentions, people can strategically switch from conscious and effortful control of their goal-directed behaviors (i.e., the effortful deliberations described above) to being automatically controlled by selected situational cues. For instance, people who have formed the goal intention to exercise regularly can furnish it with implementation intentions that specify when, where, and how they want to exercise. The implementation of their goal intention is thus placed under the direct control of situational cues and removed from conscious and effortful control.

Strategies to do it

 * Developing research suggested that "the correlations between intentions and behavior are modest, in that intentions account for only 20% to 30% of the variance in behavior


 * Emerging research proposed the notion that successful goal attainment is in part attributable to the manner in which goal setting criteria are framed → but goal setting is a different story


 * An implementation intention is a self-regulatory strategy in the form of an "if-then plan" that can lead to better goal attainment


 * specifies the when, where and how portions of goal-directed behavior.

Videos

 * Self control: Dan Ariely
 * The battle between your present and future self
 * The secret to self control by Jonathan Bricker
 * Walter Mischel on Self-Control
 * Willpower: Self-control, decision fatigue, and energy