Setting Goals: Guest lecture on Goal Pursuit Flashcards
What does the Norcross et al. (1990) study demonstrate about New Year’s resolutions?
Failure rates for NY resolutions increase over time, 80% fail in the next year
What is self control?
the capacity to alter or override one’s typical way of responding
What are the three parts of successful self-control?
1) Standards: should be specific goals
2) Monitoring: standards only useful if you monitor your progress
3) Strength: you actually stop doing stuff, every person has their own personal limit
How should people set goals? What are some examples?
SMART Goals
-specific
-measurable
-attainable
-realsitic
-Time-bound
ex) Spend at least 4 hours a week in the library
ex) Run 20min, twice a week
Why do people struggle to achieve their goals? How can we be more successful at achieving goals?
We often fail to achieve goals or resolutions because we lack self-control RESOURCES, busy life causes us to have limited capacity of self-control
We want to find ways to circumvent self-control capacities
What self-control component has the largest influence?
Strength, being able to actually resist, is much more impactful than standards and monitoring.
What are 3 ways to circumvent self-control limits?
1) Select goals that won’t require so much self-control
2) Make goal pursuit autonomous
3) Outsource the demands of goal pursuit to our friends
What does it means for a goal to be autonomous?
A goal that reflects your developing interests and core values (versus something you feel pressured to do)
What are two reasons why we pursue a goal?
Autonomous
- reason stems from authentic interest and values
ex) I want to learn to play guitar so I will practice for 30min twice a week.
Controlled
- reason stems from external sources (someone wants me to and I’ll feel guilty if I don’t)
ex) I have to do well on my test or else my parents will be upset with me.
Why does selecting autonomous goals help?
Autonomous goals foster greater intrinsic motivation and face less obstacles than controlled ones, less self-regulatory problems
What are implementation plans?
If-then plans that connect good opportunities to act with cognitive or behavioural responses that are effective in accomplishing one’s goals
Why are implementation plans effective?
They require less thought (circumvent some self-control) by being straightforward.
ex) If situation Y arises, I will initiate goal-directed behaviour x.
STUDY) over 300 studies have shown a significant positive effect of implementation plans on goal success
