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Auld Lang Syne: Success Predictors, Change Processes, and Self-Reported Outcomes of New Year's Resolvers and Nonresolvers
Abstract
New Year's resolvers (n = 159) and comparable nonresolvers interested in changing a problem later (n = 123) were followed for six months via telephone interviews to determine their self-reported outcomes, predictors of success, and change processes. The two groups did not differ in terms of demographic characteristics, problem histories, or behavioral goals (weight loss, exercise program, and smoking cessation being the most prevalent). Resolvers reported higher rates of success than nonresolvers; at six months, 46% of the resolvers were continuously successful compared to 4% of the nonresolvers. Self-efficacy, skills to change, and readiness to change assessed before January 1 all predicted positive outcome for resolvers. Once into the new year, successful resolvers employed more cognitive-behavioral processes but fewer awareness-generating and emotion-enhancing processes than nonsuccessful resolvers. Discussion centers on the research and intervention opportunities afforded by the annual tradition of resolutions.
... In contrast to reflecting on previous years, when asked if they set a New Year's resolution for the current year of the study, nearly half (49.6 percent) said "yes"; in comparison, when asked if they set a resolution for the prior year, the majority said "no". Also, this percentage is slightly higher, though not by a significant amount, than what is reflected in the national averages (Norcross et al., 2002). What might account for this discrepancy? ...
... Perhaps by inviting them to participate in this study at the onset of the New Year, the thought was introduced. As noted by Norcross et al., (2002), "a minimal and unintended 'intervention' to nonresolvers... may facilitate the progression from 'thinking about' change to 'doing something about' change in a sizable proportion of the adult population" (p. 404-405). ...
... Additionally, participants not only self-selected to participate, but their answers were selfreported. As noted in previous New Year's resolutions studies (Norcross et al., 2002), success rates, as self-reported, are likely overestimated. This is not a flaw in this study's design, but a limitation in goal achievement studies as a whole. ...
Studies indicate correlations between personal goal-setting behaviors, performance and attitude in professional roles. An online study was developed and conducted in 2016 with academic library employees to better understand the goal-setting behavior of library employees in a particular context, via setting New Year’s resolutions, which is defined as "a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner". Results show that nearly half (49.6 percent) of all respondents set New Year’s resolutions in 2016. Goals related to health and fitness topped the list of goals that were set, followed by occupational goals. Of those who felt unclear about their purpose in life, 57 percent felt they were somewhat to very likely able to accomplish their top goals. Comparatively, 82 percent of those who had a clear sense of purpose in life felt the same.
... In another paper from the same project, Norcross, Ratzin, and Payne [11] reported that readiness to change was related to positive outcomes. Subsequently, Norcross, Mrykalo, and Blagys [12] followed 159 New Year's resolvers and 123 comparable non-resolvers interested in changing a problem later. At six months, the resolvers reported higher rates of success than the non-resolvers (46% compared to 4%). ...
... In most of the previous studies, participants' New Year's resolutions were categorized based on their topics [7,10,12,13]. All studies found similar results regarding the most common categories of resolutions, with physical health, interpersonal relationships, personal growth, and academic results being recurring topics. ...
... In subsequent analyses, this cut-off was dummy coded as a dichotomous variable (1 = success, 0 = no success). Similar procedures have been employed in other studies, such as those of Norcross and Vangarelli [10] and Norcross et al. [12]. ...
Despite the popularity of New Year’s resolutions, current knowledge about them is limited. We investigated what resolutions people make when they are free to formulate them, whether different resolutions reach differing success rates, and whether it is possible to increase the likelihood of a resolution’s success by administering information and exercises on effective goal setting. Participants (N = 1066) from the general public were randomized into three groups: active control, some support, and extended support. The most popular resolutions regarded physical health, weight loss, and eating habits. At a one-year follow-up, 55% of responders considered themselves successful in sustaining their resolutions. Participants with approach-oriented goals were significantly more successful than those with avoidance-oriented goals (58.9% vs. 47.1%). The group that received some support was exclusively and significantly more successful compared to the other two. This study reveals that New Year’s resolutions can have lasting effects, even at a one-year follow-up.
... New Year's resolutions are a common annual tradition for millions of people worldwide (Mukhopadhyay & Johar, 2005;Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002). Every New ...
... year (Norcross et al., 2002). Resolutions provide the self-initiated opportunity to change behaviors in the New Year. ...
... Year's resolutions already fail within the first months, but some resolutions also succeed (Norcross et al., 2002). Among the most popular resolutions are health-related issues, such as the realization of exercise (Koestner, Lekes, Powers, & Chicoine, 2002;Norcross et al., 2002). ...
... Substantial evidence on the psychological effect of New Year's resolutions is in line with renewed optimism at the beginning of the year. Prior literature points out that about half of American adults consider the beginning of a year as an opportunity to make new resolutions (Norcross and Vangarelli 1988;Norcross et al. 1989Norcross et al. , 2002Polivy and Herman 2002). Surveys by market research companies also confirm these findings (Ciccone 2011). ...
... 5 Such a strong January increment in sentiment over the prior month is consistent with the findings in Ciccone (2011). High household optimism at the beginning of a year is in line with the New Year's resolutions (Norcross and Vangarelli 1988;Norcross et al. 1989Norcross et al. , 2002Polivy and Herman 2002) that about half of American adults repeatedly make, although, these resolutions typically fail subsequently (Polivy and Herman 2002). ...
We examine the cross-sectional January effect among portfolios that long sentiment-prone and difficult-to-arbitrage stocks and short sentiment-insensitive and easy-to-arbitrage stocks. These long-short portfolios on average earn over 20 times higher returns in January than in a non-January month. 85% of the cross-sectional January effect comes from its long legs, consistent with a sentiment-driven mispricing explanation. The cross-sectional January effect persists over time and remains significant after accounting for common risk factors and time-varying factor loadings.
... The most reported New Year resolution is exercise or physical activity [6][7][8]. Increased exercise adherence is associated with mental and physical health benefits [9]. Similar to New Year resolutions generally, and despite the benefits of exercise, people tend not to adhere to general exercise goals set throughout the year, with more than 50% reporting physical inactivity after the first month of initiating an exercise goal [10,11]. ...
Exercise resolutions are the most common goals people set each New Year. However, research has rarely examined adaptive goal processes and motives that may maintain wellbeing and resolution pursuit. We therefore investigated if (1) personal goal flexibility and tenacity maintain mental wellbeing and adherence to New Year exercise resolutions and if (2) underlying intrinsic and extrinsic motives maintain wellbeing and sustained exercise resolution adherence. A community sample (N = 297) completed an online longitudinal study. At baseline, participants listed their most important exercise-related New Year resolution. Participants then completed measures to assess goal flexibility and tenacity, resolution motives, and mental wellbeing at baseline. At three follow-up surveys over a two-month period, participants completed self-report measures of wellbeing and adherence to their exercise resolution. As predicted, goal flexibility and tenacity each independently predicted wellbeing across time. Counter to prediction, neither goal flexibility nor tenacity predicted sustained exercise adherence. Notably, underlying intrinsic motives (but not extrinsic motives) maintained mental wellbeing and exercise adherence across time. Our findings indicate that goal flexibility and tenacity are beneficial in maintaining mental wellbeing and that pursuing resolutions for internalised motives is beneficial for one’s mental wellbeing and exercise adherence.
... Specifically, does the detailed description frequently used in research on personal goals result in people providing a different set of goals than what they would otherwise think of and pursue in their daily life? We know that simply setting goals can lead to greater progress on those goals (Norcross et al., 2002); are studies where researchers provide a detailed description of goals inherently manipulating something by leading participants to write down more goals, or different goals that they would otherwise be thinking about, thereby getting them to 'set' new goals and increasing goal attainment? If research on goal pursuit hopes to be relevant to people's actual day-to-day goal pursuit, it needs to ensure that the way researchers ask about goals does not inadvertently lead participants to set more, or different goals than they would have otherwise. ...
There are many ways in which researchers ask participants about their personal goals or projects, yet findings are subsequently considered interchangeable. This study experimentally tested whether different ways of asking participants about their goals elicits different goals and impacts reports of goal progress. Undergraduate participants (N = 285) were assigned to one of three conditions (personal projects, personal goals, open-ended goals), listed an unlimited number of goals they were currently pursing, rated each goal on a series of goal characteristics, and six weeks later reported on their goal progress. Results indicated that participants reported significantly more goals in the personal project condition than in the other two conditions, and that these goals were rated as less difficult. Overall, the present study provides further insight into the effects of the elicitation methods employed in goal pursuit research.
... Evidence supports health, function, and quality of life benefits of both to older individuals, with and without various medical conditions such as mild cognitive impairment, dementia, AD, other neurodegenerative diseases, and acquired brain injuries, provided exercise engagement is regular, repetitive, and purposeful (Tesky et al., 2011;Vreugdenhil et al., 2012;Suzuki et al., 2013;Global Council on Brain Health, 2017;O'Neil-Pirozzi and Hsu, 2017). Despite these benefits, initiation of-and adherence to-exercise activity of any kind can be challenging (Norcross et al., 2002;Gomes-Osman et al., 2018;O'Neil-Pirozzi et al., 2019). For example, in 2018, only 15% of the population in their 60's and 70's, and 7% of the population in their 80's adhered to the United States physical activity guidelines (Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, 2020). ...
Brain health is essential to successful aging, and exercise is essential to brain health. Evidence supports the benefits of regular physical and cognitive exercise in preventing or delaying progressin of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Despite known benefits, motivation to initiate and adhere to an exercise program can be challenging to older adults. We propose that assessment of motivation in the older adult population be part of individualized physical and cognitive exercise program initial development and ongoing precision health coaching to facilitate initiation of—and adherence to—individualized multi-modal exercise programs and sustained exercise engagement. We suggest one published, physical exercise motivation questionnaire and present a new, psychometrically supported, parallel cognitive exercise questionnaire to do so. Needs for—and implications of—continued exercise motivation research using neurophysiologic and neuropsychologic metrics are discussed.
... Evidence supports benefits of both physical and cognitive exercise that is regular, repetitive, purposeful, and structured to individuals 55 years of age and older, with and without various medical conditions [1,3,[5][6][7]. Despite known benefits of exercise on health, function, and quality of life, initiation of-and persistence with-exercise activity of any kind can be challenging [8,9]. ...
Exercise self-efficacy, the confidence a person has in their ability to develop and meet exercise goals, is key to exercise motivation. The primary objective of this pilot study was to explore associations among cognitive exercise self-efficacy, cognitive exercise frequency, challenge, and enjoyment in older adults. A prospective, cross-sectional, observational study design was used with 133 community-dwelling individuals aged 55 years and older. Respondents completed a cognitive exercise self-efficacy scale and responded to cognitive exercise queries. Individuals who engaged in cognitive exercise demonstrated greater cognitive exercise self-efficacy. Cognitive exercise self-efficacy ratings were significantly different across challenge and enjoyment conditions (Pearson’s c2 test, df = 9, N = 133, c2 = 123.49, p < 0.01), such that the greater the perception of each, the greater the cognitive exercise self-efficacy (p < 0.01). The comparative impact of perceived enjoyment on cognitive exercise self-efficacy was greater than the impact of perceived challenge. Study findings support positive associations among cognitive exercise self-efficacy, cognitive exercise frequency, challenge, and enjoyment. Consideration of these findings may inform design and sustained implementation of motivating cognitive exercise programs to maximize health and quality of life outcomes of healthy and neurologic older adult populations.
... at the beginning of each year, fewcertainly less than halfwill succeed (5,8,9) . But virtually unstudied in the research literature are the types of diets that are easier for such resolvers to adhere to over time. ...
Objective
To use Internet search data to compare duration of compliance for various diets.
Design
Using a passive surveillance digital epidemiological approach, we estimated the average duration of diet compliance by examining monthly Internet searches for recipes related to popular diets. We fit a mathematical model to these data to estimate the time spent on a diet by new January dieters (NJD) and to estimate the percentage of dieters dropping out during the American winter holiday season between Thanksgiving and the end of December.
Setting
Internet searches in the USA for recipes related to popular diets over a 15-year period from 2004 to 2019.
Participants
Individuals in the USA performing Internet searches for recipes related to popular diets.
Results
All diets exhibited significant seasonality in recipe-related Internet searches, with sharp spikes every January followed by a decline in the number of searches and a further decline in the winter holiday season. The Paleo diet had the longest average compliance times among NJD (5.32 ± 0.68 weeks) and the lowest dropout during the winter holiday season (only 14 ± 3 % dropping out in December). The South Beach diet had the shortest compliance time among NJD (3.12 ± 0.64 weeks) and the highest dropout during the holiday season (33 ± 7 % dropping out in December).
Conclusions
The current study is the first of its kind to use passive surveillance data to compare the duration of adherence with different diets and underscores the potential usefulness of digital epidemiological approaches to understanding health behaviours.
... Tous ces termes ont montré des variations au cours de l'année, en particulier des augmentations marquées du volume de recherches en janvier. Nous supposons que cette tendance a quelque chose à voir avec les résolutions du Nouvel An : des études antérieures ont révélé que près de 50 % des Américains modifient leur comportement à ce moment de l'année dans le but de perdre du poids, de cesser du fumer ou de faire de l'exercice 18 . Ce phénomène pourrait offrir une occasion en or de mettre en oeuvre des campagnes de santé et des interventions saisonnières en ligne. ...
Introduction
La présente étude visait à quantifier la fréquence à laquelle les Canadiens consultent Internet pour trouver des renseignements sur la modification de comportements qui sont des facteurs de risque modifiables du cancer, et à déterminer le moment choisi pour effectuer leurs recherches.
Méthodologie
Nous avons utilisé l'outil générateur de mots clés Keywords du programme AdWords de Google pour estimer le nombre de recherches effectuées sur Internet au Canada entre juillet 2010 et mai 2011 pour trouver des renseignements associés aux mots clés anglais « physical activity/exercise », « healthy eating/weight loss » et « quit smoking ».
Résultats
Dans le cas de « physical activity/exercise », 663 mots clés connexes ont donné lieu à 117 951 699 recherches. Pour ce qui est de « healthy eating/weight loss », 687 termes apparentés ont conduit à 98 277 954 recherches. « Quit smoking » a été associé à 759 mots clés, qui ont mené à 31 688 973 recherches. Toutes ces recherches ont atteint un pic en janvier 2011.
Conclusion
De nombreux Canadiens font, surtout en janvier, des recherches sur Internet à propos de certains changements de comportements de santé. Ces changements étant susceptibles de favoriser la prévention du cancer, les principaux intervenants dans ce domaine devraient en tirer profit, définir des priorités en matière de transfert des connaissances et travailler avec les organismes de santé à l'élaboration de stratégies fondées sur des données probantes, stratégies favorisant l'utilisation d'Internet pour encourager ces changements de comportement.
... Attrition is a primary barrier to evaluating web-based interventions, with levels often reaching 60% to 80%. Among people seeking treatment for obesity using weight loss programs in medical centers, one-third to half discontinue their program and are lost to follow-up [49,50]. Similarly, over 40% of people seeking treatment through a smoking cessation clinic were lost to follow-up [51], and 48% of web-based smoking cessation individuals were lost to follow-up [52]. ...
BACKGROUND
Emotional exhaustion (EE) in health care workers is common and consequentially linked to lower quality of care. Effective interventions to address EE are urgently needed.
OBJECTIVE
This randomized single-exposure trial examined the efficacy of a gratitude letter–writing intervention for improving health care workers’ well-being.
METHODS
A total of 1575 health care workers were randomly assigned to one of two gratitude letter–writing prompts (self- vs other focused) to assess differential efficacy. Assessments of EE, subjective happiness, work-life balance, and tool engagement were collected at baseline and 1-week post intervention. Participants received their EE score at baseline and quartile benchmarking scores. Paired-samples t tests, independent t tests, and correlations explored the efficacy of the intervention. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software assessed the linguistic content of the gratitude letters and associations with well-being.
RESULTS
Participants in both conditions showed significant improvements in EE, happiness, and work-life balance between the intervention and 1-week follow-up ( P <.001). The self-focused (vs other) instruction conditions did not differentially predict improvement in any of the measures ( P =.91). Tool engagement was high, and participants reporting higher motivation to improve their EE had higher EE at baseline ( P <.001) and were more likely to improve EE a week later ( P =.03). Linguistic analyses revealed that participants high on EE at baseline used more negative emotion words in their letters ( P =.005). Reduction in EE at the 1-week follow-up was predicted at the level of a trend by using fewer first-person ( P =.06) and positive emotion words ( P =.09). No baseline differences were found between those who completed the follow-up assessment and those who did not ( P s>.05).
CONCLUSIONS
This single-exposure gratitude letter–writing intervention appears to be a promising low-cost, brief, and meaningful tool to improve the well-being of health care workers.
... Attrition is a primary barrier to evaluating web-based interventions, with levels often reaching 60% to 80%. Among people seeking treatment for obesity using weight loss programs in medical centers, one-third to half discontinue their program and are lost to follow-up [49,50]. Similarly, over 40% of people seeking treatment through a smoking cessation clinic were lost to follow-up [51], and 48% of web-based smoking cessation individuals were lost to follow-up [52]. ...
Background
Emotional exhaustion (EE) in health care workers is common and consequentially linked to lower quality of care. Effective interventions to address EE are urgently needed.
Objective
This randomized single-exposure trial examined the efficacy of a gratitude letter–writing intervention for improving health care workers’ well-being.
MethodsA total of 1575 health care workers were randomly assigned to one of two gratitude letter–writing prompts (self- vs other focused) to assess differential efficacy. Assessments of EE, subjective happiness, work-life balance, and tool engagement were collected at baseline and 1-week post intervention. Participants received their EE score at baseline and quartile benchmarking scores. Paired-samples t tests, independent t tests, and correlations explored the efficacy of the intervention. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software assessed the linguistic content of the gratitude letters and associations with well-being.
ResultsParticipants in both conditions showed significant improvements in EE, happiness, and work-life balance between the intervention and 1-week follow-up (P
... Menschen fällt es jedoch schwer, Veränderungsabsichten langfristig umzusetzen. Besonders deutlich wird dies am Beispiel von Neujahrsvorsätzen: Etwa jeder zweite Mensch macht Neujahrsvorsätze (Statistic Brain 2018;Norcross et al. 2002). Bei einer Befragung in Deutschland sind im Jahr 2018 die am häufigsten genannten Vorsätze, Stress abzubauen, mehr Zeit mit Familie und Freunden zu verbringen und sich mehr zu bewegen(Statista 2017). ...
Mitarbeiter in Unternehmen, deren Tätigkeit mit Freiheiten und somit einem hohen Maß an Eigenverantwortung einhergeht, sind auf gutes Selbstmanagement angewiesen. Insbesondere gewohntes Verhalten aufzugeben fällt Menschen schwer und erfordert strikte und dauerhafte Umsetzung. Persuasive Technology (PT) ist eine Klasse von Informationstechnologie (IT), deren Ziel es ist, Verhalten zu verändern und könnte somit das Selbstmanagement von Mitarbeitern unterstützen. Diese Art von IT-Unterstützung bringt Vorteile mit sich, da sie skalierbar sowie orts- und zeitunabhängig verfügbar ist. Der Stand der Forschung hierzu gilt jedoch als lückenhaft. Deshalb bestehen Zweifel, ob die Technologie tatsächlich die Wirksamkeit entwickeln kann, die man ihr zuschreibt. Diese Arbeit untersucht anhand einer systematischen Literaturstudie, inwieweit PT derzeit das Potenzial hat, die Wirksamkeit von Selbstmanagement zu erhöhen, um eine aktive Veränderung des eigenen gewohnten Verhaltens zu erreichen. Der identifizierte Bedarf nach Personalisierung zur Steigerung der Wirksamkeit von Artefakten und einer ethischen Betrachtung wird diskutiert, um daraus konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen abzuleiten.
... Urban centres that experience multiple weeks with temperatures below freezing at the start of the calendar year provide a unique opportunity for such an approach. Transient frozen waterway trails, groomed to support recreational physical activities, are increasingly being created in northern urban centres [10][11][12]. To the best of our knowledge, there are no empirical studies of these frozen waterway trails on healthy behaviours during winter months. ...
Background: Very few experimental studies exist describing the effect of changes to the built environment and opportunities for physical activity (PA). We examined the impact of an urban trail created on a frozen waterway on visitor counts and PA levels. Methods: We studied a natural experiment in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that included 374,204 and 237,362 trail users during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 winter seasons. The intervention was a 10 km frozen waterway trail lasting 8–10 weeks. The comparator conditions were the time periods immediately before and after the intervention when ~10 kms of land-based trails were accessible to the public. A convenience sample of 466 participants provided directly measured PA while on the frozen waterway. Results: Most trail users were 35 years or older (73%), Caucasian (77%), and had an annual household income >$50,000 (61%). Mean daily trail network visits increased ~four-fold when the frozen waterway was open (median and interquartile range (IQR) = 710 (239–1839) vs. 2897 (1360–5583) visits/day, p < 0.001), compared with when it was closed. Users achieved medians of 3852 steps (IQR: 2574–5496 steps) and 23 min (IQR: 13–37 min) of moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) per visit, while 37% of users achieved ≥30 min of MVPA. Conclusion: A winter-specific urban trail network on a frozen waterway substantially increased visits to an existing urban trail network and was associated with a meaningful dose of MVPA. Walking on water could nudge populations living in cold climates towards more activity during winter months.
... Since January is an optimal time to initiate wellness strategies and programs, (Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002), participants received a weekly e-mail health message starting January 2010. As seen in Table 2, the basic messages (sent to the motivated-basic and unmotivatedbasic groups) contained information about the wellness dimension assigned for that week. ...
The purpose of this 38-week, quasi-experimental study was to determine the effectiveness of one weekly e-mail health (e-health) message that utilized the World Health Organization’s seven dimensions of wellness. Employees from a large Midwestern city were recruited and divided into two groups based on their desire to receive additional health information. The participants in each group were then randomly assigned to receive basic or detailed e-health messages. The basic e-health message consisted of an e-mail with health tips for the specific topic; whereas the detailed message included the basic message plus links to games, surveys, and websites to supplement the basic message. Those lacking an e-mail address comprised the control group, and did not receive any e-health messages. A total of 46 employees completed both assessments and comprised the analytic sample. Systolic blood pressure significantly decreased in unmotivated participants receiving the detailed messages (-2.1 mmHg, p=0.04). Across all groups, at-risk participants (blood pressure ? 140/90 mm/Hg or body mass index ? 25 kg/m2) showed greatest improvement with significant drops in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Detailed ehealth messages may be an effective approach to assist employees who are at-risk for chronic disease.
... As described in a study by Koestner et al., "1month progress on New Year's resolutions was marginally associated with increased positive affect and decreased negative affect." 25 Though achievement rates seem slim, one study shows that New Year's resolutions do have a higher completion rate by those who adopt them in contrast to those who simply desire to make a change: "the success rate of resolutions is approximately ten times higher than the success rate of adults desiring to change their behavior but not making a resolution." 26 ...
Many organizations use goal setting as a professional tool to get employees to achieve gains within the workplace. Many librarians in the United States participate in setting New Year’s resolutions as part of their personal goal-setting behavior. As studies indicate correlations between personal goal-setting behaviors, performance and attitude in professional roles, the researchers posit that learning how library employees set and achieve New Year’s resolutions could provide insight into how organizations can improve employee goal setting. An online survey was conducted in 2016 with 512 respondents. Results showed that respondents who self-reported as ambitious tend to be more successful in achieving their goals. Furthermore, ambitious respondents utilized goal-setting best practices more than less ambitious respondents. Respondents with a less clear sense of purpose in life tended to put in less effort or gave up more often than those with a clearer sense of purpose.
... En undersøkelse fra 2002 viste at 46 % av de som hadde et nyttårsforsett om å endre livsstil, opprettholdt endringen etter seks måneder (9). Et nyttårsforsett om mer trening kan vaere en god start både for å unngå hjerte-og karsykdom og for å unngå senere medikamentell behandling av hypertensjon. ...
... The process of creating behavior change technologies and designs is commonly referred to as Behavior Change Design [23,30,54,59]. However, changing one's behavior is not easy [46], and behavior change designs often fail. ...
While numerous design methods used in industry help designers rapidly brainstorm design ideas, few help them to use theory in the design process. Behavior change theories can support such design activities as understanding, ideating, sketching, and prototyping. We present the Behavior Change Design Sprint (BCDS), a design process for applying behavior change theories to the design process and for prototyping behavior change technologies. BCDS facilitates the application of theories into the design process through a series of exercises that help designers identify intervention placement and project behavioral outcomes, conduct more focused ideation, and advocate for their design rationale. We present our process to create the sprint and findings from a series of sprint deployments.
... Health behaviour change is difficult and fraught with failure. Most New Year's resolutions involve health behaviours but 30% of resolutions are abandoned within 2 weeks, and more than 50% are abandoned by six months (Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002). About 50-65% of health and fitness mobile apps are used for less than 30 days (Klotzbach, 2016). ...
Objective: Exercise behaviour change involves multiple experiences with
success and failure. The Model of Action Phases (MAP) offers a dynamic
account of how success and failure influence both immediate evaluations and
future decisions and actions. However, predictions from the MAP have not
been formally tested.
Design: A longitudinal daily diary study was used to examine how
post-behaviour evaluations of exercise success and failure influence subsequent
exercise intentions and behaviour. Participants (N = 104) set exercise
goals, and then kept a daily online exercise diary for four weeks.
Main outcome measures: Participants self-reported exercise behaviour, affective
response to exercise, self-evaluations after success or failure at following
through on intentions to exercise, and intentions to exercise in the next week.
Results: Multilevel modelling revealed significant within- and between-participant
relationships among post-behaviour evaluations, intentions and subsequent
behaviour. Findings supported MAP-derived predictions about how
success and failure at exercise are associated with feelings about exercise and
the self, and inform subsequent exercise intentions and behaviour.
Conclusion: Positive post-behaviour evaluations of success or failure may
stabilise positive intentions and aid maintenance of exercise behaviour. Implications
of these MAP-based findings for intervention design are discussed.
Access full text here: https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2018.1429612
... Whether you plan to return to school, attend a professional conference, publish a manuscript, or join a professional organization, you are 10 times more likely to be successful if you set a resolution than if you do not. 1 This New Year, we all can resolve to prioritize lifelong learning. This is essential to improve not only our own practice but also the future of nursing. ...
... One need only consider the countless number of unfulfilled New Year's Resolutions to know this to be true. 3 Called the "intention-behavior gap," numerous studies have demonstrated that intention to change behavior alone does not often result in actual behavior change. [4][5][6] Intention precedes action; therefore, one must act on one's intentions in order to change behavior. ...
Health behavior change is challenging for most individuals, but there are many strategies that individuals can use to facilitate their behavior change efforts. Goal setting is one such strategy that assists individuals to identify specific behaviors to change and how to go about doing so. For many, however, simply setting a goal seldom leads to actual behavior change. For some, identifying an appropriate goal is difficult, while for others, putting goals into action is the roadblock. Two strategies may be of assistance for setting and achieving goals. First, consideration of key goal characteristics (eg, approach vs avoidance goals, performance vs mastery goals, level of difficulty) may result in selection of more appropriate and feasible goals. Second, action planning can help individuals put goals into action. Clinicians can help patients utilize these strategies to set and achieve goals for health behavior change.
... For instance, it promotes muscular and skeletal strength, as well as mood and mental health, while a lack of exercise is associated with health issues such as obesity (Ross et al., 2000), and cardiovascular disease (Williams, 2001). In view of its health benefits, many people intend to exercise on a regular basis (Norcross et al., 2002). However, the majority of the adult population does not exercise to a sufficient extent (Dishman and Buckworth, 2001). ...
A recent study suggests that habits play a mediating role in the association between trait self-control and eating behavior, supporting a notion of effortless processes in trait self-control (Adriaanse et al., 2014). We conceptually replicated this research in the area of exercise behavior, hypothesizing that these associations would generalize to other self-control related behaviors. Sufficient exercise is essential for several health and well-being outcomes, and therefore many people intend to exercise. However, the majority of the population does not actually exercise to a sufficient or intended extent, due to competing temptations and short-term goals. This conflict makes exercise a typical example of a self-control dilemma. A within-subjects survey study was conducted to test associations between trait self-control, habit strength, and exercise behavior. Participants were recruited at a local gym. Results demonstrated that trait self-control predicted exercise behavior. Mediation analysis revealed that the association between self-control and exercise was mediated by stronger exercise habits, replicating findings by Adriaanse et al. (2014). These results highlight the relevance of self-control in the domain of exercise. In addition, they add to a growing body of knowledge on the underlying mechanisms of trait self-control on behavior that point to habit—rather than effortful impulse inhibition—as a potential key to self-control success.
... We tested whether immediate and delayed rewards predict adherence to New Year's resolutions. People often commit themselves to achieving various goals at the start of a new year (Dai, Milkman, & Riis, 2014;Marlatt & Kaplan, 1972;Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002). Although people typically set New Year's resolutions to achieve a delayed outcome, we predict that the immediate rewards received when pursuing a resolution are a stronger predictor of persistence in the goal than the delayed rewards. ...
People primarily pursue long-term goals, such as exercising, to receive delayed rewards (e.g., improved health). However, we find that the presence of immediate rewards is a stronger predictor of persistence in goal-related activities than the presence of delayed rewards. Specifically, immediate rewards (e.g., enjoyment) predicted current persistence at New Year’s resolutions whereas delayed rewards did not (Study 1). Furthermore, immediate rewards predicted persistence in a single session of studying and exercising whereas delayed rewards did not, even though people report primarily pursuing these activities for delayed rewards (Studies 2 and 3). This is true for both short (1 week) and long (3 month) time frames (Study 4), and regardless of whether anticipated or materialized rewards are assessed (Study 5). Overall, whereas delayed rewards may motivate goal setting and the intentions to pursue long-term goals, a meta-analysis of our studies finds that immediate rewards are more strongly associated with actual persistence in a long-term goal.
... Given the seemingly ever-growing emphasis in academia on publishing papers in high impact journals, it might put a non-trivial burden on one's career. From previous studies, and perhaps personal experience, we know that good resolutions sometimes run aground (Norcross et al., 2002). But what about the "won't publish" commitment? ...
... However, students were at a healthy weight at baseline, and intervention materials were focused on maintaining a healthy weight; therefore, this is not completely unexpected. Furthermore, the intervention was implemented in the spring semester, a time when people are often making New Year's resolutions to improve their health behaviors [56]. It is unknown whether weight differences would have emerged if the sample had been followed for a longer period. ...
Background:
Both men and women are vulnerable to weight gain during the college years, and this phenomenon is linked to an increased risk of several chronic diseases and mortality. Technology represents an attractive medium for the delivery of weight control interventions focused on college students, given its reach and appeal among this population. However, few technology-mediated weight gain prevention interventions have been evaluated for college students.
Objective:
This study examined a new technology-based, social media-facilitated weight gain prevention intervention for college students.
Methods:
Undergraduates (n =58) in two sections of a public university course were allocated to either a behavioral weight gain prevention intervention (Healthy Weight, HW; N=29) or a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination awareness intervention (control; N=29). All students were enrolled, regardless of initial body weight or expressed interest in weight management. The interventions delivered 8 lessons via electronic newsletters and Facebook postings over 9 weeks, which were designed to foster social support and introduce relevant educational content. The HW intervention targeted behavioral strategies to prevent weight gain and provided participants with a Wi-Fi-enabled scale and an electronic physical activity tracker to facilitate weight regulation. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to examine within- and between-group differences in measures of self-reported weight control practices and objectively measured weight. Use of each intervention medium and device was objectively tracked, and intervention satisfaction measures were obtained.
Results:
Students remained weight stable (HW: -0.48+1.9 kg; control: -0.45+1.4 kg), with no significant difference between groups over 9 weeks (P =.94). However, HW students reported a significantly greater increase in the number of appropriate weight control strategies than did controls (2.1+4.5 vs -1.1+3.4, respectively; P =.003) and there was no increase in inappropriate weight control behaviors (P =.11). More than 90% of students in the HW arm opened the electronic newsletters each week, and the average number of Facebook interactions (comments and likes) per student each week was 3.3+1.4. Each self-monitoring device was initialized by 90% of HW students. On average, they used their physical activity tracker for 23.7+15.2 days and their Wi-Fi scale for 14.1+13.1 days over the 9 weeks. HW students rated the intervention favorably.
Conclusions:
The short-term effect of this technology-based weight gain prevention intervention for college students is promising and merits evaluation over a longer duration to determine whether engagement and behavioral improvements positively affect weight outcomes and can be maintained.
... However, doing so successfully is difficult. According to Norcross et al, six months after making a New Year's resolution, only 46% of people were still on track [32]. ...
Specific, achievable plans can increase people's commitment to behavior change and increase their likelihood of success. However, many people struggle to create such plans, and available plans often do not fit their individual constraints. We conducted a study with 22 participants exploring the creation of personalized plans by strangers and friends to support three kinds of behavior change: diet, physical activity, and financial. In semi-structured interviews and analyses of the generated plans, we found that friends and strangers can help create behavior change plans that are actionable and help improve behavior. Participants perceived plans more positively when they were personalized to their goals, routines and preferences, or when they could foresee executing the plans with friends – often the friend who created the plan. Participants felt more comfortable sharing information with strangers and they received more diverse recommendations from strangers than friends.
... Presently, we get the benefit of both, where after a New Year's party many make a resolution to live their lives, in some way, for the better. In a pair of papers, Norcross and colleagues determined how successful were these resolutions (Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002;Norcross, Ratzin, & Payne, 1989). As our experiences might confirm, there was massive drop off, with only 71% holding true by week two, 64% by February, and only 50% by April. ...
Motivation and goals not only play a central role in work behavior but in every aspect of our daily lives. Unfortunately, the importance of motivation has led to an unwieldy number of theories on the topic, making understanding or advancement difficult. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the basic building blocks of motivation. We examine these building blocks in relation to different phases of goal pursuit. Integrating work from neuroscience and general psychology, we propose that there are three major goal phases: Goal Choice, Goal Planning, and Goal Striving. The resulting framework we call the Goal Phase System (GPS). Using this framework, we show how motivation unfolds differentially across each stage. The GPS provides an integrated account of motivation over time that can provide clarity to conflicting findings in motivation. After integration, we review how most self-regulatory or motivational interventions can be understood as modifying specific elements of the motivational process during discrete goal phases.
... This is a hypothesis that we test in Study 2 by examining the frequency of engagement in one important aspirational behaviorexercise. Increasing the frequency of exercise is one of the three most popular New Year's resolutions (Norcross et al. 2002, Schwarz 1997. Like dieting, regular physical activity helps with weight loss and weight maintenance (Catenacci and Wyatt 2007). ...
The popularity of New Year's resolutions suggests that people are more likely to tackle their goals immediately following salient temporal landmarks. If true, this little-researched phenomenon has the potential to help people overcome important willpower problems that often limit goal attainment. Across three archival field studies, we provide evidence of a “fresh start effect.” We show that Google searches for the term “diet” (Study 1), gym visits (Study 2), and commitments to pursue goals (Study 3) all increase following temporal landmarks (e.g., the outset of a new week, month, year, or semester; a birthday; a holiday). We propose that these landmarks demarcate the passage of time, creating many new mental accounting periods each year, which relegate past imperfections to a previous period, induce people to take a big-picture view of their lives, and thus motivate aspirational behaviors.
Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901 .
This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, judgment and decision making.
... Interestingly, the variation in success with which will-power is exercised might be significantly related to the nature of the intention one is attempting to fulfill. For example, forming new year's resolutions predicted significantly more success in changing a problem (Norcross, Mrykalo, and Blagys 2002). Similarly, forming " implementation intentions " (Gollwitzer 1993) predicts significantly more success in fulfilling difficult goals (Gollwitzer & Brandstätter 1997; Koestner, Lekes, Powers, and Chicoine 2002). ...
Armchair and experimental investigations suggest that will-power is related to many variables. For example, will-power can vary with mood, metabolism, and neural function — to name a few. Given that will-power is so multi-faceted, it might be unclear how to make sense of the nature of will-power. In this paper, I describe the nature of will-power as the structure and dynamics of a network. Existing investigations have revealed fragments of this will-power network. And further investigation can reveal addition features of the network. Unlike some descriptions of nature of will-power, the network theory can not only make sense of armchair investigations of will-power, it can unify and make sense of experimental approaches to will-power. These and other reasons are offered in defense of the claim that the network theory of will-power can outshine alternative theories.
... Since January is an optimal time to initiate wellness strategies and programs, (Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002), participants received a weekly e-mail health message starting January 2010. As seen in Table 2, the basic messages (sent to the motivated-basic and unmotivatedbasic groups) contained information about the wellness dimension assigned for that week. ...
Realizing more promising futures starts in the here and now. This book seeks to help young people learn how to become the creative authors of their own lives by approaching current and future uncertainties with an unshakeable sense of possibility. It describes how students can benefit from opportunities to develop their confidence and competence in taking creative action in the face of uncertainty by design. It introduces a framework for educators, researchers, and parents to understand, design, and examine efforts aimed at helping young people learn how and when to unleash their creative potential, now and into the future.
Many behaviors are performed automatically in response to contextual cues rather than conscious intentions, which can make behavior change challenging. The combined discontinuity and self‐activation hypotheses predict that disruption to a context that cues behaviors can provide opportunity for behavior change guided by intentions rather than contextual cues. In this study, we asked an online sample of participants ( N = 452) to report on desired change in the frequency of new, unwanted, or potentially habitual behaviors following a contextual disruption due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find a distinction between new ‘start’ behaviors and unwanted ‘stop’ behaviors where new behaviors appear more personally meaningful (i.e. higher in autonomous motivation and positive affective attitude) than unwanted or potentially habitual behaviors. Our results suggest that behavior change theory and interventions that acknowledge differential processes between starting new behaviors and stopping old unwanted behaviors would provide greater insights for behavior science.
Does dieting intensify during Spring? Previous research suggests that body dissatisfaction is seasonal and peaks during Summer. Extending these findings to seasonal dieting, we contend that individuals’ apprehensions about heightened Summertime body dissatisfaction motivate Springtime dieting. To detect seasonal dieting, we examined the seasonal frequencies of 69 dieting hashtags within a database of 564 million tweets originating from the United States and spanning eight calendar years (2012–19). In total, we detected 628,355 dieting hashtags. Of these, 30% occurred during Spring, 20% during Autumn/Fall, and 25% during each of Summer and Winter. During Spring, there were ~64,000 additional dieting hashtags compared with Autumn/Fall, and ~32,000 additional hashtags compared with Summer and Winter. Of the nine most common dieting hashtags that together accounted for 96% of the total, all nine peaked during Spring (ps < 0.0001). This Spring-centric pattern was apparent for both appearance-oriented diets (e.g., “atkins” and “weightwatchers”) and ostensibly non-appearance-oriented diets (e.g., “vegan” and “glutenfree”), suggesting that non-appearance-oriented diets might nonetheless be co-opted for appearance-oriented purposes. In conclusion, we found credible evidence that dieting intensifies during Spring. Future research should examine whether eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia also intensify during Spring because dieting is intrinsic to both these conditions.
A commitment device, an attempt to bind oneself for a successful
goal achievement, has been used as an efective strategy to promote
behavior change. However, little is known about how commitment
devices are used in the wild, and what aspects of commitment devices are related to goal achievements. In this paper, we explore
a large-scale dataset from stickK, an online behavior change support system that provides both fnancial and social commitments.
We characterize the patterns of behavior change goals (e.g., topics
and commitment setting) and then perform a series of multilevel
regression analyses on goal achievements. Our results reveal that
successful goal achievements are largely dependent on the confguration of fnancial and social commitment devices, and a mixed
commitment setting is considered benefcial. We discuss how our
fndings could inform the design of efective commitment devices,
and how large-scale data can be leveraged to support data-driven
goal elicitation and customization.
Primary objective: Motivation to initiate and persist with any kind of exercise activity is challenging. This pilot study queried adults with chronic-acquired brain injuries (ABI) regarding their perceptions about motivational facilitators of and barriers to engagement in cognitive exercise activity.
Research design: A mixed methods design was used to characterize individuals’ perceptions regarding exercise and their exercise experience (written questionnaire) and to obtain their input regarding exercise-related motivational strategies and obstacles (semi-structured group interviews).
Methods: Thirty-four community-based individuals with chronic ABI and moderate-to-severe cognitive impairments completed questionnaires and engaged in audio-recorded scripted group interviews. Tallies of closed-ended questionnaire data and thematic analysis of open-ended questionnaire and group interview data were completed.
Main outcomes and results: Participants indicated a strong preference for engaging in cognitive exercise activity with others versus alone. Frequently recurring motivational facilitators regarding exercise in general and cognitive exercise in particular included ‘receipt of positive reinforcement for exercise activity’, ‘possession of needed information to engage in exercise’, and ‘possession of exercise-related goals’. Frequently recurring motivational barriers included ‘absence of exercise-related goals’ and ‘absence of consistent structure conducive to exercise’.
Conclusion: Study findings may facilitate successful engagement in cognitive exercise by chronic ABI survivors. Further research is needed.
According to the Temporal Focus Hypothesis (TFH), people’s implicit spatial conceptions are shaped by their temporal focus. Whereas previous studies have demonstrated that people’s cultural or individual differences related to certain temporal focus may influence their spatializations of time, we focus on temporal landmarks as potential additional influences on people’s space-time mappings. In Experiment 1, we investigated how personally-related events influence students’ conceptions of time. The results showed that student examinees were more likely to think about time according to the past-in-front mapping, and student registrants, future-in-front mapping. Experiment 2 explored the influence of calendar markers and found that participants tested on the Chinese Spring Festival, a symbol of a fresh start, tended to conceptualize the future as in front of them, while those tested on the Tomb Sweeping Day, an opportunity to remember the ancestors, showed the reversed pattern. In Experiment 3, two scenarios representing past or future landmarks correspondingly were presented to participants. We found that past-focused/future -focused scenarios caused an increase in the rate of past-in-front/future-in-front responses respectively. Taken together, the results from these three studies suggest that people’s conceptions of time may vary according to temporal landmarks, which can be explained by the TFH.
This paper investigates the impact of the public smoking ban which came into effect in Italy in January 2005 on individual smoking behaviour. Current empirical evidence supports the existence of a negative effect of the Italian ban on smoking prevalence and consumption in the general population. Our analysis shows that the apparent success of the ban is due to the fact that existing results do not take into account seasonal differences in smoking behaviour. Using quarterly data from the 1999/2000 and 2004/2005 Italian Health Surveys and adopting a difference-indifference approach that nets out monthly variation in smoking rates, we show that the Italian smoking ban had no impact on smoking behaviour for the population as a whole but only on some subgroups. This result notwithstanding, we find that the smoking ban increased the overall well-being of non-smokers.
C. Norcross has made significant contributions in the areas of the transthe-oretical model of change, psychotherapy integration, and empirically supported psychotherapy relationships. This interview explores the contributions of pragmatic philosophy and his personal upbringing to his work as a psychotherapy researcher and practitioner. Dr. Norcross discusses the status of the psychotherapy integration movement, the work of the Task Force on Empirically Supported Psychotherapy Relationships, and future trends in psychotherapy over the next 25 years. He emphasizes the importance of a methodological rigor that recognizes the unique characteristics of the psychotherapy relationship. He describes his current interest in the psychotherapy of psychotherapists, illustrating it with his personal challenges in balancing work and home. KEY WORDS: psychotherapy; psychotherapy research; person of therapist; pragmatism; integration; therapeutic relationship. We must find a theory that will work; and that means something extremely difficult; for our theory must mediate between all previous truths and certain new experiences. It must derange common sense and previous belief as little as possible, and it must lead to some sensible terminus or other that can be verified exactly.-William James PRAGMATISM Abraham Wolf (AW)-You have written widely in the areas of psychotherapy integration, stages of change, and empirically supported psychotherapy relationships , among others. What do you see as the common thread?
For the first time in two decades, overall life expectancy in the United States is in decline. This unsettling increase in mortality is largely due to lifestyle-associated causes. It is in the national interest to address this decline. This article outlines identity-based motivation theory (IBM), an evidence-based behavioral science theory that provides insight and a behavioral toolset which together may help lower lifestyle-associated mortality and morbidity rates. A key place to start is the health aspiration-attainment gap: Most people aspire to live healthy lives yet often fail to sufficiently engage in behaviors necessary to achieve or maintain good health. This aspiration-attainment gap is particularly prevalent amongst people of lower socioeconomic status. We offer evidentiary insight into how IBM may be deployed by health-care providers, insurers and policymakers to help ameliorate the health aspiration-attainment gap and improve the health status of various demographic groups. Lewis, N. A., Jr., & Oyserman, D. (2016). Using identity-based motivation to improve the nation's health without breaking the bank.
This workshop provides an update on (1) the science-base for community-based programming to maximize physical, cognitive, and social health of individuals with moderate-to-severe disabilities from brain injury; (2) outcomes used to measure benefits of participation in community-based programming; and (3) challenges and supports to program sustainability and outcomes.
Primary objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to explore feasibility and effects of participation in a computerized cognitive fitness exercise program by a group of adults with chronic moderate-to-severe cognitive impairments following an acquired brain injury (ABI).
Research design: This study used a mixed methods design with a convenience sample of individuals forming two groups (+/– exercise).
Methods and procedures: Following neurocognitive and satisfaction with life pre-testing of 14 participants, seven were enrolled in a 5-month, 5-days a week computerized cognitive exercise program. Post-testing of all participants and semi-structured interviews of exercise group participants were completed.
Main outcomes and results: It was feasible for adults with chronic moderate-to-severe cognitive impairments post-ABI to participate in a computerized cognitive exercise program with ongoing external cues to initiate exercise sessions and/or to complete them as needed. Significant exercise group improvements were made on memory and verbal fluency post-tests and life satisfaction. The majority of exercise group participants reported some degree of positive impact on cognitive abilities and some on everyday functioning from program participation.
Conclusions: Adults with chronic moderate-to-severe cognitive impairments following an ABI may benefit from participation in computerized cognitive exercise programs. Further study is warranted.
When we consider two possible and contradictory actions, their adjacent desires
have corresponding rewards, which might not be available at the same time. Thus time influences our decision
, leading to what is described as intertemporal choice
: Often, in chronic diseases, the choice of adherence or nonadherence can be seen as a choice between an abstract and distant reward, maintaining health, and a near and concrete reward, for example the pleasure of smoking. Many people are naturally impatient, preferring a small, near reward to a large, distant reward. This trait, patient or impatient, may be linked to adherence. I propose that, in the particular case of akrasia
represented by patient
nonadherence to long-term therapies, there is such disequilibrium between the two types of actions, the continent and the incontinent
, that it does not allow the principle of continence
to express itself, or rather this principle becomes insufficient, or even inappropriate, if used alone. This leads me to propose a hypothesis introducing a second principle, which I call the principle of foresight
, which pushes us to give priority to the future
, i.e., to accept taking care
of ourselves. Maybe we have here something that is essentially human. One can also speculate that this differentiation is accomplished slowly in adults, leading from the simple age of reason to an age of foresight
. According to this hypothesis, not conforming to this principle leads to nonadherence.
The US healthcare system suffers from high costs and low quality compared to healthcare systems internationally [1–3], as measured by reported life expectancy [4] and infant mortality [5]. High rates of nosocomial infection (infections acquired in healthcare settings) as well as adverse drug effects (errors in the administration of medication) manifest the need for improvement in the system of care. At a cost of $2.5 trillion annually [6] the system is not delivering affordable, effective care.
Objective:
Previous research has shown that nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, leads to greater feelings of optimism, with other work demonstrating that optimistic thinking (general & health-orientated) is associated with better physical and psychological health. Integrating these two lines of research, the current studies examined whether nostalgia-induced health optimism promotes attitudes and behaviors associated with better physical well-being.
Methods:
Participants, in three experiments, were randomly assigned to write about either a nostalgic or ordinary event. Following this, everyone completed a measure of health optimism (Studies 1-3), measures of health attitudes (Study 2), and had their physical activity monitored over the course of 2 weeks (Study 3).
Results:
The results revealed that, in comparison to control conditions, nostalgic reverie led to greater health optimism (Studies 1-3). Further, heightened health optimism following nostalgic reflection led to more positive health attitudes (Study 2), and increased physical activity over a 2-week period (i.e., Fitbit activity trackers; Study 3).
Conclusions:
These findings highlight the importance of nostalgia on health attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, this work suggests that nostalgia can be used as a mechanism to increase the importance, perceived efficacy, and behavior associated with better physical health.
Self-regulation is a critical ability for maintaining a wide range of health behaviors, especially in preventing overeating and weight gain. Previous work has identified various threats to self-control in the eating domain, chief among which are desire strength and negative affect. In the present study, we examined individual differences in college-aged dieters' experiences of these threats as they encountered temptations to eat in their daily lives, and tested whether these differences characterized sub-groups of dieters with divergent self-control outcomes. Specifically, 75 dieting females (age range: 18-23) participated in a combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and experience sampling study. Participants passively viewed food cues during an fMRI session, and then reported their daily eating behaviors for one week via ecological momentary assessment. We examined the characteristics of dieters who exhibited the most favorable combination of the aforementioned factors (i.e., low desire strength and positive mood) and who were thus most successful at regulating their eating. These dieters endorsed more autonomous reasons for their self-regulatory goals, and during the food cue reactivity task more readily recruited the inferior frontal gyrus, a brain region associated with inhibitory control. We suggest that these motivational and neural correlates may also be implicated in self-regulation of other important health behaviors.
Americans have been gaining weight in recent decades, prompting widespread concern about the health implications of this change. Governments, health practitioners, and the general public all want to know: What is the best way to reduce the health risks associated with higher body weight? The dominant weightloss solution to this “obesity problem” encourages individuals to lose weight through behavior change. This solution rests on the assumptions that higher body weight causes health problems, that permanent weight loss is attainable, and that weight loss improves health. But comprehensive reviews of the scientific evidence find mixed, weak, and sometimes contradictory evidence for these premises.We suggest that a different solution to the “obesity problem” is needed – a solution that acknowledges both the multifaceted nature of health and the complex interaction between person and situation that characterizes the connection between weight and health. Thus, we use the lens of social psychological science to propose an alternative, well-being solution to the “obesity problem”. This solution has the potential to improve health by encouraging eating and exercising for optimal health rather than weight loss, by developing interventions to reduce weight stigma and discrimination, and by helping higher body-weight people cope with the stress of stigma and discrimination.
In industrialized nations, patterns of behavior such as attending work or school are strongly predicted by the seven-day weekly calendar. The weekly cycle can be disrupted by unexpected events (e.g. familial death) or planned days off (e.g. vacation). Because the weekly cycle typically begins on Monday, people should expect others who experience disruption to re-enter the weekly cycle on Mondays in order to synchronize with the conventional weekly pattern. Study 1 examined expectations for returning to work after the death of a spouse, Study 2 examined expectations for returning to university classes after the death of a parent, and Study 3 examined preferences for Monday versus Friday holidays from work and from classes. All three studies showed an overwhelming expectation for returning to work or class on Mondays, and people explained this expectation by referencing time (e.g. it's time to get back to routine). Expectations of return times other than Monday were explained by referencing emotion (e.g. she's upset and can't think straight). Conceivably, expectations to synchronize behavior to the beginning phases of a cycle hold across daily, weekly, and annual cycles.
An integrative model of change was applied to the study of 872 Ss (mean age 40 yrs) who were changing their smoking habits on their own. Ss represented the following 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, action, maintenance, and relapse. 10 processes of change were expected to receive differential emphases during particular stages of change. Results indicate that Ss (a) used the fewest processes of change during precontemplation; (b) emphasized consciousness raising during the contemplation stage; (c) emphasized self-reevaluation in both contemplation and action stages; (d) emphasized self-liberation, a helping relationship, and reinforcement management during the action stage; and (e) used counterconditioning and stimulus control the most in both action and maintenance stages. Relapsers responded as a combination of contemplaters and people in action would. Results are discussed in terms of developing a model of self-change of smoking and enhancing a more integrative general model of change. (14 ref)
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!"). 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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
How people intentionally change addictive behaviors with and without treatment is not well understood by behavioral scientists. This article summarizes research on self-initiated and professionally facilitated change of addictive behaviors using the key transtheoretical constructs of stages and processes of change. Modification of addictive behaviors involves progression through five stages—pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance—and individuals typically recycle through these stages several times before termination of the addiction. Multiple studies provide strong support for these stages as well as for a finite and common set of change processes used to progress through the stages. Research to date supports a transtheoretical model of change that systematically integrates the stages with processes of change from diverse theories of psychotherapy.
An integrative model of change was applied to the study of 872 Ss (mean age 40 yrs) who were changing their smoking habits on their own. Ss represented the following 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, action, maintenance, and relapse. 10 processes of change were expected to receive differential emphases during particular stages of change. Results indicate that Ss (a) used the fewest processes of change during precontemplation; (b) emphasized consciousness raising during the contemplation stage; (c) emphasized self-reevaluation in both contemplation and action stages; (d) emphasized self-liberation, a helping relationship, and reinforcement management during the action stage; and (e) used counterconditioning and stimulus control the most in both action and maintenance stages. Relapsers responded as a combination of contemplaters and people in action would. Results are discussed in terms of developing a model of self-change of smoking and enhancing a more integrative general model of change. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose of this study was to identify circumstances in which biochemical assessments of smoking produce systematically higher or lower estimates of smoking than self-reports. A secondary aim was to evaluate different statistical approaches to analyzing variation in validity estimates.
Literature searches and personal inquiries identified 26 published reports containing 51 comparisons between self-reported behavior and biochemical measures. The sensitivity and specificity of self-reports of smoking were calculated for each study as measures of accuracy.
Sensitivity ranged from 6% to 100% (mean = 87.5%), and specificity ranged from 33% to 100% (mean = 89.2%). Interviewer-administered questionnaires, observational studies, reports by adults, and biochemical validation with cotinine plasma were associated with higher estimates of sensitivity and specificity.
Self-reports of smoking are accurate in most studies. To improve accuracy, biochemical assessment, preferably with cotinine plasma, should be considered in intervention studies and student populations.
The debate over the ability of researchers to substitute self-reports for measured weights is not settled. Studies conducted to date on the self-reports of weight have not provided a clear conclusion as to whether self-reports of weight are valid. The purpose of the present study was to organize and integrate the conflicting findings utilizing the statistical methods of meta-analysis (Hedges & Olkin, 1985). Data were analyzed by two methods of constructing effect sizes for the total sample, by sex of subject, and by type of population. Bias was found to be a significant component of self-reported weight for all groups. Discrepancies between self-report and true weight are reported for all groups, including estimations in pounds. Self-reported weight is concluded to be sufficiently accurate for epidemiological groups but not in clinical weight-loss subjects pools. Recommendations for future research and practice are suggested.
Sequentially assigned 554 smokers (mean age 41.4 yrs) in 2 cohorts (Great American Smokeout and New Year's Day) who intended to quit smoking on their own without formalized external aid to a frequent-contact and an infrequent-contact group. All Ss completed a detailed baseline questionnaire and were followed for 12 mo. Findings revealed that neither frequency of interviews nor cohort affected outcome. The rate of nonsmoking at each follow-up point declined from 34% at 1 mo to 25% at 1 yr. 11% of Ss were continuous abstainers, 21% of Ss never stopped smoking, and 68% of Ss who ever quit had relapsed by 1 yr. Continuous abstainers were lighter smokers, less addicted, more aware of the health risks associated with smoking, more highly motivated to stop, more confident of their ability to do so, and more committed to quitting at baseline than other Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study prospectively tracked the self-change attempts of 200 New Year's resolvers over a 2-year period in order to more fully understand the coping determinants of maintenance and the natural history of lapses and relapses. Seventy-seven percent maintained their pledges for 1 week but only 19% for 2 years. Successful resolvers reported employing significantly more stimulus control, reinforcement, and willpower than the unsuccessful over the 2 years; social support and interpersonal strategies failed to predict success before 6 months but did so thereafter. Counterconditioning and fading were retrospectively nominated as the most efficacious coping strategies; paucity of willpower and failure of stimulus control were reported as the most hindering to maintenance. Fifty-three percent of the successful group experienced at least one slip, and the mean number of slips over the 2-year interval was 14. Slips were typically precipitated by a lack of personal control, excessive stress, and negative emotion.
How people intentionally change addictive behaviors with and without treatment is not well understood by behavioral scientists. This article summarizes research on self-initiated and professionally facilitated change of addictive behaviors using the key trans-theoretical constructs of stages and processes of change. Modification of addictive behaviors involves progression through five stages--pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance--and individuals typically recycle through these stages several times before termination of the addiction. Multiple studies provide strong support for these stages as well as for a finite and common set of change processes used to progress through the stages. Research to date supports a trans-theoretical model of change that systematically integrates the stages with processes of change from diverse theories of psychotherapy.
This study tracked the coping processes and self-reported outcomes of 213 adults making New Year's resolutions in order to identify prospective variables which predict successful self-change and to examine the relative effectiveness of various coping strategies. Prior to January 1st, participants provided information on their resolutions, demographic characteristics, and five variables previously associated with positive outcome. Subsequent telephone interviews ascertained short-term retrospective accounts of the utilization of 14 coping strategies and self-reported outcomes over six months. Readiness to change and self-efficacy, but not social support or behavioral skills, prospectively predicted successful outcome at both one week and one month. Successful resolvers were also found to report employing significantly more behavioral strategies and less self-blame and wishful thinking than unsuccessful resolvers. These findings are discussed within the context of previous research on self-initiated change, and several implications for clinical practice are offered.
The tradition of making New Year's Resolutions presents an opportunity to study the formation and stability of self-initiated attempts to change behavior. In an exploratory investigation, Ss were asked to report any resolutions made at the beginning of a new year. In order to provide an objective measure of the effectiveness of resolutions, Ss who were resolved to lose weight were studied independently of Ss making other types of resolutions. Ss who resolved to lose weight and control Ss who made no resolutions were assigned either to a monitoring or nonmonitoring group for a 3-mo. period (monitored Ss were weighed every 3 wk.). No significant differences were obtained in weight change for the factors of resolution or monitoring. Monitoring (by periodic questionnaires) also did not increase the effectiveness of the other resolutions studied. General resolutions were classified, and the resulting categories were related to the duration of kept resolutions and to the circumstances under which resolutions were broken.
This study analyzes the ways 100 community-residing men and women aged 45 to 64 coped with the stressful events of daily living during one year. Lazarus's cognitive-phenomenological analysis of psychological stress provides the theoretical framework. Information about recently experienced stressful encounters was elicited through monthly interviews and self-report questionnaires completed between interviews. At the end of each interview and questionnaire, the participant indicated on a 68-item Ways of Coping checklist those coping thoughts and actions used in the specific encounter. A mean of 13.3 episodes was reported by each participant. Two functions of coping, problem-focused and emotion-focused, are analyzed with separate measures. Both problem- and emotion-focused coping were used in 98% of the 1,332 episodes, emphasizing that coping conceptualized in either defensive or problem-solving terms is incomplete- both functions are usually involved. Intraindividual analyses show that people are more variable than consistent in their coping patterns. The context of an event, who is involved, how it is appraised, age, and gender are examined as potential influences on coping. Context and how the event is appraised are the most potent factors. Work contexts favor problem-focused coping, and health contexts favor emotion-focused coping. Situations in which the person thinks something constructive can be done or that are appraised as requiring more information favor problem-focused coping, whereas those having to be accepted favor emotion-focused coping. There are no effects associated with age, and gender differences emerge only in problem-focused coping: Men use more problem-focused coping than women at work and in situations having to be accepted and requiring more information. Contrary to the cultural stereotype, there are no gender differences in emotion-focused coping.
The picture of Dorian Gray New Year's Resolutions
- O Wilde
Wilde, O. (1909). The picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Pearson. New Year's Resolutions
Resolutions not kept long by most Americans
- Epcot Poll
Epcot Poll. (1985). Resolutions not kept long by most Americans. Lake Buena Vista, FL: Walt
Disney World.
The picture of Dorian Gray: Pearson. New Year's Resolutions
- O Wilde
Wilde, O. (1909). The picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Pearson.
New Year's Resolutions
New Year's resolution survey
- American Medical Association
American Medical Association. (1995). New Year's resolution survey.
- Prochaska