Previous research on affective extremity and social identity complexity suggested that women's mathematics stereotype threat might be alleviated by reminding individual women of their multiple roles and identities, most of which would presumably be unrelated and thus impervious to negative stereotypes regarding math performance. To test this hypothesis, we primed the relevant stereotype and then asked men and women college students to draw selfconcept maps with many or few nodes. When they drew no maps or maps with few nodes, highly math-identified women scored significantly worse than highly math-identified men on a subsequent Graduate Record Examination-like math test, but when they drew maps with many nodes, they scored as well as those men. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

How might people best persuade themselves to engage in beneficial activities, such as dieting, exercise, and studying? One strategy is to think about actions. Another strategy is to think about reasons. In previous research, students who were directed to think about actions increased their study intentions more than did students who were directed to think about reasons. The present experiment tested whether thinking about actions was effective because of idea generation (coming up with the thoughts) or because of mental simulation (imagining the scenarios). In immediate and delayed measures, directed thinking about actions (but not reasons) proved generally more effective when students focused on mental simulation than when they focused on idea generation. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

Previous research has suggested that intentions to engage in studying and other self‐beneficial activities might be promoted more by thinking about actions one could take than by thinking about reasons for doing so. The present experiments assessed whether the relative efficacy of actions vs. reasons might depend on individuals' readiness to change. Consistent with previous findings on the processes of change most relevant in different stages, the benefits of self‐generated actions were more pronounced for participants who were in the later stages of change. This “matching‐to‐stage” relationship occurred in 2 experiments that differed in stage measurement, how thinking was directed, and which outcomes were measured. The results have both practical and theoretical implications for attempts to change self‐beneficial behaviors.

Although it is well established that exercise aids in the prevention of disease, recent surveys suggest that many Americans do not engage in regular physical activity. The present experiment examined one possible technique for increasing regular exercise, in sedentary college students. Previous studies had shown that students who are directed to think about action strategies that would increase studying subsequently report greater intentions to study. The present experiment found that directed thinking about actions to increase a target exercise significantly increased time spent on exercising and cardiovascular fitness. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical perspectives on attitude processes.

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