Mental contrasting with implementation intentions increases study time for university students

Abstract

Background. Goal setting is a core aspect of human behaviour that drives action. The intention to achieve one's goals, however, does not necessarily translate into desired outcomes. Although the mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) strategy has demonstrated strong efficacy, limited investigations have been conducted in a university academic goal-setting context.Aims. The current study sought to investigate the efficacy of MCII in facilitating academic goal attainment in university students.Method. Fifty-eight students from Macquarie University, Australia, were randomly allocated to either MCII or stress management training, and were assessed on their progress towards the target goal of increased hours of study four weeks later. Goal attainment scaling (GAS) facilitated the generation of tailored specific goals and was the primary outcome measure.Results. An analysis of covariance indicated that students trained in MCII achieved significantly better goal outcomes than those trained in stress management for both broad (p = .038) and course-or unit-specific (p = .005) study goals. Conclusions.Results highlight the efficacy of using MCII and GAS in combination to promote increased study time for university students.

Comparing mental contrasting with implementation intentions against solution-focused and autonomous planning

“…For example, MCII has helped middle school students (both at risk and not at risk for ADHD) improve their management of school activities (Gawrilow et al., 2013). College students have also benefited in terms of improving time management (Oettingen et al., 2015), increasing study time (Clark et al., 2020), overcoming bedtime procrastination (Valshtein et al., 2020) and managing unhealthy habits (Adriaanse et al., 2010).…”

“…Despite some positive results, there are significant limitations in the research. First, most studies of MCII in education have involved college students or postgraduates (Adriaanse et al., 2010; Clark et al., 2020; Kizilcec & Cohen, 2017; Oettingen et al., 2015; Saddawi-Konefka et al., 2017; Valshtein et al., 2020). Many more studies are needed in schools.…”

A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment

“…Most MCII intervention studies have been conducted among adults, although few have sampled children (Duckworth et al, 2011 , 2013 ). Participants in intervention studies with adults included college students, adults with physical or psychological illnesses, and adults from the general population (Christiansen et al, 2010 ; Oettingen et al, 2015 ; Gollwitzer et al, 2018 ).…”

“…MCII interventions have been used in four different goal domains, namely, the academic domain, such as preparing for high-stakes exams (Duckworth et al, 2011 ) and completing online courses (Kizilcec and Cohen, 2017 ); the health domain, such as physical activity (Christiansen et al, 2010 ), healthy diet (Adriaanse et al, 2010 ), and stress management (Gollwitzer et al, 2018 ); the relationship domain, such as romantic relationships (Houssais et al, 2013 ) and conformity (Scheurnschloß, 2017 ); and personal goal domain, including goals that were not limited to a specific goal domain (Wang and Gai, 2016 ) and personal time management (Oettingen et al, 2015 ). The current study explored the moderating effect of goal domains.…”

“…Two types of intervention procedures were identified. The first is face-to-face interventions with experimenters, or “experimenter intervention,” usually conducted in a laboratory, hospital, or rehabilitation center, and comprising a meeting between one experimenter and one participant or between one experimenter and a small group of participants (Stadler et al, 2009 ; Oettingen et al, 2015 ). The second type of interventions is a “document intervention,” which includes completing the intervention package online, at home, or in the classroom (Duckworth et al, 2011 ; Kizilcec and Cohen, 2017 ).…”