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Cited by 5,478Behavioral Health and InterventionsDecision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsGrit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 76 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans.

Open access
Gollwitzer, Peter M.·1999·American Psychologist
DOI 10.1037/0003-066x.54.7.493
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Abstract

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 attain-ment. This can be achieved by plans in the form of imple-mentation intentions that link anticipated critical situations to goal-directed responses ("Whenever situation x arises, I will initiate the goal-directed response y!"). Implementa-tion intentions delegate the control of goal-directed re-sponses to anticipated situational cues, which (when actu-ally encountered) elicit these responses automatically. A program of research demonstrates that implementation intentions further the attainment of goals, and it reveals the underlying processes. Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil. —Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray G ood intentions have a bad reputation. People whoform New Year's resolutions earn at best a sym-pathetic smile when they announce their heroic intentions (e.g., exercising regularly, avoiding unhealthy foods). Though the audience may concede that such reso-lutions are made with good will (Oscar Wilde is less trusting), they doubt their effectiveness. This suspicion is deeply rooted. Folklore tells us that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Do good intentions deserve this bad reputation? As the many empirical studies based on Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior demonstrate, there is no reason to assume that good intentions have nil effects or even negative ef-fects on behavior. Quite to the contrary, strong intentions (e.g., "I strongly intend to do x") are reliably observed to be realized more often than weak intentions (see reviews by

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71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • The lack of variation in cue type likely reflects a shared understanding in the literature that cues should be concrete and salient.

    “This lack of variation likely reflects a shared understanding in the literature—grounded in theoretical work by Gollwitzer (1999)—that cues should be concrete and salient (see also Schaaf et al., 2025).”

    From The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Gollwitzer, 1999

    In “The Specified Situation” (page unavailable), Gollwitzer describes plans that specify when and where to act and says specified cues become easier to detect and attract attention. This provides a theoretical basis for identifiable, noticeable cues, but the paper does not say that cues should be intrinsically concrete and salient. The proposed explanation for the lack of variation is the citing authors’ inference, not a finding attributed to Gollwitzer. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  • Another common strategy is the use of implementation intentions, where an intended thought or action is mentally linked with a specific anticipated situational cue.

    “another common strategy is the use of “implementation intentions” (Gilbert, Gollwitzer, Cohen, Burgess, & Oettingen, 2009; Gollwitzer, 1999), where an intended thought or action is mentally linked with a specific anticipated situational cue.”

    From Strategic offloading of delayed intentions into the external environment (2015) · cites this paper as Gollwitzer, 1999

  • Implementation intentions are a simple strategy that helps people translate their good intentions into action.

    “Implementation intentions have been introduced as a ‘simple’ strategy that helps people translate their good intentions into action (Gollwitzer, 1999).”

    From The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Gollwitzer, 1999

  • These findings support the idea that implementation intentions are a simple strategy that is especially suitable for children and capable of compensating for developmental or clinical self-regulation deficits.

    “These findings support the idea that implementation intentions are a ‘simple’ strategy (Gollwitzer, 1999) that is especially suitable for children and capable of compensating for developmental or clinical self‐regulation deficits.”

    From The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Gollwitzer, 1999

  • The absence of a significant decrease in effect sizes for studies with longer time intervals could suggest that implementation intentions may have lasting effects.

    “The absence of a significant decrease in effect sizes for studies with longer time intervals could suggest that implementation intentions may have lasting effects, which is consistent with the idea that they promote instant habit formation (Gollwitzer, 1999).”

    From The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Gollwitzer, 1999

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Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

5 of the 76 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Braff, D. L., Saccuzzo, D. P., & Geyer, M. (1991). Information processing dysfunctions in schizophrenia. In S. R. Steinhauer, J. H. Gruzelier, & J. Zubin (Eds.), Handbook of schizophrenia: Neuropsychology, psycho- physiology and information processing (Vol. 5, pp. 303-334). Amster- dam: Elsevier.
  2. Malzacher, J. T. (1992). Erleichtern Vorsatze die Handlungsinitiierung? [Do implementation intentions facilitate the initiation of behavior?]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitat, Munich, Germany.
  3. Remlinger, J. (1997). Vorsatzeffekte bei Opiatabhdngigen [Implementa- tion intention effects in opiate addicts]. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Konstanz, Germany.
  4. Schmitt, S. (1997). Zur Wirkungsweise von Vorsatzeffekten bei schizo- phren Erkrankten [Implementation intention effects in schizophrenic patients]. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Konstanz, Ger- many.

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Metadata

Authors
Gollwitzer, P. M.
Affiliations
University of Konstanz (DE)
Corresponding author
Gollwitzer, Peter M.
ORCID
Gollwitzer, Peter M.
Venue
American Psychologist
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1999-07
Volume
54
Issue
7
Pages
493-503
ISSN
  • 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-990X
DOI
10.1037/0003-066x.54.7.493
OpenAlex
W2133044046
Cited by
5,478
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 228 · 2025: 195 · 2024: 214 · 2023: 313 · 2022: 248 · 2021: 284 · 2020: 404 · 2019: 288 · 2018: 301 · 2017: 284 · 2016: 281 · 2015: 270 · 2014: 279 · 2013: 252 · 2012: 238
FWCI
96.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
  • KOPS (University of Konstanz) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  • Universität Konstanz
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
Keywords
implementation intentions, goal achievement, automatic processes, goal-directed behavior, situational cues, habit formation

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