The Interplay Between Goal Intentions and Implementation Intentions
Open accessAbstract
Two studies tested whether action control by implementation intentions is sensitive to the activation and strength of participants’ underlying goal intentions. In Study 1, participants formed implementation intentions (or did not) and their goal intentions were measured. Findings revealed a significant interaction between implementation intentions and the strength of respective goal intentions. Implementation intentions benefited the rate of goal attainment when participants had strong goal intentions but not when goal intentions were weak. Study 2 activated either a task-relevant or a neutral goal outside of participants’ conscious awareness and found that implementation intentions affected performance only when the relevant goal had been activated. These findings indicate that the rate of goal attainment engendered by implementation intentions takes account of the state (strength, activation) of people’s superordinate goal intentions.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Automated goals (e.g., implementation intentions) influence behavior primarily to the extent that they are consistent with people's explicit motivations.
“Furthermore, unlike habits, automated goals (e.g., implementation intentions) influence behavior primarily to the extent that they are consistent with people's explicit motivations (Sheeran et al. 2005).”
From Psychology of Habit. (2016) · cites this paper as Sheeran et al. 2005
The General Discussion (page unavailable) says implementation intentions benefit behavior only when the underlying goal intention is strong and activated. But the paper also says habitual responses can depend on goal activation, so it does not support the claim’s contrast that this goal-dependence is unlike habits. It further notes that people need not be aware of an activated goal at the time of action. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe activation of a streak goal (from an intact logged streak) may be somewhat categorical and insensitive to streak length.
“These results are consistent with our theory, suggesting that the activation of a streak goal (from an intact logged streak) may be somewhat categorical and insensitive to streak length (cf. Sheeran, Webb and Gollwitzer 2005).”
From On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions (2023) · cites this paper as Sheeran, Webb and Gollwitzer 2005
In the General Discussion (page unavailable), Study 2 reports that implementation intentions affected performance when the relevant goal was activated, but not when it was not activated. The paper does not study logged streaks or test whether goal activation is insensitive to streak length. It also reports that the strength of a goal intention mattered for performance, so it does not establish the proposed insensitivity. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredImplementation intentions are only effective when the individual is committed to the underlying goal.
“Theoretical and empirical accounts emphasize that implementation intentions are only effective when the individual is committed to the underlying goal (Sheeran et al., 2005).”
From The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Sheeran et al., 2005
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The theory of planned behavior
Ajzen, I. (1991) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-t · Cited by 90,587 · see citing works
Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans.
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.54.7.493 · Cited by 5,478 · see citing works
Self-citationThe unbearable automaticity of being
Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.54.7.462 · Cited by 3,699 · see citing works
Intention—Behavior Relations: A Conceptual and Empirical Review
Sheeran, P. (2002) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/14792772143000003 · Cited by 3,688 · see citing works
Self-citationOuellette, J. A., & Wood, W. (1998) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.124.1.54 · Cited by 3,480 · see citing works
Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit.
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstätter, V. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.186 · Cited by 1,343 · see citing works
Self-citationHabits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action.
Wood, W., Quinn, J. M., & Kashy, D. A. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1281 · Cited by 1,028 · see citing works
Predicting future blood donor returns: Past behavior, intentions, and observer effects.
Ferguson, E., & Bibby, P. A. (2002) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.21.5.513 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 29
- Aarts, H., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2000a). Habits as knowledge structures: Automaticity in goal-directed behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 53-63.
- Aarts, H., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2000b). On the automatic activation of goal-directed behavior: The case of travel habit. Journal of Environ- mental Psychology, 20, 75-82.
- Aarts, H., Dijksterhuis, A., & Midden, C. (1999). To plan or not to plan? Goal achievement or interrupting the performance of mun- dane behaviours. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 971-979.
- Bargh, J. A. (1990). Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction. In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 93-130). New York: Guilford.
- Bargh, J. A. (1992). The ecology of automaticity: Towards establishing the conditions needed to produce automatic processing effects. American Journal of Psychology, 105, 181-199.
- Bargh, J. A. (1994). The four horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, efficiency, intention, and control in social interaction. In R. S. Wyer, Jr., & T. K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (2nd ed., pp. 1-40). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Bargh, J. A., & Ferguson, M. J. (2000). Beyond behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 925-945.
- Bargh, J. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1994). Environmental control of goal-directed action: Automatic and strategic contingencies between situations and behavior. In W. Spaulding (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (pp. 71-124). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., Lee-Chai, A., Barndollar, K., & Trötschel, R. (2001). The automated will: Nonconscious activa- tion and pursuit of behavioral goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1014-1027.
- Brandstätter, V., Lengfelder, A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2001). Imple- mentation intentions and efficient action initiation. Journal of Per- sonality and Social Psychology, 81, 946-960.
- Courneya, K. S. (1994). Predicting repeated behavior from intention: The issue of scale correspondence. Journal of Applied Social Psychol- ogy, 24, 580-594.
- Fazio, R. H. (1990). A practical guide to the use of response latencies in social psychological research. In C. Hendrick & M. S. Clark (Eds.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 11, pp. 74-97).
- Gollwitzer, P. M. (1993). Goal achievement: The role of intentions. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychol- ogy (Vol. 4, pp. 141-185). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
- Gollwitzer, P. M. (1996). The volitional benefits of planning. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cog- nition and motivation to behavior (pp. 287-312). New York: Guilford.
- Gollwitzer, P. M., Bayer, U. C., & McCulloch, K. C. (2005). The control of the unwanted. In R. R. Hassin, J. S. Uleman, & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The new unconscious (pp. 485-516). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Gollwitzer, P. M., & Schaal, B. (1998). Meta-cognition in action: The importance of implementation intentions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2, 124-136.
- Heckhausen, H., & Beckmann, J. (1990). Intentional action and action slips. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 36-48.
- Kashima, Y., Gallois, C., & McCamish, M. (1993). The theory of rea- soned action and co-operative behaviour: It takes two to use a con- dom. British Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 227-239.
- Koestner, R., Lekes, N., Powers, T. A., & Chicoine, E. (2002). Attain- ing personal goals: Self-concordance plus implementation inten- tions equals success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 231-244.
- Milne, S., Orbell, S., & Sheeran, P. (2002). Combining motivational and volitional interventions to promote exercise participation: Protection motivation theory and implementation intentions. British Journal of Health Psychology, 7, 163-184.
- Orbell, S., Hodgkins, S., & Sheeran, P. (1997). Implementation inten- tions and the theory of planned behavior. Personality and Social Psy- chology Bulletin, 23, 953-962.
- Orbell, S., & Sheeran, P. (2000). Motivational and volitional processes in action initiation: A field study of the role of implementation intentions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 780-797.
- Sheeran, P., Aarts, H., Custers, R., Rivis, A., Cooke, R., & Webb, T. L. (in press). The goal-dependent automaticity of drinking habits. British Journal of Social Psychology.
- Sheeran, P., & Abraham, C. (2003). Mediator of moderators: Tempo- ral stability of intention and the intention-behavior relationship. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 205-215.
- Sheeran, P., & Orbell, S. (1999). Implementation intentions and repeated behaviour: Augmenting the predictive validity of the theory of planned behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 349-369.
- Verplanken, B., Aarts, H., van Knippenberg, A., & Moonen, A. (1998). Habit versus planned behaviour: A field experiment. Brit- ish Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 111-128.
- Verplanken, B., & Faes, S. (1999). Good intentions, bad habits, and effects of forming implementation intentions on healthy eating. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 591-604.
- Webb, T. L., & Sheeran, P. (2004). Identifying good opportunities to act: Implementation intentions and cue discrimination. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 407-419.
- Wood, W., & Quinn, J. M. (in press). Habits: Acting without thinking. In J. Forgas, K. Williams, & B. VonHippel (Eds.), The 6th annual Sydney symposium on social psychology. New York: Psychology Press.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Webb, T. L., & Sheeran, P. (2006) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.2.249 · Cited by 3,732 · see citing works
Self-citationImplementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(06)38002-1 · Cited by 3,236 · see citing works
“If an unwanted behavior possesses features of automaticity, it should be especially diYcult to control (Aarts &Dijskterhuis, 2000a,b; Sheeran et al., 2005a; Verplanken & Aarts, 1999; Wood, Quinn, & Kashy, 2002).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationWood, W., & Rünger, D. (2016) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033417 · Cited by 1,445 · see citing works
A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface.
Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2007) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.114.4.843 · Cited by 1,470 · see citing works
Interventions to Break and Create Consumer Habits
Verplanken, B., & Wood, W. (2006) · Journal of Public Policy & Marketing · doi:10.1509/jppm.25.1.90 · Cited by 1,221 · see citing works
Lally, P., & Gardner, B. (2013) · Health Psychology Review · doi:10.1080/17437199.2011.603640 · Cited by 901 · see citing works
The automatic component of habit in health behavior: Habit as cue-contingent automaticity.
Orbell, S., & Verplanken, B. (2010) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0019596 · Cited by 563 · see citing works
Towards a theory of intentional behaviour change: Plans, planning, and self‐regulation
Sniehotta, F. F. (2009) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1348/135910708x389042 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes
Webb, T. L., & Sheeran, P. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.02.001 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Self-citationReflective and Automatic Processes in the Initiation and Maintenance of Dietary Change
Rothman, A. J., Sheeran, P., & Wood, W. (2009) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-009-9118-3 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Pull of the Past: When Do Habits Persist Despite Conflict With Motives?
Neal, D. T., Wood, W., Wu, M., & Kurlander, D. (2011) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167211419863 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Strategic automation of emotion regulation.
Gallo, I. S., Keil, A., McCulloch, K. C., Rockstroh, B., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2009) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0013460 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Self-citationStadler, G., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2009) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2008.09.021 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Self-citationSlovinec D'Angelo, M. E., Pelletier, L. G., Reid, R. D., & Huta, V. (2014) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000094 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Can implementation intentions and text messages promote brisk walking? A randomized trial.
Prestwich, A., Perugini, M., & Hurling, R. (2010) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0016993 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Sheeran, P., Aubrey, R., & Kellett, S. (2007) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.75.6.853 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Self-citationCombinations of techniques that effectively change health behavior: evidence from Meta-CART analysis
Dusseldorp, E., van Genugten, L., van Buuren, S., Verheijden, M. W., & van Empelen, P. (2014) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000018 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Toli, A., Webb, T. L., & Hardy, G. E. (2016) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.12086 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Self-citationHackman, C., & Knowlden, A. (2014) · Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics · doi:10.2147/ahmt.s56207 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Implementation Intentions Facilitate Response Inhibition in Children with ADHD
Gawrilow, C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2008) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-007-9150-1 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Self-citationJacobs, N. C., Völlink, T., Dehue, F., & Lechner, L. (2014) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-396 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Wang, G., Wang, Y., & Gai, X. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565202 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“Mental contrasting can not only lead to binding goals and provide goal commitment as a premise for implementation intentions (Sheeran et al., 2005) but also help people to identify obstacles in reality and to create non-conscious links between obstacles and instrumental behavior while engendering a…”
BackgroundLess is more: The effect of multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits
Verhoeven, A. A. C., Adriaanse, M. A., de Ridder, D. T. D., de Vet, E., & Fennis, B. M. (2013) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.1963 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Effect of external factors on intention–behaviour gap
Moghavvemi, S., Salleh, N. A. M., Sulaiman, A., & Abessi, M. (2015) · Behaviour & Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2015.1055801 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions
Silverman, J., & Barasch, A. (2023) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucac029 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Sassen, B., Kok, G., Mesters, I., Crutzen, R., Cremers, A., & Vanhees, L. (2012) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.1804 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Affective experience and evidence for animal consciousness.
Butlin, P., & University of Arkansas Press (2020) · Philosophical Topics · doi:10.5840/philtopics20204816 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The effectiveness of implementation intentions in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Breitwieser, J., & Reinelt, T. (2026) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.70065 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Sheeran, P., Webb, T. L., & Gollwitzer, P. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- University of Konstanz (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Sheeran, Paschal
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-01
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 87-98
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2144947807
- Cited by
- 597
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 76 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 24.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- nbn-resolving.de
- Licence
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion)
- KOPS (University of Konstanz) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Universität Konstanz
- Economic and Social Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Keywords
- implementation intentions, goal intentions, goal achievement, action control, goal activation, superordinate goals, goal-directed behavior
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Cues, Goals, Habits, Humans, Surveys and Questionnaires, Regression Analysis, Social Control, Informal, Intention
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
