Towards a theory of intentional behaviour change: Plans, planning, and self‐regulation
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Purpose Briefly review the current state of theorizing about volitional behaviour change and identification of challenges and possible solutions for future theory development. Method Review of the literature and theoretical analysis. Results Reasoned action theories have made limited contributions to the science of behaviour change as they do not propose means of changing cognitions or account for existing effective behaviour change techniques. Changing beliefs does not guarantee behaviour change. The implementation intentions (IMPs) approach to planning has advanced theorizing but the applications to health behaviours often divert substantially from the IMPs paradigm with regard to interventions, effects, mediators and moderators. Better construct definitions and differentiations are needed to make further progress in integrating theory and understanding behaviour change. Conclusions Further progress in theorizing can be achieved by (a) disentangling planning constructs to study their independent and joint effects on behaviour, (b) progressing research on moderators and mediators of planning effects outside the laboratory and (c) integrating planning processes within learning theory and self‐regulation theory.
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When behaviour is the outcome, early causal-chain endpoints such as knowledge and attitudes are not enough, because their effects are weakened as they pass through motivational and action processes.
“However, when the outcome is behaviour, end-points that are early in the causal chain, such as knowledge and attitudes, are insufficient, as even a strong effect on these cognitive outcomes will be attenuated as they are mediated through motivational and action-oriented processes to result in behaviour (Sniehotta, 2009;Webb & Sheeran, 2006).”
From Theories and techniques of behaviour change: Developing a cumulative science of behaviour change (2012) · cites this paper as Sniehotta, 2009
Other empirical work from the psychology literature has demonstrated the value of action-plans with respect to improving the effectiveness of feedback.
“Other empirical work from the psychology literature has demonstrated the value of action‐plans with respect to improving the effectiveness of feedback (Sniehotta 2009).”
From Audit and feedback: effects on professional practice and healthcare outcomes (2012) · cites this paper as Sniehotta 2009
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- Authors
- Sniehotta, F. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Sniehotta, Falko F.
- ORCID
- Sniehotta, Falko F.
- Venue
- British Journal of Health Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-05
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 261-273
- ISSN
- 1359-107X (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8287
- OpenAlex
- W2019130599
- Cited by
- 437
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 3.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- British Journal of Health Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Funders
- Canada Research Chairs
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
- Keywords
- implementation intentions, planning, self-regulation, theory of reasoned action, health behavior change, behaviour change techniques, belief revision, learning theory
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Models, Theoretical, Psychological Theory, Social Control, Informal, Health Behavior, Intention
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