From Wishes to Action: The Dead Ends and Short Cuts on the Long Way to Action

Abstract

A unique opportunity or increased urgency may represent an additional requirement for a commitment to future action. Hence, in addition to value and expectancy there are other requirements that can be subsumed under the heading of “practicality.” The evolution of a wish may be initiated at any one of the three goal levels postulated by our model: at the level of perceived consequences, at the level of anticipated outcomes, or at the level of actions. Self-commitment is the demarcation line that separates wants from intentions. The chapter shows that this demarcation sets apart two distinct processes—namely motivation and volition. The most significant, though indirect, empirical support comes from Klinger’s recent work on the covariation between motivational variables and frequency of daily thought content. Setting-related relevance is a case in which, simply because of a change in setting, an originally nondominant action tendency of an intention may gain priority.