The role of temporal distance on forecasting the difficulty of goal pursuits.

The current research examined individuals' perceptions of difficulty regarding goal striving in the near and distant future. Study 1 tested the hypothesis that predictions decrease over increasing temporal distance. Participants forecasted how difficult several goal-related tasks would be at varying points in the future. Our hypothesis was mostly supported. Results from hierarchical linear modeling showed many statistically significant linear and quadratic effects of temporal distance on predictions within and across goal tasks. Moreover, all future time points were rated as easier compared to now, with medium to large differences in difficulty. In Study 2, participants forecasted the difficulty of pursuing a goal-related task two days away, and we followed up to assess actual difficulty. Participants' predictions were generally accurate. Goal commitment moderated accuracy, as individuals low (vs. high) in goal commitment underestimated (overestimated) difficulty. Overall, our results suggest that cognitions about future goal striving may affect momentary motivation and self-regulation.

How do people define moderation?

Eating in moderation is considered to be sound and practical advice for weight maintenance or prevention of weight gain. However, the concept of moderation is ambiguous, and the effect of moderation messages on consumption has yet to be empirically examined. The present manuscript examines how people define moderate consumption. We expected that people would define moderate consumption in ways that justified their current or desired consumption rather than view moderation as an objective standard. In Studies 1 and 2, moderate consumption was perceived to involve greater quantities of an unhealthy food (chocolate chip cookies, gummy candies) than perceptions of how much one should consume. In Study 3, participants generally perceived themselves to eat in moderation and defined moderate consumption as greater than their personal consumption. Furthermore, definitions of moderate consumption were related to personal consumption behaviors. Results suggest that the endorsement of moderation messages allows for a wide range of interpretations of moderate consumption. Thus, we conclude that moderation messages are unlikely to be effective messages for helping people maintain or lose weight.

In good company: managing interpersonal resources that support self-regulation.

Effective self-regulation could involve not only managing internal resources for goal pursuit but also the often-fleeting interpersonal resources that can support goal attainment. In five studies, we test whether people who are effective self-regulators tend to position themselves in social environments that best afford self-regulatory success. Results indicated individual differences in self-regulatory effectiveness predict stronger preferences to spend time with, collaborate with, and be informed by others who were (a) high in self-control or self-regulation themselves or (b) instrumental to one's goal pursuit. These preferences for supportive social environments appeared to be both targeted and strategic. Together, the findings suggest that effective self-regulation may involve positioning oneself in social environments that support goal pursuit and increase one's chances of success.

First on the List: Effectiveness at Self-Regulation and Prioritizing Difficult Exercise Goal Pursuit.

Identifying and understanding the goal pursuit strategies that distinguish effective self-regulators from less effective self-regulators is important for elucidating how individuals achieve their goals. We suggest that the timing of plans for difficult goal pursuits is one differentiation. A pilot study shows that effective self-regulators tend to believe they are best suited to pursue difficult goals earlier in the day, and two studies provide evidence that effective and less effective self-regulators differ in the timing of their plans for difficult goal pursuits. Results indicate that when exercising is perceived as difficult goal pursuit, effective self-regulators prioritize that difficult goal pursuit by planning to exercise earlier in the day whereas less effective self-regulators plan exercise for later in the day.