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This article tests the effect of a novel credit card payment format—repayment-by-purchase—on consumers' payments toward credit card debt. In contrast to typical balance repayment, where consumers make repayments relative to a total amount owed, repayment-by-purchase prompts consumers to select items (e.g., a Starbucks coffee) or categories of purchase (e.g., restaurant and café purchases) and to make payments toward their related debt. A field experiment first suggests that customers who opted into repayment-by-purchase paid 12.18% more toward their statement balance than a control group. Subsequently, five lab experiments show that consumers repaying-by-purchase increase repayment by an average of 22.47% over typical balance repayment. Process evidence suggests that these differences may be driven by repayment-by-purchase's power to increase purchase salience, which in turns increases perceptions of progress toward reducing debt. Consistent with this theory, the effect of repayment-by-purchase on bill repayment emerges regardless of whether consumers repay durable versus nondurable goods, and for specific items or categories of purchases, as long as the bill uses labels that are concrete enough to raise past purchase salience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have found that allowing customers to self-design products using customization configurators generates high value for customers. However, in practice, high abandonment rates cast doubt on these findings. In the present article, this contradiction is resolved by analyzing consumers' experiences during the creative process. Six studies provide converging evidence that consumers abandon customization because their valence during the process is U-shaped: initial high expectations prompt consumers to start self-designing in the first place, but they quickly find, to their frustration, that their (interim) design solutions are less attractive and the self-designing process is less enjoyable than they originally anticipated. Unaware that their enjoyment of the process would ultimately increase if they persisted through this phase, they abandon the self-design process altogether. It is only if the consumer overcomes the minimum of the U of valence that they harness the potential value from self-designing. This problematic pattern can be managed by providing social feedback during the self-design process. These findings contribute not only to the customization literature but also more generally to the understanding of consumers' goal pursuit by enhancing its scope to creative tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of controlled studies found that consumers counter-normatively prefer something nearly complete over something complete. We call this phenomenon the "one-away effect" because we find that when consumers are, for example, one stamp away from completing a punch card loyalty program, they value the card more than a completed card. This is because their valuation of the one-away card is influenced by their anticipation of merely completing the card, which generates its own utility, apart from the card's end-reward (a free coffee). To wit, the prospective utility of performing the final action that fulfills completion increases consumers' valuation of the one-away card. Our findings suggest that consumers are motivated to complete goals, tasks, and sets not only to obtain their end-rewards, but also because merely completing things is intrinsically motivating and can be a goal in and of itself. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the one-away effect, as well as the general notion of mere completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Depressive symptoms, goal progress, and goal characteristics are interrelated, but the directionality of these relationships is unclear. Methods: In a 6‐wave longitudinal study (N = 431; 2002 total surveys), we examine the bidirectionality of the relationships between depressive symptoms, goal characteristics (commitment, self‐efficacy, and perception of other's support), and goal progress for academic and interpersonal goals at 2‐week intervals. Separate random‐intercept cross‐lagged panel models were tested for each goal characteristic across both goals. Results: At the within‐person level, goal progress significantly positively predicted commitment, self‐efficacy, and perception of others' support for the goal. Most of the other hypothesized paths were nonsignificant, including paths between depressive symptoms and progress. At the between‐person level, all variables were significantly correlated, with some effects significantly larger for the interpersonal than the academic goal. Discussion: The results suggest that when it comes to depressive symptoms and goal pursuit, general tendencies may be more important than variations over 2‐week intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceiving a romantic partner as instrumental to one's goals predicts myriad desirable relationship outcomes. However, little is known about the origins of perceived partner instrumentality (PPI)—particularly about factors that may bias PPI. In two studies, we provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that relationship quality predicts biased PPI. In a dyadic correlational study (Study 1) and an imagined scenario study in which we experimentally manipulated partner instrumentality levels (Study 2), participants reporting higher relationship quality perceived their partners as more instrumental to their goals—even when controlling for depressive symptoms, and when controlling for partner‐reported (Study 1) or enacted partner (Study 2) instrumentality. Additionally, in Study 1 (but not Study 2), relationship quality attenuated a negative association between depressive symptoms and PPI. Study 2 also revealed that perceiving a partner as more instrumental predicted greater intentions to provide instrumental support to that partner in the future. These findings fill important gaps in the instrumentality and relationships literature, identifying antecedents of PPI and offering insights into how PPI may predict relationship functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identified and tested a novel aspect of human resilience: The daily pursuit of maintenance goals. Taking inspiration from archaeological records, which point at routinized cultural practices as a central resilience factor, we tested whether personal routine practices, governed by maintenance goals, serve a similar function to individuals as traditional practices do to societies. Namely, we hypothesized that maintenance striving increases individuals' resilient responses to stressful events. Confirming this prediction, a longitudinal Study 1 showed that maintenance striving but not avoidance striving, predicted subsequent increases in well‐being following the third wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Germany. Study 2 confirmed our predictions on trait resilience and maintenance versus avoidance motivations in the household and relationship life domains in cross‐sectional data. These studies contribute to the understanding of resilience by demonstrating the benefits of maintenance goals for both situational and trait‐level resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with high levels of grit are passionate about achieving their targets and persist in realizing challenging goals. However, there is limited research on the mechanisms that explain why people with high levels of grit can persistently work toward challenging goals. This study seeks to fill the knowledge gap by identifying beliefs about difficult experiences as a mediating factor in the relationship between grit and persistence, in addition to a growth mindset. Study 1, including 221 Japanese participants, showed that the association between grit and persistence was mediated by beneficial beliefs about difficult experiences, rather than by a self-regulating growth mindset. Study 2, including 346 Japanese participants, showed that the association between grit and persistence was mediated by beneficial beliefs about difficult experiences, and not by a growth mindset about intelligence or beliefs about the utility of effort. These findings show that beliefs about difficult experiences are a mediating factor in the relationship between grit and persistence. Interventions targeting beliefs about difficult experiences may thus be effective in promoting persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintenance goals have a fundamental albeit understudied role in human motivation. From health to relationships, to personal possessions and the environment, the things people value require regular care. When maintaining a friendship, for instance, one may need to catch‐up regularly, share life updates and offer support, and occasionally make time to meet and spend time together. Distinct from the more commonly studied approach and avoidance goals, maintenance goals focus on sustaining current states over time, a process that has recently begun to attract increasing scholarly attention. This paper explores the construct of maintenance goals; It provides a comprehensive review of key findings and offers a novel perspective on the potential role of maintenance in individual and collective behavior, centering on topics such as well‐being, leadership, and group perceptions across different cultural contexts. By integrating theory with empirical evidence, this review underscores the necessity of incorporating maintenance goals into a broader psychological framework and recognizes their potential to inform interventions aimed at fostering resilience and stability in an ever‐changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of positive and negative feedback on goal commitment and energy investment among English as a foreign language learners who experienced directed motivational currents (DMCs). To this purpose, a systematic methodology was used to identify language learners with a DMC experience (six students, four females, two males, mean of age = 19.5). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. The results of qualitative content analysis indicated that the three key features of DMCs were found in participants' motivational experiences. In addition, the results showed that positive feedback affected goal commitment in DMCs by increasing goal persistence and sense of self-efficacy, while negative feedback enhanced motivation in DMCs by reducing the discrepancy between current state with the well-defined target state. The results also showed that feedback had some affective consequences that influenced goal pursuit in DMCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral hazard involves a context where decision-makers engage in behaviors that prioritize self-interest while allowing the associated risk to be primarily borne by others. Such decision making can lead to catastrophic consequences, as seen in the 2008 global financial crisis after hedge fund managers indiscriminately invested their clients' money in subprime mortgages. This research examines which decision-makers are most likely to engage in moral hazard decision making and the psychological mechanism driving this behavior. Drawing on the dual model of social influence, we posit that individuals associated with dominance, but not prestige, will engage in greater moral hazard behaviors. We further contend that these behaviors are driven by dominant decision-makers' enhanced focus on end goals (outcomes) rather than the means (process) that they use to pursue such goals. We find support for our hypotheses across 13 studies (NObservations = 26,880; of which eight were preregistered and six studies are reported in the Supplemental Materials), using both correlational and experimental designs. Additionally, we vary the moral hazard context (e.g., a financial setting, a health and safety issue, etc.) and capture both behavioral intentions and actual behaviors, while also ruling out several alternative explanations. These findings demonstrate that dominant decision-makers engage in moral hazard behaviors because of their tendency to prioritize outcomes over processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-control—the prioritization of valued global goals over immediate local rewards—is typically conceptualized and studied as isolated decisions. Goal pursuit, however, generally requires people to make repeated self-control decisions across contexts. We adopt a higher order, strategic level of analysis of self-control and explore, for the first time, people's preferences for abstinence (a pattern of choices in which one never indulges) versus moderation (a pattern of choices in which one indulges when doing so does not harm one's goals or even helps promote the pursuit of those goals). To understand when and why people may opt for one over the other, the present work explores one psychological feature that may support these strategy preferences: the representation of self-control conflicts as inherent (i.e., choice options are mutually contradictory) versus situational (i.e., choice options compete for limited resources). We present eight studies in the main text and three in the online Supplemental Materials documenting that people associate inherent and situational conflict representations with abstinence and moderation, respectively. By documenting that strategy preferences may differ as a function of conflict representations, this work questions the assumption of abstinence as the primary indicator of self-control success, raises methodological and conceptual questions about how best to assess these strategy preferences, and calls for greater understanding of self-control as a recurrent decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the association between negative aging stereotypes and goal pursuit in daily life among older adults. We also explored the roles of stereotype threat and stereotype challenge reactions in mediating this association. Additionally, this study investigated whether variations in these associations exist among older adults based on their self-integrity levels. Methods Participants were 100 older adults who completed daily measures assessing negative aging stereotype experiences, threat and challenge reactions, goal pursuit activities, and self-integrity over a week. Results More daily experiences of negative aging stereotypes were associated with greater avoidance of responsibilities in goal pursuit and less progress toward goals. Increased threat reactions and decreased challenge reactions were mediators of the association between stereotype experiences and avoidance of responsibilities, as well as that between stereotype experiences and progress toward goals, respectively. Moreover, the associations between threat reactions and avoidance of responsibilities as well as between stereotype experiences and challenge reactions were more pronounced in older adults with lower self-integrity levels. Discussion This study is pioneering in demonstrating the real-life interplay between aging stereotypes and goal pursuit among older adults. Its findings not only expand upon the literature concerning aging stereotypes, but also offer theoretical insights for the development of interventions aimed at goal pursuit. These insights have significant implications for fostering healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effects of episodic future thinking related to achieving important learning goals on university students' learning intentions. Japanese university students (N = 70) participated in this experiment. Participants in the episodic future thinking condition were asked to imagine and describe events they would experience if they achieved their goals. In the semantic future thinking condition, we asked participants to describe their future selves after university graduation and rate the relevance of their future selves to their learning goals. Participants were then asked to respond to the learning intentions measures. Participants in the control condition responded to the measures of learning intentions after completing a questionnaire unrelated to future thinking. When the importance of goal attainment was high, participants in the episodic future thinking condition planned to study for significantly longer than those in the other conditions. Episodic future thinking related to achieving important learning goals strengthens learning intentions more than simple awareness of the future self and learning goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effects of episodic future thinking related to achieving important learning goals on university students' learning intentions. Japanese university students (N = 70) participated in this experiment. Participants in the episodic future thinking condition were asked to imagine and describe events they would experience if they achieved their goals. In the semantic future thinking condition, we asked participants to describe their future selves after university graduation and rate the relevance of their future selves to their learning goals. Participants were then asked to respond to the learning intentions measures. Participants in the control condition responded to the measures of learning intentions after completing a questionnaire unrelated to future thinking. When the importance of goal attainment was high, participants in the episodic future thinking condition planned to study for significantly longer than those in the other conditions. Episodic future thinking related to achieving important learning goals strengthens learning intentions more than simple awareness of the future self and learning goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planfulness refers to an individual's tendency to be future oriented, mentally flexible, and cognitively strategic when engaging with goals, and has been shown to predict goal completion. We investigated the relationships among planfulness, goal disruption, stress, and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, which served as a unique setback context. We measured these constructs using the planfulness scale, an ad-hoc survey item probing goal disruption in the pandemic, the perceived stress scale, and the WarwickEdinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, respectively. Participants were university students (N = 174; mean age 23.03, SD: 4.37; 77% female). Higher planfulness predicted lower goal-disruption, lower stress, and higher well-being during the pandemic, extending its benefits beyond the goal domain. High levels of planfulness did not protect against goal disruption among those participants in which the self-reported personal impact of the pandemic was highest. Differences in goal disruption across levels of planfulness were constrained to lower reported pandemic impact. However, the differences in psychological well-being and stress by levels of planfulness were retained even when selfreported perceptions of personal pandemic impact were high. More planful students maintained lower stress and higher psychological well-being than their less planful peers across levels of adversity. These findings suggest that even in extremely difficult contexts in which planfulness does not protect against goal disruption, it still confers personal benefits in terms of psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many low-status groups are portrayed as deficient. Countering such stigmatizing narratives, identity-reframing interventions reframe low-status group members as strong and resourceful agents. This approach can help members of low-status groups successfully pursue major life goals. In one test, an identity-reframing intervention increased engagement in an online-university among refugees by 23% over 1 year. In another, it increased the degree to which people with experiences of depression successfully completed a meaningful self-chosen goal over 2 weeks. The present review describes how identity-reframing interventions work on a practical and theoretical level, where they might not work, how they contribute to theory and practice, how they can be adapted to new populations and contexts, and what novel questions they direct us to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planfulness refers to an individual’s tendency to be future oriented, mentally flexible, and cognitively strategic when engaging with goals, and has been shown to predict goal completion. We investigated the relationships among planfulness, goal disruption, stress, and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, which served as a unique setback context. We measured these constructs using the planfulness scale, an ad-hoc survey item probing goal disruption in the pandemic, the perceived stress scale, and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, respectively. Participants were university students (N = 174; mean age 23.03, SD: 4.37; 77% female). Higher planfulness predicted lower goal-disruption, lower stress, and higher well-being during the pandemic, extending its benefits beyond the goal domain. High levels of planfulness did not protect against goal disruption among those participants in which the self-reported personal impact of the pandemic was highest. Differences in goal disruption across levels of planfulness were constrained to lower reported pandemic impact. However, the differences in psychological well-being and stress by levels of planfulness were retained even when self-reported perceptions of personal pandemic impact were high. More planful students maintained lower stress and higher psychological well-being than their less planful peers across levels of adversity. These findings suggest that even in extremely difficult contexts in which planfulness does not protect against goal disruption, it still confers personal benefits in terms of psychological health.

Despite research indicating that responding with self-compassion to lapses in goal pursuit can help people to achieve their goals, there is evidence that people often struggle to respond with self-compassion when it would benefit them. One reason is that people may not be familiar with the concept of self-compassion or may think negatively of self-compassion. We propose that providing information about self-compassion and its benefits can help people to respond with self-compassion to lapses in goal pursuit. To test this, we randomly assigned participants to a self-compassion psychoeducation condition or control condition and then tested whether they responded with self-compassion to a recalled lapse. The results suggested that, although psychoeducation seemed to influence participants' beliefs about self-compassion, there was no evidence that psychoeducation increased self-compassionate responding. This finding highlights the need to develop additional strategies to help people to translate knowledge about self-compassion into self-compassionate responses to lapses and difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has been a major source of professional and personal disruption and has had both direct and downstream consequences on almost every aspect of peoples' lives, including their personal goal pursuits. In the face of unexpected hardships and obstacles, people have had to find new paths to goal achievement. In the present work, we examined whether difficulty adjusting goal pursuit during the global disruption of the COVID‐19 pandemic is related to negative affective, cognitive, and behavioral goal‐related outcomes. Across two studies, we found that people who had more difficulty adjusting their goal pursuit during the pandemic experienced more negative feelings toward their goals, were less satisfied with the status of their goals, and were less likely to actually achieve their goals. Moreover, individual differences in planning tendencies, need for predictability, general adaptability, and perceived pandemic disruption were related to more difficulty adjusting goal pursuit. This work demonstrates the importance of flexibility in the face of setbacks and obstacles, especially during times of disruption and uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positivity of goal completion is reinforced through everyday experiences of social praise and instrumental reward. Herewe investigated whether, in line with this self-regulatory emphasis, people value completion opportunities in and of themselves. Across six experiments we found that adding an arbitrary completion opportunity to a lower-reward task increased the likelihood that participants would choose to work on that task over a higher-reward alternative that did not offer a completion opportunity. This occurred for extrinsic reward tradeoffs (Experiments 1, 3, 4, and 5) and intrinsic reward tradeoffs (Experiments 2 and 6), and it persisted even when participants explicitly noted the rewards of each task (Experiment 3). We sought but did not find evidence that the tendency is moderated by participants' stable or momentary level of concern with monitoring multiple responsibilities (Experiments 4 and 5, respectively). We did find that the opportunity to complete the final step in a sequence was particularly attractive: Setting the lower-reward task closer to completion (but with completion still out of reach) did increase its choice share, but setting the lower-reward task with completion distinctly in reach increased its choice share even more (Experiment 6). Together, the experiments imply that people sometimes behave as if they value completion itself. In everyday life, the allure of mere completion may influence the tradeoffs people make when prioritizing their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that people's capacity to successfully pursue hedonic goals is at least as important for well-being as trait self-control. Extending this research, we tested whether trait hedonic capacity is related to more time spent with hedonic goal pursuit (i.e., hedonic quantity) and whether this explains its positive relationship with well-being. Second, we explored whether this may come at a cost for people's performance. Results show that people with higher trait hedonic capacity do spend more time with hedonic goal pursuit (Study 1 and 2). However, hedonic quality not hedonic quantity accounts for its positive relationship with well-being. Further, people higher vs. lower in trait hedonic capacity perform equally well in their studies (Study 2) and their jobs (Study 3 and 4). Thus, trait hedonic capacity seems to allow people to invest more time into their hedonic goals in a way that does not jeopardize their academic and job performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers often form calorie estimates. How consumers estimate calories can systematically bias their calorie assessments. We distinguish between magnitude estimates— when consumers judge whether something has "very few" to "many" calories—and numeric estimate s—when consumers estimate a number of calories. These two estimation modes lead to calorie estimate reversals when assessing calories in stimuli that trade off type and quantity, such as when assessing calories in a smaller portion of unhealthy food versus a larger portion of healthier food. When forming a "magnitude estimate," people judge the larger, healthier food portion as containing fewer calories than the smaller, unhealthy food portion. However, when forming a "numeric estimate," people often come to the opposite conclusion—judging the larger, healthier food portion as having more calories. This reversal occurs because these two estimation modes are differentially sensitive to information regarding a stimulus' type (e.g. food healthiness), which is processed first, and quantity (e.g. food portion size), which is processed secondarily. Specifically, magnitude estimates are more sensitive to type, whereas numeric estimates attend to both type and quantity. Accordingly, this divergence between calorie estimation modes attenuates when: (1) quantity information is made primary or (2) in an intuitive (vs. deliberative) mindset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a person-centered approach, the aim of this study was to examine how student-athletes' motives for multiple-goal pursuit relate to indices of well- and ill-being. Student-athletes (N = 362) from British universities identified the most important sporting and academic goals that they were pursuing over the academic year. The participants rated their extrinsic, introjected, identified, and intrinsic goal motives for each goal and completed measures of well- and ill-being. Latent profile analysis revealed six distinct profiles of goal motives, with variations in both the strength of motives and the motivational quality. Follow-up analyses revealed between-profile differences for well- and ill-being; students with more optimal goal motive profiles reported higher and lower well- and ill-being, respectively, than those with less optimal goal motives. To experience well-being benefits when pursuing multiple goals, student-athletes should strive for their academic and sporting goals with high autonomous and low controlled goal motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using research from brand roles and goal pursuit as our theoretical framework, we find that the type of goal pursuit influences how consumers respond to the brand role of leader (i.e., leader brand) vs. servant (i.e., servant brand). Two experiments show that consumers in the goal attainment condition prefer a leader brand rather than a servant brand. In contrast, consumers in the goal progress condition show no difference in their preference for a leader brand or a servant brand. Mediation analyses show that the level of motivation mediates the effect of goal pursuit on consumers’ preference for leader brands. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

We live in a time of disappearing professions, pandemic-related upheaval, and growing social inequality. While recognizing that good opportunities are unequally distributed in society (an injustice that requires rectification), can beliefs about the nature and workings of opportunities help people see the door to their goals as more open than closed, and can these beliefs influence the likelihood of goal attainment? Seven studies (N = 1,031) examined people's beliefs about whether or not opportunities can be changed (growth vs. fixed theory of opportunity). In Studies 1a–4, participants responded to scenarios about competent people (or themselves) with challenging, long-term aspirations. When opportunities were available, both theories predicted high expectations for success and a preference for active strategies to pursue the goal, like being persistent. By contrast, when opportunities seemed unavailable, a stronger fixed theory predicted lower expectations for success and a preference for passive strategies, like simply waiting. We also established the implicit theories' causal role and demonstrated processes explaining how a growth theory leads to higher anticipated success. The final two studies examined unemployed people. In Study 5, those with a stronger growth theory chose to engage more in a task about cultivating new opportunities for employment. Study 6 showed that those with a stronger growth theory were more likely to report securing employment 5 months later, even when controlling for motivation-relevant variables, education, and socioeconomic status. They also engaged in more active job-search strategies. These studies offer a novel perspective on when, how, and why people initiate and maintain goal pursuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on self‐control has flourished within the last two decades, with many researchers trying to answer one of the most fundamental questions regarding human behaviour—how do we successfully regulate desires in the pursuit of long‐term goals? While recent research has focused on different strategies to enhance self‐control success, we still know very little about how strategies are implemented or where the need for self‐control comes from in the first place. Drawing from parallel fields (e.g., emotion regulation, health) and other theories of self‐regulation, we propose an integrative framework that describes self‐control as a dynamic, multi‐stage process that unfolds over time. In this review, we first provide an overview of this framework, which poses three stages of regulation: the identification of the need for self‐control, the selection of strategies to regulate temptations, and the implementation of chosen strategies. These regulatory stages are then flexibly monitored over time. We then expand this framework by outlining a series of growth points to guide future research. By bridging across theories and disciplines, the present framework improves our understanding of how self‐control unfolds in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative transportation is a state of total immersion that arises when one becomes engaged in a story. In Cohen et al. (2015), participants viewed a suspenseful film either with order of scenes intact or scrambled (out of chronological order). Participants had to remember to raise their hand every time they heard a film character say the word "gun." Results revealed participants were less likely to remember this instruction in the intact condition because their attention shifted away from processing their own goals to the goals of the protagonist. In three studies, we examined the boundary conditions of this effect by including a spoiler by telling participants the film ending (Study 1), having participants view the film individually or in groups (Study 2), and offering a reward incentive (Study 3). Overall, results showed that knowing the ending of the story did not improve performance, however, offering an incentive did boost goal maintenance. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion regulation, and in particular cognitive reappraisal. Gross has been booming in theory development and empirical research for the last two decades. A large number of publications have demonstrated the importance of these mechanisms for understanding and promoting well-being and mental health. It is thus timely for Cognition and Emotion to examine the current state of theory in this domain. The resultant invited article, authored by Uusberg, A., Ford, Uusberg, H., and Gross, aims to expand the scope of reappraisal theory by extending their recent reAppraisal model by suggesting different forms of goal commitment and situation construals. Their suggestions are commented on by Kashdan and Goodman from a purpose in life perspective, Ehring, and Woud from a clinical psychopathology perspective. In this editorial, I briefly discuss the lack of specification of the goal construct, which is central to the reappraisal model. Moreover, I point to recent evidence showing that problems may arise because of appraisal biases, in the case of individuals prone to inappropriate evaluations of situations. I suggest that future work in this domain could benefit from increased interaction between theorists and researchers working on appraisal and reappraisal processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the mirror mechanism the discharge of F5 mirror neurons of a monkey observing another individual performing an action is a motor representation of the observed action that may serve to understand or learn from the action. This hypothesis, if strictly interpreted, requires mirror neurons to exhibit an action tuning that is shared between action observation and execution. Due to insufficient data it remains contentious if this requirement is met. To fill in the gaps, we conducted an experiment in which identical objects had to be manipulated in three different ways in order to serve distinct action goals. Using three methods, including cross-task classification, we found that at most time points F5 mirror neurons did not encode observed actions with the same code underlying action execution. However, in about 20% of neurons there were time periods with a shared code. These time periods formed a distinct cluster and cannot be considered a product of chance. Population classification yielded non-shared coding for observed actions in the whole population, which was at times optimal and consistently better than shared coding in differentially selected subpopulations. These results support the hypothesis of a representation of observed actions based on a strictly defined mirror mechanism only for small subsets of neurons and only under the assumption of time-resolved readout. Considering alternative concepts and recent findings, we propose that during observation mirror neurons represent the process of a goal pursuit from the observer’s viewpoint. Whether the observer’s goal pursuit, in which the other’s action goal becomes the observer’s action goal, or the other’s goal pursuit is represented remains to be clarified. In any case, it may allow the observer to use expectations associated with a goal pursuit to directly intervene in or learn from another’s action.

Benign and malicious envy are a consequence of an unfavorable upward comparison to another individual (i.e. a negative self-other discrepancy). Benign (malicious) envy occurs when people believe the envied individual deserves (does not deserve) his/her advantage. Prior research has shown that benign envy motivates a person to address the self-other discrepancy via self-improvement, whereas malicious envy does not. This research shows that both types of envy, not just benign envy, can motivate self-improvement, provided that the opportunities to do so occur outside the envy-eliciting domain. Benign envy increases the accessibility of the belief that effort determines whether people are rewarded; hence, it motivates process-focused goal pursuit and the use of products that emphasize effort-dependent self-improvement. Malicious envy increases the accessibility of the belief that the effort does not determine whether people are rewarded; hence, it motivates outcome-focused goal pursuit and the use of products that emphasize effort-independent self-improvement. Implications and potential extensions in the areas of envy, self-conscious emotions, and goals are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research studies repetition decisions—namely, whether to repeat a behavior (e.g. a purchase) after receiving an incentive (e.g. a discount). Can uncertainty drive repetition? Four experiments, all involving real consequences for each individual participant, document a counterintuitive reinforcing-uncertainty effect: individuals repeat a behavior more if its incentive is uncertain than if it is certain, even when the certain incentive is financially better. This effect is robust; it holds in both lab and field settings and at both small and large magnitudes. Furthermore, the experiments identify two theory-driven boundary conditions for the reinforcing-uncertainty effect: the effect arises (a) only if the uncertainty is resolved immediately and not if the resolution of uncertainty is delayed, and (b) only after, not before, one has engaged in repetitions. These results support a resolution-as-reward account and cast doubt on other explanations such as reference-dependent preferences. This research reveals the hidden value of uncertain incentives and sheds light on the delicate relationship between incentive uncertainty and repetition decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is hypothesized to play a central role in neural processes that regulate self-control. Still uncertain, however, is how that brain structure participates in the dynamically evolving estimation of value that underlies the ability to delay gratification and wait patiently for a gain. To address that gap in knowledge, we studied the spiking activity of neurons in the STN of monkeys during a task in which animals were required to remain motionless for varying periods of time in order to obtain food reward. At the single-neuron and population levels, we found a cost–benefit integration between the desirability of the expected reward and the imposed delay to reward delivery, with STN signals that dynamically combined both attributes of the reward to form a single integrated estimate of value. This neural encoding of subjective value evolved dynamically across the waiting period that intervened after instruction cue. Moreover, this encoding was distributed inhomogeneously along the antero-posterior axis of the STN such that the most dorso-posterior-placed neurons represented the temporal discounted value most strongly. These findings highlight the selective involvement of the dorso-posterior STN in the representation of temporally discounted rewards. The combination of rewards and time delays into an integrated representation is essential for self-control, the promotion of goal pursuit, and the willingness to bear the costs of time delays.

Purpose: This research introduces a web application, the bot orchestrator, to assist researchers in developing paradigms to examine illicit networks in experiments. We implemented the application and a new paradigm to create mock networks using strangers. The proof‐of‐concept experiment examined communication when networks plan illicit activities. Method: Participants assumed the role of an illicit network member—either a manager, a coordinator or an executor. They held some information the group needed to accomplish either a material or ideological goal: communication between the roles was imperative for success. We also manipulated the level of risk associated with communicating about the planning activities. For half of the participants, there was a moderate risk of communicating about the plans. For the other half, the risk of such communication was high. The procedure allowed us to examine who a network member was willing to communicate with, given the goal under pursuit and the associated risk level. Results: Although goal‐type, risk level, and the Goal‐type × Risk Interaction did not significantly predict communication decisions, a content analysis suggested that participants were attempting to navigate the risks while pursuing their goals. Participants employed diverse communication strategies: individual differences explained the most variance regarding how network members communicate. Conclusions: We hope the web application and paradigm this research introduces will facilitate further experiments examining illicit networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to extensive research examining intrinsic motivation in educational and professional settings, the present research investigates the origin, and the development, of the intrinsic motivation to participate in a novel leisure activity. One survey and three experiments show that the enjoyment of a novel leisure activity, and the desire to reengage in the activity, are a function of the alignment between the goal associated with participation and a person's implicit theory about the skills needed to participate. A mastery goal promotes the development of intrinsic motivation when two conditions are met: (1) people believe their skills are malleable, and (2) first-time participation in the activity results in perceptions of improved mastery. A performance goal promotes the development of intrinsic motivation when two conditions are met: (1) people believe their skills are fixed, and (2) first-time participation in the activity results in perceptions of successful performance. The motivational benefits aligning participation goals and implicit theories are reversed when the execution of a first-time leisure activity is exceedingly difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instrumentality—the extent to which one facilitates another person's goal progress—has been described as the Rosetta Stone of attraction, and promotes closeness in ongoing relationships. Yet prior work has not examined whether people might regulate their instrumentality in contexts in which they desire (vs. do not desire) attraction or closeness with others. Four studies, employing imagined online scenario and in-lab experimental paradigms, examined whether people strive to be more instrumental to potential romantic partners (targets) under conditions that lead them to be more (vs. less) romantically interested in those targets. Single participants were more romantically interested in romantically available versus unavailable targets, which in turn, was associated with greater willingness to be instrumental. Results for romantically involved participants were less consistent. Implications and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research examined the motivations to maintain, approach, and avoid at different distances from one's ideal state. Although keeping things as they are (maintenance) is often equated with avoiding changes, we predicted pronounced differences between these goals' motivation gradients. We reasoned that maintenance goals are energized by positive current states, leading motivation to increase with proximity to the ideal. Avoidance, in contrast, is energized by threat, and therefore decreases with proximity to the ideal, which implicates reduced threat. Three studies (N = 599) found a robust pattern wherein the motivation gradient of maintenance is distinct from both approach and avoidance. Participants reported motivation in hypothetical scenarios in the domains of financial gain and weight loss. The motivation to maintain increased with proximity to the ideal state, while both motivations to approach and avoid decreased. Our results support a ternary goal distinction and may inspire future research in that direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a rich literature on goals, the notion of successful goal pursuit remains somewhat unclear. Most research on personal goal pursuit relies on subjective measures of goal progress and research that uses objective measures (e.g., grade point average) often ignores individuals' idiosyncratic goals. The present research investigated the relation between diverse measures of goal progress in the context of academic and weight loss goals using four datasets (total sample = 351). Overall, subjective measures were positively related to objective measures. The magnitudes of these associations varied across studies and were generally smaller than would be expected if the measures assessed the same construct (R² = .05-.39). These findings suggest that subjective and objective measures may reflect related but distinct constructs. The present research draws attention to an important topic in the goals literature and highlights the need for additional research on the conceptualization and operationalization of successful goal pursuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of healthy eating, as with many other health goals, most benefits for one's health are not realized immediately, but instead occur after a person engages in consistent patterns of healthy eating across many weeks, months, and years. Thus, being able to represent temporally distant benefits when making seemingly trivial daily eating decisions (e.g., choosing fruit salad rather than ice cream for dessert) should be a key determinant of healthy eating. Here, we tested a priori, preregistered hypotheses in a large online sample of adults (N = 360) by examining the role of self-continuity in people's daily eating behaviors, as well as the relationship between self-continuity and motivational factors behind people's decisions to eat healthy. We also examined the moderating influence of self-continuity on training in self-regulatory strategies intended to promote healthy eating. Overall, we garnered support for our hypotheses, as there were links between self-continuity measures, autonomous motivation levels, and daily eating of healthy and unhealthy foods, with participants’ ability to consider future consequences associated with unhealthy eating measures, and participants’ connectedness to their future selves associated with healthy eating measures. Taken together, the present findings suggest that continuity with one's future self is an important factor underlying daily eating decisions and successful goal pursuit in the eating domain.

Although it is widely recognized that the human mind is prone to wander, some lines of research suggest that this tendency is costly and unfortunate, whereas others suggest that mind wandering is beneficial and adaptive. Accounting for these divergent perspectives and developing theory on mind wandering, I explore the nature and performance-related consequences of mind wandering in organizations. To this end, I argue that whether mind wandering contributes to or compromises task performance over time in work settings depends on its content-that is, the specific types of thoughts workers tend to generate as their minds wander. In making this case, I theorize relationships between various types of mind wandering content and task performance over time, specify mechanisms accounting for these relationships, and consider jobrelated boundary conditions. Together, the arguments presented here advance and reorient research on mind wandering and open new windows into cognition in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the self-determination theory, this study examined the mechanisms underlying the influence of social support on goal pursuit among college students and focused on the mediating role played by just-world beliefs. The Aspiration Index Scale, Just-World Beliefs Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale were used to assess relationships among 424 college students' justworld beliefs, social support, and goal pursuit; additionally, the underlying mechanisms of those relationships were examined. The results showed that (1) there was a significant positive correlation between social support, just-world beliefs, and goal pursuit; (2) social support had a significant positive influence on goal pursuit; (3) just-world beliefs played a fully mediating role in the influence of social support on goal pursuit, with a mediating effect of 36.38%; and (4) personal just-world beliefs rather than general just-world beliefs fully mediated the effect of social support on goal pursuit, with a mediating effect of 39.00%. In conclusion, we found that for Chinese college students, social support has a significant positive effect on goal pursuit, and personal justworld beliefs play a fully mediating role in the effect of social support on goal pursuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Depression is related to poor achievement and impacts people's capacity to attain their goals (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Johnson et al., 2010; Street, 2002). But do depressive symptoms impact goal pursuit differently depending on the kinds of goals that people pursue? Methods. Across three studies (total N = 666 undergraduate students, total goals = 2,546), we examine the role of up to 16 goal characteristics as moderators in the relationship between depressive symptoms and goal progress. Depressive symptoms and goal characteristics were assessed at baseline, and participants reported on goal progress at a follow-up 1 month (Study 1), 4 months (Study 2), or 8 months (Study 3) later. Results. The effect of depressive symptoms on goal progress was nonsignificant in two out of three studies (including one with low power), but an internal meta-analysis presented a small negative effect. Most goal characteristics did not moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and goal progress, with Bayes factors suggesting substantial to very strong evidence in favor of the null hypotheses. Discussion. The kinds of goals students pursue may not matter in the presence of depressive symptoms. On one hand, this may provide a bleak outlook in highlighting that depressive symptoms impact all goals regardless of how well they are selected. On the other hand, the effects were small, which may offer a hopeful outlook for undergraduate students experiencing depressive symptoms, who may still be able to progress on their personal goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]