Demand to Act and Use of Mental Contrasting
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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Demand to Act and Use of Mental Contrasting. / Sevincer, A. Timur; Tessmann, Patrik; Oettingen, Gabriele.
in: Social Psychology, Jahrgang 49, Nr. 6, 01.11.2018, S. 344-359.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Demand to Act and Use of Mental Contrasting
AU - Sevincer, A. Timur
AU - Tessmann, Patrik
AU - Oettingen, Gabriele
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Hogrefe Publishing.
PY - 2018/11/1
Y1 - 2018/11/1
N2 - Mentally contrasting a desired future with present reality fosters selective goal pursuit: People pursue feasible desired futures and let go from unfeasible ones. We investigated whether people spontaneously use mental contrasting when the demand to act toward their desired future is high. Study 1 provided correlational evidence: The participants who planned to act most immediately were also those who used mental contrasting. Studies 2 and 3 added experimental evidence: Imagining an immediate (vs. no immediate) action and being confronted with the opportunity to perform an instrumental (vs. noninstrumental) action, respectively, led participants to mentally contrast. The findings have theoretical implications by suggesting that people initiate mental contrasting as a problem-solving strategy; they have applied implications for interventions teaching mental contrasting.
AB - Mentally contrasting a desired future with present reality fosters selective goal pursuit: People pursue feasible desired futures and let go from unfeasible ones. We investigated whether people spontaneously use mental contrasting when the demand to act toward their desired future is high. Study 1 provided correlational evidence: The participants who planned to act most immediately were also those who used mental contrasting. Studies 2 and 3 added experimental evidence: Imagining an immediate (vs. no immediate) action and being confronted with the opportunity to perform an instrumental (vs. noninstrumental) action, respectively, led participants to mentally contrast. The findings have theoretical implications by suggesting that people initiate mental contrasting as a problem-solving strategy; they have applied implications for interventions teaching mental contrasting.
KW - action
KW - content analyses
KW - future thinking
KW - goal pursuit
KW - mental contrasting
KW - self-regulation
KW - Psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054797788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1027/1864-9335/a000353
DO - 10.1027/1864-9335/a000353
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85054797788
VL - 49
SP - 344
EP - 359
JO - Social Psychology
JF - Social Psychology
SN - 1864-9335
IS - 6
ER -