TY - JOUR

T1 - Negotiating With Yourself and Winning

T2 - The Dual Commitment Model for Intrapersonal Sustainability Goal Conflicts

AU - Sevincer, A. Timur

AU - Majer, Johann M.

AU - Trötschel, Roman

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 American Psychological Association

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Conflict is a pervasive barrier in sustainability transitions particularly when people are torn between pursuing many goals simultaneously. However, striving to achieve multiple sustainability goals may lead to conflicts with other seemingly contradictory sustainability goals. This poses a motivational challenge hampering sustainable behavior. We seek to address this challenge through a novel theoretical lens that integrates the fields of intrapersonal goal conflicts and interpersonal conflict resolution. Building on insights from both fields, we aim to advance theorizing and stimulate new research at their intersection and within each field. Our integrative theoretical lens draws on the dual concern model (Pruitt & Rubin, 1986)—originally designed to describe motivations, strategies, and solutions in interpersonal conflicts—to develop our newly proposed dual commitment model—for describing motivations, strategies, and solutions to intrapersonal goal conflicts. A central tenant of this model is that people can pursue multiple conflicting goals simultaneously by finding creative integrative (win–win) solutions. Drawing also on intrapersonal conflict resolution research, we identify boundary conditions for attaining integrative solutions. However, we posit that engaging in the self-regulation strategy of mental contrasting—imagining the desired future of reconciling the competing goals contrasted with obstacles toward reconciliation—helps people achieve integrative solutions in the form of multifinal means, means prioritization, and allocating means according to their effectiveness. Promoting sustainability goal achievement may, thus, involve negotiating with oneself about how to optimally balance multiple goal pursuits.

AB - Conflict is a pervasive barrier in sustainability transitions particularly when people are torn between pursuing many goals simultaneously. However, striving to achieve multiple sustainability goals may lead to conflicts with other seemingly contradictory sustainability goals. This poses a motivational challenge hampering sustainable behavior. We seek to address this challenge through a novel theoretical lens that integrates the fields of intrapersonal goal conflicts and interpersonal conflict resolution. Building on insights from both fields, we aim to advance theorizing and stimulate new research at their intersection and within each field. Our integrative theoretical lens draws on the dual concern model (Pruitt & Rubin, 1986)—originally designed to describe motivations, strategies, and solutions in interpersonal conflicts—to develop our newly proposed dual commitment model—for describing motivations, strategies, and solutions to intrapersonal goal conflicts. A central tenant of this model is that people can pursue multiple conflicting goals simultaneously by finding creative integrative (win–win) solutions. Drawing also on intrapersonal conflict resolution research, we identify boundary conditions for attaining integrative solutions. However, we posit that engaging in the self-regulation strategy of mental contrasting—imagining the desired future of reconciling the competing goals contrasted with obstacles toward reconciliation—helps people achieve integrative solutions in the form of multifinal means, means prioritization, and allocating means according to their effectiveness. Promoting sustainability goal achievement may, thus, involve negotiating with oneself about how to optimally balance multiple goal pursuits.

KW - dual concern model

KW - integrative solution

KW - mental contrasting

KW - multiple goal pursuit

KW - self-regulation

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85216990814&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/mot0000388

DO - 10.1037/mot0000388

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85216990814

JO - Motivation Science

JF - Motivation Science

SN - 2333-8113

ER -