Freydefont Laure, Gollwitzer Peter M, Oettingen Gabriele
Psychology Department, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Psychology Department, New York University, New York, NY, USA; Psychology Department, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2016 Sep;107:44-53. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.06.013. Epub 2016 Jun 30.
Two experiments investigate the influence of goal and implementation intentions on effort mobilization during task performance. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of setting goals and making plans on performance, the effects of goals and plans on effort-related cardiac activity and especially the cardiac preejection period (PEP) during goal striving have not yet been addressed. According to the Motivational Intensity Theory, participants should increase effort mobilization proportionally to task difficulty as long as success is possible and justified. Forming goals and making plans should allow for reduced effort mobilization when participants perform an easy task. However, when the task is difficult, goals and plans should differ in their effect on effort mobilization. Participants who set goals should disengage, whereas participants who made if-then plans should stay in the field showing high effort mobilization during task performance. As expected, using an easy task in Experiment 1, we observed a lower cardiac PEP in both the implementation intention and the goal intention condition than in the control condition. In Experiment 2, we varied task difficulty and demonstrated that while participants with a mere goal intention disengaged from difficult tasks, participants with an implementation intention increased effort mobilization proportionally with task difficulty. These findings demonstrate the influence of goal striving strategies (i.e., mere goals vs. if-then plans) on effort mobilization during task performance.
两项实验研究了目标和执行意图对任务执行过程中努力调动的影响。尽管众多研究已证明设定目标和制定计划对绩效有有益影响，但目标和计划对与努力相关的心脏活动，尤其是在追求目标过程中的心脏射血前期（PEP）的影响尚未得到探讨。根据动机强度理论，只要成功是可能的且合理的，参与者应根据任务难度按比例增加努力调动。当参与者执行简单任务时，形成目标和制定计划应能减少努力调动。然而，当任务困难时，目标和计划对努力调动的影响应有所不同。设定目标的参与者应退出，而制定了“如果……那么……”计划的参与者应留在任务中，在任务执行过程中表现出高努力调动。正如预期的那样，在实验1中使用简单任务时，我们观察到执行意图和目标意图条件下的心脏PEP均低于控制条件。在实验2中，我们改变了任务难度，并证明虽然仅有目标意图的参与者会从困难任务中退出，但有执行意图的参与者会随着任务难度按比例增加努力调动。这些发现证明了追求目标策略（即单纯目标与“如果……那么……”计划）对任务执行过程中努力调动的影响。
