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Eat Less, Move More: Easy 2 Say, Hard 2 Do
Dixie Stanforth, PhD, The University of Texas at Austin
Email: [email protected]I. Change is HARD
- Exercise examples: it doesn’t take much to have an impact....why are so few Americans
following our advice to “eat less, move more?” - CDC 2010: 33% never exercise, 55% no vigorous activity; even worse in older
populations
II. Implementation Intentions: A research based approach
- Resolutions....Intentions....
Why do people who intend to “do” something not get it done? - Intentions indicate you are ready to act
“Forming a behavioral or goal intention signals the end of the deliberation about what
one will do and indicates how hard one is prepared to try, or how much effort one will
exert, in order to achieve desired outcomes.” (Webb & Sheeran, 2006) - Intentions = Key Determinant?
Assumed to contain the essence of motivational factors that influence behavior
Goal theory, Health behavior models & Attitude-behavior theories point to intentions as a
key to behavior change - Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) targets goal directed, volitional actions
- Do both intention AND behavior change? Meta-analyses show that a medium-to-large
change in intention (d=0.66) leads to a small-to-medium change in behavior (d=0.36). - How to move from Intention to Action?
How do you activate and strengthen intentions - change behavior in the real world?
Having a Goal/Intention ≠ having a Plan to accomplish it - Goals ≠
Implementation Intentions
Differ on content and structure
Goal intention = what you intend to do/achieve [I’m going to start exercising]
Implementation Intention = when, where, and how you intend to achieve it [This Friday,
at 10 a.m., I will go to the club for a circuit training class] - Implementation Intentions
May bridge the “intention-behavior” gap
Determine how you intend to implement specific actions to achieve your goal
Create an “if-then” scenario: you connect a good opportunity to act with defined
behaviors in that situation
“See and Seize” opportunity - Implementation Intentions:
Do they work?
Robust outcomes across variations in study design, measures, and goal domains
If-then planning facilitated goal-striving regardless of self-regulatory problem
Medium to large effect sizes: initiating goal striving, shielding goals from unwanted
influences, disengaging from failing goals, and preserving self-regulatory capability for
future goal striving - Sample Research with Implementation Intentions
Kids & smoking? Exercise & phone apps? Binge drinking? Snacking? Politics?
Cancer screens? Reproductive health? Sport anxiety? - iPhone App for Behavior Change using Implementation Intentions
Brisk walk for weight loss? Stress reduction? Better moods?
It’s simple, easy....so why doesn’t everybody do it? - Study Design/Limitations
a. Random assignment to one of three conditions: Control, II + Process Reminder, and