When the Mind Forges Its Own Plans : The Phenomenon of the Implicit Emergence of Implementation Intentions

Abstract

The present research investigates the implicit emergence of implementation intentions (i.e., plans specifying when, where, and how goal pursuit is to be enacted; Gollwitzer, 1999). The thinking processes leading to implementation intentions were recently found to nonconsciously occur in the service of goal pursuit (Dijksterhuis, 2004). Research on skill acquisition and language processing indicates that merely processing an implementa-tion intention in an if-then conditional format is sufficient to make it available for such thinking processes (see Anderson, 1983; Scholnick & Wing, 1992). Thus, it is hypothesized that when an implementation intention specifying in an if-then conditional format how to attain an actively pursued goal is processed, it implicitly emerges without con-scious intent or awareness. Five experiments empirically support this assumption by replicating with implicitly emerged implementation intentions the behavioral outcomes found in previous research in which implementation intentions were explicitly formed (for review, see Gollwitzer & Oettingen, 2011). Experiments 1 and 2 replicate improved goal attainment. Experiments 3 and 4 replicate the finding that improved goal attainment is due to behavioral automation. Experiment 4 also indicates that the implicit emergence of implementation intentions does not occur when a plan specifies the same information as an implementation intention but without the if-then conditional format. Experiments 4 and 5 indicate that the implicit emergence of implementation intentions can be genera-lized to the pursuit of different goals and that it can be instigated by everyday influences. Experiment 5 was a field experiment indicating that the implicit emergence of implementation intentions is a means of goal pursuit controlled by nonconscious behavioral self-regulation as it occurs in everyday life. Theoretical implications of the present findings concern the understanding of flexibility in nonconscious behavioral self-regulation and of the conscious and nonconscious processes resulting in implementation intentions. Practical implications of the findings include interventions to support goal attainment in cases in which conscious planning is unlikely. Conditions that might hinder the implicit emergence of implementation intentions are discussed, and avenues for future investigation concerning methods to induce the implicit emergence of implementation intentions are elucidated.