Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

362 CHAPTER 8 Motivation and Emotionof implementation intentions is to create new habits or routinesin your life (Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2000).As simple as this seems, research has demonstrated that formingspecific implementation intentions is very effective (Gollwitzer& Sheeran, 2006; Parks-Stamm & others, 2007). For example, onestudy involved student volunteers with no enticement for participatingin the research, such as money or course credit. Just beforethe students left for the holidays, they were instructed to write anessay describing how they spent Christmas Eve. The essay had tobe written and mailed within two days after Christmas Eve.Half of the participants were instructed to write out specificimplementation intentions describing exactly when and wherethey would write the report during the critical 48-hour period.They were also instructed to visualize the chosen opportunityand mentally commit themselves to it.The other half of the participants were not asked to identifya specific time or place, but just instructed to write and mailthe report within the 48 hours. The results? Of those in theimplementation intention group, 71 percent wrote and mailedthe report by the deadline. Only 32 percent of the other groupdid so (Gollwitzer & Brandstätter, 1997).Mental Rehearsal: Visualize the ProcessThe mental images you create in anticipation of a situation canstrongly influence your sense of self-efficacy and self-control aswell as the effectiveness of your implementation intentions(Gollwitzer, 1999; Ozer & Bandura, 1990). For example, studentssometimes undermine their own performance by vividly imaginingtheir worst fears, such as becoming overwhelmed by anxietyduring a class presentation or going completely blank during atest. However, the opposite is also possible. Mentally visualizingyourself dealing effectively with a situation can enhance yourperformance (Libby & others, 2007; Conway & others, 2004).Athletes, in particular, are aware of this and mentally rehearsetheir performance prior to competition.So strive to control your thoughts in an optimistic way bymentally focusing on your capabilities and a positive outcome,not your limitations and worst fears. The key here is not justimagining a positive outcome. Instead, imagine and mentallyrehearse the process—the skills you will effectively use and thesteps you will take—to achieve the outcome you want (Pham &Taylor, 1999). Go for it!GARFIELD© GARFIELD 1989 Paws, Inc. Reprinted withpermission of UNIVERSAL PRESSSYNDICATE. All rights reserved.