The Implementation Intention of Behavior: A Brief Introduction

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2014, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4) : 875-879.

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PDF(3718 KB)
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2014, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4) : 875-879.

The Implementation Intention of Behavior: A Brief Introduction

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Abstract

In order to reveal psychological mechanism between behavioral intention and actual behavior, we base the study on previous research results that introduced a concept of implementation intention, then combine the concept with characteristics of implementation intention and its relations with the traditional behavioral theory, the study establishes relationship between the behavior intention, implementation intentions and behavior, which provides a new angle of view for the actual behavior prediction and lays the foundation for further study of implementation intention theory. The results show that behavioral intention is the core predictor variable of the actual behavior, and has achieved fruitful results in various fields of study. However, many scholars found that behavioral intentions could explain only 25-30% of the behavior variance, couldn’t explain most of the variance, thus foreign academia put forward the concept of implementation intentions, which is the closest predictor variables of the actual behavior. By using literature research method reviews researches on the concept of implementation intention, related research and application research, and then we put forward the research deficiency and future research prospects. The results show:(1) Individuals with the action goal oriented, connected situational cues. Unfortunately, systematic exposition of implementation intention is relatively rare, most of the research is based on some areas of implementation intention, such as sports, fruit consumption, medical rehabilitation etc. Domestic scholars' research on implementation intention is very few. Taking "implementation intentions" as the keyword search in CNKI and WANFANG , there are about 8 documents about implementation intention, which shows the research area lacks conceptual framework. Therefore, systematically carding of correlative theories on behavioral intention is urgent, to promote research and application of behavioral science in more fields;(2) Under the condition of invariable in maintaining the intention, those with high-level perceived control are more likely to perform better than the average ones;(3) The major mediators of implementation intention are behavioral intention, self coordination, cooperation, reminder of plans, consciousness, personality and other variables;(4) For those with low self-efficacy, forming implementation intention information may be very important, because these variables and implementation intention were positively correlated with each other, further proof that implementation intention only has partial mediating effect on the relationship between intention and behavior. Implementation intention can help people reduce the distance between the intended target and the actual one, which serve as an active bridge that between intention and actual behavior ;(5) Those forming implementation intention have positive psychological states to overcome difficulties and achieve the established goals. Implementation intentions with consciousness, goal orientation and self-control have a more powerful promoting effect on behavior, showing strong executive willingness;(6) Implementation intention by plan characteristics asks an individual if a scenario is suited for goal-directed behavior, thus they will be in this context to behavior, which requires the individual imagine important scenarios and the desired behavior. The mental stimulation process that imagination brings may lead to enhance the stability of individual behavior in long-term memory. In short, implementation intention is a particularly important variable in behavioral science. Especially in China context, we should pay more attention on it in the related research.

Key words

behavior intention / implementation intention / goal intention / self-coordination / consciousness

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The Implementation Intention of Behavior: A Brief Introduction[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2014, 37(4): 875-879
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