Mental contrasting
Mental contrasting (MC) is a problem-solving strategy and motivational tool that leads to selective behavior modification.[1] It was introduced by psychologist Gabriele Oettingen in 2001.[2]
Mental contrasting[edit]
Mental contrasting is a problem-solving strategy and motivational tool that leads to selective behavior modification.[1][3][2] The strategy as been covered by numerous newspapers and in the media: [The New York Times], [The Huffington Post],[The Wall Street Journal(blog)],[Fox Business], among others. In mental contrasting individuals first positively fantasize about a wished for future (e.g., solve an ongoing interpersonal conflict) and then mentally elaborate the current reality that stands in the way of realizing the envisioned future (e.g., shyness). Imagining the future and then imagining real-life obstacles reveal that in order to realize the wished for future one has to act on the current reality (e.g., to solve the interpersonal conflict one needs to overcome the present shyness). As a consequence, expectations of overcoming the obstacle determine one’s behavior: high expectations lead to increased effort and more success and low expectations lead to decreased effort and less success. The latter helps people disengage from unrealistic wishes and free up resources for other goals.
Mental contrasting mechanisms[edit]
To explain the effects of mental contrasting on behavior change, research has posited three different mechanisms: cognitive changes, motivational changes, and people’s response to negative feedback.[1]
Cognitive changes: Mental contrasting seems to strengthen the implicit association between the future and current reality when expectations are high, and weakens it when expectations are low. Mental contrasting also seems to strengthen the implicit association between current reality and the instrumental means to change the current reality.[4] Mental contrasting also seems to change the meaning of current reality: Only when expectations are high is the current reality interpreted as an obstacle (e.g., the party on Saturday is an obstacle to obtaining the desired high grade).[5] All these cognitive processes seem to occur outside of awareness and mediate the effects of mental contrasting on behavior modification.[6]
Motivational changes: Mental contrasting seems to energize people (as shown by physiological indicators) when expectations are high; when expectations are low, people become less energized.[7] Other modes of thought (such as indulging in positive fantasies or dwelling on obstacles) produce no change in physiological indicators of energization. Changes in energization mediate the effects of mental contrasting on behavior change.[8][9]
Response to negative feedback: Mental contrasting seems to help people process the useful information in negative feedback, which in turn may inspire them to form plans for implementing behavior change. Mental contrasting also appears to protect a person's sense of competence and encourages optimistic attributions for experienced set-backs.[10]
Theoretical background[edit]
Fantasy realization theory[edit]
Besides mental contrasting, fantasy realization theory specifies two additional modes of thought: solely thinking about the positive future (indulging) or solely thinking about current, real-life obstacles (dwelling).[3][1] Indulging in the desired future ignores possible obstacles and therefore conceals the necessity to act. Dwelling on present reality, on the other hand, does not direct energy in an appropriate direction. Behavior therefore stays unchanged and independent of one’s expectations of success.
Many studies show the different effects of mental contrasting versus indulging and dwelling on behavior change. For example, college students named their most important interpersonal concern and indicated their expectations of resolving the concern. They were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: mental contrasting, indulging, or dwelling. When measuring their feelings of energization right after the experiment, and then two weeks later, participants with high expectations increased in energization and acted immediately, those with low expectations decreased in energization and delayed their action. Students in the indulging and dwelling conditions did not change, neither in their energization nor in their immediacy of action, regardless of whether their expectations were high or low.[2] In other words, indulging and dwelling led individuals to invest too little when chances of success were high and to invest too much when chances were low. This pattern of results has been replicated in different life domains (e.g., interpersonal, health, academic), for short-term as well as for long-term goals (e.g., giving a speech, combining career and childrearing), for people of different ages and cultures (e.g., adolescents and adults, Germany and the US), and for different measures of goal pursuit (e.g., cognitive, emotional, and behavioral).[1]
Mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII)[edit]
Psychologists Gabriele Oettingen and Peter M. Gollwitzer combined the strategy of mental contrasting with the strategy of implementation intentions into a single intervention known as mental contrasting with implementation intentions (or MCII).[11] Implementation intentions are "if-then plans" that specify the when, where and how portions of goal-directed behavior. Salient obstacles to goal-directed behavior that have been identified using mental contrasting can be addressed with if-then plans that link the obstacle (in the if-part) with actions to overcome the obstacle (in the then-part).[11] MCII has been tested in contexts such as self-management of exercise,[11] diabetes,[12] academic performance,[13] and management of interpersonal conflict.[14]
WOOP[edit]
WOOP is an acronym for four steps to combine mental contrasting with implementation intentions.[15] Mental contrasting contributes the "WOO" part (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle) in WOOP, whereas implementation intentions contribute the "P" part (Plan).
The WOOP strategy contains four steps:
- Wish: The first step is to name an important but feasible wish or goal that one would like to fulfill.
- Outcome: The second step is to identify and imagine the positive future outcome of fulfilling this wish or goal.
- Obstacle: The third step is to identify and imagine the most critical personal obstacle that stands in the way of fulfillment of this wish or goal.
- Plan: The fourth step is to specify a plan to effect desired behaviors. It takes the form of "if [a particular situation that represents a good opportunity] arises... then I will [engage in behavior that promotes my goal]."
WOOP is time- and cost-effective to teach and can be applied to issues from any life domain (interpersonal, academic, professional, health). It can be used for goals that are small or large, short-term or long-term.[15]
Applications[edit]
A number of applications of mental contrasting have been studied by Oettingen and her colleagues. For example, in one study, health care professionals successfully managed their everyday life;[16] in another study, disadvantaged elementary- and middle-school children improved their school performance;[17] in another study, middle-aged, overweight fishermen of low socioeconomic status engaged in more physical activity.[18] In a standard dyadic negotiation game, mental-contrasting participants found more integrative solutions than indulging, dwelling, and control participants, and were fairer to their partners.[19] Importantly, using mental contrasting in one domain appeared to help behavior change in other domains. Students who used mental contrasting in order to consume fewer calories over the course of two weeks not only consumed fewer calories but also increased their physical activity.[20]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Oettingen, G. (2012). Future thought and behaviour change. European Review of Social Psychology, 23, 1-63. doi:10.1080/10463283.2011.643698
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Oettingen, G., Pak, H., & Schnetter, K. (2001). Self-regulation of goal setting: turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 736-753. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.5.736
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Oettingen, G. (2000). Expectancy effects on behavior depend on self-regulatory thought. Social Cognition, 18, 101-129. doi:10.1521/soco.2000.18.2.101
- ↑ Kappes, A., Singmann, H., & Oettingen, G. (2012). Mental contrasting instigates goal-pursuit by linking obstacles of reality with instrumental behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 811-818. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.002
- ↑ Kappes, A., Wendt, M., Reinelt, T., & Oettingen (2013). Mental contrasting changes the meaning of reality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 797-810. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.03.010
- ↑ Kappes, A. & Oettingen, G. (2014). The emergence of goal pursuit: mental contrasting connects future and reality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, 25-39. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.03.014
- ↑ Oettingen, G., Mayer, D., Sevincer, A. T., Stephens, E. J., Pak, H., & Hagenah, M. (2009). Mental contrasting and goal commitment: the mediating role of energization. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 608-622. doi:10.1177/0146167208330856
- ↑ Sevincer, A. T., Busatta, P. D., & Oettingen, G. (2014). Mental contrasting and transfer of energization. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 139-152. doi:10.1177/0146167213507088
- ↑ Sevincer, A. T., & Oettingen, G. (2014). Future thought and the self-regulation of energization. In G. H. E. Gendolla, M. Tops, & S. Koole (Eds.), Biobehavioral approaches to self-regulation (pp. 315-329). New York: Springer.
- ↑ Kappes, A., Oettingen, G., & Pak, H. (2012). Mental contrasting and the self-regulation of responding to negative feedback. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 845-857. doi:10.1177/0146167212446833
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Stadler, G., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2009). Physical activity in women: effects of a self-regulation intervention. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(1), 29-34. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2008.09.021
- ↑ Adriaanse, M. A., De Ridder, D. T. D., & Voorneman, I. M. M. (2013). Improving diabetes self-management by mental contrasting. Psychology & Health, 28, 1-12. doi:10.1080/08870446.2012.660154
- ↑ Duckworth, A. L., Kirby, T. A., Gollwitzer, A., & Oettingen, G. (2013). From fantasy to action: mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) improves academic performance in children. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(6), 745-753. doi:10.1177/1948550613476307
- ↑ Kirk, D., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2013). Promoting integrative bargaining: mental contrasting with implementation intentions. International Journal of Conflict Management, 24, 148-165. doi:10.1108/10444061311316771
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Oettingen, G. (2014). Rethinking positive thinking: inside the new science of motivation. New York: Penguin Random House.
- ↑ Oettingen, G., Mayer, D., & Brinkmann, B. (2010). Mental contrasting of future and reality: managing the demands of everyday life in health care professionals. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 9, 138-144. doi:10.1027/1866-5888/a000018
- ↑ Gollwitzer, A., Oettingen, G., Kirby, T., Duckworth, A., & Mayer, D. (2011). Mental contrasting facilitates academic performance in school children. Motivation and Emotion, 35, 403-412. doi:10.1007/s11031-011-9222-0
- ↑ Sheeran, P., Harris, P., Vaughan, J., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2013). Gone exercising: mental contrasting promotes physical activity among overweight, middle-aged, low-SES fishermen. Health Psychology, 32, 802-809. doi:10.1037/a0029293
- ↑ Kirk, D., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2011). Mental contrasting promotes integrative bargaining. International Journal of Conflict Management, 22, 324-341. doi:10.1108/10444061111171341
- ↑ Johannessen, K. B., Oettingen, G., & Mayer, D. (2012). Mental contrasting of a dieting wish improves self-reported health behaviour. Psychology and Health, 27, 43–58. doi:10.1080/08870446.2011.626038
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