Downregulation of Anger by Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions (MCII)

Autonomous motivation promotes goal attainment through the conscious investment of effort, but mental contrasting with implementation intentions makes goal striving easier

People with autonomous motives (e.g., personal importance) may use automated strategies to effortlessly sustain goal-directed behavior and overcome obstacles. We investigated whether conscious effort, ease of goal striving, physiological effort, and the number of obstacles encountered mediate relations between motives and goal attainment for a competitive cycling goal. Additionally, half the participants (n = 57) were trained in Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) - a technique that facilitates development of goal-directed behavior - with remaining participants (n = 54) treated as controls. Conscious investment of effort mediated relations between autonomous motives and goal attainment. Subjective ease of goal striving and physiological effort did not. This result indicates that successful goal striving is not perceived as effortless for autonomously motivated individuals working on competitive goals. Conversely, MCII predicted a reduction in obstacles, which in turn was associated with easier goal striving but not goal attainment. Although MCII did not support goal attainment in the current study, its ability to minimize the influence of obstacles may still be useful for other types of goals or for sustaining long-term goal pursuit.

Protocol for a cluster randomised waitlist-controlled trial of a goal-based behaviour change intervention for employees in workplaces enrolled in health and wellbeing initiatives

Many workplaces offer health and wellbeing initiatives to their staff as recommended by international and national health organisations. Despite their potential, the influence of these initiatives on health behaviour appears limited and evaluations of their effectiveness are rare. In this research, we propose evaluating the effectiveness of an established behaviour change intervention in a new workplace context. The intervention, 'mental contrasting plus implementation intentions', supports staff in achieving their health and wellbeing goals by encouraging them to compare the future with the present and to develop a plan for overcoming anticipated obstacles. We conducted a systematic review that identified only three trials of this intervention in workplaces and all of them were conducted within healthcare organisations. Our research will be the first to evaluate the effectiveness of mental contrasting outside a solely healthcare context. We propose including staff from 60 organisations, 30 in the intervention and 30 in a waitlisted control group. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of how to empower and support staff to improve their health and wellbeing. Trial registration: ISRCTN17828539.

Effectiveness of a Motivational Smoking Reduction Strategy Across Socioeconomic Status and Stress Levels

Smoking consequences are seen disproportionately among low-SES smokers. We examine the self-regulatory strategy of mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) as a smoking reduction tool and whether its effectiveness depends on subjective-SES. This pre-registered online experiment comprised a pre-screening, baseline survey, and follow-up. Participants reported past-week smoking, subjective-SES, perceived stress, and were randomized to an active control (n = 161) or MCII condition (n = 164). Data were collected via MTurk, during the U.S.' initial wave of COVID-19. Participants were moderate-to-heavy smokers open to reducing or quitting. The primary outcome was self-reported smoking reduction, computed as the difference between recent smoking at baseline and follow-up. The secondary outcome was cessation, operationalized as self-reported 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at follow-up. Among those low-but not high-in subjective-SES, MCII (vs. control) improved smoking reduction by an average of 1.09 fewer cigarettes smoked per day, though this effect was not conclusive (p = 0.11). Similarly, quitting was descriptively more likely for those in the MCII than control condition, but the effect was non-significant (p = 0.11). Per an exploratory analysis, we observed that stress significantly moderated the condition effect (p = 0.01), such that MCII (vs. control) facilitated reduction among those experiencing high (p = 0.03), but not low stress (p = 0.15). Consistent with prior findings that MCII works best in vulnerable populations, MCII may be more effective for smoking reduction among high-stress than low-stress individuals. These findings contribute to growing research on income-related health disparities and smoking behavior change tools.

A Controlled Pilot Study of the Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan Strategy for Spouses of Persons with Early-Stage Dementia

OBJECTIVES

Behavioral interventions can reduce distress for couples coping with early-stage dementia. However, most interventions are limited in accessibility and fail to address individualized goals. This pilot study examined the dyadic effects on multiple indicators of well-being of the Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan (WOOP) intervention which guides participants to use Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) to achieve attainable goals in their daily lives.

METHODS

This randomized controlled trial included 45 older persons with early-stage dementia (PWD) and their spousal care partners (CPs: n = 90 individuals). CPs were assigned randomly to WOOP training immediately after baseline (WOOP) or after a three-month follow-up interview (Control; CON). Both groups received a dementia care education booklet. WOOP CPs were instructed to practice WOOP at least once a day for two weeks. All CPs and PWDs completed home surveys (baseline, two-weeks, and three months) measuring perceived stress, depressive symptoms, quality of life, and affect.

RESULTS

Mixed effects models showed significant intervention x time interaction effects with large effect sizes for CPs on three of the five outcomes over three months. Compared to CON, WOOP CPs had decreased perceived stress (δ = 1.71) and increased quality of life (δ = 1.55) and positive affect (δ = 2.30). WOOP PWD showed decreased perceived stress (δ = .87) and increased quality of life (δ = 1.26) but these effects were not statistically significant.

DISCUSSION

WOOP is a promising, brief intervention to improve dementia care partners' well-being that may also positively impact their partners with dementia.

Development of a brief online intervention to address aggression in the context of emotion-related impulsivity: Evidence from a wait-list controlled trial

Trait-like tendencies to respond impulsively to emotion, labelled emotion-related impulsivity, are robustly related to aggression. We developed and tested an online intervention to address emotion-related impulsivity and aggression. The 6-session intervention focused on behavioral techniques shown to decrease arousal and aggression, supplemented with implementation intentions and smartphone prompts to facilitate skills transfer into daily life. First, we piloted the intervention in-person with 4 people. Then, 235 participants were randomly assigned to take the online intervention immediately or after a wait-list period; those in the waitlist were then invited to take part in the intervention. Participants completed the self-rated Feelings Trigger Action Scale to assess emotion-related impulsivity, the interview-based Modified Overt Aggression Scale and the self-rated Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Participants who took part in the treatment completed daily anger logs. Attrition, as with other online programs, was high; however, treatment completers reported high satisfaction, and outcomes changed more rapidly during treatment than waitlist across all key outcome indices. In analyses including all participants who took part in the treatment (immediate or delayed), we observed moderate-to-large treatment gains, which were maintained as of the 3-month follow-up assessment. This work supports the usefulness of an intervention for addressing emotion-related impulsivity and aggression.

Using the theory of self-affirmation and self-regulation strategies of mental contrasting and forming implementation intentions to reduce social anxiety symptoms

Background and Objectives: Based on the results of past research on emotion regulation and positive behavioral change via self-affirmation, it was hypothesized that self-affirmation should help socially anxious individuals to reduce social anxiety symptoms. The effectiveness of a brief self-affirmation intervention framed in terms of implementation intentions (if-then plans with self-affirming cognitions) was compared against forming non-affirming implementation intentions (with distraction as a way of coping) and inactive control condition. Additionally, it was tested whether mental contrasting can augment the impact of the self-affirmation intervention. Design/Methods: Participants (N = 198, aged 18-45) were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions (self-affirming implementation intention, mental contrasting with self-affirming implementation intention, or non-affirming implementation intention) or an inactive control-group. Social anxiety symptoms were assessed at baseline and at one-week post-intervention. Results: The difference between the interventions and the control group was substantial. However, there were no differences in the reduction of overall social anxiety levels between the interventions. Each of the interventions produced a statistically significant reduction in social anxiety (Cohen's ds from -.40 to -.50). Conclusions: The results indicate no advantage for self-affirming over non-affirming implementation intentions in reducing social anxiety symptoms. Moreover, no superiority of mental contrasting was found.