Complex goals: implementation intentions´ achilles heel in healthy eating

Abstract

Faced with the raising healthy eating problems, it is important to find effective ways so that people can set and attain their health-related goals. One of the most widespread interventions is implementation intentions (II). Yet, there is mixed evidence about the effectiveness of II in healthy eating. One aspect that could explain these differences and have been overlooked in the literature is goal complexity. Complex goals are those for which there is more than one course of action with different degrees of effectiveness and the person lacks the knowledge to identify which one is more appropriate. We hypothesize that complex goals do not meet the conditions for II to work and therefore II are less effective with such goals. We find confirmation for this hypothesis in an experiment. Implications of this result are discussed.

Faced with the raising healthy eating problems, it is important to find effective ways so that people can set and attain their health-related goals. One of the most widespread interventions is implementation intentions (II). Yet, there is mixed evidence about the effectiveness of II in healthy eating. One aspect that could explain these differences and have been overlooked in the literature is goal complexity. Complex goals are those for which there is more than one course of action with different degrees of effectiveness and the person lacks the knowledge to identify which one is more appropriate. We hypothesize that complex goals do not meet the conditions for II to work and therefore II are less effective with such goals. We find confirmation for this hypothesis in an experiment. Implications of this result are discussed.