Planning to break unwanted habits: Habit strengthmoderates implementation intention effects onbehaviour change

摘要

Implementation intention formation promotes effective goal striving and goalattainment. However, little research has investigated whether implementationintentions promote behaviour change when people possess strong antagonistic habits.Experiment I developed relatively habitual responses that, after a task switch, had adetrimental impact on task performance. Forming an if-then plan reduced the negativeimpact of habit on performance. However, the effect of forming implementationintentions was smaller among participants who possessed strong habits as compared toparticipants who had weaker habits. Experiment 2 provided a field test of the role ofhabit strength in moderating the relationship between implementation intentions andbehaviour in the context of smoking. Implementation intentions reduced smokingamong participants with weak or moderate smoking habits, but not among participantswith strong smoking habits. In summary, habit strength moderates the effectiveness ofif-then plan formation in breaking unwanted habits.