How to Pursue Goals and Attain Them Part 9 – Self-Regulation Skills That Facilitate Goal Attainment

By Kenneth Ukoh – 31 May 2024

“Self-regulation does not refer to ‘good behaviour’ but to the capacity of an individual to maintain a reasonably even internal emotional environment. A person with good self-regulation will not experience rapidly shifting extremes of emotional highs and lows in the face of life’s challenges, difficulties, disappointments, and satisfactions.” –  Gabor Maté

Self-regulation is often described as the “capacity” to self-regulate. For instance, Billore, Anisimova and Vrontis, (2023), describe it as “… the human capacity to control urges in an attempt to change existing behaviour according to some defined ideas or goals (Baumeister & Vohs, 2007), and it is considered one of the key capabilities of the human (Baumeister, 1997 Higgins, 1996a, 1996b; Muraven et al., 1998).”  Gagnon, Durand-Bush and Young (2016) in their study of self-regulation capacity and psychological well-being, refer to self-regulation capacity as  “…..important self-help skills allowing individuals to effectively manage their thoughts, feelings, and actions to attain goals while mastering a demanding environment.”  The Encyclopaedia of Behavioural Medicine pp 1757–1759, refers to self-regulatory capacity as “…an individual’s ability to exert control over their behaviour, thoughts, and feelings. The capacity for self-regulation differs between individuals and can depend on situational factors such as the experience of self-regulatory fatigue” (Cameron and Webb, 2013).

The description of self-regulation as a capacity shows that it is a skill that can be developed to facilitate goal attainment. We want to explore that in this article.

Research by Mathematica Inc., formerly Mathematica Policy Research, has identified skills that facilitate effective self-regulation and how to develop them (Cavadel et al., 2016). That research identifies three categories of self-regulation skills that support goal attainment. These are cognitive and emotional skills, and personality factors (Cavadel et al., 2016). Other studies have also identified skills that contribute to effective self-regulation regarding goal pursuit. We will examine the main ones as appropriate in this article. But first, let us start with the three categories of skills identified by Cavadel et al. (2016) referred to previously.

Cognitive Functions and Self-Regulation

Goal pursuit involves the mind’s cognitive, affective, and conative components (Huitt and Cain, 2005). Please refer to Part 5 for our article on conation.

The goal-pursuit process involves two main phases. One is selecting the goal to pursue and clearly describing the goal, and the criteria for judging whether the goal has been successfully attained. This is what is popularly referred to as goal setting. The other phase involves planning and taking the appropriate actions to drive behavioural change to facilitate goal attainment. This is often known as goal striving. Successful goal-striving requires meeting two primary self-regulatory challenges. First, people must plan and execute those behaviours that directly promote goal attainment. To do so, people need to know what they can do to achieve their goals and when to act to attain them (Mann, de Ridder & Fujita, 2013).

Self-regulation begins with the adoption of a goal. Cognitive functions enable us to accomplish our daily activities using mental processes, for example, the ability to focus, concentrate, learn new things, plan, strategize, act and solve problems as appropriate (Santosh, Roy and Kundu, 2015). So, it is not enough to assume that when the content of a goal follows a certain format, it is attainable, without considering the human element, which is the most important contributor to success in life.

Cognitive self-regulation is the ability to control and sustain thinking and attention, and resist distraction. These are important abilities for learning and behavioural change. “These processes are planned and adapted to support the pursuit of personal goals in changing environments. It involves the control of various mental strategies for better cognitive performance. It is the regulation of one’s own thinking process, and thus can fall in the domain of metacognition. Cognitive self-regulation is not isolated method of learning, but comprises personal initiative, perseverance, and adaptive skill” (Santosh, Roy and Kundu, 2015).

Cognitive Ability

Cognitive skills are essential for the daily functioning of human beings. Cognition controls our thoughts and behaviours (Cambridge Cognition, 2015). How the brain processes information and makes decisions, forms the essential skills which help people navigate their environments.

Cognition is connected to intelligence and integrates the same processes. However, although cognitive ability is often called intelligence, cognition is a broad term that includes all mental skills and processes.

Intelligence is difficult to define since it can be explained and measured differently. Most definitions of intelligence include “…..the ability to learn from experiences and adapt to changing environments. Elements of intelligence include the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, and understand complex ideas. Many studies rely on a measure of intelligence called the intelligence quotient (IQ)” (MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health, 2023). The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines it as “the skills involved in performing the tasks associated with perception, learning, memory, understanding, awareness, reasoning, judgment, intuition, and language.” ((APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.).

 Three cognitive skills enhance the process of goal setting, goal pursuit and attainment (Locke and Latham 2002). These are executive function, selective attention, and metacognition. The fourth we want to add is planfulness (Ludwig, Srivastava and Berkman, 2019). Though this is part of the executive function, we want to discuss it here because of its importance in goal pursuit. However, it is also important to remember that human functions are interlinked. Some skills may apply to more than one area in this article. Where this occurs, it should not be viewed as a repetition. instead, it reveals how the various human processes work together to help us achieve our goals.

The Executive Function

According to Baumeister, Schmeichel and Vohs (2007) self-regulation is an important function of the human self and likely a significant dimension of the reason for human existence that helps to explain the self. Higgins (1996), referred to self-regulation as sovereign because of its pre-eminent importance compared with other daily activities of the self, since an explanation of the self is not complete without an account of self-regulation (Baumeister, Schmeichel and Vohs, 2007).

Research has identified three aspects of self to show how it functions concerning self-regulation. These are reflexive awareness, interacting with others and executive function.

Self-Awareness and Reflexive Awareness.

Reflection and reflectivity have no standard definitions in the research literature. Although they are related and often used interchangeably, their meanings are unclear. However, in the helping profession, such as counselling, there is a clear understanding of them. For example, Nguyen et al. (2014), have proposed that reflection is “…. the process of engaging the self in attentive, critical, exploratory and iterative interactions with one’s thoughts and actions, and their underlying conceptual frame, with a view to changing them and a view on the change itself (Nguyen et al., 2014).

These are the key attributes that make a thinking process reflective:

• The self.
• Attentive, critical, exploratory and iterative interactions.
• Thoughts and actions.
• Their underlying conceptual frame.

Reflexive Awareness

Reflection differs from reflexivity in that reflection enables people to learn about themselves, while reflexivity is used to change the self based on the outcome of the reflection (Savickas, 2016).

Reflection involves self-awareness, while reflexivity involves self-awareness plus agency within that self-awareness. “Reflexivity fosters a self-awareness that flows into intention. It leads to making decisions with self-awareness and taking action with personal meaning (Rennie, 2004). This sensemaking activity enables individuals to change self and behaviour” (Savickas, 2016).

In other words, reflexivity is “self-awareness and agency within that self-awareness, is fundamental to being a self” (Rennie, 2004). The agency in self-awareness is the ability to act to change thoughts and behaviour.

Interpersonal Relatedness.

The self is used to relate to others because people know themselves by interacting with others. “Interpersonal relatedness refers to the need to establish close, stable, nurturing, and protective relationships. Self-definition pertains to the need to establish a coherent, differentiated, stable, realistic, and positive sense of self” (Shahar et al., 2003).

The Executive Function

The most important aspect of human functioning is the executive function, which enables the self to exert control over its environment (including the social environment of other people), make decisions and choices, and regulate itself.

The Executive Function and Self-Regulation

The Centre on the Developing Child, Harvard University, states, “Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. Just as an air traffic control system at a busy airport safely manages the arrivals and departures of many aircraft on multiple runways, the brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritise tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses” (Centre on the Developing Child, Harvard University, n.d.)

The Centre adds that executive function and self-regulation skills depend on the following brain functions: working memory, mental flexibility, and self-control. They are highly interrelated functions. The successful application of executive function skills depends on them working together harmoniously.

• Working memory allows a small amount of information in an accessible form to be stored for a short period despite distractions.
• Mental flexibility helps us to adapt our attention or course according to the changing demands of a situation.
• Self-control enables us to set priorities and resist impulsive actions or responses.

Attention Regulation

William James, the American philosopher and psychologist, considered a leading thinker of the late 19th century, refers to attention this way: “Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization and concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. (pp. 381–382)” (Friedrich, 2024).

The main components of attention are selective attention, focused attention, distributed attention, and alternating attention (Commodari, 2017). The regulation of attention is carried out by three independent but strictly related networks in the brain (Commodari, 2017):

1. The orienting network.  This network supports the ability to prioritize and select information. It is responsible for the engagement and disengagement of attention during processing.
2. The alerting Network. This network is responsible for achieving and maintaining alertness and vigilance in people so that they can perceive and respond to stimuli.
3. The executive network. The executive network supports adaptability, planning, self-monitoring, self-control, working memory, and time management. For more information, please refer to the section on the executive function.

Key aspects of attention, such as focused attention, selective attention, divided attention, and alternating attention, depend on the functioning of these three networks. However, focused attention depends on the alerting network, while selective attention involves the executive network (Commodari, 2017).

Selective and Focused Attention – the Driver of Excellence

The effectiveness of goal-directed behaviour depends on our capacity to evaluate our actions and choose an optimal plan. It also requires an effective balance between stability and flexibility, and the ability to focus on relevant information and ignore distractions. This function known as selective attention or interference suppression enables us to use our limited resources effectively, especially time and attention. Selective attention is also known as “controlled attention“; “directed attention”; or “executive attention” (APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.).

Selective attention “is the ability to select certain stimuli in the environment to process, while ignoring distracting information” (Friedrich, 2024). The opposite is “divided Attention and Multitasking or task switching” which, paradoxically, tends to be regarded as a beneficial skill nowadays. However, research has shown that they can impair performance because of the high demand for cognitive resources (Friedrich, 2024). According to a report by Lifespan Health System, multitasking and task-switching tax the brain, tire it out and make it less efficient: (Davis, 2023).

Selective attention enables people to regulate their attention and focus on important matters concerning their goals. “Focused attention” concerns the ability to respond discretely to specific stimuli. It plays a pivotal role in many cognitive functions, such as problem-solving and reasoning” (Sohlberg & Mather, 1989).

The ability to focus is an important driver of excellence as it enables tasks to be scheduled accordingly to prevent distractions and delays (Pillay, 2017).  Adopting selective attention is one of the main ways people can focus on relevant information for the task at hand leading to a more efficient performance (Plebanek and Sloutsky, 2017).

Model of Selective Attention – Reticular Activating System (RAS)

Different models of selective attention explain the process of choosing stimuli to respond to. We want to briefly discuss the Reticular Activating System (RAS) and how it can help in goal pursuit and self-regulation.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is part of the Reticular Formation in the brain.  It is located above the spinal cord, about two inches long and the width of a pencil. It consists of nerves attached to the brainstem and extends into the higher parts of the brain. It is the gate to the brain, where all the senses come in, except the sense of smell, located in the brain’s emotional centre (Rothstein and Stromme, n.d.). It regulates behavioural arousal, consciousness, and motivation.

The RAS connects the subconscious and the conscious parts of our brain. According to Trauma Research UK, the RAS perform specific functions, but the ones that are relevant to our article are (Trauma Research UK, n.d.):

• Attention regulation and focus: The RAS acts as a gateway to the brain. It helps regulate behaviour and focus on important things by filtering out irrelevant stimuli.
• Automation of responses. The RAS automates our responses and behaviour. For example, the first time we drive to a new place, we pay a lot of attention to each turn on the road and how long it takes to get there. As we go there frequently, we gradually become familiar with the road without having to pay much attention. The RAS gradually automates behaviour as it becomes familiar with the road.
• Arousal and Emotional Responses: The RAS controls sleep, waking up and fight-or-flight responses. It helps us respond to the world around us. The RAS is believed to arouse the cortex first and then maintain its wakefulness, enabling information and emotion to be interpreted more effectively.
• It helps to achieve goals. Setting intentions encourages the subconscious mind to stimulate action and bring a desired goal and the most optimal future. This last point will be expanded on in the next section.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS), Goals and Intentions

According to Berkman, (2018), not every desired end state qualifies as a goal in reality because the main characteristic of a goal is it involves doing something that has not happened yet, which is not likely going to happen on its own without a planned action to change behaviour towards achieving that goal. However, adopting a new behaviour is difficult to achieve. Berlman, (2018), has suggested the development of two dimensions of skills he terms the “way” and the “will”. The way refers to “the skills, capacities, and knowledge required to engage in a behaviour. This includes mapping out the steps to take and having the skill to execute an action, as well as related cognitive processes such as attentional focus, inhibitory control, and working memory capacity. The will refers to the desire for and importance of the behaviour such as wanting to achieve a goal and prioritizing it over other goals, as well as related motivational processes such as volition, intention, and the nature and strength of the drive for achievement” Berlman, (2018).

It is suggested that when a goal is framed as an intention, the RAS recognises this and facilitates its achievement. Not that the RAS automatically implements all the actions and plans needed to achieve the goal without human involvement. The idea is that when there is a plan, the RAS can remind people what to do, like reminding people to take their medicines at certain times. Also, the RAS can help to achieve goals by using techniques such as visualisation, mental images of the desired future, affirmations, and mindfulness (Trauma Research UK, n.d.).

The Relationship and Differences Between Goals and Intentions

Intentions and goals are often used interchangeably, but they are different. A goal is a mental representation of a desired future state that a person is committed to attain (Berkman, 2018). Please refer to Part 2 of these articles. Intention is defined by (Gibbons, 2020) as “…..the amount of effort one is willing to exert to attain a goal (Ajzen, 1991), “behavioural plans that…enable attainment of a behavioural goal” (Ajzen, 1996), or simply “proximal goals” (Bandura, 1997).” In philosophy, Livingston, (2005) states “intentions initiate, guide, and sustain intentional behaviour; they prompt and terminate practical reasoning, and help coordinate an individual agent’s behaviour over time, as well as interaction between agents.”  Conner and Norman, (2022), suggest that what differentiates a goal from intention is that a goal is focused on achieving something desired in future while intention is focused on engaging in a behaviour or action to achieve something such as a goal.

The relationship between a goal and intention is that a goal can be formulated like an intention. An Intention is action-oriented. Much research has been conducted on translating intention into action or behaviour, commonly known as the “intention-behaviour gap”. For example, Action Control Theory (Kuhl’s (1984), the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1997), the Theory Ajzen, (1985), the strength of the intention etc.  However, since we are concerned with goal pursuit, we want to limit our discussion to the goal-intention-behaviour relationship.

The Power of Intentions

The study of the “Effect of Conscious Intention on Human DNA” has shown that mental images generated by the mind and focused on specific parts of the body can produce physiological changes, such as impeding the growth of the tumour. This type of treatment is recognised by Mind-body Medicine (Dossett, Fricchione and Benson, 2020). Also, the effects of focused intention have been studied in physical {psychokinesis (PK)} and biological (Bio-PK) systems as well as conscious intention known as healing research (Rein, 1996). For example, healing research has demonstrated that healers can produce biological effects (Rein, 1996).

The APA Dictionary of Psychology refers to Psychokinesis (PK) as “….the alleged ability to control external events and move or change the shape of objects through the power of thought. Examples include the supposed ability of certain psychics to influence random number generators, to manipulate a roll of dice, or to bend a piece of metal (see change effect). See also telekinesis. —psychokinetic adj.”

Mind-body medicine involves various practices such as meditation, breathing techniques, tai chi, or yoga that utilise the interactions among the mind, body, and behaviour to promote health. Studies have shown that these techniques can improve both physical and emotional health. They can reverse the negative health impacts of chronic stress by reducing levels of stress hormones in the body (University of California, Davis, Health, n.d.).

A study examining the “Evidence about the power of intention” (Bonilla, 2009) has shown that the energy of thought can alter the environment. “Cases of spontaneous cures or of remote healing of extremely ill patients represent instances of an exceedingly great intention to control diseases menacing our lives” (Bonilla, 2009).

Linking Goals with Implementation Intentions as a Behavioural Regulation Strategy

Our discussion shows that intentions have an energising effect. However, according to Gollwitzer and Sheeran, (2006), although a goal may be formulated as an intention, a large gap still exists between the intention and goal attainment because it is difficult to translate intentions into the behaviour needed to cause goal attainment. Forming a goal intention alone is insufficient to deal with self‐regulatory problems in initiating and maintaining a goal. Also, it does not help to determine when to disengage from a goal to prevent people from overextending themselves in goal striving.

To prevent this, a goal intention should be supported with an implementation intention which helps people anticipate any obstacles as it spells out the “when, where, and how” of goal striving beforehand.

Implementation Intentions

Implementation intention is an encoding method like “if situation Y is encountered, then I will initiate the goal-directed behaviour X” (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006). They are self-regulatory strategies and are like plans that have been shown to enhance goal attainment compared to forming goal intentions without such plans. The main purpose of this plan is to organise people’s behaviours by creating useful habits that prevent problematic behaviours.

An effective intentions plan helps people analyse and articulate certain elements of their goals and their intent to achieve them (Dariani, 2012). This analysis involves the following:

1. The purpose of the goal
2. Who will do the work?
3. What resources are required and available?
4. Deciding on the timeline
5. Developing measurement benchmarks. With a basic assumption being that the strength of a person’s intentions determines respective accomplishments

Research has shown that Implementation intentions facilitate goal attainment. They are also effective in promoting the initiation of goal striving, the shielding of ongoing goal pursuit from unwanted influences, disengagement from failing courses of action, and conservation of capability for future goal striving. Additionally, they have been found to enhance the accessibility of specified opportunities and automated respective goal‐directed responses (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).  

Mind Wandering

Another phenomenon conversely related to selective attention is “mind wandering.” It is known by different terms such as “daydreaming, spontaneous thought, fantasy, zoning out, thought intrusions, task-irrelevant thoughts, perceptual decoupling, stimulus-independent thought, unconscious thought, internally generated thoughts, offline thought, incidental self-processing, undirected thought, and self-generated thought” (Barnett and Kaufman, 2020). It is also known as “tasked- related thought” (Randall, Oswald and Beier, 2014).

Mind wandering is defined by Ibaceta and Madrid, (2021)   as “…the shift from events in the external environment to internal, self-generated thoughts, implying that attention is focused on the inner thoughts and feelings (Smallwood and Schooler, 2006)”. It is a prevalent experience of humans which has been extensively studied. For instance, according to the Harvard Gazette, research shows that people spend 46.9% of their waking hours engaging in mind-wandering. Also, mind-wandering typically makes them unhappy (Bradt, 2010). According to Girardeau et al., (2022), it is estimated that mind wandering takes up 40% of our mental activity, 64% of this time is used to project into the future and 20% is spent on considering whether to anticipate and imagine the long term, while 44% is spent on planning obligations. But strangely, only 9%, representing past-oriented thoughts predict prospective memory performance. We will talk about prospective memory later.

“Task-related thought is defined as thought maintained on the primary task at hand. In other words, task-related thought is attention directed toward the task and mind-wandering is attention directed toward concerns that are wholly unrelated to the task at hand (e.g., past experiences, future goals)” (Randall, Oswald and Beier, 2014).

Intentional and Unintentional Mind Wandering.

A recent study by UC Berkeley shows that the mind rarely stays idle even when left alone because mind wandering is naturally how the brain works. The default mode network (DMN) is the cause of mind-wandering or task-unrelated thought. Neuroscience research associates mind wandering or task-unrelated thought with the Default Mode Network (DMN) (Zhou and Lei, 2018). However, some researchers suggest that the mind wanders when doing something that is not rewarding enough to keep the brain engaged (Eyal, 2022).

Two forms of mind wandering have been identified: intentional (deliberate) and unintentional (spontaneous). Intentional mind wandering is a voluntary shift of attention from the current task. It is a planned and mentally controlled activity and does not interfere with the current task. This may contribute to creative thinking by allowing people to search for, for example, other ways of solving a current problem. Indeed, intentional mind-wandering has been associated with creativity and incubation processes as we will see later when we discuss prospective memory, mental contrasting and implementation intentions.

On the other hand, spontaneous mind wandering is usually unintentional and therefore has been understood as a failure in executive attention control. This means that the inhibition of distractions is disrupted during task performance, and individuals are likely to attend to irrelevant stimuli such as an internal train of their thoughts.

Consequences of Mind Wandering

Mind-wandering research is still unfolding, but for now, research has shown that it has both negative and positive consequences.

On the negative side, mind-wandering has been found to have various negative consequences. We are only going to mention the main ones here.  The most obvious one is it interferes with concentration and impairs performance. For example, in a study on BMJ, intense mind wandering is found to have been responsible for 17% of traffic crashes (Galera et al., 2012). Also, mind-wandering typically makes people unhappy (Bradt, 2010) and is associated with negative mood, though mind-wandering is not inherently detrimental to well-being (Poerio, Totterdell and Miles, 2013). Additionally, a study by the University of California San Francisco suggests that a wandering mind indicates unhappiness because a distracted mind indicates poor well-being. The study also suggests a link between mind-wandering and ageing based on a biological measure of longevity (Mortimore, 2012).

On the positive side, intentional mind wandering is associated with better memory, creative thinking, problem-solving, and “aha!” moments (Association for Psychological Science, 2019). Since this article is concerned with goal pursuit, it has been shown that mind wandering can improve the quality of goal setting (Medea, Karapanagiotidis and Konishi, et al). Research has also shown that mind-wandering can be future-oriented and can be used as a strategy for initiating planned actions as mind-wondering is associated with prospective memory. A study by Girardeau et al, (2022) reveals that mind wandering takes up 40% of our mental activity, a significant amount and 64% of this tends to be used for mainly projecting ourselves into the future while 20% is used to anticipate and imagine the long term and 44% for planning daily obligations.

Prospective Memory (PM)

Memory is part of human cognition and has three basic functions: encoding, storing, and retrieving information. Prospective (PM) memory is also known as memory for intentions. The Encyclopaedia of Clinical Neuropsychology pp 2056–2059 refers to it as “a person’s ability to remember to carry out intended actions or do things in the future. This is in contrast to retrospective memory, the ability to recall or recognize previously learned materials” (Shum and Fleming, 2011).

PM is associated with the executive function (Girardeau et al., 2022). It helps us to plan, retain it, and bring it back to consciousness at the right time and place. It is used for everyday tasks, for example, remembering to buy things we need at home on our way back from work, picking up a child from school, keeping appointments and taking medications at the appropriate time etc. By contrast, retrospective memory deals with the past and helps us to recall past events.

The main difference between the two types of memory is that retrospective memory often needs a stimulus for us to remember while prospective does not necessarily require such stimuli since it can be activated autonomously. One of the important benefits of PM to humans is that it helps people structure and utilise their time economically and autonomously. For example, when we have important competing tasks or intentions, the PM helps us remember and prioritise these tasks, facilitating the self-regulation of tasks and goals (Walter and Meier, 2014). Helping to structure and organise tasks boosts people’s confidence and self-esteem as they see themselves as conscientious and well-organized, and are regarded as such by others.

This ability is important in our daily lives as it facilitates autonomy and independence from others. It is important to remember that the three human needs according to Self-Determination Theory are autonomy, competence and relatedness. Among the theories or models of human needs, the SDT model is the only one supported by extensive research.

Similarities Between the Processes of Prospective Memory, Intentions or Goal and Self-Regulation.

Prospective memory tasks consist of two types: event-based and time-based elements. The event-based prospective memory task is triggered when a specified event in the external environment occurs. An example is remembering to deliver a message to a friend when you meet the friend (Katai et, al., 2003). The time-based perspective task is triggered when a specific time is reached or after the time, for example, remembering to go to the gym at 10 am tomorrow.

Interestingly, the triggering of the prospective memory processes can be done in an automatic or controlled way.  According to (Girardeau et al., 2022), PM does not simply store memories or knowledge, it enables the intention to act when something happens or at the appropriate time. This means that the encoding process of PM is dual; what to do and when to do it.

The process of PM involves five main phases (Chen., 2015):

• Intention formation
• Intention maintenance
• Cue recognition and intention retrieval
• Intention execution
• Evaluation of outcome

There are similarities between the processes of prospective memory, intentions or goals and self-regulation. For instance, research has shown that simulations of future events are encoded in the memory and can be later recalled as “memories of the future.” Imaginary future events are better memorized when integrated into autobiographical knowledge structures. Across two experiments, it was found that future events involving the self were better recalled than those involving an acquaintance. Also, future events related to personal goals were better remembered than ones unrelated to goals. (Jeunehomme and D’Argembeau, 2015).

The formation of implementation intentions is effective for improving prospective memory (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006).

Metacognition

Metacognition refers to “thinking about one’s thinking” because it involves a critical awareness of one’s thinking and learning, involving oneself as a thinker and learner (Chick, 2013). The Global Metacognition Institute states “Metacognition is often defined as “thinking about thinking”; metacognitive pedagogies focus on the planning, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of thought. Some writers use the term ‘metacognition’ more broadly to refer to all forms of student reflection in relation to their learning process” (The Global Metacognition Institute, 2020).

Two dimensions of metacognition have been identified (Cambridge Assessment International Education, n.d.): metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation.

• Metacognitive knowledge. This refers to what learners know about learning and includes the learner’s knowledge of their cognitive abilities, the knowledge of tasks, the different strategies available to them and when they are appropriate for the task.
• Metacognitive regulation refers to what learners do about learning. It describes how learners monitor and control their cognitive processes. For example, a learner might realise that a particular strategy is not achieving the results required, so they decide to try another.

Metacognitive strategies are used a lot in teaching to empower students to learn to teach themselves when the teacher is not around. It includes planning, self-monitoring, evaluation, and reflection.

Metacognition and Goals

Metacognition is needed when setting goals (Kuhn and Dean 2004). Using metacognition in goal setting includes considering how possible goals relate to one’s strengths and weaknesses based on knowledge and history and using that information to plan what steps and actions might be required to fulfil a particular goal, considering what barriers might stand in the way of success. This information helps to develop a strategy for it.

Metacognition also enables people to generate and incorporate feedback in the goal-pursuit process. For instance, monitoring and evaluating behaviour helps to change a plan if it is not working (Vrugt and Oort 2008). A goal is a mental representation of a desired future state. So, when a goal intention and implementation plan are made, we can visualize, or create a “mental map,” of the goal-striving process (Achtziger et al. 2012). We use metacognitive skills to evaluate whether things are going according to plan. As the goal pursuit nears completion, we can assess whether it is successful and the challenges faced and learn from them (Coutinho 2007; Roll et al. 2007).

Planfulness

The British Psychological Society defines planfulness as “…. the extent to which people’s behaviour and way of thinking is “goal-promoting”. Highly planful people are adept at translating the abstract idea of a goal into actual decision-making, for instance, and are better at long-term planning. It’s unsurprising, then, that planful people report making greater progress towards their goals.” (Warren, 2019). It is defined by   Ludwig, Srivastava, & Berkman, (2019) as “…a facet of conscientiousness that describes the degree to which individuals engage in goal-promoting cognition and behaviour” (Ludwig, Srivastava, & Berkman, 2018)

Planfulness is a sub-trait of conscientiousness, the big five personality traits. Conscientiousness is defined “…. as the relatively stable pattern of individual differences in the tendencies to follow socially prescribed norms for impulse control, to be goal-directed, planful, to delay gratification, and to follow norms and rules” (Bogg and Roberts, 2013). It is associated with achievement and orderly, responsible, hardworking, ambitious, dutiful, and rule-abiding behaviour.

Planfulness and Conscientiousness

A goal is a cognitive representation of a desired end state. Planfulness enables this mental representation to be translated into an attainable goal. It matches the goal with the resources and behaviours. This provides a framework for pursuing and attaining the goal (Bates, et al., 2023).

The following facets of conscientiousness are associated with goal-setting theory which facilitates high-goal performance (Bates, et al., 2023).

• Specificity   
• Goal difficulty
• Goal attention                              
• Goal energisation
• Persistence
• Strategy
• Commitment/Importance
• Feedback
• Complexity management
• Self-efficacy
• Satisfaction
• Resources

Some of these skills are needed for effective self-regulation and are examined in the appropriate sections of this report.

Planfulness and Goalsetting

The application of the skill of planfulness starts from the goal-setting stage. It involves having a proper goal statement where the goal is clearly defined in terms of its feasibility, desirability, specificity and challenges expected. Also, a distinction must be made between performance and mastery goals. For more explanation, please refer to Parts 3, 4, 5 and 6 of these articles.

In a study by Ludwig, Srivastava and Berkman, (2019), planfulness was positively associated with average visits to a recreational centre. Also, planfulness explained unique variance in activity and correlated with the descriptiveness of written goals.

Planfulness refers to a goal-promoting behaviour. It is based on evidence from psychology experiments which have revealed  that certain ways of thinking about goals increase the likelihood of achieving them (Ludwig, 2019). For example, Gabrielle Oettingen at New York University has suggested a simple thought exercise of thinking about how good it will feel when a goal is achieved and visualising the distance where a person is you are now from achieving that goal. The contrast between the two increases the motivation to pursue your goal while providing a clear target to direct that energy toward it. How people think about their goals seems to translate to their behavioural follow-through.

Based on the Planfulness Scale, here are some of the ways that highly planful people think about their goals (Ludwig, 2019):

1. They prioritize future rewards over present ones, especially when the two conflict (for example, choosing to cook a healthy dinner versus ordering takeout).
2. They recognize that they can recover from setbacks and do not become demotivated when setbacks occur (so a cheat meal doesn’t become a cheat week).
3. They pay attention to which tricks and tips work best for their goal planning and those that aren’t as effective (some people hate using calendars but won’t work out without a buddy).
4. They see how today’s actions lead to tomorrow’s successes (lacing up those sneakers anyway on a day you’re just not feeling it still means Predicting Exercise with a Personality Facet – Planfulness and Goal Achievement

Conative Skills

Psychologists have traditionally divided the study of the mind into three components: cognition, affect and conation. The three dimensions of the mind work together, but not much is known about conation because psychology has focused on cognition and emotion. But neither of those two drives action and directs how we turn ideas into achievable goals. This is the work of the conative dimension of the mind. However, studies in conation are receiving more attention now because it has been realised that conative skills are needed to thrive in the 21st century.

Conation is ” the proactive (as opposed to habitual) part of motivation that connects knowledge, affect, drives, desires, and instincts to behaviour. Along with affect and cognition, conation is one of the three traditionally identified components of mind” (APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2018). The Oxford Dictionary of Sport Science and Medicine (3 ed.), defines conative behaviour as “Behaviour dependent on effort of mind or willpower. It is the behaviour of a person who is striving for something….”

Conation conflates cognition with emotion to drive self-direction. Concerning goal pursuit, it empowers the striving process.

The five aspects of conation concerning self-direction have already been discussed in Part 5 on conation. These are recognising human needs, visions and dreams of possibilities, making choices, setting goals, and making plans Huitt, (1999). We have already discussed different aspects of this in these articles. Please refer to Part 5 on conation.  Concerning making plans, Huitt, (1999), suggests that the plan must be written and specific, with a clear description of desired outcome.

Emotional Skills

Emotions play an essential function in our lives. It is impossible to avoid them.  Research has shown that emotions motivate behaviour. Consequently, regulating emotions is advantageous because it allows you to adapt your behaviour to achieve your goals.

Emotion regulation is ” the conscious or unconscious processes of monitoring, evaluating, modulating, and managing emotional experiences and expression of emotion in terms of intensity, form, and duration of feelings, emotion-related physiological states and behaviours” (Kok, 2020). 

There are different ways that people can regulate their emotions. As a result, different emotion regulation strategies have been proposed. However, the most prominent depiction of emotional regulation widely referred to by researchers is the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 2015).

The model identifies five emotion regulation strategies and holds that intervening early in the process is likely more effective than strategies that intervene later after emotional response tendencies are activated (Sheppes and Gross, 2012).

These strategies are:

• Situation selection. Situation selection refers to choosing situations most likely to generate pleasant emotions. It means knowing situations leading to undesirable emotions and choosing to avoid them.
• Situation modification. This strategy can be used in a situation that makes you feel an undesirable emotion. You use it to change or improve the emotional impact.
• Attentional deployment. This involves deployment or diverting your attention, which means changing your mind or focusing on something else.
• Cognitive reappraisal Cognitive reappraisal means changing your perception of a situation. It means thinking about things differently to change the way you feel. This may be by focusing on the bright side.
• Response modulation. Response modulation occurs once you have felt the emotion. Rather than letting the emotion overwhelm and dominate you, you change how you react to or express it. This reduces or increases the emotional impact.

We will focus more on emotion regulation in Part 10.

Personality Factors

Research has overwhelmingly found that people are driven by two motivational systems when selecting a goal and personality may determine the type of goal a person chooses. These are sometimes called goal orientations and they are approach and avoidance goal orientations (Wimmer et al., 2018).

Motivation is “…. the energization and direction of behaviour toward a stimulus (Elliot and Church, 1997; Wigfield et al., 2006). Behaviour can be driven toward a desired stimulus (approach motivation) or away from an undesired stimulus (avoidance motivation)” (Wimmer et al., 2018). So, in an approach goal, people are pursuing the goal, a positive approach, while in an avoidance goal, people desire to avoid the result, avoidance goal or motivation.

Self-regulation is a highly adaptive, distinctively human trait and an important personality process by which people seek to control their thoughts, feelings, impulses, appetites, and task performances (Baumeister et al., 2006). As the term implies, self-regulation is about regulating the psychological state of individuals by themselves. As stated above, the capacity to alter one’s responses is a behavioural disposition which involves personality traits. 

Personality Traits

Many studies in psychology regarding individual differences point to the five basic personality traits popularly called the “Big Five”. These are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. A new model, called HEXACO (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) has been developed to incorporate honesty-humility as a sixth trait.

Studies of the big five personality traits concerning motivation, self-control, and other areas have shown positive correlations between agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and self-control, and a negative correlation between neuroticism and self-control (Zhang et al., 2019).

 We have discussed conscientiousness in the appropriate sections of this report. Components of conscientiousness are known to include “industriousness, orderliness, impulse control, reliability, and conventionality” (Jackson et.al.,2010). They are skills that are necessary for effective self-regulation.  By contrast, neuroticism is regarded as a negative personality trait and is associated with negative emotions and an inability to manage impulses resulting in poor self-regulation. It has been related to high levels of anxiety, and depletion of cognitive and coping abilities, resulting in reduced learning goals in the face of task demands, and reduced self-regulated performance, processes that require considerable mental resources (de la Fuente et al, 2020).

Fantasy Realisation Theory and Mental Contrasting as Self-Regulatory Strategies

There are two ways of thinking about the future: expectations and free fantasies. Expectations are judgments of the likelihood of certain events or behaviours occurring in future. They correlate with past experiences such as a person’s performance history. Free fantasies are thoughts and images of future events or behaviours that appear in the mind. They are not dependent on the likelihood that these events or behaviours will occur. Fantasies are wishful thinking (Oettingen G, Mayer, 2002).

Such fantasies may create a pleasant feeling but do not necessarily generate any effort to attain the desired future. Research has shown that the more people indulge in positive fantasies about their desired futures, the less effort they invest to realize them. Paradoxically, the personal development and self-help “gurus” encourage people to visualise and create mental images to get what they want. On the other hand, when a clear sense of reality follows such fantasies, people can find the direction and energy to achieve them (Kappes & Oettingen, 2011).

Like psychological and physiological needs such as the need for meaning in life, the need for water, the need for relatedness, and the need for power etc., positive fantasies originate from basic needs (Oettingen and Reininger, 2016). Studies show that these needs are aroused by deprivation, which stimulates action to satisfy them. This is not a new phenomenon as research has long established that needs are expressed in people’s free thoughts, images, or fantasies. Such fantasies Fantasies depict an idealized version of the future that can be easily attained. However, unlike other forms of future thoughts, positive fantasies allow people to mentally enjoy the depicted future in the current moment, free from constraints. It is a world of getting your wishes delivered without obstacles. People mentally experience satisfying a need when the need cannot be resolved in the current situation.

Mental Contrasting

Despite the downside of positive fantasies, they have a positive side because they can keep people focused on their needs and allow them to mentally explore the various options and possibilities of realising them.

Fantasy Realisation Theory applies to goal-setting and involves “mental contrasting,” a self-regulation strategy that enables people to evaluate their expectations of reaching their goals. The theory states that “… when people contrast their fantasies about a desired future with reflections on present reality, a necessity to act is induced that leads to the activation and use of relevant expectations. (Oettingen, Pak and Schnetter, 2001). The theory identifies four modes of regulatory thinking:

• The first mode is called mental contrasting. Mental contrasting involves imagining the desired future and the obstacles that may be encountered to reach it and taking steps to remove the obstacles. Research shows that mental contrasting can be taught as a cost- and time-effective self-regulation strategy for behaviour change (Oettingen and Schwörer, 2013). When expectations of success are high, people fully commit and pursue their goals; when expectations of success are low, people postpone or abandon their wishes (Arts & Science, New York University, n.d.).
• Indulging. Indulging in the desired future refers to thinking about the positive future (indulging), and ignoring possible obstacles. This conceals the necessity to act. This is the thinking behind positive thinking we have already discussed above.
• Dwelling. Dwelling involves simply brooding about the challenges, the present reality. In dwelling, there are no fantasies about the future to provide the direction to act. Dwelling on present reality does not give direction on where to go. Behaviour therefore stays unchanged and independent of a person’s expectations of success.
• Reverse contrasting. Reverse contrasting is similar in content to mental contrasting, but not in structure. People act in reverse of mental contrasting because they think of the obstacle first before the desired future. As a result, they fail to consider the reality of the obstacle in the context of the desired future.

Mental contrasting energises people to overcome obstacles to attain their desired future.

Benefits Of Mental Contrasting

• Mentally contrasting a desired future with present reality leads to the emergence of binding goals with consecutive goal striving and goal attainment, as long as chances of success are perceived to be high (Oettingen, n.d.).
• Research suggests that linking situations and goal-directed behaviour in this way is particularly effective because it allows people to act automatically when the moment comes. Instead of thinking and reacting in challenging circumstances, plans can be put on autopilot. This saves resources, which as every time-pressed person can appreciate, is invaluable.
• Evidence of the effectiveness of mental contrasting as a behaviour change technique for improving motivation and performance is growing. There is emerging psychophysiological evidence that mental contrasting operates by energising individuals and providing the resources for behaviour change.
• It improves academic performance.
• It improves health, prompting more exercise, and less unhealthy snack consumption. This energization has been studied through changes in systolic blood pressure. When the perceived expectation of chances of success was high, mental contrasting increased systolic blood pressure, whereas when they were low, mental contrasting decreased it. Moreover, changes in energization have been suggested as a mediator for the relationship between expectations and goal pursuit.
• It increases help-seeking and help-giving behaviour.
• Increase the likelihood of taking steps to reduce cigarette consumption.
• Mental contrasting can help to choose what’s important (Kappes, 2016). 
• Mental contrasting conserves energy resources and reduces the probability of depletion and exhaustion. This permits behavioural flexibility in responding to urgent environmental demands and accomplishing behaviour change goals

Mental Contrasting and WOOP as Goal Pursuit Strategy

WOOP is a self-regulation strategy based on mental contrasting which we have already discussed. It is also known as mental contrasting with implementation intentions. It is “a science-based mental strategy that people can use to find and fulfil their wishes, set preferences, and change their habits” (Arts & Science, New York University, n.d.).

WOOP has been developed by psychologist, Gabriele Oettingen, a professor of psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg. She is one of the world’s leading researchers and experts on goals, motivation, and future-oriented thinking. Her many years of research on future thought on cognition, emotion and behaviour are summarised in her book “Rethinking Positive Thinking”.

The science behind WOOP is that defining the desired outcomes, identifying potential obstacles, and creating plans to overcome those barriers will likely lead to more successful outcomes.

Each of the four letters in the acronym WOOP stands for a step in the mental contrasting process that can help prepare an individual to sustain goal pursuit by energizing both the conscious and unconscious mind (WoopMyLife.org, n.d.).

The WOOP acronym functions as a goal-setting exercise and stands for:

• W – Wish. Identifying your wish. The first step is to identify your wish. What’s something that’s just for you, that comes from deep inside you, that you truly wish to have happen, or that you want to achieve? The wish has to be turned into a goal because a wish is not a goal.
• O – Outcome. Specify the outcome that you want. What will your success look and feel like? Where/what will it help you reach in life? Take time and imagine it. Where will you be? What will you do? How will you know?
• O – Obstacle. Identify the obstacle overcome. What could get in your way, throw you off track, or keep you from reaching your wish or your want? Close your eyes again and get inside your head. Think about internal obstacles and also external obstacles.
• P – Plan. Make an implementation plan. After the obstacles that could impede the attainment of the have been recognised, it is time to plan how to surmount those obstacles when they occur. This is formulated like an if-then-statement that states the proactive and reactive strategies that have been put in place to be triggered to prevent the obstacles (proactive) and to deal with them if they occur (reactive). If………………………………then………………………………………….

You can find out more about WOOP by visiting the website here

Mental Simulation

Mental simulation was proposed by Taylor and Schneider (1989). Like mental contrasting, it can be used as a self-regulatory strategy in goal pursuit. It has been widely applied in many areas such as promoting physical health, reducing alcohol dependence, improving academic performance and promoting advertisements (Li et al., 2019).

“Mental simulation can be useful for envisioning the future because it addresses the two fundamental tasks of self-regulation and coping, namely the management of affect or emotional states and the ability to plan and solve problems. Specifically, certain intrinsic characteristics of mental simulations make them useful for envisioning the future and for engaging the problem-solving and emotional regulation skills so vital to effective self-regulation”, (Taylor, Pham, Rivkin and Armor, 1998).

Mental simulation is “the imitative representation of some event or series of events”, (Taylor, Pham, Rivkin and Armor, 1998). According to them, this may involve the following:

• A replay of events that have already happened, such as running back through an argument one had with a colleague to figure out where the conversation went wrong.
• It may involve the cognitive construction of hypothetical scenarios, such as deciding how to confront a procrastinating graduate student.
• It can involve fantasies, such as the imagined sexual exploits that often lull people to sleep.
• It can involve mixtures of real and hypothetical events, such as replaying an argument and inserting what you should have said into the dialogue (Taylor &

Mental simulation can be divided into two main types: outcome and process simulation (Li et al., 2019).

1. Outcome simulations. This is a representation of the final effect of an action. It involves mental simulation as a goal rehearsal or goal-setting technique. This approach maintains that envisioning the outcome to be achieved may facilitate efforts to achieve the goal or enhance perceptions of self-efficacy.
2. Process simulations. A Representation of the concrete steps to be taken to achieve a goal.

Research suggests that process simulations may facilitate effective goal orientation, while outcome simulations may interfere with self-regulation.

Mental Simulation and Reality

Research has shown acting on imaginary objects produces the same result as acting on the real object. For example, a study examining muscle strength gains was divided into two groups: the motor imagery and the physical training group. The physical training group increased muscle strength by 53%, while the imagery training group increased by 35%, which shows no significant difference. According to the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) test, the image of a face and its actual perception have common processing mechanisms. That study has also demonstrated that the content of the visual image determines what brain regions are activated during mental imaging (Styk, Zmorzyński and Klinkosz, 2021).

According to Zhong and Zhang, (2021), the mental image involved in mental simulation is not just a figure or schema, rather, it is embodied in a human-like system derived from rich perception. The Inquisitive Mind also supports this view; “The theory of grounded cognition proposes that our thoughts are derived from our bodily states, our environment, and our actions, as well as from mental simulations (Barsalou, 2008)” (Elder and Krishna, 2014). In other words, our body affects our interpretation of the world. This view rejects the traditional cognitive science view of cognition as mental processes or computational processes where the brain is regarded as the seat of cognition like the information-processing approach to computing. This idea of the brain was conceived during the cognitive revolution. The brain was viewed as the computer, the main model for the mind, like information processing. The function of perception is to encode and classify physical stimuli to form mental representations.

Focusing on the Process Facilitates Goal Attainment

Focusing on the process when learning to cope with a new task helps to achieve it. In contrast, concentrating on the outcome diverts attention from acquiring and practising the means necessary to reach the goal. This hinders the successful pursuit of the goal.

In a study which confirmed the potential negative impact of focusing on the outcome of pursuing the difficult goal of losing weight, Oettingen and Wadden, (1991) showed that positive weight loss fantasies were negatively correlated with actual weight loss. According to them, indulging in positive fantasies may have inclined dieters to dream of positive outcomes without engaging in the more difficult pursuit of their dietary goal. This and other studies conducted by Oettingen suggest that concentrating on positive outcomes is detrimental because focusing on the final result can distract people from acting on their goals. Particularly, when pursuing long-term goals, focusing on the means to the goal rather than the negative discrepancy between the current state and the desired end state should keep one motivated even in the face of obstacles or setbacks.

This study contradicts SMART goals which focus on the outcome instead of the process. According to (Hocking, n.d.) in a Fast Company article, SMART goals can sabotage success at work because it does not include, learning, growth and collaboration goals. Additionally, it says nothing about self-regulation, the most important determinant of successful goal pursuit as this article has shown.

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