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Choosing goals that express the true self: A novel mechanism of the effect of self‐control on goal attainment
Author(s) -
Stavrova Olga,
Pronk Tila,
Kokkoris Michail D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2559
Subject(s) - goal pursuit , psychology , trait , mechanism (biology) , self control , goal setting , control (management) , goal orientation , association (psychology) , social psychology , habit , process (computing) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , psychotherapist , artificial intelligence , philosophy , epistemology , programming language , operating system
Why is trait self‐control associated with successful goal progress? Existing research has attempted to answer this question by focusing on individual differences in the process of goal pursuit. Herein, we propose and test a novel mechanism suggesting that self‐control facilitates goal attainment not only by affecting the process of goal pursuit but also the type of goals people select in the first place. Three studies showed that high (vs. low) self‐control individuals are more likely to report successful goal attainment and this association was mediated by their tendency to select the goals that reflect their true/authentic self. These results were obtained using cross‐sectional and longitudinal designs and were robust against controlling for previously established mechanisms of the effect of trait self‐control on goal attainment (habit strength, experiences of goal‐conflicting desires). Overall, there findings contribute to the literatures on self‐regulation, authenticity and goal management.