A lot of us are making goals for the new year, and it turns out there’s some science to whether you’ll be successful in meeting yours. (As a psychology major, I wasn’t surprised. There’s a study for every<\/i>thing.)<\/p>\n
The best route to success? Focus on what you’re going to do, not what you want to stop doing. In fact, it appears that worrying to much about not<\/i> continuing a bad habit can make it even worse!<\/p>\n
Negation if-then plans involve spelling out the actions you won’t be taking in the future. With these plans, if you have a habit you want to break, you simply plan not to engage in that habit. (“If I am at the mall, then I won’t buy anything.”) This is, in a sense, the most straightforward and head-on way of addressing a bad habit, and probably the one we most often end up using.<\/p>\n
All three types of if-then plans were put to the test, with surprising and consistent results. The researchers found that negation if-then plans were not only far less effective compared to other plans, but that they sometimes resulted in a rebound effect, leading people to do more of the forbidden behavior than before.<\/i><\/p>\n
The full article<\/a><\/p>\n Do you have a strategy for making sure you complete your new year’s goals? Share!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A lot of us are making goals for the new year, and it turns out there’s some science to whether you’ll be successful in meeting yours. (As a psychology major, I wasn’t surprised. There’s a study for everything.) The best … Continue reading