CUHK electronic theses & dissertations collection

Implementation intentions are defined as "if-then" plans specifying when, where, and how to conduct a goal-directed behavior, and have been found to be influential in facilitating goal pursuit. The underlying mechanisms of implementation intention effects are the heightened activation of the situational cues and the association between these cues and the corresponding reactions. Implementation intentions automatize the detection of environmental cues and the initiation of the corresponding behavior. Whether such automaticity of implementation intentions causes rigid behavior is the central issue concerned in the present studies.In the first part of the thesis, three experimental studies investigated whether implementation intentions would interfere with the detection of and responses to alternative goal-related cues, and whether such effects would be moderated by the ambiguity between the cues specified in implementation intentions and the unplanned cues. I found that implementation intentions interfered with the detection of the alternative cues. I also found an unexpected effect of cue ambiguity, which indicated that implementation intentions would hinder not only the performance on the unplanned cues, but also the performance on the specified cues when there was a high level of ambiguity between these two categories of cues.In the second part of the thesis, two experimental and two field studies investigated the effects of implementation intentions in multiple-goal settings. Despite the vast differences in design, the four studies on the effects of implementation intentions in multiple-goal settings consistently support the hypothesis that implementation intentions would interact with goal conflict in influencing the performance on the alternative goal (i.e., the goal being pursued simultaneously with the focal goal which has been furnished with implementation intentions). Results consistently revealed that the pursuit of the alternative goal was hampered by implementation intentions on the focal goal when these goals were in conflict, but was unaffected or even facilitated when no goal conflicts were involved. Implications of the results from these two sets of studies for the use of alternative means to reach a goal and the pursuit of multiple goals are discussed.Zhang, Hong.Adviser: Darius Chan.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-11, Section: B, page: .Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-95).Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.Abstract also in Chinese