Book contents
- The Handbook of Behavior Change
- The Handbook of Behavior Change
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Sidebars
- Contributors
- 1 Changing Behavior: A Theory- and Evidence-Based Approach
- Part I Theory and Behavior Change
- Part II Methods and Processes of Behavior Change: Intervention Development, Application, and Translation
- Part III Behavior Change Interventions: Practical Guides to Behavior Change
- 31 Attitudes and Persuasive Communication Interventions
- 32 Self-Efficacy Interventions
- 33 Imagery, Visualization, and Mental Simulation Interventions
- 34 Affect-Based Interventions
- 35 Autonomy-Supportive Interventions
- 36 Incentive-Based Interventions
- 37 Monitoring Interventions
- 38 Goal Setting Interventions
- 39 Planning and Implementation Intention Interventions
- 40 Self-Control Interventions
- 41 Habit Interventions
- 42 Economic and Behavioral Economic Approaches to Behavior Change
- 43 Dyadic Behavior Change Interventions
- 44 Social Identity Interventions
- 45 Motivational Interviewing Interventions
- 46 The Science of Behavior Change: The Road Ahead
- Index
- References
38 - Goal Setting Interventions
from Part III - Behavior Change Interventions: Practical Guides to Behavior Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2020
Book contents
- The Handbook of Behavior Change
- The Handbook of Behavior Change
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Sidebars
- Contributors
- 1 Changing Behavior: A Theory- and Evidence-Based Approach
- Part I Theory and Behavior Change
- Part II Methods and Processes of Behavior Change: Intervention Development, Application, and Translation
- Part III Behavior Change Interventions: Practical Guides to Behavior Change
- 31 Attitudes and Persuasive Communication Interventions
- 32 Self-Efficacy Interventions
- 33 Imagery, Visualization, and Mental Simulation Interventions
- 34 Affect-Based Interventions
- 35 Autonomy-Supportive Interventions
- 36 Incentive-Based Interventions
- 37 Monitoring Interventions
- 38 Goal Setting Interventions
- 39 Planning and Implementation Intention Interventions
- 40 Self-Control Interventions
- 41 Habit Interventions
- 42 Economic and Behavioral Economic Approaches to Behavior Change
- 43 Dyadic Behavior Change Interventions
- 44 Social Identity Interventions
- 45 Motivational Interviewing Interventions
- 46 The Science of Behavior Change: The Road Ahead
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter describes the behavior change technique of goal setting. Goal setting is an established and ubiquitous technique that has been used successfully in varied and diverse contexts, for multiple behaviors, and in numerous populations. Goal setting encompasses many different perspectives from individual-level goal setting (e.g., making a new year’s resolution or reading one book a week) to goal setting by global organizations (e.g., the United Nations’ sustainable development goals). This chapter considers many different kinds of goal setting interventions, including those that have emerged in popular culture and those derived from specific theories. Given that goal setting is ubiquitous, numerous theories have emerged to explain how and why goals operate, with Locke and Latham’s (1990) goal setting theory, the focus of the current chapter, as the only theory that deals with goal setting as a behavior change technique in its own right. Goal setting theory is described in detail and used to illustrate how different types of goal setting interventions might operate. The final section includes a step-by-step guide of what to do, what not to do, and what can be left to personal preference when setting goals.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Handbook of Behavior Change , pp. 554 - 571Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Behavioral Medicine Lab. (2018). Health promotion practitioners: Infographic resources. https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/mpac/resources-2/infographic-resources/Google Scholar
Business News Daily (2019). 6 tips for writing an effective performance review. Business News Daily. www.businessnewsdaily.com/5760-write-good-performance-review.htmlGoogle Scholar
Carson, P. P., Carson, K. D., & Heady, R. B. (1994). Cecil Alec Mace: The man who discovered goal-setting. International Journal of Public Administration, 17, 1679–1708. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900699408524960Google Scholar
Chidester, T. R., & Grigsby, C. (1984). A meta-analysis of the goal setting performance literature. Proceedings of the Academy of Management, 1, 202–206. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.1984.4978779CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conservatives. (2017). Conservative party manifesto 2017. https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/conservative-party-manifestos/Forward+Together+-+Our+Plan+for+a+Stronger+Britain+and+a+More+Prosperous….pdfGoogle Scholar
Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, 70, 35–36.Google Scholar
Duke of Edinburgh. (2019). Our strategic objectives. Duke of Edinburgh. Website. https://www.dofe.org/about/Google Scholar
Eberly, M. B., Liu, D., Mitchell, T. R., & Lee, T. W. (2017). Attributions and emotions as mediators and/or moderators in the goal striving process. In Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (Eds.), New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance (pp. 35–50). Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Epton, T., Currie, S. & Armitage, C. J. (2017). Unique effects of setting goals on behavior change: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85, 1182–1198. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000260Google Scholar
Heider, F. (1958). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleingeld, A., van Mierlo, H., & Arends, L. (2011). The effect of goal setting on group performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 1289–1304. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024315Google Scholar
Knittle, K., Heino, M. T. J., Marques, M. et al. (2020). The compendium of self-enactable techniques to change and self-manage motivation and behaviour v1. 0 Nature Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0798-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kok, G., Gottlieb, N. H., Peters, G.-J. Y. et al. (2016). A taxonomy of behavior change methods: An intervention mapping approach. Health Psychology Review, 10, 297–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2015.1077155Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., Shah, J. Y., Fishbach, A., Friedman, R., Chun, W. Y., & Sleeth-Keppler, D. (2002). A theory of goal systems. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 331–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(02)80008–9Google Scholar
Latham, G. P., & Seijts, G. H. (2016). Distinguished scholar invited essay: Similarities and differences among performance, behavioral and learning goals. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 23, 225–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051816641874Google Scholar
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57, 705–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2006). New directions in goal setting theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 265–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2006.00449.xGoogle Scholar
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (Eds.) (2017). New Developments in Goal setting and Task Performance. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2019). The development of goal setting theory: A half century retrospective. Motivation Science, 5, 93–105. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000127Google Scholar
Locke, E. A., Shaw, K. N., Saar, L. M., & Latham, G. P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1981. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 125–152. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.90.1.125Google Scholar
Mento, A. J., Steel, R. P., & Karren, R. J. (1987). A meta-analytic study of the effects of goal setting performance 1966–1984. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 39, 52–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(87)90045–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michie, S., Ashford, S., Sniehotta, F. F., Dombrowski, S. U., Bishop, A., & French, D. P. (2011). A refined taxonomy of behaviour change techniques to help people change their physical activity and healthy eating behaviours: The CALO-RE taxonomy. Psychology and Health, 26, 1479–1498. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2010.540664Google Scholar
Michie, S., Richardson, M., Johnston, M. et al. (2013). The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: Building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 46, 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6Google Scholar
Monday.com (2019). A new way to manage your work. Monday.com. Website. https://monday.com/Google Scholar
Neubert, M. J. (1998). The value of feedback and goal setting over goal setting alone and potential moderators of this effect: A meta-analysis. Human Performance, 11, 321–335. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327043hup11042Google Scholar
NHS (2017). Couch to 5k: week by week. NHS. Website. www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/couch-to-5k-week-by-week/Google Scholar
NHS England (2017). Urgent and emergency care. NHS England. Website. www.england.nhs.uk/five-year-forward-view/next-steps-on-the-nhs-five-year-forward-view/urgent-and-emergency-care/.Google Scholar
Parliament UK (2019). Targets and performance. Parliament UK. Website. www.parliament.uk/about/sustainability/targets-and-performance/Google Scholar
Pham, L. B., & Taylor, S. E. (1999). From thought to action: Effects of process- versus outcome-based mental simulations on performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 250–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167299025002010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PHE (Public Health England). (2012). Stoptober. Public Health England. Website. https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/6-stoptober/overviewGoogle Scholar
Powers, W. T. (2008). Living Control Systems III: The Fact of Control. Benchmark Publications.Google Scholar
Powers, W. T., Clark, R. K., & McFarland, R. L. (1960a). A general feedback theory of human behavior: Part I. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 11, 71–88. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1960.11.1.71CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powers, W. T., Clark, R. K., & McFarland, R. L. (1960b). A general feedback theory of human behavior: Part II. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 11, 309–323. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1960.11.1.71Google Scholar
Runner’s World. (2003). Effective goal setting. www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20819775/effective-goal-setting/Google Scholar
Shah, J. Y., Friedman, R., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2002). Forgetting all else: On the antecedents and consequences of goal shielding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1261–1280. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1261CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sky Sports. (2012). Jessica Ennis is setting new goals after her success at the London Olympics. Sky Sports, November 14. www.skysports.com/more-sports/athletics/news/14935/8247229/jessica-ennis-is-setting-new-goals-after-her-success-at-the-london-olympicsGoogle Scholar
Study Goal. (2019). Study Goal. App. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/study-goal/id1187626482?mt=8.Google Scholar
Swann, C., Rosenbaum, S., Lawrence, A., Vella, S., McEwan, E., & Ekkekakis, P. (2019). Updating goal setting theory in physical activity promotion: A critical conceptual review. Health Psychology Review.Google Scholar
Tubbs, M. E. (1986). A meta-analytical examination of the empirical evidence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 474–483. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.71.3.474CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN (United Nations). (2015). Sustainable development goals. United Nations. Website. www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/Google Scholar
Venables, L., & Fairclough, S. H. (2009). The influence of performance feedback on goal setting and mental effort regulation. Motivation and Emotion, 33, 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-008-9116-yGoogle Scholar
Wood, R. E., Mento, A. J., & Locke, E. A. (1987). Task complexity as a moderator of goal effects: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 416–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.72.3.416CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, R. E., Whelan, J., Sojo, V., & Wong, M. (2017). Goals, goal orientations, strategies and performance. In Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (Eds.), New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance (pp. 91–114). Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar