When Intentions Go Public Does Social Reality Widen the Intention-Behavior Gap? Peter M. Gollwitzer,1,2 Paschal Sheeran,3 Verena Michalski,2 and Andrea E. Seifert2 1New York University, 2UniversitdJ Konstanz, and 3University of Sheffield ABSTRACT-Based on Lewiniangoal theory in general and countability-related features of the audience (e.g., competence, self-completion theory in particular, four experiments ex­ power) and the individual (e.g., identifiability, expectations of amined the implications of other people taking notice of having to explain oneself) affect the strength of public-com­ one~ identity-related behavioral intentions (e.g., the in­ mitment effects. tention to read law periodicals regularly to reach the Both of these lines of research focus on intentions in which the identity goal of becoming a lawyer). Identity-related be­ specified behavior is a desired outcome in and of itself. Lewin havioral intentions that had been noticed by other people (1926) and his colleagues (e.g., Mahler, 1935; Ovsiankina, were translated into action less intensively than those that 1928), however, argued that people often construe behavioral had been ignored (Studies 1-3). This effect was evident in intentions in more general terms, thus allowing substitution of the field (persistent striving over 1 week~time; Study 1) means for attainment. For instance, consider a student who has and in the laboratory (jumping on opportunities to act; started an assigned math task with the intention to successfully Studies 2 and 3), and it held among participants with solve the required addition problems. During the process, this strong but not weak commitment to the identity goal (Study student may construe the intention as being to demonstrate 3). Study 4 showed, in addition, that when other people mathematical skills, and this conceptually broader intention take notice of an individual ~ identity-related behavioral may also be reached by solving subtraction problems (i.e., by intention, this gives the individual a premature sense of substitute activities). Ovsiankina and Mahler observed that a possessing the aspired-to identity. substitute activity engenders a sense of having reached the conceptually broader intention, given that performance of the substitute activity has been witnessed by other people (i.e., has Are scientists more likely to write papers if they tell colleagues become a social reality). On the basis of this line of thought­ about this intention than if they keep the intention private? It is which we explicate in the framework of self-completion theory commonly assumed that whenever people make their intentions (SCT; Gollwitzer & Kirchhof, 1998; Wicklund & Gollwitzer, public, the behavioral impact of these intentions is enhanced 1982)-we propose that social recognition of an identity-rele­ (e.g., Staats, Harland, & Wilke, 2004). These effects are pos­ vant behavioral intention may have negative effects on its en­ tulated to be a consequence of multiple processes. Research on actment. persuasion techniques points to one of these processes (Cialdini SCT proposes that people who are committed to identity goals & Trost, 1998). It is argued that a publicly stated behavioral (e.g., becoming a good parent, scientist, or craftsperson) can intention commits the individual to a certain self-view (e.g., "I undertake a variety of activities to claim goal attainment. For a am a productive person") with which the person then acts con­ scientist, such activities, or identity symbols, include engaging sistently. Indeed, individuals with a higher need for consistency in professional duties (e.g., giving lectures), making positive show stronger public-commitment effects (Cialdini, Wosinka, self-descriptions (e.g., "I discovered a new principle!"), exerting Barrett, Butner, & Gornik-Durose, 1999). The second process is identity-relevant social influence (e.g., advising students), and referred to as accountability (Lerner & Tetlock, 1999). Making acquiring skills and tools that facilitate striving for the identity intentions public is said to make a person accountable to the goal (e.g., programming skills, computers). However, failing to addressed audience, and research has shown that various ac- perform an identity-relevant activity or facing the lack of an identity symbol produces a state of incompleteness (Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1982). To restore completeness, the individual Address correspondence to Peter M. Gollwitzer, New York Univer­ sity, Psychology Department, 6 Washington Place, 7th Floor, New makes efforts to acquire alternative identity symbols (e.g., de­ York, NY 10003, e-mail: [email protected]. scribing oneself as having the required personality attributes: 612 Gollwitzer & Wicklund, 1985; engaging in identity-relevant form a scale (ex = .80). Next, participants were asked to write activities: Brunstein & Gollwitzer, 1996; showing off relevant down their two most important study intentions for the forth­ status symbols: Harmon-Jones, Schmeichel, & Harmon-Jones, coming week (e.g., "I will take my reading assignments more 2009). Using opportunities to affirm one's general self-integrity seriously," "I intend to study more statistics"). or to bolster one's self-esteem is not sufficient to offset incom­ In the social-reality condition, the experimenter read through pleteness regarding an identity goal; rather, it is necessary to each participant's reported intentions, presumably to ensure acquire specific identity symbols (Ledgerwood, Liviatan, & that the participant had understood the instructions. In the no­ Carnevale, 2007). social-reality condition, participants were told that the page of SCT research has also shown that an individual reaches a the questionnaire on which participants had written down their higher level of completeness when his or her identity-relevant behavioral intentions had been wrongly included in the study, activities are noticed by a social audience (Gollwitzer, 1986). and that this page would be discarded (i.e., the students' in­ Moreover, research has shown that incomplete individuals are tentions remained unnoticed). more concerned with finding an audience for their identity One week later, all participants were sent a second ques­ strivings, compared with complete individuals (Brunstein & tionnaire via e-mail. They had to first write down the two be­ Gollwitzer, 1996). Positive self-descriptions made in public havioral intentions they had listed the previous week. Then, they qualify as powerful identity symbols (Gollwitzer, Wicklund, & indicated on exactly which days of the past week they had acted Hilton, 1982), and having an audience for behavioral intentions on each intention. Finally, participants were asked to bring th~ir that specify the successful performance of an identity-relevant completed questionnaire to the experimenter's office, where they activity should have the same symbolic impact. The implication received payment (€5) or course credit. is that when other people take notice of a stated identity-relevant be ha vi oral intention, this should engender completeness re­ garding the superordinate identity goal, and thus reaching the Results and Discussion identity goal by actually performing the intended behavior Overall, participants were highly committed to the identity goal should become less necessary. In other words, people should be (range = 6-9; M = 7.32, SD = 1.64), and there was no less likely to translate their identity-relevant behavioral inten­ significant difference in commitment scores between the tions into action when other people have taken notice of those social-reality condition (M = 7.21, SD = 1.64) and the no­ intentions. We conducted four experiments entailing a variety of social-reality condition (M = 7.43, SD = 1.08), F < 1,p > .32, identity goals and behavioral intentions to test this hypothesis. d < 0.16. We analyzed the number of days participants acted on their intentions in a 2 x 2 analysis of variance (AN OVA) with STUDY 1 social reality as the between-participants factor and the two specified behavioral intentions as the within-participants factor. In Study 1, we asked college students committed to becoming a Results showed a significant main effect of social reality, F(l, psychologist to form identity-relevant studying intentions. After 47) = 4.38, p < .05, d = 0.60; participants whose intentions either taking notice of these intentions or ignoring them, we remained private acted on their intentions on more days of the assessed how effectively the students enacted their intentions week (M = 2.70, SD = 1.83) than did participants whose in­ over the subsequent week. tentions were noticed (M = 1.92, SD = 0.78). No other effects were significant. An apparent strength of Study 1 is that the observed negative Method effects of having one's intentions noticed cannot easily be at­ Forty-nine psychology students (38 women, 11 men) at a Ger­ tributed to emotions that might accrue from the experimenter's man university were recruited after introductory lectures. Par­ behavior (e.g., pride). Such affective responses should vanish ticipants were informed that they would take part in a survey quickly, whereas the effects on behavioral enactment in Study 1 about the study intentions of first-year psychology students. A were evident over a period of 1 week. An obvious weakness of first questionnaire assessed commitment to becoming a psy­ this study, however, is that enactment of intentions was assessed chologist using the following items: via self-report. • "How