Instant success: Turning temptations into cues for goal-directed behavior

Contrary to lay intuition,counteractive control theory posits that tempting food cues can help individuals to act in accordance with their long-term dieting goal.however,studies have shown that temptations trigger goal-directed behavior only in successful but not in unsuccessful self-regulators.the aim of the present study was to test whether it is possible to create facilitated temptation-goal associations in unsuccessful dieters using implementation intentions (e.g.,if i see or smell chocolate then i will follow my goal to diet) and whether this indeed stimulates more successful self-regulation.it was found that implementation intentions linking a temptation to a dieting goal lead to self-perceived improved resistance to (study 1) as well as reduced consumption (study 2) of tempting snacks compared to a control condition.moreover,study 2 revealed that the reduced snack consumption was indeed related to facilitated temptation-goal associations in participants who had formed implementation intentions.© 2011 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.