Self-regulation of time management: mental contrasting with implementation intentions

Gabriele Oettingen, Heather Barry Kappes, Katie B. Guttenberg and Peter M. Gollwitzer

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) has been found to improve self-regulation across many life domains. The present research investigates whether MCII can benefit time management. In Study 1, we asked students to apply MCII to a pressing academic problem and assessed how they scheduled their time for the upcoming week. MCII participants scheduled more time than control participants who in their thoughts either reflected on similar contents using different cognitive procedures (content-control group) or applied the same cognitive procedures on different contents (format-control group). In Study 2, students were taught MCII as a metacognitive strategy to be used on any upcoming concerns of the subsequent week. As compared with the week prior to the training, students in the MCII (vs. format control) condition improved in self-reported time management. In Study 3, MCII (vs. format control) helped working mothers who enrolled in a vocational business program to attend classes more regularly. The findings suggest that performing MCII on one's everyday concerns improves time management.

JEL-codes: J50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-03-10
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published in European Journal of Social Psychology, 10, March, 2015, 45(2), pp. 218-229. ISSN: 0046-2772

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61631/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:61631

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().