Enhancing consumer behaviour with implementation intentions

stimuli and tasks it is known that verbal, visual and combined verbal-visual implementation intention formats are equally effective (e.g., Burkard, Rochat, & Van der Linden, 2013; McFarland & Glisky, 2012; Meeks & Marsh, 2010). However, in everyday life settings using richer stimuli (e.g., food products) implementation intentions effects can indeed be augmented by visualizing the plan contents (e.g., Knäuper et al., 2011; Knäuper, Roseman, Johnson, & Krantz, 2009). For instance, Knäuper et al. (2011) investigated the effectiveness of implementation intentions in increasing fruit consumption. After asking participants to form standard verbal implementation intentions, the authors encouraged them to visualize the critical cues (e.g., seeing fruits at the cafeteria) and the cue-response links (e.g., taking and eating fruits when they are encountered). This verbal-visual implementation intention induction was observed to be more effective in increasing fruit consumption than the standard verbal implementation intention, indicating that consumers benefit from visualizing cues and responses in addition to formulating an if-then plan. Granted that visualizing plan contents enhances the effectiveness of implementation intentions, one right wonder whether the visualization of cues and responses may already lead to the formation of if-then plans. Fennis, Adriaanse, Stroebe and Pol (2011) examined this question by presenting participants with a webpage advocating the usage of a pocketguide listing fair-trade products to facilitate sustainable consumption. Importantly, the webpage described different situational cues (e.g., writing a shopping list, putting products in the shopping basket) and also provided an instrumental means (i.e., using the pocket-guide to check whether a product is fair-trade) without ever providing a verbal if-then plan. Nevertheless, the authors observed that a vivid description of the plan contents strengthened the accessibility of situational and response cues (e.g., "shopping list", "checking") and resulted in more actual purchases of sustainable products. These results are promising because they indicate that implementation intentions can be conveyed to consumers even when an explicit instruction to form if-then plans is impracticable. Mentally contrasting wishes and obstacles Forming implementation intentions has mainly been studied as a self-regulation strategy that is given to people in a paternalistic manner. Recently, a self-regulation strategy called mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) (e.g., lettingen, 2012, 2014) has been designed to allow people to personalize the content of the ifand then-parts of their implementation intentions. In mental contrasting, people are first encouraged to elaborate on their wishes and imagine the most desired outcomes of their fulfilment. Then they are asked to contrast these outcomes with the personal obstacles that stand in the way of achieving these outcomes. Mentally contrasting desired outcomes versus real-world obstacles creates a propensity to plan and enables a person to identify powerful, idiosyncratic barriers to wish fulfilment. Once these obstacles are identified, the person is ready to form if-then plans that link the presence of the obstacles to instrumental responses that are helpful in overcoming those obstacles (e.g., "If I encounter [my obstacle], then I will [my response to effectively manage the obstacle]!"). Mental contrasting has been found to benefit the effects of implementation intentions (e.g., Adriaanse et al., 2010; Kirk, lettingen, & Gollwitzer, 2013). For example, MCII proved more effective in helping college students to break snacking habits than forming implementation intentions on their own. Importantly, mental contrasting increased perceived clarity about the personal obstacles involved in reducing unhealthy snacking. When Adriaanse, de Ridder and de Wit (2009) compared the effectiveness of if-then plans that were personalized vs. kept general (i.e., specifically referred to each participant's unique action control problem vs. a general action control problem), the personalized if-then plans turned out to be more effective. Information about MCII and how it can be applied is freely available at woopmylife.org (WO OP stands for the MCII components: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle and Plan). P. M. Gollwitze , M. Bieleke and P. Sheeran Enhancing consumer behaviour