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Implementation Intentions, Perfectionism, and Goal Progress: Perhaps the Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

Theodore A. Powers

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, tpowers{at}umassd.edu

Richard Koestner

McGill University

Raluca A. Topciu

University of Rochester

Two studies explored whether perfectionism moderates the impact of implementation intentions on goal progress. Study 1 used an implementation intention manipulation to examine the effects of these plans in interaction with perfectionism on the progress of New Year’s resolutions. Study 2 added a repeated implementation intention condition and monitored affect and monthly goal progress. The results of both studies revealed a significant backfire effect of the implementation intentions on goal progress for participants high on a particular dimension of perfectionism (socially prescribed perfectionism). These perfectionists reported doing significantly worse at reaching their personal goals when they were asked to formulate implementation intentions than when they completed a control exercise. There also was evidence that implementation planning aroused negative affect for socially prescribed perfectionists. These results are the first to suggest that implementation planning may be contra-indicated for individuals with self-critical tendencies.

Key Words: implementation intentions • implementation planning • perfectionism • self-criticism • goal progress

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 7, 902-912 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167204272311
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