What happens during the process of goal-oriented self-regulation? Systematic measure of the objective and self-reported effects of the self-regulation enhancing intervention

Michał Szulawski , Magdalena Marszał-Wiśniewska

Abstract

Objectives. The main objective of the two studies was to systematically check the influence of the goal-oriented self-regulation intervention (goal achievement training based on SocialCognitive Theory of Self-Regulation) on goal attainment and self-regulation indexes. Participants and setting. In the first study (N = 314), students form different Warsovian Universities pursued different goals, and they self-reported the outcomes. In the second study (N = 118), people who attain sport clubs pursued the same goal (reducing their weight) and they reported their weight and the subjective outcomes. Hypotheses. It was assumed that participants who took part in the intervention would attain their goals more efficiently (hypothesis 1) and there would be differences between the groups in the dynamics of the outcomes (hypothesis 2). Statistical analysis. The repeated measures ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results. The results show that the intervention influenced the process of self-regulation, and improved goal attainment. Both studies, however, showed different dynamics of the selfregulation process. In the first study, the goal realization dynamics consisted of constant, and higher throughout the study, importance of the goal, more time sacrificed for goal realization and higher engagement; in the second study, however, the goal realization dynamics was connected with higher subjective chances of goal realization, more time sacrificed for the goal, less perceived difficulty of the goal. Study limitations. The main limitation of the study was that both experimental and control groups took part in systematic, intentional and requiring attention activity (self-regulation enhancing intervention in experimental group and cognitive tasks in control group) which might increase their self-regulatory resources and lead to more effective goal attainment and made the difference between the two groups not sharp.