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Well Self-Regulated People Use Mental Contrasting

Bibliographic Data

ID5338751
AuthorsA Timur Sevincer (0000-0003-2751-0142, Universität Hamburg), Philipp J Mehl (Universität Hamburg), Gabriele Oettingen (0000-0002-6139-1493, Universität Hamburg)
Year2017
Volume48
Issue6
Pages348-364
Publication date2017-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1864-9335 • E-ISSN: 2151-2590
PublisherHogrefe Publishing Group (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1027/1864-9335/a000322
OpenAlexW2769165064
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited55

Mentally contrasting a desired future with reality is a self-regulation strategy helping people manage their life by promoting selective goal pursuit: people pursue feasible futures and disengage from unfeasible ones. We investigated whether participants who effectively regulate their academic and everyday life spontaneously use mental contrasting. Indeed, students who were good self-regulators in the academic domain, as indicated by their high self-reported academic self-regulation skills, high need for achievement, and above-average grades mentally contrasted when writing about an important achievement-related wish (Study 1). So did participants who were good self-regulators in everyday life as indicated by their high self-reported generalized self-regulation skills and high need for cognition (Study 2). Results indicate that successful self-regulation is linked to spontaneous mental contrasting

Cognition · Developmental psychology · Everyday life · Futures contract · Goal pursuit · Self-control · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports · Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works11
Citations per year1,38
Citation span2018 - 2026 (9)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 11
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