The Effects of Self‐Discordance, Self‐Concordance, and Implementation Intentions on Health Behavior

Building upon previous research on implementation intentions, the present study hypothesized that implementation intentions would be beneficial for participants who endorsed self‐concordant and self‐discordant forms of motivation. Self‐concordance describes the extent to which goals are congruent with organismic needs for self‐determination, competence, and relatedness whereas self‐discordance describes the extent to which goals and behaviors are incongruent with these needs. Results showed that implementation intentions were beneficial for people who endorsed self‐discordant forms of motivation. In addition, a statistically nonsignificant trend was observed for implementation intentions to be beneficial among individuals who endorsed self‐concordant forms of motivation. It is concluded that implementation exercises are beneficial for individuals who endorse self‐discordant motivation.