Good intentions, bad habits, and effects of forming implementation intentions on healthy eating

A field experiment demonstrated that forming implementation intentions was effective in changing complex everyday behavior, in this case establishing a healthier diet. Implementation intentions concerned a specific plan for w hen and how to act. The effect of implementation intentions was additive to the prediction of healthy earing by behavioral intentions to eat healthily . Implementation intentions were pitted against individual differences in c ounterintentional (unhealthy) habits. The effects of implementation intenti ons and counterintentional habits were independent, suggesting that impleme ntation intentions did not break the negative influence of unhealthy habits , and yet managed to make those with unhealthy habits eat healthier in habi t-unrelated respects. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.