Implementation intentions and efficient action initiation

Implementation intentions ("If I encounter Situation X, then I'll perform B ehavior Y!") are postulated to instigate automatic action initiation (P. M. Gollwitzer, 1993, 1999). In 4 studies, the hypothesis was tested that impl ementation intentions lead to immediate action initiation once the specifie d situation is encountered, even under conditions of high cognitive load. F irst, individuals whose action control is known to be hampered by disruptiv e cognitive business, such as opiate addicts under withdrawal (Study 1) and schizophrenic patients (Study 2), benefited from forming implementation in tentions. Second, the beneficial effect of implementation intentions was al so found in 2 experiments with university students (Studies 3 and 4) in whi ch cognitive load was experimentally induced by using dual task paradigms. Results of the 4 studies suggest that forming implementation intentions ins tigates immediate action initiation that is also efficient.