Students were asked:
o To think of a health goal they pursued
o Their skill level related to that goal
o The level of internalization of that goal

Manipulatie: Writing exercise (randomly assigned)
o High level condition: reflected on the meaningfulness and importance of pursuing ththeir health goal
o Low level condition: wrote about the specific activities related to their health goal

Resultaten
• No main effects of level of writing and skill level
• Interaction effect skill level x level of writing

p = niet significant voor streeplijn = lage mate van internalisatie. p < .001 voor stippellijn = hoge mate van internalisatie.

Deze studie was een hele korte oefening. In de tweede studie werd tijd meegenomen, dus effecten op lange termijn.

• High skilled individuals’ goal internalization may benefit from self-reflections regarding the meaning and value of the goal (the “why”)
• Low skilled individuals’ goal internalization may benefit from focusing on the “how” of the goal, by making plans how to pursue the goal

• For highly skilled individuals, the problem is not “how” to pursue the goal but wanting to pursue the goal and to reduce inner conflict about pursuing the goal

De taak moet betekenisvol zijn.

• Focusing on the “why” may be a source of inspiraiton that re-energizes individuals to pursue their goals

Je tanden poetsen iedere ochtend om het kunstgebit zo lang mogelijk uit te stellen.

Autonomous motivation towards difficult or uninteresting goals is enhanced to the extent that their abilities to pursue the goal appropriately match their level of identification with the goal

Autonome motivatie wordt versterkt wanneer vaardigheden van mensen matchen met het doel.