Mundane Behavioral Decisions, Actions Can be 'Misremembered' as Done
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
Mundane behavioral decisions, actions can be 'misremembered' as done:
Mundane behaviors that are repeated over time and occur in the context of many other similar behaviors can lead people to conflate intentions and behaviors and create false memories of completing the task, said Dolores Albarracin, a professor of psychology and marketing at Illinois and the director of the Social Action Lab.
"Intentions and making plans typically improve task execution. We need them to function in society, to realize our goals and to get along with others," she said. "But when we form an intention in the moment such as 'I'm going to sign that form now,' and it's an activity we routinely perform, we want to complete the task when we form the intention. Otherwise, we don't actually sign the form. And the reason why is because the thought of wanting to sign the form can be misremembered as actually having signed it, in which case we'd be better off not having formed the intention to sign the form in the first place."
[...] "Our results highlight that behaviors will look to be more consistent with intentions when the behavior is routine," she said. "The finding implies we should be more aware of the potential for error in these similarly trivial behaviors."
The paper has implications for health care settings and any other situation where self-reporting of following through on an action is critical, Albarracin said.
"The fulfillment of routine, repeated behaviors can have meaningful consequences, and are part of, if not central to, many practical contexts," Albarracin said. "More generally, understanding the complexity of the intention-behavior link and the possible unexpected effects of intention formation is essential to promote beneficial behaviors in many domains, ranging from financial decisions to a person's health."
Journal Reference:
Mistaking an Intention for a Behavior: The Case of Enacting Behavioral Decisions Versus Simply Intending to Enact Them:, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (DOI: 10.1177/0146167220929203)
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