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| NYU Psychology | Programs | Courses | Research | Faculty | People | Events | Contacts | [Internal] |
| Gabriele Oettingen | |
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| Research | Biography | Publications | Address |
Professor of Psychology ResearchSelf-regulation of goal setting and goal disengagement My research addresses two broad questions: (1) What self-regulatory strategies can people use to turn their positive fantasies about the future into binding goals, and (2) What self-regulatory strategies can people use to unwind themselves from binding goals? The research relates to various areas in social and personality psychology, in developmental and educational psychology, as well as in health and clinical psychology. 1) Engagement to goals Mentally contrasting a desired future with aspects of impeding reality leads to the emergence of binding goals with consecutive goal striving and goal attainment, if chances of successfully realizing the desired future are perceived as being high. To the contrary, mentally elaborating either the desired future only or the negative reality only leads to moderate goal commitment, even if chances of success look promising. These effects were observed in a variety of life domains (e.g., interpersonal relations, academic achievement, professional achievement, health, life management) and with different paradigms (e.g., salience, reinterpretation). 2) Disengagement from goals Mentally contrasting a desired future with aspects of impeding reality leads to disengagement from goals, if chances of success are perceived as being low. Mentally elaborating either the desired future only or the negative reality only, to the contrary, maintains goal commitment even when chances of success are perceived as being low. Again, we have demonstrated these effects in various life domains (e.g., interpersonal relations, health) and with different paradigms. Currently, we are using mental contrasting procedures to unwind people from maladaptive goal striving (e.g., from a still desired but impossible relationship, from a still wanted but unfeasible professional identity). People simply have to mentally contrast their desired future with negative aspects of impeding reality. If chances of success are perceived as low, the disengagement process can begin. 3) Engagement to approach goals versus avoidance goals Mental contrasting does not only turn positive fantasies about a desired future into binding approach goals, but also negative fantasies about an undesired future into binding avoidance goals. More specifically, negative fantasies about an undesired, feared future have to be contrasted with positive aspects of the still safe reality, and expectations of successfully avoiding the undesired future have to be high. Using mental contrasting to turn fearful fantasies into constructive avoidance goals should be of particular importance when people have a hard time to generate positive fantasies about the future (e.g., in the health domain, or when people entertain prejudice against members of an out-group). 4) Indulging and the unescapable This line of research asks the question, under which circumstances indulging in a positive future has beneficial effects on motivation and well-being. It is predicted that when facing controllable and escapable tasks, people should benefit from mentally contrasting fantasy with reality. However, when facing tasks that can neither be mastered nor relinquished (e.g., being terminally ill), indulging in positive fantasies should be beneficial, because it allows one to “stay in the field.” 5) Culture and self-regulatory thought In the past, I conducted research on how cultural and political system factors shape the development of efficacy beliefs, control beliefs, and attributional styles. I now ask the question of how cultural factors influence the development of the three modes of self-regulatory thought (i.e., mental contrasting, indulging, dwelling). For example, we investigate the prevalence of the three modes of self-regulatory thought in cultures differing in their degree of norm-orientation. 6) Further issues We are analysing the psychological processes that make contrasting individuals sensitive to chances of success and make indulging and dwelling people insensitive to chances of success. For example, we ask whether contrasting versus indulging/dwelling promote differential processing of relevant performance feedback, differential evaluations of critical experiences, and differential ways of coping with failure. Another line of research focuses on the interpersonal consequences of mental contrasting versus indulging and dwelling. In comparison to mental contrasting, indulging and dwelling should make people disregard the needs and behaviors of their interaction partners (e.g., one’s romantic partner, one´s child, an employee). This negligence, then, might affect the interaction partner’s direct responses as well as his or her long-term thoughts, feelings, and actions (e.g., aspirations, attitudes, decisions). Education
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Oettingen, G., Mayer, D., Thorpe, J., Janetzke, H., & Lorenz, S. (in press). Turning fantasies about positive and negative futures into self-improvement goals. Motivation and Emotion. Oettingen, G., & Thorpe, J. S. (in press). Fantasy realization and the bridging of time. In L. A. Sanna, & E. C. Chang (Eds.), Judgments over time: The interplay of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fujita, K., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Oettingen, G. (in press). Mindsets and preconscious open-mindedness to incidental information. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. [pdf] Oettingen, G., Grant, H., Smith, P. K., Skinner, M., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2006). Nonconscious goal pursuit: Acting in an explanatory vacuum. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. [pdf] Oettingen, G. & Zosuls, K. (2006). Culture and self-efficacy in adolescents. In F. Pajares & T. Urdan. (Eds.), Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents. Volume V of Adolescence and education (p. 245-265). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Oettingen, G., & Hagenah, M. (2005). Fantasies and the self-regulation of competence. In A. Elliot & C. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 647-665). New York: Guilford. Kawada, C., Oettingen, G., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Bargh, J. A. (2004). The projection of implicit and explicit goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 545-559. [pdf] Oettingen, G., Bulgarella, C., Henderson, M., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2004). The self-regulation of goal pursuit. In R. A.Wright, J. Greenberg, & S. S. Brehm (Eds.), Motivation and emotion in social contexts: Jack Brehm’s influence on contemporary psychological thought (pp. 225-244). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Little, T. D., Miyashita, T., Karasawa, M., Mashima, M., Oettingen, G., Azuma, H., & Baltes, P. B. (2003). The links among action-control beliefs, intellective skill, and school performance in Japanese, U.S., and German school children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 41-48. [pdf] Oettingen, G., & Mayer, D. (2002). The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1198-1212. [pdf] Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2002). Self-regulation of goal pursuit: Turning hope thoughts into behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 304-307. Oettingen, G., Pak, H., & Schnetter, K. (2001). Self-regulation of goal setting: Turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 736-753. [pdf] Little, T. D., Lopez, D. F., Oettingen, G., & Baltes, P. B. (2001). A comparative-longitudinal study of action-control beliefs and school performance: On the role of context. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 237-245. [pdf] Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P.M. (2001). Goal setting and goal striving. In A. Tesser & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Intraindividual processes. Volume 1 of the Blackwell Handbook in Social Psychology. Editors-in-chief: M. Hewstone & M. Brewer (pp. 329-347). Oxford: Blackwell. [pdf] Oettingen, G., Hönig, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2000). Effective self-regulation of goal attainment. International Journal of Educational Research, 33, 705-732. [pdf] Oettingen, G. (2000). Expectancy effects on behavior depend on self-regulatory thought. Social Cognition, 18, 101-129. [pdf] Oettingen, G. (1999). Free fantasies about the future and the emergence of developmental goals. In J. Brandstädter, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Action and self-development: Theory and research through the life span (pp. 315-342). Thousand Oaks: Sage. [pdf] Oettingen, G., & Maier, H. (1999). Where political system meets culture: Effects on efficacy appraisal. In Y.-T. Lee, C. R. McCauley, & J. Draguns (Eds.), Personality and person perception across cultures (pp. 163-190). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Lopez, D. F., Little, T. D., Oettingen, G., & Baltes, P. B. (1999). Self-regulation and school performance: Is there an optimal level of action-control? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 70, 54-74.. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Oettingen, G. (1998). The emergence and implementation of health goals. Psychology and Health, 13, 687-715. [pdf] Oettingen, G. (1997). Die Psychologie des Zukunftsdenkens (The psychology of thinking about the future). Göttingen: Hogrefe. Oettingen, G. (1997). Culture and future thought. Culture & Psychology, 3, 353-381. [pdf] Oettingen, G. (1996). Positive fantasy and motivation. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 236-259). New York: Guilford Press. Stetsenko, A., Little, T. D., Oettingen, G., & Baltes, P. B. (1995). Agency, control, and means-ends beliefs about school performance in Moscow children: How similar are they to beliefs of Western children? Developmental Psychology, 31, 285-299. [pdf] Little, T. D., Oettingen, G., Stetsenko, A., & Baltes, P. B. (1995). Children's action-control beliefs about school performance: How do American children compare to German and Russian children? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 686-700. [pdf] Oettingen, G. (1995). Explanatory style in the context of culture. In G. M. Buchanan, & M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Explanatory style (pp. 209-224). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [pdf] Oettingen, G. (1995). Cross-cultural perspectives on self-efficacy beliefs. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 149-176). New York: Cambridge University Press. Oettingen, G., Little, T. D., Lindenberger, U., & Baltes, P. B. (1994). Causality, agency, and control beliefs in East versus West Berlin children: A natural experiment on the role of context. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 579-595. [pdf] Oettingen, G., & Wadden, T. A. (1991). Expectation, fantasy, and weight loss: Is the impact of positive thinking always positive? Cognitive Therapy and Research, 15, 167-175. [pdf] Oettingen, G., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Pessimism and behavioral signs of depression in East versus West Berlin. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 207-220. [pdf] Zullow, H., Oettingen, G., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1988). Explanatory style and pessimism in the historical record: CAVing LBJ, Presidential Candidates, and East versus West Berlin. American Psychologist, 43, 673-682. [pdf]
Department of Psychology Email: gabriele.oettingen@nyu.edu Updated |
