Adherence to personal resolutions across time, culture, and goal domains

Goal setting is only somewhat more common than the failure to follow through on one’s goals. Recognizing the challenge of long-term behavior change, we ask what best predicts long-term goal adherence: extrinsic motivation (experiencing goal pursuit as a means to an end) or intrinsic motivation (experiencing goal pursuit as an end in itself). In a year-long longitudinal study, people set extrinsic New Year’s resolutions, but intrinsic motivation predicted adherence to these goals more than extrinsic motivation (U.S., Study 1). These findings emerged among participants in China (Study 2) and when assessing objective goal adherence over two weeks (number of steps walked; Study 3). Understanding how intrinsic motivation affects long-term persistence critically informs interventions that promote goal pursuit. Indeed, in an experiment, increasing intrinsic (v. extrinsic) motivation increased goal adherence (Study 4). Overall, intrinsic motivation both predicts and causally increases goal adherence.