When good intentions are not enough: People underestimate the power of situational aids in implementation of health-protective intentions

Abstract

Intention strength is a useful, though imperfect, predictor of future health-protective behaviors (Godin & Kok, 1996). Minor obstacles (e.g., forgetting) may prevent enactment of good intentions, but these obstacles can be circumvented by situational aids (e.g., a reminder, Dal Cin, 2006). People’s sensitivity to the value of situational aids in their implementation of health-protective intentions is yet to be investigated. Koehler and Poon (2006) posit that people base their predictions of future behaviors on their current intentions, and do not sufficiently adjust for factors not captured in the evaluation of their current intentions. In this study, we hypothesize that people overweight their current intentions in predicting their likelihood of receiving influenza vaccination by a specified time, and that they underestimate the impact of situational aids on enactment of their current intentions. We experimentally manipulated participants’ intentions to receive vaccination and the availability of situational aids (i.e., a reminder package) in a 2 (intentions: unenhanced vs. enhanced) X 2 (reminder: un-reminded vs. reminded) between-subject design before they predicted their likelihood of receiving vaccination for the upcoming flu season by a specified time. Participants were asked in a follow-up whether or not they actually received the vaccination. As hypothesized, the intentions manipulation had a stronger impact on self-predictions than on actual behavior, and the reminder manipulation had a smaller impact on self-predictions than on actual behavior. People’s underestimation of the power of situational aids may impede their mobilization of situational aids to serve their goals when such aids are not freely given.