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Article Behavioral Science & Policy Beyond Good Intentions: Prompting People to Make Plans Improves Follow-through on Important Tasks |
Many intend to stay fit but fail to exercise or eat healthfully; students intend to earn good grades but study too little; citizens intend to vote but fail to turnout. How can policymakers help people follow through on intentions like these? Plan-making, a tool that leverages research on memory and cognition as well as mechanical benefits of scheduling, is one underappreciated solution. We review experiments showing that forming specific, concrete plans increases follow through across a range of domains—from vaccinations to voting. Plan-making prompts are simple, inexpensive, and powerful tools for changing behavior, which preserve the autonomy of decision makers.
Keywords: Behavior; Success; Planning;
Rogers, Todd, Katherine L Milkman, Leslie K. John, and Michael I. Norton. "Beyond Good Intentions: Prompting People to Make Plans Improves Follow-through on Important Tasks." Behavioral Science & Policy 1, no. 2 (December 2015): 33–41.
