Introduction/Lit Review

Completing assigned tasks, whether academic, personal, or therapeutic, requires people to map tasks onto desired behavior. However, many individuals experience difficulty following through with their planned tasks, even if they desire to complete them. There are several models, theories, and compensatory strategies that have been developed to explain and solve these difficulties through lenses of independent influence. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the first theories to explore independent influence on behavior (Ajzen, 1985). It highlights the importance of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in shaping intentions, but also recognizes the gap between intention and behavior that is narrowed through volitional strategies (Sheeran et al., 2024; Gollwitzer, 1999; Fiszdon et al., 2022; Cornally, 2015). This intention-behavior gap is well documented in psychological research in clinical, social, and academic settings. The following are several applicable methods used to close the intention-behavior gap. Motivational Interviewing (MI) has been found to enhance intrinsic motivation and commitment to change, often being influenced through alignment with values evidenced by one’s actions (Hagger & Hamilton, 2025). This approach to psychotherapy is client-centered and directive to help individuals explore and resolve ambivalent experiences, as it branched from Rogers’ humanistic perspectives found in person-centered therapy (Miller & Rose, 2009). Meta-analyses of over 70 clinical trials have demonstrated that MI produces moderate short-term effects on behavior change, but these effects tend to diminish over time (Hettema et al., 2004). Rubak et al. (2004) found that MI’s impact across a broad range of behavioral problems and diseases was significant and bolstered the argument for MI’s use in treatment adherence and/or lifestyle modification through changes in behavior. While the effectiveness of MI is greater than usual care or advice, its impact can vary depending on a variety of moderators, such as provider skill, fidelity, population characteristics, and setting (Miller, 2023; Miller, 1996). The concept of activation energy describes the initial effort required to start a behavior, as well as the behaviors that increase the initial effort. The goal of activation is finding ways to lower the threshold of initial effort for task initiation (Randall & McNeil, 2017; Koole & Spijker, 2000). Early research characterized this as movement through a “behavior space,” where activation energy equated to the effort needed to overcome motivational obstacles in order to increase the likelihood of task completion (Killeen, 1992). In practice, this could be done to increase and decrease behaviors. For example, let’s say that John wants to decrease his screen time. In order to do so, he would increase the activation energy required to engage in the task. Doing this would look like removing the batteries from the television remote and placing each component of the remote (e.g., battery 1, battery 2, and the remote) in separate locations within the home. In this same example, if John wanted to increase his engagement in playing an instrument, he would do the opposite and decrease the activation energy needed to engage in the desired behavior (e.g., place the guitar in a space he often frequents and relaxes in). Overall, activation energy in behavior involves evaluating the barriers to initiating new and sustained behaviors. While effective, it tends to be proactive in nature rather than reactive, as found in the next and final volitional strategy. The use of implementation intentions incorporates many characteristics found in the aforementioned theories and models, but addresses a core critique found in TPB and MI. Without concrete behavioral planning, TPB and MI are insufficient for task completion (Hagger & Hamilton, 2025; Bieleke et al., 2020). Parallel to activation energy, implementation intentions focus on environmental cues as reminders to engage in a decided behavior or if–then scenarios. These cues are characterized by defining a specific environmental cue (e.g., the chime of a watch) and the engaged behavior without conscious deliberation in the presence of the cue (Gallo et al., 2012; Orbell & Verplanken, 2010; Webb & Sheeran, 2004). The use of implementation intentions has been found to improve task completion and reduce the intention-behavior gap often cited in literature involving TPB (Naar et al., 2023; Toli et al., 2016; Alfonsson et al., 2017; Ajzen, 1985; Hagger & Luszczynska, 2014; Gollwitzer, 1999; Cornally, 2015; Miller & Moyer, 2017). Understanding the significance of implementation intentions, and the overall nature of TPB, impacts a variety of settings and suggests ways to improve outcomes in academic, clinical, and personal settings.