The Motivating Effects of Temporal Landmarks: Evidence from the Field and Lab.

• Author: Lee, Jonathan
• Position: Evaluating Nudge: A Decade of Libertarian Paternalism

1. INTRODUCTION

   People often set and strive for goals in their pursuit of a better self. For example, individuals may commit to health goals, such as eating less junk food or quitting smoking; others may set relationship goals, such as being more compassionate and attentive; and criminals may declare their intention to abstain from illegal behaviors. Despite their best intentions, however, individuals often find themselves committing undesirable actions in violation of their goals. Dieters may fail to resist temptation and eat a donut; spouses may fail to control their emotions and lash out at loved ones after a stressful work day; and formerly incarcerated individuals may fall prey to their old, unlawful habits. Failed attempts at following through on their good intentions may lead individuals to believe they are not capable of making positive changes. This resignation may foster a "what the hell" rationalization--the tendency to engage further in undesirable behaviors following a first step in the unwanted direction--and lock individuals with past failures in an undesired, negative cycle. (1)

   What could free individuals from this cycle? Are there naturally arising points in time when people tend to feel untarnished by their past imperfections and become more determined than usual to tackle their goals? This article reviews recent work in the field of judgment and decision-making that examines (a) what types of external events can generate feelings of a fresh start, (b) how these events affect individuals' goal motivation, and (c) how insights about these external events can be capitalized to design "nudge" techniques that steer people towards future-oriented decisions. (2) Specifically, this article will first introduce the concept of "temporal landmarks" and discuss why temporal landmarks may feel like fresh starts and inspire the pursuit of self-improvement goals. Next, it will review studies that examine the relationship between temporal landmarks and goal motivation, including one that presents a field application of leveraging temporal landmarks to promote future-oriented decisions. It will conclude with a discussion about the potential implications of this stream of research for policymakers interested in designing nudge interventions.

2. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FRESH START EFFECT

   The line of work reviewed in this article examines the effects of temporal landmarks on individuals' engagement in goal pursuit. (3) Temporal landmarks are distinct events that "stand in marked contrast to the seemingly unending stream of trivial and ordinary occurrences that happen to us everyday." (4) Temporal landmarks include personally meaningful life events such as birthdays, job changes, and being released from prison. In addition to events with personal meaning, temporal landmarks also include transition points on calendars, such as the beginning of the week, month, season, and year, as well as holidays. By demarcating the boundaries of adjacent time periods, temporal landmarks help people organize memories, experiences, and activities.

   Dai and her colleagues propose that temporal landmarks can increase people's motivation to tackle their goals. (5) By delineating the passage of time and opening new temporal periods, temporal landmarks make people feel psychologically separated from their past selves. For example, a newlywed may feel different from her pre-wedding self, and a person who just turned thirty may feel that he is not the same person he was at twenty-nine. (6) This process allows people to relegate their failures and imperfections to the previous temporal period and their past selves, reducing bearing on their present selves. As a result, following temporal landmarks individuals may feel more confident in their ability to reach their goals and thus be more likely to take action. (7) Also, people may feel the urge to behave according to their new, more positive self-image (8) and act on their self-improvement goals. Furthermore, people may find it aversive to deviate from their goals following a temporal landmark, as negative acts are now no longer "one of many" but will instead stick out and ruin the "clean slate" that follows the temporal landmark. (9) In addition, temporal landmarks (such as milestone birthdays, deaths of significant others) may prompt people to take stock of their lives (10) and focus on their long-term goals instead of their short-term interests. (11) Connecting all of these arguments, Dai and her colleagues hypothesize that temporal landmarks are associated with increased goal motivation, an effect they dub the "fresh start effect." (12)

3. PAST RESEARCH ESTABLISHING THE FRESH START EFFECT

   The first paper that we review examines how engagement in goal-related activities changes following temporal landmarks by analyzing archival data. (13) In Study 1, the researchers collected 3104 days' worth of data from "Google Insights for Search" on the daily number of Google searches for the term "diet" --a proxy for public interest in dieting, one of the most popular New Year's resolutions. (14) The researchers used regression analyses to predict daily searches for the term "diet" as a function of a variety of temporal landmarks, including the beginning of the week, month, and year, as well as U.S. federal holidays. (15) Consistent with their hypothesis, the researchers found that searches for the term "diet" increased at the start of a new week (by 14.4%), a new month (3.7%), a new year (82.1%), as well as following federal holidays (10.2%), relative to baseline. (16)

   In Study 2, the researchers examined actual engagement behaviors by analyzing gym attendance data for 11,912 members of a university-affiliated fitness center during a 442-day span. (17) The researchers found that, as compared to the baseline of gym attendance frequency, the probability of individuals visiting the gym on a given day increased at the beginning of a new week (by 33.4%), a new month (14.4%), a new year (11.6%), and a new semester (47.1%), as well as following the university's breaks (24.3%) and the individual members' birthdays (7.5%). (18)

   Study 3 demonstrated the generalizability of the fresh start effect. In light of the concern that findings in the first two studies reflected responses to overindulgence prior to temporal landmarks, the researchers examined a broad set of goals, which included health-irrelevant goals (such as goals in the domain of career, education, and finance). (19) Specifically, they examined 66,062 commitment contracts by 43,012 users of a goal-setting website, StickK.com. (20) A...