The present article includes separate meta-analyses showing that self-concordance and implementation intentions are significantly positively associated with goal progress. Study 1 confirmed the positive relations of both self-concordance and implementation intentions to weekend goal progress. Study 2 confirmed the positive relation of self-concordance with monthly progress on New Year's resolutions but failed to find a direct benefit for implementation intentions. Both studies, however, obtained a significant interaction effect indicating that goal self-concordance and implementation intentions combined synergistically to facilitate goal progress. The article also reports a meta-analysis and results from the 2 studies that demonstrated that goal progress was associated with improved affect over time.

Although the self-concordance of goals has been repeatedly shown to predict better goal progress, recent research suggests potential problems with aggregating autonomous and controlled motivations to form a summary index of self-concordance (Judge, Bono, Erez, & Locke, 2005). The purpose of the present investigation was to further examine the relations among autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and goal progress to determine the relative importance of autonomous motivation and controlled motivation in the pursuit of personal goals. The results of three studies and a meta-analysis indicated that autonomous motivation was substantially related to goal progress whereas controlled motivation was not. Additionally, the relation of autonomous motivation to goal progress was shown to involve implementation planning. Together, the three studies highlight the importance for goal setters of having autonomous motivation and developing implementation plans, especially ones formulated in terms of approach strategies rather than avoidance strategies. The present research suggests that individuals pursuing goals should focus relatively greater attention on enhancing their autonomous motivation rather than reducing their controlled motivation.

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Objective Social support is believed to contribute to weight loss success, yet the type of support received is rarely assessed. To develop more effective weight loss interventions, examinations of the types of support that are associated with positive outcomes are needed. Self-Determination Theory suggests that support for an individual’s autonomy is beneficial and facilitates internalization of autonomous self-regulation. We examined whether autonomy support and directive forms of support were associated with weight loss outcomes in a larger randomized controlled trial. Method Adults (N = 201; 48.9 ± 10.5 years; 78.1% women) participating in a weight loss trial were assessed at 0, 6, and 18 months. Autonomy support (AS), directive support, and autonomous self-regulation (ASR) were measured at 0 and 6 months and examined in relation to 18-month weight loss outcomes. Results Baseline AS and ASR did not predict outcomes; however, AS and ASR at 6 months positively predicted 18-month weight losses (ps < .05), encouragement of healthy eating at 6 months was negatively related to 18-month weight losses (p < .01), and other forms of directive support were not associated with outcomes. Conclusions Autonomy support predicted better weight loss outcomes while some forms of directive support hindered progress. Weight loss trials are needed to determine whether family members and friends can be trained to provide autonomy support and whether this is more effective than programs targeting more general or directive forms of support.

Recent studies suggest that implementation planning exercises may not be as helpful for long-term, self-initiated goals as for short-term, assigned goals. Two studies used the personal goal paradigm to explore the impact of implementation plans on goal progress over time. Study 1 examined whether administering implementation plans in an autonomy supportive manner would facilitate goal progress relative to a neutral, control condition and a condition in which implementation plans were administered in a controlling manner. Study 2 examined whether combining implementation plans with a self-efficacy boosting exercise would facilitate goal progress relative to a neutral, control condition and a typical implementation condition. The results showed that implementation plans alone did not result in greater goal progress than a neutral condition but that the combination of implementation plans with either autonomy support or self-efficacy boosting resulted in significantly greater goal progress.

Forty-eight female college students interacted with female confederates enacting a self-critical, selfenhancing, or neutral role. Subjects interacting with the self-critical confederates (a) rated the confederate's task performance higher than the confederate rated it; (b) rated their own performance lower; (c) made more positive conversational comments to the confederate; and (d) made more selfcritical conversational comments. Although self-critics received both direct and indirect support, privately they were perceived as poorly functioning individuals. There was some evidence that subjects interacting with self-enhancers raised their self-evaluations and downgraded the confederate's performance. Privately, self-enhancers were perceived as competent but socially unattractive. Selfcriticism was discussed as a style of strategic self-presentation and the potential deleterious effects of the interpersonal consequences described in this article were considered.

We used a prospective longitudinal design to examine the relation between parenting experiences at age 5 and level of self-criticism at age 12 and the stability of self-criticism from age 12 to age 31 in 156 subjects. The results showed that mothers' reports of parenting behaviors that reflect restrictiveness and rejection were related to the development of self-criticism, particularly when received from the same-sex parent. Partial correlational analyses revealed that the parenting-self-criticism relations remained significant when the mother's report of the child's early temperament was statistically controlled. The results also showed that for women, self-criticism was very stable from early adolescence to young adulthood. By contrast, there was no relation between self-criticism at ages 12 and 31 for men; however, there was a strong relation for men between age 12 self-criticism and inhibited aggressive impulses at age 31.

Two prospective studies examined the relations of autonomy support and directive support to goal internalization and goal persistence over a year. Study 1 examined the role of support and internalization in semester-long goals set by college students and whether the goals were reset in the following semester. Study 2 examined semester-long goals and long-term developmental goals. Study 1 showed that autonomy support was not only significantly associated with greater internalization and goal success in the fall semester, but it was also significantly associated with actually resetting and subsequently succeeding at goals that one had failed to reach. Study 2 showed that autonomy support was significantly associated with progress for short-term goals over the semester, whereas directive support was unrelated to progress. For long-term goals, autonomy support was significantly related to greater internalization of goals and to greater goal satisfaction, whereas directive support was significantly negatively related to these outcomes. These studies point to the beneficial effects of autonomy support on goal internalization and resilient persistence. The effects of directive support (null vs. negative) were moderated by the timeline of the goals.