ABSTRACT
Daphna Oyserman1, Mesmin Destin2, and Sheida Novin3,4 1Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90266, USA 2Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA 3Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106, USA 4Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
People often struggle with motivation. On the one hand, they may imagine a future they would like to attain in which all their papers are written, their career plans are well in hand, they are physically fit, and they have wonderful family relationships. At the same time, they may fail to focus motivational attention on any of these possible future identities. Why might that be? One possibility is that positive future identities are motivating only when brought to mind, implying that interventions that increase salience of positive future identities will increase motivation and hence action. However, reviews of the literature suggest that while salience matters, it does not reliably increase motivation or change action (see Oyserman & James, 2008, 2011).
