Interview with Peter Gollwitzer, PhD

ABOUT PETER GOLLWITZER, Ph.D.

Peter Gollwitzer is one of the world’s leading authorities on goal attainment and motivation.

Dr. Gollwitzer has written hundreds of articles in the areas of social psychology, cognition and perception, neuropsychology, and industrial and organizational psychology.

Currently, his research centers on the psychology of action, self and identity, specifically on the question of how goals and plans affect cognition and behavior.
One of his signature contributions concerns what he calls implementation intentions strategies. Also called if/then planning, it specifies the when, where and how of a goal-directed behavior.

Peter Gollwitzer, along with Ezequiel Morsella and John Bargh, edited The Oxford Handbook of Human Action.

In collaboration with Ezequiel Morsella and John Bargh, Dr. Gollwitzer editedThe Psychology of Action: Linking Cognition and Motivation to Behavior.

Dr. Gollwitzer has been awarded the Max Planck Research Award and the TRANSCOOP award for international research collaboration. He is a Fellow in Academia Europaea, as well as a Fellow in the American Psychological Association.

He is Professor of Psychology at New York University and Professor of Social Psychology and Motivation at the University of Konstanz.

BIOGRAPHY

B.A., Universitaet Regensburg, 1973
M.A., Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, 1977
Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 1981
Habilitation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen, 1987

POSITIONS

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Bochum, 1982-1983.

Junior Researcher, Max-Planck-Institute for Psychological Research, Munich, 1984-1988.

Senior Researcher, Max-Planck-Institute for Psychological Research (Coordinator of the Intention & Action Group), Munich, 1989-1992.

Professor, Social Psychology and Motivation, University of Konstanz, since 1993.

Professor, Social-Personality Psychology, New York University, since 1999.

Selected Publications [http://as.nyu.edu/object/petermgollwitzer.html]

Gollwitzer, P.M. (1999). Implementation intentions: strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54, 493-503.

Gollwitzer, P.M. (1990). Action phases and mind-sets. In E.T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (eds.), The handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 53-92). New York: Guilford Press.

The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior, with Bargh, J.A., eds. New York: Guilford Press. 1996.

RECENT SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Achtziger, A., Bayer, U. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press). Committing to implementation intentions: Attention and memory effects for selected situational cues. Motivation & Emotion.

Achtziger, A., Martiny, S. E., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press). Metacognitive processes in the self-regulation of goal pursuit. In P. Briñol & K. DeMarree (Eds.), Social metacognition. Frontiers of social psychology series.New York: Psychology Press.

Gallo Schweiger, I., McCulloch, K. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press). Differential effects of various types of implementation intentions on the regulation of disgust. Social Cognition.

Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press). Mindset theory of action phases. In P. Van Lange, A.W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology. London: Sage Publications.

Gollwitzer, P. M., Barry, H., & Oettingen, G. (in press). Needs and incentives as sources of goals. In H. Aarts & A. Elliot (Eds.), Goal-directed behavior. Philadelphia: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.

Kirk, D., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press, a). Mental contrasting promotes integrative bargaining. International Journal of Conflict Management.

Kirk, D., Oettingen, G.,& Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press, b). Promoting integrative bargaining: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions. International Journal of Conflict Management.

Maglio, S. J., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Oettingen, G. (in press). Action control by implementation intentions: The role of discrete emotions. In A. Clark, J. Kiverstein, & T. Vierkant (Eds.), Decomposing the will. New York: Oxford University Press.

Nenkov, G. Y., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (in press). Pre- versus postdecisional deliberation and goal commitment: The positive effects of defensiveness.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Troetschel, R., Hueffmeier, J., Loschelder, D. D., Schwartz, K., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2011). Perspective taking as a means to overcome motivational barriers in negotiations: When putting oneself into the opponent’s shoes helps to walk towards agreements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Adriaanse, M. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., de Ridder, D. T. D., de Wit, J. B. F., & Kroese, F. M. (2011). Breaking habits with implementation intentions: A test of underlying processes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Duckworth, A. L., Grant, H., Loew, B., Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2011). Self-regulation strategies improve self-discipline in adolescents: Benefits of mental contrasting and implementation intentions. Educational Psychology.

Gawrilow, C., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Oettingen, G. (2011). If-then plans benefit executive functions in children with ADHD. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30, 616-646.

Gawrilow, C., Gollwitzer, P. M., Oettingen, G. (2011). If-then plans benefit delay of gratification performance in children with and without ADHD.Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35, 442-455.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Oettingen, G. (2011). Planning promotes goal striving. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (2nd edition). New York: Guilford.

Gollwitzer, P. M., Sheeran, P., Trötschel, R., & Webb, T. (2011). Self-regulation of behavioral priming effects. Psychological Science.

Kirk, D., Gollwitzer, P. M., Carnevale, P. J. (2011). Self-regulation in ultimatum bargaining: Goals and plans help accepting unfair but profitable offers. Social Cognition, 29, 528-546.

Wieber, F., von Suchodoletz, A., Heikamp, T., Trommsdorff, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2011). If-then planning helps school-aged children to ignore attractive distractions. Social Psychology, 42, 39-47.