Longitudinal effect of action orientation on willpower is mediated by sense-making

Abstract

Introduction: Action-orientation is a key disposition shaping a person's capacity to self-regulate (Kuhl, 1996). It is associated with greater capacity to convert intentions into action and execute one's plans to completion, while its opposite, state-orientation, has been linked to greater vulnerability to interference from competing intentions and negative experience (Diefendorff et al., 2000). Action/state orientation is a stable disposition with consistently reliable self-report estimates in several languages and very little age-dependent dynamics (Diefendorff et al., 2000). It is an important predictor and likely causal antecedent of the individual self-control capacity or willpower (Koss & Mischel, 2010) as it reflects the person's motivated bias towards goal-directed action as a preferred pathway to satisfying their needs and achieving their goals (Kuhl, 1996). This bias influences the amount of energy individuals invest into deliberate planning and execution of their plans. How successful that execution is, depends on a separate set of “capacity” factors that modulate its effectiveness, including the levels of ability, fitness and skill. The latter includes mastery of tools–both external (e.g., a weapon) and internal (e.g., mnemonics). A well-developed capacity for meaning generation and manipulation affords a distinct advantage at all stages of action execution. Our earlier study provided initial evidence of this sense-making capacity mediating the relationship between action-state orientation and self-control traits representing dispositional effectiveness of goal-striving. The current study examined whether this mediation effect can be replicated longitudinally.