The effect of implementation intention on speeding and acceleration overtime: A simulator study

Speeding is considered a major risk factor for road safety. In this study, implementation intention, which is a type of cognitive intervention, was designed to reduce speeding. Implementation intentions are self-regulatory ‘if-then’ plans, which are the subordinate concepts of goal intentions. Additionally, the type of goal was considered as a factor that could contribute to the subsequent behavior. An approach-type goal aims to achieve a behavior, whereas avoidance-type goals aim to avoid a negative, undesirable outcome. Following this idea, the present study has two aims: (i) to manipulate intentions towards speeding by using implementation intentions, and second (ii) to manipulate goal types (approaching vs. avoidance) of the intentions towards speeding. At the baseline level, participants in the experimental group were manipulated through implementation intentions by using a volitional help sheet, in which they matched critical items with the appropriate responses, whereas participants in the control group received an irrelevant filler task. After a two-week time interval, a follow-up study was conducted. In order to investigate the first aim, simulated driving behaviors of experimental and control groups were compared at the baseline and follow-up levels. For the second aim, the experimental group was divided into two subgroups, namely, approach-type and avoidance-type goals. The repeated measures mixed-model ANOVA results showed a significant difference between experimental and control conditions, yet the goal type (approaching vs. avoidance) did not differ significantly from one another. The results of the present study revealed that implementation intentions do not reduce speeding, however, they do prevent increased speeding. The results were discussed in the context of the related literature.