Research paper
Adriaanse MA, van Oosten JMF, de Ridder DTD, de Wit JBF, Evers C. Planning What Not to Eat: Ironic Effects of Implementation Intentions Negating Unhealthy Habits. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2011 Jan;37(1):69-81. doi:10.1177/0146167210390523
Why we cite it
Shows that an implementation intention’s structure can decide whether it helps. Plans with a negating structure (”if [situation], then not [habitual response]”) produced cognitive and behavioural ironic rebound compared with an intention-only condition or a replacement plan. The abstract does not say what either rebound measure recorded. The authors had predicted that negation plans would ”strengthen the habit (situation-response association)”, and reading the rebounds as the unwanted response becoming more accessible and more frequent is the library’s reading, since the paper is not held. The effect was most likely when the habit was strong. The prediction came from ironic process theory (Wegner 1994) and the literature on processing negations. The abstract does not report that replacement plans worked; they were a comparison condition (see Verification depth). The library’s practical reading, not the paper’s: avoid “I will not…” plans and state what to do instead. The abstract supports the first half, since negation plans did worse than a plain intention, and does not test the second as a finding. (Corrected 2026-09-10 from ”While replacement-focused if-then plans work well for breaking eating habits” and a rule, ”always frame dietary if-then plans as approach goals”, given as the paper’s.)