Research paper
Locke EA, Latham GP. Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist. 2002;57(9):705-717. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705. PMID: 12237980.
Why we cite it
A review of goal-setting theory summarizing 35 years of empirical research across 100+ tasks and 40,000+ participants. This paper provides the theoretical backbone for the project’s approach to behavior change: specific, difficult goals outperform vague intentions (d = 0.42–0.82), and they work through four mechanisms (direction, effort, persistence, strategy). The distinction between learning goals (superior for complex/new tasks) and performance goals (better for simple tasks) is directly relevant to how companions frame dietary and behavioral changes. The high-performance cycle explains why success breeds further motivation — not through willpower, but through the satisfaction–efficacy–higher goals loop. ~7,265 Semantic Scholar citations (590 highly influential).
DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705 · PubMed 12237980 · Publisher