People who think of their personal goals as identities are more likely to engage in goal-consistent behavior. However, no research has explored whether learning to frame goals as identities can be an effective strategy for pursuing goals in daily life. Across a series of studies, we assessed how incorporating a goal as part of one’s identity impacts goal-consistent choices. In a pilot study, we established a positive correlational relationship between natural goal identification and goal-consistent decision-making. Individuals with stronger healthy-eater identities made healthier food choices in a behavioral choice task. In Studies 1 and 2, we employed longitudinal interventions to teach people to frame their healthy eating goals as identities. We found that people who learned to frame their goals as identities made healthier choices, felt their goals were easier to pursue, reported greater success at managing goals, and made food choices that they both perceived to be healthier and that were rated as healthier by independent evaluators. Across studies, our findings suggest that thinking of goals as identities makes it easier to engage in goal-consistent choices.

中文翻译：

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目标作为身份：增强对食者身份的认识，以更轻松地追求目标

将个人目标视为身份的人更有可能从事与目标一致的行为。但是，没有研究探讨将目标定性为认同是否可以成为追求目标的有效策略。在一系列研究中，我们评估了将目标纳入自己身份的一部分如何影响目标一致的选择。在一项初步研究中，我们在自然目标识别与目标一致的决策之间建立了正相关关系。具有较强健康饮食者身份的个人在行为选择任务中做出了更健康的食物选择。在研究1和2中，我们采用纵向干预手段来教人们以健康的饮食目标来确定自己的身份。我们发现，学会根据身份确定目标的人做出了更健康的选择，认为他们的目标更容易实现，在管理目标方面取得了更大的成功，并做出了他们认为更健康且被独立评估员评为更健康的食物选择。在所有研究中，我们的发现表明，将目标视为身份可以更轻松地进行与目标一致的选择。