What I Haven’t Done Can’t Hurt Me: The Effects of Imagined Future Failure on Goal Disengagement

Prior research has identified a phenomenon called the “What-the-Hell Effect” in which consumers who experience initial goal failure respond with goal disengagement, and enact further counter-goal behaviors (Cochran and Tesser 1996). Recent research has qualified these findings, by demonstrating that the tendency to enact this disengagement response is based on an individual difference, and that a scale (the Response-to-Failure scale) can be used to predict who will respond to failure with goal disengagement and who will respond with resumed goal efforts (Zemack-Rugar, Corus, and Brinberg 2012). In the present research we extend these findings by looking not at the response to real, past failure, but rather the response to imagined, future failure. Whereas previous research has explored the effects of imagined future virtues on current behavior (Khan and Dhar 2007) and the effects of other self-regulation plans or intentions (Baumeister, Masicampo, and Vohs 2011), no research has explored the effects of imagined future vices on current behavior. Yet, anticipating failure is quite common in consumer lives. For example, if a consumer is expecting to attend a conference during which they are unlikely to be able to adhere to their health/fitness goals, they face a decision in the days leading up to the conference – should they engage with the goal and try to lose a few extra pounds to allow for the upcoming, inevitable weight gain? Or should they disengage from the goal, give up, and indulge in the days leading up to the conference? We explore the similarities between anticipated future failure and past failure (studies 1 and 2), and the differences between the two (study 3).