This study replicated and extended existing research concerning task prioritization in multiple-goal scenarios. The theoretical perspectives on which hypotheses were based was a combination of Bandura's self-efficacy theory (1986) and rational models of control theory (Klein, 1989; Lord & Levy, 1994). Participants were 216 college students who received extra-credit points for their involvement. They performed six repeated trials on a computerized task consisting of two simultaneous sub-tasks. Participants pursued an assigned long-term goal on each task, and goal achievement was rewarded with additional extra-credit points as an incentive. Task prioritization was assessed with four separate measures of effort allocation, including the time spent on each task, the number of computer mouse-clicks made within each task, scores on a self-report assessment of exerted effort, and responses to a self-report task prioritization assessment. Results indicated that participants prioritized tasks on which they were closer to goal attainment, tasks on which they were more efficacious, tasks on which they were experiencing a faster rate of progress, and tasks on which they reported greater goal commitment. Results also indicated that the effect of goal-performance discrepancies (GPDs) on task prioritization was mediated by self-efficacy. Further the amount of time remaining before a deadline moderated the relationship between GPD and task prioritization, although the form of this relationship was not in the proposed direction. Achievement goals were examined as moderators of the relationship between GPDs and task prioritization, but results were non-significant. Overall, these findings provide additional evidence that expectancies are often central to understanding self-regulation in multiple-goal scenarios, as first asserted by Kernan and Lord (1990). The current study also provides additional evidence concerning the importance of temporal factors in determining resource allocation in multiple-goal scenarios. Results from the current study point toward multiple issues for exploration in future research, such as an integrated model focusing in part on the pivotal role of self-efficacy or other expectancy-related constructs. Results also demonstrate implications for applied work, including clear evidence that employees should be expected to allocate their finite resources toward goals on which they believe success is most likely. / Ph. D.

abstract: Multiple health-related benefits have been associated with adherence to plant-based diets, including vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian dietary patterns. Despite a consistent body of evidence on the importance of healthy diets, Americans continue to find difficulty in establishing and adhering to dietary goals that could elicit long-term health benefits. Recent research suggests an important role for goal-setting strategies in health behavior change attempts, with some success shown in dietary behavior change, specifically. The current study thus aimed to explore whether having multiple goals alongside one primary goal of following a vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian diet would increase the achievability of that goal. Participants of this study were broken into two groups: currently following a plant-based diet (ADHERE) and striving to follow a plant-based diet (STRIVE). Researchers hypothesized that the number of health and/or diet related alternative goals set by participants would differ between the two groups, that the ADHERE group would report that their alternative goals were more helpful and less interfering in achieving their dietary goal than the STRIVE group, and that a higher rank of importance of the dietary goal would predict being in the ADHERE group. Results showed that the number of health and/or diet related alternative goals did not differ between groups. The ADHERE group and STRIVE group did not have significantly different helpfulness and interference reports. Although, in an exploratory analysis, it was shown that those participants who reported at least 2 health/diet related alternative goals found those goals to be significantly more helpful than those who reported 0 or 1 health/diet goal. Results showed that rank of dietary goal did not predict group assignment. Overall, the results from this study showed that the type of alternative goal was very important when pursuit of multiple goals was in effect. Type of alternative goal seemed to be a higher predictor of the perceived helpfulness of the alternative goals than previous achievement of goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Nutrition 2018

Physical activity (PA) offers numerous physical and mental health benefits. Unfortunately, most people struggle to lead an active lifestyle, particularly when they are concurrently striving to balance other pursuits that may interfere with their engagement in PA. The self-regulatory strategies of action planning (AP) and coping planning (CP) have been proposed as a means of helping people initiate and maintain PA, though inconsistent findings have been observed to this effect. The primary objectives of the present dissertation, achieved by way of two original articles, were to (a) review the extant planning for PA literature in order to summarize and synthesize knowledge in the area to date, and (b) examine AP and CP in relation to more than one goal at a time, while testing the relevant moderator of academic goal conflict. The first article comprised a meta-analysis of correlational (k = 19) and experimental (k = 21) studies on planning for PA, which revealed a medium-to-large summary effect for correlational studies, and a small summary effect for experimental studies. Furthermore, AP and CP emerged as partial mediators in the relation between behavioural intention and PA. Numerous moderators were also found. Among other key findings, this article cast light on the fact that, despite multiple goal pursuit being the rule rather than the exception, most studies reviewed examined a single goal in isolation. Further, the summary effects found were more modest than expected and highly heterogeneous, pointing to the value to testing relevant moderators. Thus, the second article contained two studies that examined the moderating role of academic goal conflict on the relations between AP and CP with PA using samples of university students concurrently pursuing an academic and a PA goal. Study 1 (N = 317) used a 6-week prospective design, and Study 2 (N = 97) used a 1-week daily diary design and measures of self-reported PA behaviour and goal progress. Across both studies, it was found that academic goal conflict moderated the influence of planning on PA outcomes. AP and CP were found to play differential roles in predicting PA when students were experiencing goal conflict: AP related to better PA outcomes at lower levels of academic goal conflict, whereas CP related to better PA outcomes at higher levels of academic goal conflict. These two self-regulatory strategies appear to play a different, yet complementary role in the goal pursuit process. Overall, the present dissertation contributes to knowledge synthesis in the area of planning for PA. In addition, novel research findings are presented which specifically target identified gaps in the literature. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed, and future research avenues are proposed.