Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  New Year's Resolutions are popular but there isn't much research about how well we do. Fortunately, Martin Oscarsson and his team studied over a thousand people to see what works. Not surprisingly, they found that the most popular resolutions were physical health, weight loss, and eating habits. Goals Make a Difference After a full year, the most successful group reached nearly 59%  compared to a group that reached about 47%. The difference between the groups was the type of goal. Successful people focused on goals they reached for (approach-oriented). The lower success people worked on goals to avoid something (avoidance oriented). Support  Helps The participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups. Group 1 did not receive support. Group 2 received some support-- they learned about the value of support and received information and guidance on achieving personal goals. Group 3 received extended support beyond that received in Group 2. For example, they learned more about...