Bridging the Gap Between Intention and Action: The Importance of Understanding Our Emotions and Biases

If you have read my recent book, The Brand Dependence Model: Identify and Mitigate Your Danger Blocks, you would have come across the second part, which discusses the basics of behavioral economics and how our different biases and heuristics contribute dramatically to our daily behaviors and decisions.

In this article, I will introduce a critical subject from my upcoming book which is based on my article titled “Rebranding our Mindset” that was published in the Middle East Business Magazine & News.

Have you ever intended to accomplish something and then failed to achieve it? It’s really common, right? Imagine an individual intends to eat healthy food but ends up ordering fast food for lunch every day. Despite their intention to eat healthy, the convenience of fast food and their busy schedule prevents them from making healthier food choices.

Or a person intends to save money and sets a budget but ends up overspending every month. The intention to save is not reflected in their behavior due to impulsive purchases and a lack of self-control when it comes to spending.

As we can see from the examples above, there is an obvious gap between what we intend and what we actually achieve. This effect in behavioral science is known as the Intention-Action Gap.

To put it simply, the Intention-Action Gap is a cognitive bias that explains the gap between what we plan to do and whether or not we actually do it. It’s the study of how information is processed by people and how context effects their behavior responses. As you can see, it has a lot to do with how we experience and form our habits.

This is one of the most explored biases in behavioral science because to its enormous influence on a wide range of areas including technological adaption, environmental change, health and well-being, and policy and legislation.

In order to grasp the importance of this bias, it is necessary to delve into the core concepts of behavioral science. One of these concepts is the fact that individuals are often unaware of their true motives. This idea can be summarized succinctly with a quote by David Ogilvy, who said “Consumers don’t think how they feel. They don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say.”

Consumers don’t think how they feel. They don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say.

David Ogilvy

This statement holds true even if we replace “consumers” with “people,” as consumers are, after all, people themselves. Given that individuals may be biased towards what they believe and feel, or what they say and do, it raises the question of how traditional surveys and focus groups, which have been used for decades, can still be effective. Why do governments, institutions, and businesses continue to spend billions of dollars each year asking people what they think, like, feel, and prefer?

The answer to this question is even more surprising, as many people would argue that either better research tools are not available, or that certain techniques and models that have been used for decades are still effective. However, this leaves a big question mark on the reliability and accuracy of such research methods. The truth is that while traditional research techniques may have worked in the past, they are not always effective in capturing the complex and often unconscious thought processes that shape human behavior.

According to neoclassical economics, if you value something and have sufficient information about it, your conduct should reflect your choice. In reality, you can’t judge or evaluate someone based on their actions because they may not be operating in accordance with their intentions or motives.

This is due to other biases that we have, such as the Status Quo Bias, the tendency for people to prefer things to stay the same by default, even if changing them could be beneficial, Information Bias, which is the tendency to seek knowledge that is irrelevant to the topic at hand, and Ostrich Bias, the tendency to avoid or refuse harmful and unfavorable information, much like an ostrich does when it is terrified and buries its head in the sand.

So what does those biases has to do with the gap between our intention to do something and the action of doing it? Believe it or not, it has a lot of connection. If we don’t understand our biases then we will fall within those cognitive traps over and over again. In reality, this is what makes marketing efficient as the majority of people do not want to acknowledge that they are biased, which makes them easily vulnerable.

So If you want to lose weight in the next month and experience information bias, you will most likely listen to too many people and read too many books and articles, resulting in verity of different perceptive and too much irrelevant information that will lead you to quit the entire effort.

This is referred to as the “too much information” (TMI) Effect. A state in which having too much data causes great cognitive effort, which discourages you from moving further.

How many times have you given up on a certain activity or action after getting through so much needless information? It happens all the time. From the other side how many times you failed hitting a certain goal or target only because you avoided information that you don’t like or afraid of? Moreover, how many times that you didn’t do the action because you were afraid to get out from your comfort zone or head towards a change that might have certain risk associated with it?

Researchers have revealed that most adults know exercise is healthy for them and would like to do more of it, yet global surveys reveal that between 36% and 55% of individuals never manage to turn their intentions into action. Obviously, perception dose not correlate with expectation!

Another key aspect that leads to the gap between our intentions and actions is Procrastination. The desire to postpone and leave activities for later is an evident reason why we don’t complete what we set out to do. I recall reading an article on the website whatdoisaywhatdoido.com that began with, “Do you know what happens when a procrastinator has a good idea? Nothing! And when a procrastinator has a great plan??? The same thing… NOTHING!” And that is exactly what happens.

In one of his Instagram posts, Adam Grant stated unequivocally, “Procrastination isn’t laziness. You don’t put tasks off to avoid work. You do it to avoid unpleasant emotions-self-doubt, boredom, confusion, frustration.” Then he stated that the work we avoid isn’t usually what we despise. It’s not always the one we fear, it might be the one worth looking into.

Procrastination isn’t laziness. You don’t put tasks off to avoid work. You do it to avoid unpleasant emotions-self-doubt, boredom, confusion, frustration.

Adam Grant

The above statement holds true because we are emotional beings. The majority of our behaviors is based on emotions and that what set us apart from robots and machines. While we strive to act logical and provide excuses for every actions that we do, in reality most of our decisions and activities are emotional responses that we try to make them reasonable by providing excuses after executing them.

Our primarily brain that consist of the reptilian system (the earliest region of our brain that works for our survival) and the limbic system (the middle area of our brain that deals with our emotional responses) are both based on emotions rather than what we believe as logic.

Both of these parts are in charge of the majority of our everyday actions and decisions. Because it requires more cognitive strength and effort to operate, our prefrontal cortex (also known as the rational area of the brain) is only activated when it is required, when we provide attention, thinking, and do complex reasoning. This is related to the Executive Control Function in our brain. A set of important linear mental skills that assist us to execute our attention and direct our mental efforts.

According to psychologist Robert Pluchik, the creator of the Pluchik Wheel of Emotion, we have more than 34000 emotions that are simplified into 8 basic emotions in 4 opposed pairs, Joy – Sadness, Anger – Fear, Trust – Disgust, Surprise – Anticipation. The number of those basic emotions are questioned by other researchers in the past 30 years ranging from 4 to 27. But what all scientist agree with is that those emotions are driving our behaviors and influences our daily activities whether we believe it or not.

In conclusion, being able to recognize and regulate our emotions, acknowledge our biases, set achievable goals, and overcome procrastination all play a vital role in bridging the gap between our aspirations and accomplishments.