Abstract
This commentary discusses the theoretical roots of the concept of goal disengagement in the construct of secondary control, the motivational theory of lifespan development, the dual-process model, and the personality model of control. These approaches have proposed and shown that goal disengagement is adaptive when opportunities for goal attainment have waned below a threshold of feasibility, and when action resources can be more productively invested in alternative or adjusted goals. Goal disengagement involves deactivating motivational commitment and withdrawing the investment of effort. Key challenges arise from having to overcome biases associated with goal engagement, multiple goals competing for resources, and disparate commitment and effort. Individual differences in goal engagement capacities predict important developmental, goal attainment, and health outcomes. The articles of the special issue are discussed with regard to their contribution to clarifying these specific issues. A prospectus for future research on the lifespan development of disengagement and the discrete versus gradual nature of disengagement is briefly discussed.
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(adapted from Heckhausen 1999)
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Notes
The two models differ in terms of proposing that primary control striving (MTD) versus self-consistency (dual-process model) is the underlying principle of goal striving, that higher-order heuristics of adaptive goal selection guide the activation of goal engagement and disengagement, and that adaptive goal engagement and disengagement comes in discrete shifts rather than in gradual accommodations (see Haase et al., 2013; Poulin et al., 2005).
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Heckhausen, J., Wrosch, C. Commentary: goal disengagement—past, processes, and future. Motiv Emot 46, 884–888 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-022-09981-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-022-09981-y