• DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1198
Corpus ID: 1121099

The motivating function of thinking about the future: expectations versus fantasies.

@article{Oettingen2002TheMF,
  title={The motivating function of thinking about the future: expectations versus fantasies.},
  author={G. Oettingen and D. Mayer},
  journal={Journal of personality and social psychology},
  year={2002},
  volume={83 5},
  pages={
          1198-212
        }
}

G. Oettingen, D. Mayer

Published 2002

Medicine, Psychology

Journal of personality and social psychology

Two forms of thinking about the future are distinguished: expectations versus fantasies. Positive expectations (judging a desired future as likely) predicted high effort and successful performance, but the reverse was true for positive fantasies (experiencing one's thoughts and mental images about a desired future positively). Participants were graduates looking for a job (Study 1), students with a crush on a peer of the opposite sex (Study 2), undergraduates anticipating an exam (Study 3), and… CONTINUE READING

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