The Different Roads Not Taken: Considering Dissimilar Alternatives Motivates Goal Persistence

The previously unchosen options that people consider shapes how they interpret what they didchoose. Beyond previous research showing that foregone alternatives influences consumers’experiences of a chosen option, the current research suggests that how consumers mentallyconstrue goal-inconsistent alternatives they could have chosen impacts how they evaluate theirgoal-consistent choice, which will in turn impact their motivation to continue goal-directedbehaviors subsequently. Specifically, we find that when consumers consider having foregonedissimilar (vs. similar) goal-inconsistent alternatives that they could have chosen instead of thegoal-consistent actions they did take, they believe that they have made higher impact on theiractive goals. As a result, they are then more likely to subsequently make goal-consistent choices.However, considering dissimilar (vs. similar) unchosen options only impacts goal perceptionswhen the focal goal is subjectively important. Our findings hold across different types of goals(saving vs. spending: study 1, donating vs. spending: study 2, healthy vs. tasty food: studies 3 to5), and extend to real choices (study 5).