Information-enhancement and goal setting techniques for increasing adaptive motivation and decreasing urges to drink alcohol

Objective The aim of the study was to determine whether experimental manipulation of sense of control would change moderate drinkers' (N = 106) task-specific motivational structure and explicit and implicit determinants of their urge to drink alcohol. Method The effects of various levels of information-enhancement and goal-setting on participants' performance on experimental tasks were assessed. Participants were randomly assigned to a high-sense-of-control, low-sense-of-control, or no-intervention group. Dependent measures were indices derived from a task-specific version of the Personal Concerns Inventory and the Shapiro Control Inventory, Alcohol Urge Questionnaire, and alcohol Stroop test. Results At baseline, there were no differences among the groups on any of the measures; however, post-experimentally, induced sense of control had led to increases in adaptive motivation and decreases in explicit and implicit measures of the urge to drink. Conclusions The results show that sense of control can be experimentally induced. This finding has important clinical implications.