G.I. Joe Fallacy

Santos & Gendler (2014). Knowing is half the battle? Edge.

This article defines the G.I. Joe Fallacy which is the mistaken idea that knowing is half the battle. The article reads, “recent work in cognitive science has demonstrated that knowing is a shockingly tiny portion of the battle for most real world decisions.”

Gilbert et al. (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 617-638.

This paper tells us why we don’t feel as bad as we think we will when turned down for a job

LinkedIn Survey (2014). What recent grads care the most about.

This graphic shows what recent grads care about the most (hint: it’s money)

Lyubomirsky (2007). The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want. New York, NY: Penguin Books. Page 44.

This book tells us salary goals rise as salary rises

Eagan, et al. (2015). The American Freshman Survey. Higher Education Research Institute, Page 53, Weighted National Norms—All Respondents.

NOTE – the lecture covers The American Freshman Survey Data from 2005 to show how the average freshman in college answers the question, “what’s very important in life”. In lecture, 70% responded “very well off financially” and 52% “develop a meaningful philosophy.” The stats from 2015, linked above, are actually even more polarizing with 82% and 46%, respectively. In 1967, 42% responded “very well off financially” and 86% “develop a meaningful philosophy” suggesting American values have changed drastically in the past several decades.

Myers (2000). The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

This book tells us, “our becoming much better off over the last four decades has not been accompanied by one iota of increased subjective well-being.”

Diener & Oishi (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. Culture and Subjective Well-Being, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

This book excerpt correlates life satisfaction with income across countries (hint: it is not a strong relationship)

Lyubomirsky (2007). The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want. New York, NY: Penguin Books. Page 42.

This book also tell us how Life Satisfaction compares between the 1940’s vs. today

Kahneman & Deaton (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. PNAS, 107(38), 16489-16493.

This paper tells us why at a certain point, money can’t buy happiness

New York Times. Economic diversity and student outcomes at Yale University.

This article tells us the median income at for Yale graduates at age 34 is $76,000 – most Yalies will earn around the threshold for happiness at $75,000

MC Big Data (2015). These are the most name dropped cars in hip hop. Medium.

This graphic highlights how pervasive glorifying awesome stuff like a luxury car is in our culture

Josephs (2013). The most name-dropped liquor brands in rap history. Complex.

This graphic highlights how pervasive glorifying awesome stuff like expensive alcohol is in our culture

Nickerson et al. (2003). Zeroing on the Dark Side of the American Dream: A Closer Look at the Negative Consequences of the Goal for Financial Success. Psychological Science, 14, 531-536.

This paper tells us those with materialist attitude and goals tend to have lower life satisfaction later in life

Lucas et al. (2003). Reexamining Adaptation and the Set Point Model of Happiness: Reactions to Changes in Marital Status.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 527-539.

This paper tells us we adapt to marriage after a few years and happiness returns to baseline

Jackson et al. (2014). Psychological changes following weight loss in overweight and obese adults: A prospective cohort study.PLOS, 9(8): e104552.

This paper tells us weight loss may not make you feel any happier

von Soest et al. (2012). Predictors of cosmetic surgery and its effects on psychological factors and mental health: a population-based follow-up study among Norwegian females. Psychological Medicine, 42(3), 617-626.

This paper tells us plastic surgery does not seem to alleviate mental health problems

Levine et al. (2012). Accuracy and artifact: Reexamining the intensity bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 584-605.

This paper tells us people overestimate how they will feel about certain grades – but the paper also suggests that inaccurately predicting future emotion may be a flaw in the research procedure in which people predict one thing but are later asked to report another

Lyubomirsky (2007). The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

This book tells us genes and circumstances don’t matter as much as we think, 40% of the “sustainable happiness model” is under the control of our actions and thoughts

Our minds’ strongest intuitions are often totally wrong

Gilbert & Wilson (2000). ”Miswanting: Some problems in the forecasting of future affective states.” In Thinking and feeling: The role of affect in social cognition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Pages 178-197.

This book excerpt defines miswanting which is the act of being mistaken about what and how much you will like something in the future

Our minds don’t think in terms of absolutes; our minds judge to relative reference points

Medvec et al. (1995). When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 603–610.

This paper tells us due to the power of salient reference points, bronze winners tend to be happier than silver medal winners

Lyubomirsky (2007). The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want. New York, NY: Penguin Books. Page 44.

This book tells us salary goals rise as salary rises, which may be due to changing reference points

van Praag and Frijters (1999). “The measurement of welfare and well-being: the Leyden approach.” In Well-Being: The foundation of hedonic psychology. New York: Russel Sage Foundation. Pages 413-433.

This book excerpt tells us reference points mess up good salaries – for every $1.00 increase in your actual income, your “required income” increases by $1.40

Clark and Oswald (1996). Satisfaction and comparison income. Journal of Public Economics, 61(3) 359-381.

This paper tells us reference points mess up good salaries – if your coworkers make more money than you do, then you will be less satisfied with your job

Solnick and Hemenway (1997). Is more always better?: A survey on positional concerns. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 37, 373-383.

This paper tells us reference points mess up good salaries – in a hypothetical earnings situation people would prefer to make less money if their coworkers make less rather than make more money if their coworkers make more

Clark (2003). Unemployment as a social norm: Psychological evidence from panel data. Journal of Labor Economics, 21(2), 323-351.

This paper tells us those who are unemployed tend to be happier if the unemployment rate in their area is high

O’Guinn and Shrum (1997). The role of television in the construction of consumer reality. Journal of Consumer Research, 23(4), 278-294.

This paper tells us television programs – featuring products and activities associated with an affluent lifestyle – act as a harmful social comparison skewing perception of others’ wealth and our own wealth

Schor (1999). The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need. New York: NY: Harper Perennial.

This book tells us watching television programs act as a harmful social comparison and increases spending – you can also read an excerpt from the introduction here

Kuhn et al. (2011). The effects of lottery prizes on winners and their neighbors: Evidence from the Dutch Postcode Lottery.American Economic Review, 101(5), 2226-2247.

This paper tells us social comparisons influence our spending – people that live next door to lottery winners are more likely to buy a new car

Burleigh and Meegan (2013). Keeping Up with the Joneses affects perceptions of distributive justice. Social Justice Research, 26(2), 120-131.

This paper tells us social comparisons mess up good grades – students would rather miss out on a potential grade increase just so that others in the class don’t get an increase, too

Kenrick et al. (1993). Effects of physical attractiveness on affect and perceptual judgments: When social comparison overrides social reinforcement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19(2), 195-199.

This paper tells us social comparisons mess up our perceptions of physical appearance – looking at models make us feel bad

Kenrick et al. (1989). Influence of popular erotica on judgments of strangers and mates. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 25(2), 159-167

This paper tells us social comparisons mess up our perceptions of physical appearance – looking at models leads to lower ratings of our partners’ attractiveness

Vogel et al. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206-222.

This paper tells us use of social media makes us compare ourselves to others which lowers our self-esteem – even a manipulated facebook feed featuring people that are worse off than we are does not lead to much higher self-esteem ratings

Di Tella et al. (2010). Happiness adaptation to income and to status in an individual panel. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 76, 834–852.

This paper tells us that we adapt to earning more money (although we don’t adapt to increases in social status as quickly)

Brickman et al. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(8), 917-927

This paper tells us we adapt to having more money – even in extreme cases of lottery winners

Lucas et al. (2003). Reexamining Adaptation and the Set Point Model of Happiness: Reactions to Changes in Marital Status.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 527-539.

Remember this paper from last week? This paper tells us we adapt to marriage after a few years and happiness returns to baseline

Gilbert (2007). Stumbling on Happiness. Gilbert (2007) New York; NY: Vintage Books.

This book states, “wonderful things are especially wonderful the first time they happen, but their wonderfulness wanes with repetition”

Levine et al. (2012). Accuracy and artifact: Reexamining the intensity bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 584-605.

Remember this paper from last week? This paper tells us we overestimate our emotions and getting bad grades won’t make us feel as bad as we think they will – we adapt to bad events, too

Dunn et al. (2002). Location, location, location: The misprediction of satisfaction in housing lotteries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(11),1421-1432.

This paper tells us our predictions are worse for negative events – when you think about the future, you tend to focus on the wrong features and overestimate their importance (as seen in adaption to “bad” dorms)

Gilbert et al. (1998). Immune neglect: A source of durability bias in affective forecasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 617-638.

This paper tells us people are generally unaware of their the psychological immune system which is why they tend to overestimate their emotional reactions to negative events – example in lecture highlights professors getting tenure or not

Eastwick et al. (2008). Mispredicting distress following romantic breakup: Revealing the time course of the affective forecasting error. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 800-807.

This paper tells us we mispredict how we will feel if we break up with a significant other – we think we will feel much worse than we actually do

Sieff et al. (1999). Anticipated versus actual reaction to HIV test results. The American Journal of Psychology, 112(2), 297-31.

This paper tells us people getting an HIV test anticipate more distress given a positive result and anticipate less distress given a negative result which is more extreme than what they experience when they get their results back

Ayton et al. (2007). Affective forecasting: Why can’t people predict their emotions? Thinking & Reasoning, 13, 62-80.

This paper tells us affective forecasts (predicting our emotional response given a certain outcome) are too extreme and greater previous experience of an emotional event does not lead to any greater accuracy of the predictions – highlighted in drivers test candidate

Gilbert (2007). Stumbling on Happiness. Gilbert (2007) New York; NY: Vintage Books.

This book also outlines some of cognitive biases covered in lecture such as focalism (the tendency to think just about one event and forget about the other things that happen) and immune neglect (unawareness of our tendency to adapt to and cope with negative events).

Books

• Daniel Kahneman,Thinking Fast and Slow (a fantastic review of work in behavioral decision-making on the ways that our minds suck)
• Daniel Gilbert,Stumbling on Happiness (a laugh-out-loud book that provides important insight into why we often fail to know what will make us happy)

Free Online Talks

• Dan Gilbert’sTED Talk – The surprising science of happiness

Invest in experiences rather stuff

Boven & Gilovich (2003). To Do or to Have? That Is the Question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(6), 1193–1202.

This paper tells us it is better to do than to have – experiences make people happier

Kumar et al. (2014). Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory Consumption of Experiential and Material Purchases. Psychological Science, 25(10),1924-1931.

This paper tells us experiences have a longer-lasting effect on happiness

Pchelin & Howell (2014). The hidden cost of value-seeking: People do not accurately forecast the economic benefits of experiential purchases. The Journal of Positive Psychology,9(4), 322-334.

This paper tells us when looking at future purchases we’re more likely to value material purchases over experiential purchase but when looking at past purchases we’re more likely to value experiences over material goods

Boven et al. (2010). Stigmatizing materialism: On stereotypes and impressions of materialistic and experiential pursuits.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(4), 551–563.

This paper tells us we are socially driven to avoid materialism

Howell & Hill (2009). The mediators of experiential purchases: Determining the impact of psychological needs satisfaction and social comparison. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 511-522.

This paper tells us experiential purchases make you feel more alive and are less susceptible to social comparisons

Jose et al. (2012). Does savoring increase happiness? A daily diary study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(3), 176-187.

This paper tells us savoring positive experiences makes you happier

Lyubomirsky et al. (2006). The costs and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life’s triumphs and defeats. Journal of personality and social psychology, 90(4), 692.

This paper tells us thinking about life’s positive moments makes you happier– and so does writing about life’s negative moments

Koo et al. (2008). It’s a wonderful life: Mentally subtracting positive events improves people’s affective states, contrary to their affective forecasts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1217–1224.

This paper tells us thinking about how something good in your life might not have happened actually makes you happier

Kurtz (2008). Looking to the future to appreciate the present: The benefits of perceived temporal scarcity. Psychological Science, 19(10), 1238-1241.

This paper tells us you enjoy things more when you think it’s going to end soon

Emmons et al. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(2), 377.

This paper tells us that gratitude – counting the good things in our lives – makes us happy

Seligman et al. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5):410-21

This paper explores several happiness interventions and tells us gratitude interventions can increase happiness

Barton et al. (2015). Linking financial distress to marital quality: The intermediary roles of demand/withdraw and spousal gratitude expressions. Personal Relationships, 22, 536–549.

This paper tells us being grateful can help us through difficult times (as seen in the case of marriage)

Grant & Gino (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(6), 946.

This paper tells us receiving gratitude makes us feel valued and motivates us to be more generous

Morewedge et al (2010). Consuming experience: Why affective forecasters overestimate comparative value. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (6), 986-992.

This paper tells us how we predict how happy something will make us in relation other standards either inferior or superior. The example in lecture is thinking about how much you will enjoy eating potato chips in comparison to chocolate and then in comparison to sardines. 

Nelson & Meyvis (2008). Interrupted consumption: Adaptation and the disruption of hedonic experience. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 654-664.

This paper tells us that despite not wanting them, breaks actually make us enjoy positive experiences more

Nelson et al. (2009). Enhancing the Television-Viewing Experience through Commercial Interruptions. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 160-172.

This paper tells us that commercials actually make watching TV more positive

Seligman (2004). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Chapters 8-10 of this book outline character strengths and the benefits of applying them in your everyday life

Seligman et al. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5):410-421

This paper explores several happiness interventions and tells us using top signature strengths in a new and different way everyday for one week had an enduring impact on happiness

Lavy & Littman-Ovadia (2017). My better self: Using strengths at work and work productivity, organizational citizenship behavior, and satisfaction. Journal of Career Development, 44(2) 95-109

This paper tells us that those who use signature strengths at work are more productive and more satisfied with their job

Harzer & Ruch (2012). When the job is a calling: The role of applying one’s signature strengths at work. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7,362-371.

This paper tells us that people enjoy work more and think of work as a calling when they use ~4 signature strengths at work

Csikszentmihalyi (2008). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

This books tells us that achieving a state of flow makes an experience genuinely satisfying as people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life

Csikszentmihalyi (1992). Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

This book offers a comprehensive survey of research on the ‘flow’ experience – a desirable or optimal state of consciousness that enhances a person’s psychic state – in various context/cultures and how it affects work satisfaction, academic success, and the overall quality of life

Csikszentmihalyi (1999). If we are so rich, why aren’t we happy. American Psychologist, 54, 821-827.

NOTE – this paper is NOT mentioned in lecture, but if you do not have access to the books above, you can read this article to get a sense of Csikszentmihalyi’s perspective on how flow relates to happiness

Deci (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 18(1), 105-115.

This paper tells us that positive feedback aids intrinsic motivation, but monetary rewards detract from intrinsic motivation

Dweck (2007). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

This book outlines how people with a fixed mindset (those who believe that abilities are fixed) are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset (those who believe that abilities can be developed)

Grant & Dweck, (2003). Clarifying Achievement Goals and Their Impact. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(3), 541–553.

This paper tells us having a growth mindset predicts active coping, sustained motivation, and higher achievement in the face of challenge (as seen in pre-med grades)

Blackwell et al. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246-263.

This paper explores how the growth mindset relates to achievement – if we think we have the ability to improve, we will!

Mangels et al. (2006). Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success? A social cognitive neuroscience model.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1(2), 75-86.

This paper tells us those with growth mindsets tend to focus on learning-related goals and bounce back better from failure increasing the likelihood of learning success

Otake et al. (2006). Happy people become happier through kindness: A counting kindnesses intervention. Journal of happiness studies, 7(3), 361-375.

As the title suggest, this paper tells us that counting your kindness leads to happiness

Lyubomirsky (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of general psychology, 9(2), 111.

This paper tells us that doing random acts of kindness is one of many ways you can take intentional effort to make yourself happier

Dunn (2014). Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

This book tells us money CAN buy happiness if you spend it on the right things such spending money on others rather than yourself

Dunn et al. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science,319 (5870), 1687-1688.

This paper tells us spending money on others makes you feel good

Aknin et al. (2013). Prosocial spending and well-being: Cross-cultural evidence for a psychological universal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104 (4), 635-652.

This paper tells us the happiness that comes from giving to others may be a worldwide, universal human response

Myers (2000). The funds, friends, and faith of happy people. American psychologist, 55(1), 56.

This paper tells us that having strong social ties makes you healthier

Diener & Seligman (2002). Very happy people. Psychological science, 13(1), 81-84.

This paper tells us that being social/having strong social ties makes you happier

Epley (2014). Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want. New York, NY: Vintage.

This book explores more of our mispredictions and introduces us to more research on the surprising mistakes humans so routinely make

Epley & Schroeder (2014). Mistakenly seeking solitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(5), 1980.

This paper tells us that talking to strangers makes us happy. Even if you are reluctant to talk to a stranger, you and the stranger get a happiness boost after talking to each other

Boothby et al. (2014). Shared experiences are amplified. Psychological Science, 25(12), 2209-2216.

This paper tells us sharing experiences with another person makes them better

Whillans et al. (2016). Valuing time over money is associated with greater happiness. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(3), 213-222

This paper tells us that prioritizing time over money – as a stable preference – makes you happier

Hershfield et al. (2016). People who choose time over money are happier. Social Psychological and Personality Science,7(7), 697-706.

As the title suggests, this paper tells us those that choose time over money are happier – the paper also reveals that the majority of people choose money over time

Moligner (2010). The pursuit of happiness: Time, money, and social connection. Psychological Science, Psychological Science 21(9) 1348–1354)]

This paper tells us that thinking about time makes you happier than thinking about money – thinking about time boosts the motivation to socialize which is associated with greater happiness

Killingsworth & Gilbert (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932–932.

As the title suggests, this paper tells us that mind-wandering makes us feel bad. This paper also concludes that we mind wander 46.9% of the time!

Mason et al. (2007). Wandering minds: The default network and stimulus-independent thought. Science,315(5810), 393–395.

This paper tells us our brains are wired to wander – mind-wandering is associated with activity in the brain’s default network which is the cortical region active when the brain is at rest

Brewer et al. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(50), 20254-20259.

This paper tells us meditation stops mind-wandering

Fredrickson et al. (2008). Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of personality and social psychology, 95(5), 1045-1062.

This paper tells us that meditation makes you happier

Hölzel et al. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 36-43.

This paper tells us meditation increases gray matter

Mrazek et al. (2013). Mindfulness training improves working memory capacity and GRE performance while reducing mind wandering. Psychological science, 24(5), 776-781.

This paper tells us that mindfulness helps working memory and has been shown to increase GRE performance

Hutcherson et al. (2008). Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. Emotion, 8(5), 720.

This paper tells us certain types of meditations can make you feel more socially connected

Babyak et al. (2000). Exercise treatment for major depression: maintenance of therapeutic benefit at 10 months. Psychosomatic medicine, 62(5), 633-638.

This paper tells us working out three times a week works just as well as Zoloft for depression recovery

Hillman et al. (2008). Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature reviews neuroscience, 9(1), 58-65.

This paper tells the positive effects of exercise on cognition and brain function

Dinges et al. (1997). Cumulative sleepiness, mood disturbance and psychomotor vigilance performance decrements during a week of sleep restricted to 4-5 hours per night. Sleep: Journal of Sleep Research & Sleep Medicine, 20(4), 267-77.

This paper tells us sleeping only ~5 hours/night (aka sleep debt) leads to mood disturbances

Walker et al. (2002). Practice with sleep makes perfect: sleep-dependent motor skill learning. Neuron, 35(1), 205-211.

This paper tells us sleeping more helps us learn motor skills

Wagner et al. (2004). Sleep inspires insight. Nature, 427(6972), 352-355.

This paper tells us sleeping boosts cognitive performance

Huffington Post. Lose Sleep, Lose Your Mind and Health

This graphic shows the negative implications of poor sleep after one night and prolonged over time

Wansink et al. (2006). The office candy dish: proximity’s influence on estimated and actual consumption. International Journal of Obesity, 30, 871–875.

This paper tells us explores how environmental factors (specifically the location of candy in the office) influences food intake – the closer it is the more likely it is you will eat it

Wansink et al. (2016). Slim by design: kitchen counter correlates of obesity. Health Education and Behavior, 3(5), 552-558.

This paper tells us how environmental factors (specifically the types of food visible on the kitchen counter) influences eating habits and health – the presence of fruit on the counter was associated with lower BMI

Klein et al. (1990). The role of goal specificity in the goal-setting process. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 179-193.

This paper tells us that goal specificity improves task performance

Stadler & Oettingen (2010). Intervention effects of information and self-regulation on eating fruits and vegetables over two years. Health Psychology, 29(3), 274-283.

This paper tells us self-regulation helps you stick to your goals

Gollwitzer & Brandstätter (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 186-199.

This paper tells us that those the with implementation intentions (aka having a plan to perform goal-directed behavior given certain situations) are more likely to achieve their goals

Duckworth et al. (2013). From fantasy to action: Mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) improves academic performance in children. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(6), 745-753.

This paper tells us mental contrasting and implementation plans (via the WOOP technique) can help you achieve goals as seen in improved academic performance

Stadler et al. (2009). Physical activity in women: Effects of a self-regulation intervention. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(1), 29-34.

This paper tells us self-regulation (via the WOOP technique) can help you stick to your exercise plan