A multiple-goal framework for exploring goal disengagement

Abstract

Although persistence and tenacity in goal pursuit are often vaunted, at times, it is also critical to walk away from or give up one’s goals. Indeed, research over the past two decades has revealed that goal disengagement is an important part of goal pursuit and has well-being benefits. In this Review, we consider goal disengagement from a multiple-goal perspective, according to which the need for goal disengagement arises because people hold multiple goals that cannot be pursued simultaneously owing to limited resources. A multiple-goal perspective suggests commonalities among phenomena that are often considered distinct but that all reduce goal-striving efforts towards a given goal: goal abandonment, goal freezing and goal switching. A multiple-goal perspective also suggests that the relative attainability, desirability or goal affordance for a given goal determines whether goal disengagement is adaptive, broadens understanding of when and how goal disengagement is beneficial, and provides a framework to examine what factors are most influential in the decision to disengage versus continuing with a goal. Goal disengagement is typically conceptualized in terms of total abandonment. In this Review, Scholer and colleagues examine goal disengagement at multiple timescales and consider when and how goal disengagement is beneficial in the context of multiple goals.