00000caa a22000003a 4500 UP-8027390931312424548 Buklod 20140923141653.0 o--- | || || ta 140923s xx d r |||| u| (iLib)UPCEB-00008419511 emz eng Huang, Szu-chi. So near and yet so far the mental representation of goal progress. [article]. pp. 225-241 In the present article, we explore whether people's mental representation of progress level can function as a self-regulation mechanism that helps motivate continued effort in the pursuit. We propose that when individuals have just starting pursuing a goal and have accumulated only limited progress, the exaggerate the achieved progress level in their mental representation to signal a higher chance of eventual goal attainment and thus elicit greater effort. In contrast, when people have substantial progress and are approaching the goal attainment, they downplay the achieved progress in their mental representation to create greater perceived discrepancy, hence eliciting greater effort. Empirical evidence from 4 studies supported the hypothesis. -(from the authors) Progress. Mental representation. Motivation. Self-regulation. Goals. Journal of personality and social psychology vol.103, 2012. Analytics