The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions (The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad_949)
Dec 31, 2025
Explore the psychology behind New Year's resolutions, including the impact of approach versus avoidance framing on goal success. Discover the most popular resolutions like health, weight loss, and self-improvement. Hear about a personal weight-loss strategy involving daily steps and calorie tracking. Gain actionable tips for setting specific, enforceable behaviors to enhance resolution success. This thought-provoking discussion combines personal insight with scientific research to motivate positive change.
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Positive Framing Improves Resolution Success
- Framing goals as approach-oriented increases success rates compared with avoidance framing.
- The study found 58.9% success for approach goals vs 47.1% for avoidance goals over one year.
Large-Sample Evidence For Framing Effect
- A large sample (1,066 people) underpins the finding about framing differences in New Year's resolutions.
- The approach-versus-avoidance gap was over ten percentage points, a meaningful behavioral effect.
Health Dominates Resolution Topics
- Physical health was the most common resolution category, comprising 33% of goals.
- Love-related goals were rare, at only 1% of resolutions.