{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T17:47:37Z","timestamp":1782841657429,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"JMIR Publications Inc.","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Internet Res"],"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Background<\/jats:title>\n Meditation has grown in popularity in recent years, but many people who try meditation often fail to establish a habit. Goal setting has been demonstrated to be an effective technique in behavior change in other health-related contexts but is understudied in the meditation context.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Objective<\/jats:title>\n This study had 2 objectives: (1) to assess the association between goal setting and the number of days people meditated and (2) to evaluate whether anchoring bias in the goal-setting question (via response option order) influences goal selection and subsequent meditation behavior.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n This large-scale quasi-experimental field study included 18,559 Spotify mobile users aged 18 years or older residing in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or the United States who had listened to at least 5 minutes of meditation content from a specified teacher. The in-app experiment consisted of 2 goal-setting test conditions and an active control. In the test conditions, participants selected the number of days they intended to listen to content from the meditation teacher in the next 7 days. The conditions differed only in the order of goal response options (higher goals listed first vs last). The active control rated how much they liked the teacher but did not set a goal. Because responding was optional, selection bias is possible, and the design is quasi-experimental.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n The act of setting any goal had a modest positive association with the number of days people meditated in both treatment condition 1 (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n =.08, 95% CI 0.01-0.16) and treatment condition 2 (\n \u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n =.08, 95% CI 0.002-0.15). People who committed to higher goals were also more likely to meditate more than those who committed to lower goals. Additionally, the distribution of goals between the treatment conditions varied (\n \u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n 2<\/jats:sub>\n =84.24;\n P<\/jats:italic>\n <.001), and the differences in these distributions subsequently yielded differences in the number of days each group meditated, on average (\n t<\/jats:italic>\n 2744.1<\/jats:sub>\n =\u22122.34;\n P<\/jats:italic>\n =.02; Cohen\n d<\/jats:italic>\n =\u22120.09). Ultimately, placing the highest goal as the first answer choice yielded higher average active days among those who chose a goal, but many more people opted out of answering the question itself.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n Simply offering an optional in-app goal-setting prompt, the intention-to-treat estimate from the experiment, did not change meditation engagement at the population level. However, among users who chose to respond and set a goal, goal selection was associated with a modest increase in active days. Response option order (anchoring) shifted both goal selection and opt-out rates. These findings highlight an uptake-engagement trade-off that is relevant for digital behavior change design.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.2196\/85801","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T19:55:07Z","timestamp":1773086107000},"page":"e85801-e85801","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Goal Setting and Anchoring Effects on Meditation Using a Digital Platform: Large-Scale Digital Field Study"],"prefix":"10.2196","volume":"28","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-1892-0845","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Bowen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2425-2010","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Beam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1010","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,9]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1003481","article-title":"Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials","volume":"18","author":"Galante","journal-title":"PLoS Med"},{"key":"R2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2017.10.011","article-title":"Mindfulness-based interventions for psychiatric disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"59","author":"Goldberg","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"issue":"3","key":"R3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"708","DOI":"10.1007\/s12671-017-0841-8","article-title":"A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of meditation on empathy, compassion, and prosocial behaviors","volume":"9","author":"Luberto","journal-title":"Mindfulness (N Y)"},{"issue":"1","key":"R4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-024-64562-y","article-title":"Prevalence and 20-year trends in meditation, yoga, guided imagery and progressive relaxation use among US adults from 2002 to 2022","volume":"14","author":"Davies","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"R5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/43565","article-title":"Situating meditation apps within the ecosystem of meditation practice: population-based survey study","volume":"10","author":"Lam","journal-title":"JMIR Ment Health"},{"issue":"5","key":"R6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1340","DOI":"10.1007\/s12671-025-02555-2","article-title":"Mapping mindfulness: assessing the stages of meditation habit formation in the USA using the Sussex Mindfulness Meditation (SuMMed) model","volume":"16","author":"Bowen","journal-title":"Mindfulness (N Y)"},{"issue":"9","key":"R7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/14567","article-title":"Objective user engagement with mental health apps: systematic search and panel-based usage analysis","volume":"21","author":"Baumel","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"issue":"11","key":"R8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/23377","article-title":"The reach, use, and impact of a free mHealth mindfulness app in the general population: mobile data analysis","volume":"7","author":"Kozlov","journal-title":"JMIR Ment Health"},{"key":"R9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/71732","article-title":"Evaluating theory-driven messaging to overcome the barriers to meditation: large-scale digital field experiment","volume":"12","author":"Bowen","journal-title":"JMIR Ment Health"},{"key":"R10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2017.05.004","article-title":"Home practice in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of participants\u2019 mindfulness practice and its association with outcomes","volume":"95","author":"Parsons","journal-title":"Behav Res Ther"},{"key":"R11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2014.08.015","article-title":"The effects of amount of home meditation practice in mindfulness based cognitive therapy on hazard of relapse to depression in the Staying Well after Depression Trial","volume":"63","author":"Crane","journal-title":"Behav Res Ther"},{"issue":"1","key":"R12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1177\/237946151600200109","article-title":"Healthy through habit: interventions for initiating & maintaining health behavior change","volume":"2","author":"Wood","journal-title":"Behav Sci Policy"},{"issue":"3","key":"R13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1080\/17437199.2013.876238","article-title":"A review and analysis of the use of \u201chabit\u201d in understanding, predicting and influencing health-related behaviour","volume":"9","author":"Gardner","journal-title":"Health Psychol Rev"},{"key":"R14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gardner B Lally P . 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