Forethought governs behavior through visualized goals, not future states.

Evidence

Human agency is manifested through forethought, self-reaction, and self-reflection. In forethought, people motivate and guide themselves by creating action plans, adopting goals and challenges, and visualizing the likely outcomes of their efforts. A future state has no material existence, so it cannot be a cause of current behavior acting purposefully for its own realization. But through cognitive representation, visualized futures are brought into the present as current guides and motivators of behavior. In this form of anticipatory self-guidance, behavior is governed by visualized goals and anticipated outcomes rather than being pulled by an unrealized future state. The ability to bring goals and anticipated consequences to bear on current activities promotes purposeful and foresightful behavior. Forethought enables people to transcend the dictates of their immediate environment and to shape and regulate the present to realize a desired future. When projected over a long-term course on matters of value, a forethoughtful perspective provides direction, coherence, and meaning to one’s life. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 66

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that forethought provides life with direction, coherence and meaning could feed a bridge between Bandura’s agency and narrative-identity claims in the vault.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 66