Browsing by Subject "Regulatory focus theory"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
COGNITIVE PROCESSES IN RESPONSE TO PROMOTION AND PREVENTION FAILURE: A STUDY OF MALADAPTIVE RUMINATION AND ITS AFFECTIVE CONSEQUENCES
(2007-07-13) Jones, Neil Patrick
Theories of self-regulation have not adequately specified the psychological events and processes that cause an emotional response following acute failure to be prolonged and intensified. Research on repetitive thought suggests that engaging maladaptive rumination can prolong and intensify existing mood states. However, theories of rumination have not incorporated the implications of failing to attain different types of desired end states for rumination, that is failing to attain goals associated with nurturance and advancement (i.e., promotion goals) versus goals associated with safety and security (i.e., prevention goals). In this investigation, 78 graduate and professional students participated in a within-subjects experimental design testing the overall hypothesis that exposure to past failures to attain promotion and prevention goals will promote maladaptive rumination on dejection- and agitation-related emotions, respectively. Furthermore, under conditions of high negative affect engaging in maladaptive rumination will cause the specific type of negative affect experienced to be intensified and prolonged. Study findings did not result in clear support for the proposed model in the prevention condition. The prevention manipulation failed to induce agitation-related emotions associated with anxiety and instead appeared to induce emotions associated with anger. The prevention condition also did not result in unique changes in quiescence. However, as predicted decreases in quiescence uniquely predicted increased engagement in maladaptive rumination. In this condition, engagement in rumination did not interact with low levels of quiescence to prolong and further decrease quiescence. Stronger support was found for the proposed model in the promotion condition. Individuals with chronic promotion failure experienced significant increases in dejection following exposure to past promotion failures. The level of dejection experienced significantly predicted engaging in greater maladaptive rumination. Furthermore, engaging in maladaptive rumination in the presence of high levels of dejection intensified and prolonged of the experience of dejection-related emotions. Overall, the results suggest that self-regulatory cognition, the level of affect that results, and variability in the tendency to engage in maladaptive rumination all play a significant role in determining a person's cognitive and emotional experiences in the ongoing process of self-regulation.
Open Access
Do Individual Differences in Authenticity Influence the Magnitude and Affective Consequences of Self-Discrepancies?
(2011) Franzese, Alexis T.
Theories of self-regulation address the continuous process in which individuals compare their behavior to salient goals or standards. Two well-known theories of self-regulation, self-discrepancy theory (SDT) and regulatory focus theory (RFT), each make distinctions regarding the types of standards and goals in reference to which individuals self-regulate. Authenticity--the idea of being one's true self--has the potential to influence the kinds of goals or standards that individuals come to possess and may have implications for understanding the outcomes of self-regulatory processes. This research links the construct of authenticity with SDT and RFT, emphasizing how individual differences in authenticity could influence the motivational and affective consequences of self-regulation predicted within each theory. Individual differences in authenticity were expected to influence the nature of the goals and standards that individuals hold, as well as the acute and chronic affective consequences of discrepancies between the actual self and the ideal and ought self-guides respectively. Specifically, individual differences in authenticity were expected to predict magnitude of actual:ideal and actual:ought self-discrepancy as well as the intensity of distress that individuals report (acutely as well as chronically) in association with self-discrepancies. More importantly, self-discrepancies were expected to be less prevalent among individuals high in authenticity, but more distressing among high-authenticity individuals than among individuals with lower levels of authenticity. The results of this research suggest that individual differences in authentic behavior do have a direct influence on both acute and chronic affect. Authenticity was found to interact with self-discrepancies in predicting chronic affect. Authenticity has a unique role in the process of self-regulation, distinct from the contributions of SDT and RFT.
Open Access
Microinterventions targeting regulatory focus and regulatory fit selectively reduce dysphoric and anxious mood.
(Behav Res Ther, 2015-09) Strauman, Timothy J; Socolar, Yvonne; Kwapil, Lori; Cornwell, James FM; Franks, Becca; Sehnert, Steen; Higgins, E Tory
Depression and generalized anxiety, separately and as comorbid states, continue to represent a significant public health challenge. Current cognitive-behavioral treatments are clearly beneficial but there remains a need for continued development of complementary interventions. This manuscript presents two proof-of-concept studies, in analog samples, of "microinterventions" derived from regulatory focus and regulatory fit theories and targeting dysphoric and anxious symptoms. In Study 1, participants with varying levels of dysphoric and/or anxious mood were exposed to a brief intervention either to increase or to reduce engagement in personal goal pursuit, under the hypothesis that dysphoria indicates under-engagement of the promotion system whereas anxiety indicates over-engagement of the prevention system. In Study 2, participants with varying levels of dysphoric and/or anxious mood received brief training in counterfactual thinking, under the hypothesis that inducing individuals in a state of promotion failure to generate subtractive counterfactuals for past failures (a non-fit) will lessen their dejection/depression-related symptoms, whereas inducing individuals in a state of prevention failure to generate additive counterfactuals for past failures (a non-fit) will lessen their agitation/anxiety-related symptoms. In both studies, we observed discriminant patterns of reduction in distress consistent with the hypothesized links between dysfunctional states of the two motivational systems and dysphoric versus anxious symptoms.
Open Access
Who You Are, Who You Wish You Were, and Who You Should Be: How Augmented Attained Ought Goal Priming May Be Used Therapeutically
(2019-04) Hedrick, Haley
According to Self-Discrepancy Theory, ideal goals are characterized by hopes, dreams, and wishes, while ought goals are characterized by duties, responsibilities, and obligations. Failed ideal goals are met with depression-like symptoms and decreased left prefrontal cortex activity, while failed ought goals are met by more anxiety-like symptoms and decreased right prefrontal cortex activity; however chronic goal failure of either type may result in clinical levels of depression or anxiety, depending on the goal type, as well as attenuated responsivity within the left and right prefrontal cortices accordingly. Although the literature regarding the neural correlates of these phenomena is limited, there is reason to believe that a masked attained ideal or ought goal priming procedure with a greater degree of priming exposures than the standard procedure could improve neural activation in these regions to a degree not yet achieved among significantly dysphoric individuals. To test this, we used an augmented rapid masked idiographic goal priming paradigm and fMRI to present individually-selected triggers for attained ought or ideal goals that had been previously reported. This data was compared with a previous study in which participants received the same procedure in its standard form, meaning they received a quarter of the exposures to goal triggers received by those in the augmented conditions. Whereas previous studies have found that standard ideal goal priming discriminately increases activation in the left prefrontal cortex while standard ought goal priming discriminately increases activation in the right prefrontal cortex, our study’s augmented attained ought goal priming produced the greatest activation in both regions (L/R MFG BA9). As expected, all augmented goal priming conditions elicited greater activation than the corresponding standard conditions in all areas analyzed, with the exception of ideal goal priming in the right orbitofrontal cortex (MFG BA9), in which the augmented and standard conditions produced approximately equivalent activation. As a proof of principle study, our study does not have much of a body of literature within which to be interpreted; however, our findings seem to indicate that the interrelationships between goal type, goal priming procedure, and prefrontal cortex activity may be more complex and that attained ought goal priming may have more powerful effects, than originally predicted. Further exploration within a larger, more diverse, more dysphoric sample with greater statistical power, more extensive behavioral data, and longitudinal follow-up is necessary in order to better understand the interplay between goal priming, emotions, and these complex neural networks. Experts should use the results of these studies to inform potential future development of diagnostic or therapeutic tools.