The general, long-term objective of the research program is to investigate the principles underlying approach/avoidance motivations that produce adaptive and maladaptive self-regulation. The proposed research examines the motivational significance of regulatory focus. Regulatory focus distinguishes between promotion focus concerns with accomplishments and gains (the presence of positives) versus prevention focus concerns with security and non-losses (the absence of negatives).
The specific aims are as follows: I. A. To re-examine the motivational strength of """"""""gains"""""""" versus """"""""losses"""""""". It is hypothesized that promotion approach strategies versus prevention avoidance strategies will interact with people's approaching positive outcomes and avoiding negative outcomes to influence the motivational strength of """"""""gains"""""""" versus """"""""losses"""""""". B. To reconsider the classic utilitarian function of attitudes. It is hypothesized that positive and negative attitude objects can be evaluated in terms of their relevance to promotion versus prevention concerns independent of their valence. II. A. To investigate how the motivational effects of changes in goal distance vary as a function of regulatory focus. It is hypothesized that promotion versus prevention differences in approach/avoidance motivations will increase as goal distance decreases. B. To examine how promotion versus prevention produce different motivational effects of goal maintenance versus goal re-attainment. III. To expand the implications of regulatory focus as an approach/ avoidance principle by testing the predictive validity of a new self- report measure of individuals' personal history of promotion and prevention effectiveness.
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