Exploring the regulation of need-satisfying goals: A baseline model

Intrinsic goals fulfill fundamental psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. They tend to be self-determined, effectively pursued, and contribute to well-being. But even need-satisfying goals are pursued in the context of finite resources: How do we prioritize amongst multiple need-satisfying goals? Integrating self-determination theory with other needs theories, we proposed a baseline model whereby goals that are predominately relevant to relatedness would be prioritized over those predominately relevant to competence or autonomy. 202 participants completed a web survey about personal goals, including a goal sacrifice measure capturing within-person prioritization. Relatedness-predominant goals were prioritized over competence- and autonomy-predominant goals; this pattern was not accounted for by between-need differences in commitment and motivation regulation. People need autonomy, competence, and relatedness for optimal functioning, but in the face of limited resources they may prioritize goals that are predominately relevant to relatedness.     

A longitudinal follow-up study of happiness and meaning-making

The long-term outcomes associated with happiness and meaning-making were examined by following up on participants in previous studies on experiential learning an average of 2.5 years later. Measures of happiness and meaning-making were extracted by analyzing the participants’ journals using a computerized text-analysis program. Happiness as assessed by a composite measure of positive emotionality showed weak associations with the measures of adaptive functioning, and was negatively correlated with optimism, as well as positively correlated with emotion suppression. By contrast, meaning-making as assessed by composite measures of cognitive processing and self-distancing was robustly positively correlated with almost all measures of adaptive functioning. Regression analyses revealed that the two measures of meaning and their interaction term accounted for 20–24% of the variance in predicting the outcome measures. This study revealed that there may be at times a trade-off between happiness and meaning-making as well as a reversal in their patterns of long-term outcomes.     

Development of infant prehension handedness: A longitudinal analysis during the 6- to 14-month age period

Handedness is a developmental phenomenon that becomes distinctively identifiable during infancy. Although infant hand-use preferences sometimes have been reported as unstable, other evidence demonstrates that infant hand-use preference for apprehending objects can be reliably assessed during the second half of the infant's first year of life. The current study provides further insight into the stability of prehension preferences. We modeled individual and group level patterns of prehension handedness during the period from 6 to 14 months of age. We examined the developmental trajectories for prehension handedness in relation to the sampling rate at which preferences are assessed. The results revealed interesting developmental changes in prehension handedness that can only be identified when using monthly sampling intervals. We conclude that using non-linear multilevel models of infant handedness with monthly sampling intervals permit us to accurately capture the developmental changes in manual skills that occur during this period of infancy.     

Perfectionism and the pursuit of personal goals: A self-determination theory analysis

Previous studies have shown that self-critical and personal standards forms of perfectionism are associated with progress on personal goals in opposite ways. The present study used a 5-wave prospective longitudinal design to examine what motivational factors account for the finding that self-critical perfectionism has been reliably associated with poor goal progress whereas personal standard perfectionism has been associated with good progress. Specifically, we adopted a self-determination theory perspective to examine the role of autonomy in mediating the effects of perfectionism. Our results replicated previous findings linking the two forms of perfectionism with opposite patterns of goal progress. Importantly, the results suggested that the negative goal effects of self-critical perfectionism are mediated by lower levels of autonomous goal motivation. The results also demonstrated links from personal standards perfectionism to greater autonomous goal motivation. Interestingly, the effects of self-critical perfectionism on goal progress appeared to be dynamic over time and implicated affective mechanisms. The results of the investigation point to the value of adopting a self-determination theory perspective to understand perfectionism.     

The impact of construal level on happiness,hope, optimism,life satisfaction,and love of life: A longitudinal and experimental study

This study sought to identify the impact of the construal level of people's perception on selected positive psychology factors: happiness, hope, optimism, satisfaction with life, and love of life. The experimental design of the study was based on pre–post measures for four groups, including three experimental groups and one control group. The sample consisted of students from the University of Kuwait studying in several colleges (276 participants: 65 males and 211 females). The study posited that using two construal levels of people's perception concurrently (low/high) would result in a greater impact on the selected positive psychology factors compared with using one construal level and that the smallest impact would occur in a control group. The greatest impact was observed on happiness when applying both construal levels (high/low group), while the smallest impact was found in the control group. The results showed no significant differences for the positive factors regarding the demographic variables except for gender in the case of happiness, in which men felt happier than women. It could be concluded that using high-level and low-level construals increase the opportunity for positive psychology factors like happiness, hope, and optimism.     

Transition to motherhood: A longitudinal study

A prospective longitudinal study assessed the development of the mother-child relationship within the context of other important aspects of transition to parenthood. In the prenatal phase, 238 women who were 8 months pregnant with their first child completed a set of questionnaires. At 1 month post-partum, 165 of these women completed a second set of questionnaires, and a subset of 86 were observed for 1 hour at home with their infants. When their child was 2 years old, 62 of the 86 mothers completed questionnaires and were observed in interaction with their toddler in the laboratory. The several hundred individual variables were reduced to internally consistent composite variables, 5 in the prenatal phase, 7 postpartum, and 14 in the toddler phase. Preliminary analyses reported in this paper assessed the structure of relationships among the composite variables within each phase (Pearson correlations) and whether there was significant prediction from one dimension to another across the phases, beyond stability in the predicted dimension (multiple regressions). Causal modeling analyses are still in progress. The results indicate that the development of maternal attachment is a gradual process and that feelings of attachment are related to a number of other measures of women's psychological well-being. Parenting confidence was found to play a central role in adaptation to motherhood within each phase, as well as from the prenatal to postpartum and postpartum to toddler phases.     

Personal or environmental causes of happiness: a longitudinal analysis

The author analyzed an integrative model of happiness, which incorporated personal factors (demographics, extraversion, neuroticism, and locus of control) and environmental factors (life events and social support), using a longitudinal data set. A secondary purpose was to clarify the relationship between overall happiness and life satisfaction. Using systematic random sampling, 581 residents of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, completed structured questionnaires at Time 1; among them, 105 returned valid questionnaires 2.5 years later, at Time 2. Longitudinal analysis indicated moderate stability of the subjective well-being (SWB) measures. More importantly, when both the baseline SWB levels and personality traits were statistically controlled, social support still predicted overall happiness, and positive life events predicted life satisfaction. Furthermore, there was a consistently strong bidirectional relationship between overall happiness and life satisfaction.     

When disgust leads to dysphoria: A three-wave longitudinal study assessing the temporal relationship between self-disgust and depressive symptoms

Research has shown that feelings of self-disgust may have a functional role in the genesis of depression by partially mediating the cross-sectional relationship between dysfunctional thoughts and depressive symptoms. However, there are many outstanding issues regarding these hypothesised associations. First, it is not yet clear whether self-disgust is a temporal antecedent, concomitant, or consequence of depressive experience. Second, it is not known whether the hypothesised mediation sequence is valid over time. Third, the relative contribution of disgust towards different aspects of the self has not yet been examined. In the present longitudinal study, participants completed measures of dysfunctional cognitions, self-disgust and depressive symptoms at baseline, and at six and 12-month follow-ups. Analysis showed that self-disgust is best considered as antecedent to depressive symptoms; the hypothesised mediation model was partially supported, but is too simplistic; and disgust towards physical aspects of the self, rather than behaviour, was more important as a temporal predictor of depressive symptoms. The current results help elucidate the role of self-disgust as an antecedent of depressive experience.     

Significant other primes and behavior: motivation to respond to social cues moderates pursuit of prime-induced goals

Significant others can automatically activate a variety of goals, including goals that significant others have for an individual and the individual's personal goals that are associated with the significant others. Across three studies, this article shows that the effects of significant other primes (i.e., mother, roommate) on behavior depend on individual differences in both personal goals and responsiveness to social cues (i.e., self-monitoring, need to belong). Specifically, individuals who are motivated to respond to social cues assimilate to a goal that their primed significant other has for them, regardless of whether they personally hold the goal. Individuals not so motivated, on the other hand, assimilate to the goal only when it is one that they also personally hold. Implications of these findings for research on the prime-to-behavior relationship and interpersonal goal pursuit are discussed.     

The automated will: nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals.

It is proposed that goals can be activated outside of awareness and then operate nonconsciously to guide self-regulation effectively (J. A. Bargh, 1990). Five experiments are reported in which the goal either to perform well or to cooperate was activated, without the awareness of participants, through a priming manipulation. In Experiment 1 priming of the goal to perform well caused participants to perform comparatively better on an intellectual task. In Experiment 2 priming of the goal to cooperate caused participants to replenish a commonly held resource more readily. Experiment 3 used a dissociation paradigm to rule out perceptual-construal alternative explanations. Experiments 4 and 5 demonstrated that action guided by nonconsciously activated goals manifests two classic content-free features of the pursuit of consciously held goals. Nonconsciously activated goals effectively guide action, enabling adaptation to ongoing situational demands.     

Change in depressive symptoms among daughter caregivers: an 18-month longitudinal study.

This longitudinal study investigates, over an 18-month period, the caregiving experience of a probability sample of 115 daughters who provided care to an aging parent. The levels of depressive symptoms manifested by these daughters were relatively low, with only 23.5% scoring in the clinical range during the study. Nevertheless, there was substantive change in depressive symptoms among the daughters during the 18 months. Daughters with higher levels of mastery were more likely to use problem-focused coping strategies, which led to reductions in depression, whereas daughters with lower levels of mastery were more likely to use emotion-focused coping, which led to increased levels of depression. Mastery was higher when the caregiving role was shared with a sibling: it was lower if the daughter had other caregiving responsibilities and if the parent care recipient had elevated levels of behavior problems.     

Thinking of you: nonconscious pursuit of interpersonal goals associated with relationship partners

The mere psychological presence of relationship partners was hypothesized to trigger interpersonal goals that are then pursued nonconsciously. Qualitative data suggested that people tend to pursue different interpersonal goals within different types of relationships (e.g., mother, best friend, coworker). In several studies, priming participants' relationship representations produced goal-directed behavior (achievement, helping, understanding) in line with the previously assessed goal content of those representations. These findings support the hypothesis that interpersonal goals are component features of relationship representations and that mere activation of those representations, even in the partner's physical absence, causes the goals to become active and to guide behavior nonconsciously within the current situation.     

Retracted: The impact of construal level on happiness,hope, optimism,life satisfaction,and love of life: A longitudinal and experimental study by Alfalah and Soud A. Alganem

The above article, published online on 6 November 2019 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor in Chief Professor Nigel Bond, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed due to concerns regarding data analysis, and the need to be more explicit about the methodology and its source. A revised version of the paper, https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12297 , has been resubmitted and published online.     

Intra-individual stability of neuromotor tasks from 6 to 18 years: a longitudinal study

This study investigates the intra-individual stability of the speed of several motor tasks and the intensity of associated movements in 256 children (131 girls, 125 boys) from the Zurich generational study using the Zurich neuromotor assessment battery (ZNA) over a 12-year period from the age of 6 to 18 years. The stability was assessed by correlograms of standard deviation scores calculated from age- and gender-adjusted normative values and compared with standing height and full scale intelligence quotient (IQ). While motor tasks of hand, finger and foot (HFT) and contralateral associated movements (CAM) exhibited a moderate stability (summary measure as correlation coefficients between two measurements made 4 years apart: .61 and .60), other tasks (dynamic balance, static balance and pegboard) were only weakly stable (.46, .47 and .49). IQ and height were more stable than neuromotor components (.72 and .86). We conclude that the moderately stable HFT and CAM may reflect “motor traits”, while the stability of the pegboard and balance tasks is weaker because these skills are more experience related and state-dependent.     

Effects of rater goals on rating patterns: evidence from an experimental field study

The goal-based perspective of performance appraisals suggests that raters who pursue different goals give different performance ratings. Yet previous studies have not provided strong empirical evidence that there are different impacts of different goals on mean rating and discriminability, nor have they provided evidence of a goal-rating causality. The authors extend the literature by manipulating rater goals in the context of peer evaluations of graded group projects with a sample of 104 undergraduate students. They find that (a) pursuing a harmony goal increased mean rating and decreased discriminability, and (b) pursuing a fairness goal increased mean rating and decreased discriminability when the group projects had not ended and increased mean rating but did not change discriminability when the group projects had ended.