运动行为领域中的调节匹配

调节匹配理论认为个体更倾向于采用与自身调节定向方式相匹配的行为策略, 并且当个体处于调节匹配状态时, 其行为表现会更好。通过梳理近年来运动领域关于调节匹配的研究发现, 调节匹配可以对运动行为的多个方面产生影响, 如促进运动员的运动表现、提高运动员的决策效能、增强体育锻炼参与度等。未来研究应注重对运动中调节匹配研究内容的扩充, 探讨调节匹配的内在机制, 并完善调节匹配的研究方法。     

Regulatory fit effects in a choice task

This article examines the interface between motivation and choice. In category learning, a regulatory fit has been shown to increase exploration of alternative response strategies even when exploration is suboptimal. In the present study, promotion- and prevention-focused subjects performed a choice task that required them to choose from one of two decks of cards on each trial. They either gained or lost points with each draw. In Experiment 1, optimal performance required an exploratory response pattern that entailed sampling from a deck that initially appeared disadvantageous but ultimately became advantageous. In Experiment 2, optimal performance required an exploitative response pattern. A softmax action selection model that includes an exploitation parameter was applied to each subject’s data from both experiments and revealed greater exploration of alternative strategies for people with a regulatory fit. This response strategy was optimal in Experiment 1 and led to superior performance, but was suboptimal in Experiment 2 and led to inferior performance.     

How to fit a response time distribution

Among the most valuable tools in behavioral science is statistically fitting mathematical models of cognition to data—response time distributions, in particular. However, techniques for fitting distributions vary widely, and little is known about the efficacy of different techniques. In this article, we assess several fitting techniques by simulating six widely cited models of response time and using the fitting procedures to recover model parameters. The techniques include the maximization of likelihood and least squares fits of the theoretical distributions to different empirical estimates of the simulated distributions. A running example is used to illustrate the different estimation and fitting procedures. The simulation studies reveal that empirical density estimates are biased even for very large sample sizes. Some fitting techniques yield more accurate and less variable parameter estimates than do others. Methods that involve least squares fits to density estimates generally yield very poor parameter estimates.     

How "fun/importance" fit affects performance: relating implicit theories to instructions

People experience a regulatory fit when they employ means of goal pursuit that fit their regulatory orientation, and this fit increases motivation that can enhance performance. The present studies extend previous research on regulatory fit to the classic motivational variables of fun and importance. They also examine for the first time the effect on performance of the fit between individuals' implicit theories about a task's fun or importance and their strategic engagement of the task as fun or important as induced by task instructions. In all three studies, task performance was better when the external task instructions "fit" rather than did not fit participants' implicit theory for the task. The implications of these findings for understanding the motivational effects of fun and importance are discussed.     

Social reinforcement as a determinant of performance, performance expectancy, and attributions

The effects of positive, negative, and nonreinforcement were examined during performance of a fine motor task to observe any expectancy and performance differences. Female high school subjects first learned the task and then were given a series of 30 trials in which social reinforcement was administered noncontingently. Positive social reinforcement had a significant effect on performance, while both positive and negative reinforcement had significant effects on expectancy. In addition, disparate attributions were made by each treatment group.     

How expected evaluation influences creativity: Regulatory focus as moderator

Two studies investigated the effect of expected evaluation and regulatory focus on individuals’ creative performance. In both studies, first, the type of evaluation (informational versus controlling) was manipulated, and then regulatory focus was measured as an individual difference (in Study 1) or induced as a state using a pencil-and-paper maze task (in Study 2). Results provided evidence that participants who expect an informational evaluation were more likely to adopt an eager strategy; whereas participants who expected a controlling evaluation were more likely to adopt a vigilant strategy. Furthermore, participants in promotion-informational and prevention-controlling groups (regulatory fit conditions) performed more creatively than those in promotion-controlling and prevention-informational groups (regulatory non-fit conditions). In sum, the present findings contribute to a better understanding of how external evaluations and basic motivational orientations influence creative performance.     

End-of-semester syndrome: How situational regulatory fit affects test performance over an academic semester

Psychology researchers often avoid running participants from subject pools at the end of the semester because they are "unmotivated". We suggest that the end of the semester induces a situational prevention focus (i.e., sensitive to losses) unlike the beginning of the semester, which may induce a situational promotion focus (i.e., sensitive to gains). In two experiments, we presented participants with math problems at the beginning or end of an academic semester. End-of-semester participants performed better minimizing losses as compared to maximizing gains, while the opposite was true for beginning-of-semester participants.     

Regulatory fit in framing strategy of parental persuasive messages to young children

The present research examined regulatory fit in parental messages aimed at young children. Study 1 measured parents' chronic regulatory focus, asking them to select either positively or negatively framed messages for promotion‐ and prevention‐focused outcomes. The results showed that parents preferred positive frames for promotion‐focused messages and negative frames for prevention‐focused messages. Furthermore, parents with a chronic promotion focus favored a positively framed strategy more than parents with a prevention focus. Study 2 found that parents adopted different message strategies depending on whether they favored an active responsive or an active restrictive parenting style. Together, these findings demonstrate for the first time the applicability of regulatory focus/fit theory to explain parents' preferences for positively and negatively framed messages targeting children.     

Prior task failure as a determinant of biofeedback and cognitive task performance

In a study of the effects of controllability of outcomes upon behavior in a biofeedback context, 40 college students were assigned to four groups differing in pretreatment: (1) a success-failure group, given false feedback in a fictitious blood-vessel control task for two sessions designed to convey success followed by two sessions of failure feedback; (2) a failure-failure group, given false failure feedback throughout pretreatment; (3) a contingent failure group, receiving actual feedback in a temperature biofeedback task with criteria that assured failure throughout pretreatment; and (4) a control group, given no specific task during this phase. In a subsequent phase, all subjects received actual frontal (forehead) electromyographic (EMG) response training with biofeedback. In analyses of the results, during EMG training, the contingent failure group attained lower levels than the other three groups. By contrast, on a cognitive (anagram) task, interpolated between pretreatment and EMG training, the contingent failure group demonstrated relatively poorer performance than the other groups. The results are discussed in terms of reactance and learned helplessness theories of perceived loss of control in this context.Some of the data reported here were included in a thesis submitted by the second author in partial fulfillment of requirements for the master's degree in psychology, University of Hawaii, 1981. The entire paper was the basis for a presentation at the annual meeting of the Biofeedback Society of America, Albuquerque, 1984.     

Regulatory fit and cognitive performance: the interactive effect of chronic and situationally induced self‐regulatory mechanisms on test performance

Two studies examined the impact of chronic and situational self‐regulatory mechanisms on cognitive test performance. In both studies, test performance was enhanced when situationally induced regulatory mechanisms matched the chronic self‐regulatory focus of the test taker. These results support the regulatory fit hypothesis put forward in regulatory focus theory and point to the importance of compatibility between chronic and situationally induced self‐regulatory states when it comes to cognitive test performance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The analysis of performance criteria defining course grades as a determinant of college student academic performance

A series of five experimental conditions were designed to investigate the influence of minimum performance criteria and grade labels on college student academic performance. A college course in abnormal psychology was taught in an individualized manner so that each student could perform on each unit of subject matter in individual performance sessions whenever he wished. In each of the five experiments the minimum performance criteria that had to be attained before progressing to the next unit were varied during the quarter and the resulting changes in performance were recorded. In Experiment I there were no criteria; in Experiments II, III, and IV three levels of criteria (High, Medium, and Low) were varied but all of the criteria defined a course grade of "A". In Experiment V, the three criteria defined course grades of A, B, and C. The results showed that the criteria controlled performance to a high degree, so that regardless of what quality of performance had been demonstrated previously or was being produced currently, performance was immediately changed to attain new criteria put into effect. Students in Experiment I produced very poor performance compared to the other conditions.     

Athletics and executive functioning: How athletic participation and sport type correlate with cognitive performance

ObjectivesThis study aims to further the knowledge regarding the documented link between physical exercise and cognitive function. Specifically, we examined the relationship between the type and level of sports in which college students participate and their executive functioning (EF).DesignWe utilized a 3-way quasi-experimental design, and grouped participants by athletic status (athlete or non-athlete), sport type (self-paced, externally paced, or non-athlete; see Singer, 2000), and level (high-skilled or recreational).MethodsWe evaluated EF by administering a battery of validated tests of decision making, problem solving, and inhibition.ResultsWe found that athletes scored higher on some of the EF measures than non-athletes. Furthermore, we observed that scores varied by sport type according to which subset of EF each test measured. Self-paced athletes scored highest on an inhibition task, and externally paced athletes scored highest on a problem-solving task.ConclusionsOur results suggest that athletes outperform non-athletes on tests of such EF domains as inhibition and problem solving, and that different types of athletic experience may correlate with higher levels of particular EF domains.     

The moderating role of interviewer's regulatory focus in the effectiveness of impression management tactics: Regulatory fit as a source of subjective value

Based on the recently explored regulatory fit effect in social contexts, the present research is the first to investigate the interaction between interviewer's regulatory focus and interviewee's impression management (IM) tactics. We hypothesized that assertive and defensive IM tactics would fit with interviewer's promotion and prevention focus, respectively, and that interviewer's experience of this regulatory fit would lead to enhanced interview evaluation. We conducted four studies in which the participants were asked to rate an interviewee after reading a list of the interviewee's IM-related behaviours or watching a videotaped interview. Additionally, the participant's regulatory focus was operationalized as both an induced situational state and a measured chronic trait. The results supported our hypotheses by showing a significant interaction of the interviewer's regulatory focus and the IM tactics on interview evaluation: the promotion-assertive and the prevention-defensive ratings were more positive than the prevention-assertive and the promotion-defensive ratings. Moreover, mediation analysis revealed that the interaction exerts its effects on interview evaluation by providing interviewers with an intrapersonal regulatory fit experience.