Facilitation and interference of behavioral responses by task-irrelevant affect-laden stimuli

Emotional interference on behavior is commonly observed when task-irrelevant negative stimuli appear before behavioral targets. One explanation postulates that affect-laden stimuli readily capture attention, interfering with the processing of the upcoming target. Emotional stimuli might also preactivate motor programs incompatible with the demanded response. Using a cued go/no-go procedure we showed that task-irrelevant unpleasant stimuli cause interference or facilitation depending on their onset asynchrony relative to the target. We observed interference with short (200 ms) stimulus-target asynchronies and facilitation for longer ones (600 ms), both for key press (Experiment 1) and key release (Experiment 2) responses. The interference effect is compatible with an attentional explanation, but the behavioral facilitation is hard to accommodate within either attentional or motor accounts. This interference-facilitation pattern can be explained assuming that once the attentional effect subsides, emotional processing may enhance the perceptual processing of the stimuli, or lower the decision threshold, thereby facilitating the response selection process.     

Sequential modulations of interference evoked by processing task-irrelevant stimulus features

Compatibility level repetition benefits in interference paradigms have been taken to reflect enhanced processing selectivity in response to cognitive conflict elicited by a task-irrelevant stimulus feature. The authors demonstrate such sequential effects in the Simon task which (a) occur independent of previous behavioral conflict effects and (b) cannot be accounted for by selectivity enhancement. Furthermore, when presenting more than one type of irrelevant stimulus features, compatibility level repetition effects occurred in a type-specific manner. The results do not support the notion that cognitive conflict results in enhanced processing selectivity and favor a feature integration account.     

Going against the grain: supporting lesbian, gay and bisexual clients as they 'come out'

It has been acknowledged in principle that those who provide counselling or support should respect differences and the diversity inherent within any society or culture. In this article we focus upon sexual orientation as a resource: a means by which it is possible to expand upon skills and understand the experiences of those who have embarked upon alternative trajectories of sexual development. We consider the process of development from the perspective of the 'everyday' and, based upon interviews with 16 lesbians and gay men, explore the process of identity formation and the role of those professionals and volunteers who provide support during this transitional period in a person's life. We suggest that it is important for those providing counselling or support to an individual who is lesbian, gay or bisexual to understand the role of context and social influence in their personal and interpersonal development. We suggest that working with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients can provide the practitioner with insights and opportunities to further expand their supportive skills through an exploration of what it means to grow up as a member of a minority group.     

Visual apparent motion can be modulated by task-irrelevant lexical information

Previous studies have repeatedly demonstrated the impact of Gestalt structural grouping principles upon the parsing of motion correspondence in ambiguous apparent motion. Here, by embedding Chinese characters in a visual Ternus display that comprised two stimulus frames, we showed that the perception of visual apparent motion can be modulated by activation of task-irrelevant lexical representations. Each frame had two disks, with the second disk of the first frame and the first disk of the second frame being presented at the same location. Observers could perceive either "element motion," in which the endmost disk is seen as moving back and forth while the middle disk at the central position remains stationary, or "group motion," in which both disks appear to move laterally as a whole. More reports of group motion, as opposed to element motion, were obtained when the embedded characters formed two-character compound words than when they formed nonwords, although this lexicality effect appeared to be attenuated by the use of the same characters at the overlapping position across the two frames. Thus, grouping of visual elements in a changing world can be guided by both structural principles and prior world knowledge, including lexical information.     

On the interference of task-irrelevant hue variation on texture segmentation.

Although natural images often include discordant information about object boundaries, the majority of research on texture segmentation has involved variation along a single dimension, e.g. colour, orientation, size. In this study, we examined orientation-based texture segmentation in the presence and absence of task-irrelevant colour variation. Previously, it had been shown that orientation-based texture segmentation was impaired if the elements, normally of one colour, were randomly allocated one of two colours (Morgan et al, 1992 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 248 291-295). We found that this interference disappeared, however, when the spatial pattern of the colour variation was regular, as opposed to random, and when the elements were randomly positioned. We consider four models of how relevant and irrelevant texture information might combine to produce the interference effect, with special regard to these new findings. None of the models could account for the dependency of the interference effect on the spatial arrangement of colour and orientation in the texture. We suggest that inter-element separation and spatial-frequency selectivity are critical variables in the interference effect.     

Age differences in working memory updating: The role of interference,focus switching and substituting information

Working memory updating (WMU) tasks require different elements in working memory (WM) to be maintained simultaneously, accessing one of these elements, and substituting its content. This study examined possible developmental changes from childhood to adulthood both in focus switching and substituting information in WM. In addition, possible age-related changes in interference due to representational overlap between the different elements simultaneously held in these tasks were examined. Children (8- and 11-year-olds), adolescents (14-year-olds) and younger adults (mean age = 22 years) were administered a numerical updating memory task, in which updating and focus switching were manipulated. As expected, response times decreased and recall performance increased with age. More importantly, the time needed for focus switching was longer in children than in adolescents and younger adults. On the other hand, substitution of information and interference due to representational overlap were not affected by age. These results suggest that age-related changes in focus switching might mediate developmental changes in WMU performance.     

Team structure and regulatory focus: the impact of regulatory fit on team dynamic

We report a within-teams experiment testing the effects of fit between team structure and regulatory task demands on task performance and satisfaction through average team member positive affect and helping behaviors. We used a completely crossed repeated-observations design in which 21 teams enacted 2 tasks with different regulatory focus characteristics (prevention and promotion) in 2 organizational structures (functional and divisional), resulting in 84 observations. Results suggested that salient regulatory demands inherent in the task interacted with structure to determine objective and subjective team-level outcomes, such that functional structures were best suited to (i.e., had best fit with) tasks with a prevention regulatory focus and divisional structures were best suited to tasks with a promotion regulatory focus. This contingency finding integrates regulatory focus and structural contingency theories, and extends them to the team level with implications for models of performance, satisfaction, and team dynamics.     

My way: How strategic preferences vary by negotiator role and regulatory focus

Negotiators may use vigilant, loss-minimizing strategies or eager, gain-maximizing strategies. The present study provides evidence that preferences for these different strategies depend on negotiator role and personal orientation. In a price negotiation, buyers and prevention-focused individuals prefer vigilant strategies, whereas sellers and promotion-focused individuals prefer eager strategies. When there is a match between the strategy and the role (role–strategy fit) or between the strategy and the individual's regulatory focus orientation (focus–strategy fit), the negotiator experiences more fit and plans to be more demanding in the negotiation. By manipulating strategy in a real, binding negotiation, we reveal its importance in determining negotiators' subjective experiences and planned demand. Our results show that shared strategic preferences between different motivational orientations—negotiator role and personal regulatory focus—can create self-regulatory compatibility.     

When prevention promotes creativity: the role of mood, regulatory focus, and regulatory closure

Promotion-focused states generally boost creativity because they associate with enhanced activation and cognitive flexibility. With regard to prevention-focused states, research evidence is less consistent, with some findings suggesting prevention-focused states promote creativity and other findings pointing to no or even negative effects. We proposed and tested the hypothesis that whether prevention-focused states boost creativity depends on regulatory closure (whether a goal is fulfilled or not). We predicted that prevention-focused states that activate the individual (unfulfilled prevention goals, fear) would lead to similar levels of creativity as promotion-focused states but that prevention-focused states that deactivate (closed prevention goals, relief) would lead to lower levels of creativity. Moreover, we predicted that this effect would be mediated by feelings of activation. Predictions were tested in 3 studies on creative insights and 1 on original ideation. Results supported predictions. Implications for self-regulation, motivation, mood, and creativity are discussed.     

Safe driving communication: A regulatory focus perspective

This research article examines the effects of self‐regulation on adolescents' aggressive driving tendencies and their attitudes toward safe driving communication. Two experimental studies demonstrate that an individual's regulatory orientation is a good predictor of aggressive driving tendencies and that self‐regulation plays a moderating role on the effects of safe driving messages on recipients' attitudes. Specifically, the findings reveal that promotion‐oriented (vs. prevention‐oriented) individuals are more likely to demonstrate aggressive driving tendencies. In addition, promotion‐oriented individuals show more favorable attitudes toward gain‐framed safe driving messages than loss‐framed messages. Prevention‐oriented individuals show the opposite pattern. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Group-based self-regulation: The effects of regulatory focus

We review a programme of research on responses to group-based feedback—specifically, on how the source, content, and context of feedback intersect to produce individual willingness to accept both criticism and praise and to change one’s actions accordingly. We first explore the conditions under which group-directed criticism is most effective in terms of stimulating willingness to amend group practices. This is followed by the investigation of the effectiveness of different types of group-based praise, and an analysis of the identity-verifying properties of positive feedback. Finally, we consider the effects of feedback delivered simultaneously at group and individual levels, and explore the reciprocal implications of feedback content for source categorisation. Throughout, we focus on the role of identity concerns and group image management in responses to feedback. We discuss how this approach fits with other areas of literature, including research on self-verification and strategic behaviour in intergroup contexts.     

On the development of regulatory focus: the role of parenting styles

The present study was designed to contribute to our understanding of the development of chronic self‐regulatory orientations reflecting self‐regulation with a promotion and prevention focus, respectively. Little research addressed this issue empirically, although regulatory focus theory (RFT) explicitly entails assumptions concerning the role of parenting styles in the development of habitual self‐regulatory orientations. According to RFT, parenting styles involving a critical and punitive mode that is focused on attaining safety and meeting obligations increases the likelihood that the child will acquire a predominantly prevention‐focused style of self‐regulation. In contrast, parenting styles involving a bolstering mode that is focused on accomplishing ideal goals and fulfilling aspirations increases the likelihood that the child will acquire a predominantly promotion‐focused style of self‐regulation. To test these assumptions, the present study assessed via self‐reports the degree to which participants experienced different parenting styles as well as their chronic self‐regulatory focus. The results reveal positive associations between the critical and punitive parenting style and prevention‐focused self‐regulation and between the bolstering parenting style and promotion‐focused self‐regulation thus corroborating the propositions of RFT. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strength and safety in numbers: considering the social implications of regulatory focus

The present article examines how individual and situational differences in individuals' regulatory focus on nurturance and gain (promotion) and on security and safety (prevention) may have significant, and distinct, social and interpersonal implications. We first review recent research examining how significant others affect goal pursuit and how individual differences in regulatory focus may moderate the various behavioral, evaluative, and experiential manifestations of social identification. We then consider how regulatory focus moderates the way in which people "size up" their social world in terms of the efficiency in which they identify and appraise motivationally relevant aspects of their social environment. Finally, we explore how regulatory focus moderates people's deliberate and automatic reactions to the beliefs, expectations, behavior, and emotions of other individuals and social groups.     

A meta-analysis of the regulatory focus nomological network: Work-related antecedents and consequences

Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998) has received a great deal of recent attention in the organizational behavior literature. Despite the amount of new evidence surrounding regulatory focus and its relationships with other variables, a quantitative summary of this literature is lacking. The authors used meta-analysis to summarize correlations from 77 empirical studies that included self-report measures of promotion and prevention focus. Meta-analytic effect sizes between promotion and prevention focus and work-related variables are reported. In general, results indicated that promotion and prevention focus are orthogonal constructs and each construct is uniquely related to other theoretically relevant constructs. The results also demonstrate the importance of regulatory foci to organizational researchers as well as the need for a unified approach to their measurement.     

Anxiety,self-discrepancy,and regulatory focus theory: acculturation matters

Previous research has found that Asians (vs. Caucasians) exhibit higher levels of ought and undesired self-discrepancies and prevention focus, all of which have been linked with anxiety. We examined these ethnic differences in the context of acculturation. Participants (N=155) completed two sessions scheduled a week apart. In Session 1, participants completed a computer task to measure self-discrepancy and prevention focus. In Session 2, participants' ought self-discrepancies and closeness to an undesired self were primed. Moderation analyses indicated that Asian participants who were highly assimilated to an Asian culture exhibited higher levels of a prevention focus. Acculturation also had significant moderation effects for affect when self-discrepancies were primed. Our results suggest that interventions based on these systems (i.e., self-system therapy) should consider acculturation when treating diverse individuals.     

居住流动性与消费：基于调节定向理论的阐释

居住流动性是指人们改变居住地(即搬家)的频率。作为关键的社会生态因素之一,其会对个体的认知、情绪以及行为产生重要影响。已有学者从健康福祉、社会关系以及教育结果等方面对居住流动性的后因结果进行了综述。居住流动性对消费者心理和行为也会产生重要影响,但目前未发现有综述研究对居住流动性引发的消费者行为反应进行总结,也未见研究从理论层面对这一影响机制进行归纳解释。在梳理居住流动性导致的消费者心理与行为反应的研究之后,借用调节定向理论对相关研究结论进行了归类论述,指出居住流动性会导致消费者分别采取促进型反应策略或预防型反应策略。进一步地,提出居住流动的自主性(主动vs.被动)以及方向性(向上vs.向下)能够解释经历居住流动的消费者何时会选择促进型策略或预防型策略。最后,针对所搭建的居住流动性促进和预防策略框架,提出几个潜在的研究议题,以供学者进一步探究讨论。     

Surviving childhood cancer: quality of life and parental regulatory focus

Applying Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), the authors predicted that among survivors of childhood cancer, quality of life (QOL) may be compromised by prevention-focused parenting characterized by an overly protective concern with possible mishaps and illness recurrence rather than promotion-focused parenting encouraging expectations of recovery and a normal life. Interviews with parents of 64 survivors (M age = 13.83 years) of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or central nervous system (CNS) tumors were coded for reports of promotion or prevention-oriented parenting and positive and negative expectancies. Overall, parents expressed more promotion than prevention focus, especially in relation to general rather than illness-related contexts. Greater use by parents of prevention focus in general contexts predicted lower QOL for survivors (as rated both by parents and survivors themselves) and less satisfactory parental well-being. These effects were independent of a main effect for type of cancer, with survivors of ALL having higher QOL.     

Motivations underlying attitudes: regulatory focus and majority versus minority support

Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the present work examined the motivations underlying intergroup attitudes expressed under conditions of majority versus minority support. In two studies, participants expressed their attitudes towards equality and non‐discrimination of foreigners and were informed that the equality and non‐discrimination principle was supported by either a majority or a minority. Regulatory focus was assessed as the extent to which participants felt promotion‐related and prevention‐related emotions when acting either inconsistently or consistently with the egalitarian principle. Results provided evidence supporting the hypothesis that attitudes are related to prevention emotions when supported by a majority, but to promotion emotions when supported by a minority. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bringing ethics into focus: How regulatory focus and risk preferences influence (Un)ethical behavior

In four laboratory studies, we find that regulatory focus induced by situational cues (such as the framing of an unrelated task) or primed influences people’s likelihood to cross ethical boundaries. A promotion focus leads individuals to be more likely to act unethically than a prevention focus (Studies 1, 2, and 3). These higher levels of dishonesty are explained by the influence of a person’s induced regulatory focus on his or her behavior toward risk. A promotion focus leads to risk-seeking behaviors, while a prevention focus leads to risk avoidance (Study 3). Through higher levels of dishonesty, promotion focus also results in higher levels of virtuous behavior (Studies 2 and 3), thus providing evidence for compensatory ethics. Our results also demonstrate that the framing of ethics (e.g., through an organization’s ethics code) influences individuals’ ethical behavior and does so differently depending on an individual’s induced regulatory focus (Study 4).