This article examines the role of promotion motivation in decision making in the domain of gains. Using a stock investment paradigm in which individuals believed that they were making decisions that were real and consequential, we found that promotion motivation, and not prevention motivation, predicted the likelihood of switching between risky and conservative choices in the domain of gains. Promotion-focused participants chose a relatively risky option when their stock portfolio remained unchanged (stuck at 0, the status quo) but switched to a relatively conservative option when they had just experienced a large gain (Studies 1-4), both when regulatory focus was measured (Study 1) and manipulated (Studies 2-4). Studies in which progress was manipulated (Study 3) and measured (Study 4) provided evidence that it is perceptions of progress that underlie this tactical switch in risk preferences within the promotion system. We discuss the implications of these findings for decision making and the role of progress in self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
Many models of motivation suggest that goals can be arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from higher-level goals that represent desired end-states to lower-level means that operate in the service of those goals. We present a hierarchical model that distinguishes between three levels—goals, strategies, and tactics—and between approach/avoidance and regulatory focus motivations at different levels. We focus our discussion on how this hierarchical framework sheds light on the different ways that succes...
Mischel and Shoda's Cognitive Affective Personality System (CAPS) theory revolutionized thinking about personality. We review the functional utility of the CAPS perspective in light of the purposes for which people typically use and seek personality information—prediction, explanation, and influence. We suggest that the critical if…then… situation-behavior profiles that characterize personality within CAPS theory may be further advanced by integration with current functionalistic approaches to p...
Substantial evidence suggests people are risk-averse when making decisions described in terms of gains and risk-prone when making decisions described in terms of losses, a phenomenon known as the framing effect. Little research, however, has examined whether framing effects are a product of normative risk-sensitive cognitive processes. In 5 experiments, it is demonstrated that framing effects in the Asian disease problem can be explained by risk-sensitivity theory, which predicts that decision m...
Using a multimethod approach, we examined how regulatory focus shapes people’s perceptual, behavioral, and emotional responses in different situations in romantic relationships. We first examined how chronic regulatory focus affects romantic partners’ support perceptions and problem-solving behaviors while they were engaged in a conflict resolution discussion (Study 1). Next, we experimentally manipulated regulatory focus and tested its effects on partner perceptions when individuals recalled a ...
Traditionally, positive emotions and thoughts, strengths, and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for belonging, competence, and autonomy have been seen as the cornerstones of psychological health. Without disputing their importance, these foci fail to capture many of the fluctuating, conflicting forces that are readily apparent when people navigate the environment and social world. In this paper, we review literature to offer evidence for the prominence of psychological flexibility in...
Substantial evidence suggests that various forms of risk-taking co-occur within individuals. We examined whether indicators of risk-propensity, including self-reported personality traits, laboratory-based behavioral measures of risk, and self-reported attitudes toward risk in various domains were associated with general gambling involvement and problem gambling behavior in a sample of university students, using an extreme-groups design. Personality traits and attitudes toward risk were correlate...
Four studies demonstrate the importance of self-regulatory mechanisms for understanding risk-seeking behavior under loss. Findings suggest that risk seeking becomes a motivational necessity under 3 conditions: (a) when an individual is in a state of loss; (b) when the individual is in a prevention-focused regulatory state (E. T. Higgins, 1997); and (c) when the risky option alone offers the possibility of eliminating loss. In situations involving loss, prevention motivation but not promotion mot...
Adopting a control theory framework, the authors tested a dynamic perspective which suggests that satisfaction and motivation during goal-striving depends not only on discrepancies (i.e., differences between current and desired states) but also on velocities (i.e., rates at which discrepancies change over time). Two studies with different approaches and methodologies were conducted and support was found for the primary hypothesis that velocity information predicts affective and cognitive reactio...
Abstract Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between two motivational systems—a promotion system concerned with nurturance and advancement and a prevention system concerned with security and safety [Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52 , 1280–1300]. In signal detection terms, a preference for eager strategies within the promotion system has been equated with a “risky” bias, whereas a preference for vigilant strategies within the prevention system has been ...
#1Viswa Prasad Gada(IIMA: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad)H-Index: 2
#2Lakshmi Goyal(IIMA: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad)H-Index: 1
Last. Manish Popli(IIMA: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad)H-Index: 6
view all 3 authors...
Abstract This empirical study leverages the theoretical underpinnings of regulatory focus theory, an influential theory of self-regulation, to investigate the impact of CEOs' dispositional prevention focus on firms' deal structuring choices in mergers and acquisitions. We build on the argument that the dispositional prevention focus of individuals is associated with a higher perception of risk and a preference for non-losses. Accordingly, this study suggests a positive relationship between the i...
Abstract This article first reviews the main theoretical propositions of Gray's Reinforcer Sensitivity Theory (RST), Higgins' Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), and Elliot's Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), which all made a significant contribution to our understanding of goal directed behavior from an approach-avoidance perspective. Reviewing these three seminal theoretical frameworks helped us to uncover important areas of conceptual similarities related to overarching goals, trait and states distin...
Abstract How do individual differences in motivation relate to risky decision-making? The objective of the present study was to explore this question within a real-world situation in which participants invested in Bitcoin, a risky asset. The article focuses on cases of a socially-defined counterfactual loss—situations in which the people in one's social context experience a gain, which functions as a new reference point against which the individual falls short. Although a prevention focus is kno...
Maximizing is characterized by aspirations for the highest standards. The current study explored the relationship between maximizing and risk-taking tendencies in decisions subject to risk. We propose that people first refer to expectation (i.e., the overall utility expected from an alternative) when taking risky decisions. If expectation clearly identifies the best option, maximizing will not be correlated with risk-taking tendencies. If not, people refer to maximizing to reach a decision. Maxi...
Previous work suggests that being socially excluded can influence people’s regulatory focus motivations (i.e., promotion and prevention). In the current work, we extend past findings and further ex...
Last. Motoki Watabe(Monash University Malaysia Campus)H-Index: 16
view all 3 authors...
Abstract This research demonstrates, across four experiments, that investors behave differently when a prior investment is perceived as a failure rather than as a loss. The research shows that individuals consistently prefer a conservative investment option in the condition of failure rather than a loss even though the risky option offers a chance to break even (Study 1 & 2). The same result was obtained even when the risky option offers a higher expected return (i.e. should be selected if the d...
Economic decisions usually involve high stakes, real consequences and some degree of personal risk. This article explores the impact of motivational and volitional states on economic decision processes in an incentivized lottery choice task. We investigated the patterns of decision time, choice, information search, and pupil dilation dependent on an experimental manipulation of motivation and volition, i.e., the deliberative and the implemental mindset. The results indicated that choice preferen...
