Are there gender differences in promotion-prevention self-regulatory focus?

The purpose of this research is to examine gender differences in promotion/prevention self-regulatory focus, a dispositional motivational orientation with major implications for human functioning. First, a review of literature using social cognitive theory as a framework suggests that, driven by socialization processes, (1) women may on average be more prevention focused than men - meaning more vigilant to maintain a secure status quo, whereas (2) men may on average be more promotion focused than women - meaning more eager to advance to a better situation than their status quo. Second, we provide data to examine these possible gender differences in self-regulatory focus with secondary analyses of (a) our own existing data on dispositional regulatory focus and of (b) a large scale, representative panel study (LISS Survey).

Does encouraging mastery goals benefit performance in a scoring exercise? It may depend on chronic self-adopted achievement goals.

Introduction: Mastery goals (aims to learn or attain skill) have traditionally been portrayed in achievement-motivation literature as the optimal goal for ensuring objective performance and well-being outcomes (relative to performance goals - aims to outperform others). This portrayal often yielded the recommendation that those in applied settings, such as coaches, managers, and teachers, should encourage those whom they lead to pursue mastery goals. We put this assertion to a test by examining whether the effect of situationally induced goals depends on the goals that individuals personally self-adopt.

Room for advancement: The regulatory fit of bottom-rank intermediate feedback.

This research tests the hypothesis that promotion-focused individuals experience regulatory fit from bottom rank, intermediate performance-feedback. Prior research suggests promotion-focused individuals experience fit in high ranks (power). Bottom ranks may appear psychologically opposite to high power, which might lead one to expect that promotion-focused individuals experience fit at top ranks.

Imagining Success: Multiple Achievement Goals and the Effectiveness of Imagery.

Imagery (richly imagining carrying out a task successfully) is a popular performance-enhancement tool in many domains. This experiment sought to test whether pursuing two goals (vs. one) benefits performance after an imagery exercise.