Going Against the Grain
Regulatory Focus and Interference by Task-Irrelevant Information
Abstract
In this study it is argued that a perceiver's regulatory focus (promotion or prevention) influences the amount of attention allocated to processing stimuli from the environment. Results of two experiments, employing an interference task and using different manipulations of regulatory focus, supported this idea. More attention was allocated to stimuli incompatible with the activated focus (promotion – negative stimuli, prevention – positive stimuli). The incompatible stimuli therefore interfered more with an ongoing task than compatible stimuli. These results are discussed in terms of processing efficiency and integrated with motor-compatibility effects.
References
2003). Social embodiment. In , The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 43, pp. 43–92). San Diego: Academic Press.
(1993). Attentional consequences of outcome-related motivational states: Congruent, incongruent, and focusing effects Motivation and Emotion, 17, 65–89.
(1994). Motivating the focus of attention. In , The heart's eye (pp. 167–196). San Diego: Academic Press.
(1998). Seeing one thing and doing another: Contrast effects in automatic behavior Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 862–871.
(2003). Speed/accuracy decisions in task performance: Built-in trade-off or separate strategic concerns? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 90, 148–164.
(2000). Compatibility between approach/avoidance stimulation and valenced information determines residual attention during the process of encoding European Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 853–871.
(1996). Influence of overt head movements on memory for valenced words: A case of conceptual-motor compatibility Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 421–430.
(2001). The effects of promotion and prevention cues on creativity Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1001–1013.
(2005). Approach/avoidance-related motor actions and the processing of affective stimuli: Incongruency effects in automatic attention allocation Social Cognition, 23, 182–203.
(1997). Beyond pleasure and pain American Psychologist, 52, 1280–1300.
(1997). Emotional responses to goal attainment: Strength of regulatory focus as moderator Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 515–525.
(2002). Preconscious effects of temporary goals on attention Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 397–404.
(2000). Approach and avoidance: The influence of proprioceptive and exteroceptive cues on encoding of affective information Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 39–48.
(2005). Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 184–211.
(1993). Methods for dealing with reaction time outliers Psychological Bulletin, 114, 510–532.
(2003). Motivation and attention: Incongruent effects of feedback on the processing of valence Emotion, 3, 223–238.
(2001). Regulatory concerns and appraisal efficiency: The general impact of promotion and prevention Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 693–705.
(2004). Reflective and impulsive determinants of social behavior Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 220–247.
(1974). Association, directionality, and stimulus encoding Journal of Experimental Psychology, 102, 151–158.
(