Emotional responses to goal attainment: strength of regulatory focus as moderator.
Goals with a promotion focus versus a prevention focus are distinguished. Chronic ideal goals (hopes and aspirations) have a promotion focus, whereas ought goals (duties and responsibilities) have a prevention focus. The hypothesis that emotional responses to goal attainment vary as a function of promotion versus prevention goal strength (conceptualized as goal accessibility) was tested in correlational studies relating chronic goal attainment (self-congruencies or self-discrepancies) to emotional frequency and intensity (Studies 1-3) and in an experimental study relating immediate goal attainment (i.e., success or failure) to emotional intensity (Study 4). All studies found that goal attainment yielded greater cheerfulness-dejection responses when promotion focus was stronger and greater quiescence-agitation responses when prevention focus was stronger.
Higgins
E T
ET
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA. tory@paradox.psych.columbia.edu
Shah
J
J
Friedman
R
R
D000339:Affect; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept