title: Regulatory focus in predictions about others.
abstract: Based on social projection research, four studies investigated whether people rely on their own regulatory focus when making predictions about others. Chronic (Study 1) and induced (Study 2) regulatory focus shaped estimations of others' strategic promotion or prevention inclinations and choices between enriched (fitting promotion) and impoverished options (fitting prevention). Providing indirect process evidence via boundary conditions, participants only relied on their induced regulatory focus in predictions of others' inclinations to seek romantic alternatives to the extent that this did not run counter to stereotypic gender beliefs (Study 3). In addition, participants only relied on their induced regulatory focus in preference predictions concerning promotion and prevention products when they lacked idiosyncratic target knowledge (Study 4). These effects were not mediated by mood, judgment-certainty, perceived task-enjoyment, or task-difficulty. Implications of these findings for social projection research as well as possible interpersonal consequences are delineated.
authors.affiliation: Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, Brussels, Belgium University of London, Egham, UK Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK karl-andrew.woltin@rhul.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Karl-Andrew
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Woltin
authors.affiliation: Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yzerbyt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: egocentrism; person perception; projection; regulatory focus; social judgment