Fearing the worst and expecting the best:  Regulatory focus and the physiological response to emotional challenge.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 74
ISBN-13: 9780494163931
Description: While historically emotions have been classified in terms of hedonics such as valence and arousal, models of higher order control systems may be needed to account for action inconsistent with simple feelings of pleasure and pain. One such theory is Higgins' (1994) Regulatory Focus model of motivation, which consists of an achievement-oriented promotion system and a safety-oriented prevention system, systems putatively fuelled by separate approach and avoidance subsystems. The current paper uses psychometric analyses to demonstrate that both types of regulatory focus are driven by a common set of higher order factors. These factors analysis suggests that regulatory focus theory is most applicable in situations of risk and uncertainty, when arousal is strong. In a second experiment, the risk hypothesis is tested: results suggest that both prevention and promotion focuses can lead to physiological arousal and liberal response biases if the reward context appropriately appeals to a given focus.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-06, page: 2995.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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