Essays
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DNA Revolution and the Social and Behavioral Sciences - Trzaskowski, Maciej
A century of genetic research on the social and behavioral sciences has addressed the “how much” question, showing that genetic differences are important for nearly all traits. However, during the past few decades, research has moved beyond this rudimentary “how much” question to ask “how” questions about developmental change and continuity, about the relationship between traits, and about the interplay between genes (nature) and environment (nurture). We suggest that some of the most important and transformative findings in the social and behavioral sciences have come from this research. Moreover, the most revolutionary changes in genetic research are on their way with the rapid advances in DNA technology and methodology, which promise to transform the social and behavioral sciences. It is crucial that social and behavioral scientists stay on top of the DNA revolution. The purpose of our essay is to provide an overview of genetic research in the social and behavioral sciences. -
Effortful Control - Spinrad, Tracy L.
Effortful control, defined as the ability to voluntary inhibit a dominant response and to activate a subdominant response, is believed to play an important role in children's development. In this essay, we distinguish between effortful control and aspects of control that are involuntary (i.e., reactive). The development of effortful control is summarized, and research on its relations to children's positive social behaviors and maladjustment is reviewed. Key areas for future work are also discussed, with an emphasis on interventions designed to promote self‐regulation. -
Holding On or Letting Go? Persistence and Disengagement in Goal Striving - Brandstätter, Veronika
Goals shape our personal identities, structure our everyday lives, regulate our behavior, and thus are in fact one of the most important sources of performance and well‐being. Successful goal striving unfolds between tenacious persistence on the one hand and timely disengagement on the other when a goal has become futile and too costly. Disengagement from goals is often difficult, however. Issues of unproductive persistence and (unsuccessful) goal disengagement have, for a long time, been addressed primarily in the realm of monetary decision‐making (escalation of commitment). In the more recent past, research on personal goals has devoted attention to issues of goal disengagement, doing so from two different research perspectives (individual differences approach, process‐oriented approach). This essay gives an overview of traditional and current research on goal disengagement with its practical implications for the individual but also on a societal level, and outlines promising lines of research addressing fundamental questions still unanswered. -
Motivation Science - Kruglanski, Arie W.
Traditionally, research on the psychology of motivation has addressed two separate questions: the What of motivation and the How of motivation. The former concerns the nature of the various motives that propel human behavior, and the latter the general process whereby any motive exerts its effects. This essay reviews historical and contemporary research in each of the foregoing categories. We highlight cutting edge concepts and findings in motivation science and identify emerging trends and future challenges. -
Motivational Changes Across Adulthood: The Role of Goal Representations for Adult Development and Aging - Freund, Alexandra M.
The importance of goals for understanding behavior and performance over time and across situations, for a sense of purpose and psychological well‐being, has been acknowledged in the areas of motivation and lifespan development for more than a quarter‐century (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). More recently, the field of motivated cognition has pointed to the role of the cognitive representation of goals for self‐regulation, affect, and goal achievement (Fujita & Carnevale, 2012). Owing to the decline in the perceived availability of goal‐relevant resources across adulthood, I argue that the representation of goals and their effects on behavior, performance, and well‐being changes across adulthood. More specifically, I propose that goal representations change dynamically as a response to—and help managing—the developmental gains and losses regarding (i) the orientation toward achieving gains, maintaining performance, or avoiding losses, and (ii) the focus on the means or the outcome of goal pursuit. -
Regulatory Focus Theory - Higgins, E. Tory
Regulatory focus theory was the child of self‐discrepancy theory and the parent of regulatory fit theory. Self‐discrepancy theory distinguishes between self‐regulation in relation to hopes and aspirations (ideals) versus self‐regulation in relation to duties and obligations (oughts). It proposes that ideal versus ought self‐regulation are two different motivational systems for approaching pleasure and avoiding pain. In regulatory focus theory, promotion concerns with ideals (growth and advancement more generally) and prevention concerns with oughts (safety and security more generally) are motivational states that not only vary across individuals (personality) but also can be situationally induced. Regulatory focus theory proposes that the motivational state of being at “0” has negative valence in promotion (“0”as a nongain in relation to “+1”) but positive valence in prevention (“0” as a nonloss in relation to “−1”). Finally, giving rise to regulatory fit theory, regulatory focus theory distinguishes between the eager strategies that fit promotion and the vigilant strategies that fit prevention. Foundational research supporting each of these proposals is reviewed, and then more recent cutting‐edge research is described, including how this distinction is revealed in the behavior of nonhuman animals and how different tactics (e.g., risky vs conservative) can serve either promotion‐eagerness or prevention‐vigilance under different circumstances. Finally, I discuss two key issues for future research: whether promotion and prevention are competing motivations or can work together as partners, and whether there is support for the promotion–prevention distinction in everyday life beyond the laboratory. -
Setting One's Mind on Action: Planning Out Goal Striving in Advance - Gollwitzer, Peter M.
Ineffective goal striving may be overcome using a simple self‐regulation strategy: preparing goal striving in advance by forming implementation intentions (i.e., making if‐then plans). This strategy helps to cope with the classic challenges to goal striving: getting started, staying on track, not overextending oneself, and disengaging from faulty means. Interestingly, these beneficial effects are observed no matter whether hindrances from within (e.g., ego depletion) or outside (e.g., social influence) the person are to be dealt with. In this essay, the processes on which the beneficial effects of implementation intentions are based will be discussed by pointing to relevant research using cognitive task paradigms and assessing brain data. Moreover, recent findings are reported demonstrating that implementation intentions can be used to curb reflexive cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses that interfere with a person's focal goal pursuit. In closing this essay, a behavior change intervention (i.e., mental contrasting with implementation intentions) is introduced that establishes the prerequisites for implementation intention effects to occur, and research areas in psychology are pointed to that could benefit from conducting implementation intention research.