Summary Literature – Social Influence & Public Advertising – 2022/2023
Article 1 – Scholer et al. (2019) – Regulary Focus Theory and Research
The article explores how the regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) addresses motivation
and the dynamics of goal pursuit.
What is Regulatory Focus Theory?
Regulatory focus theory: distinguishes between two motivational systems that serve
essential but different survival needs:
1. Promotion Motivation
2. Prevention Motivation
The core difference is that the systems concern differences in what fundamentally motivates
goal pursuit.
Promotion growth and advancement
Prevention security and safety.
Another core difference is which regulatory strategies are preferred in goal pursuit.
Promotion eagerness
Prevention vigilance
People need both systems to be effective in the world because growth and security are both
fundamental needs.
What is Promotion Motivation?
Individuals with promotion focus are sensitive to growth-related concerns such as
advancement and progress. They dream big, aspire for the next big step, pursuing ideals.
They are sensitive to 2 different outcomes: gains vs. nongains.
Gains Success: positive deviations from the status quo. When all is going well, promotion-
focused individuals are looking around to see how things could go better.
Promotion-focused individuals are less sensitive to negative deviations from the status quo
or neutral state. Instead, failure is captured by remaining at 0 and failing to advance.
Promotion-focused people use eager approach strategies in goal pursuit to move towards
gains and away from non-gains: considering multiple alternatives, emphasizing positive
possibilities, prioritizing speed, openness to change.
What is Prevention Motivation?
Individuals with se prevention focus are sensitive to security related concerns: maintaining
safety, upholding duties and responsibilities. Their sensitivity to absence and presence of
negative outcomes is reflected in greater assigned significance to the difference between 0
and -1 than between 0 and +1. Prevention-focused individuals are sensitive to nonlosses vs.
losses.
,Important nonlosses are those related to safety and doing what you ought to do. Success for
a prevention individual is maintaining a satisfactory state, holding onto 0 (nonloss). Failure is
the inability to maintain 0, being less than 0 at -1.
Being at 0 is a positive nonloss in prevention but a negative nongain in promotion.
Avoidance strategies such as avoiding mismatches to desired end states and nonlosses and
avoiding matches to undesired end stated or losses are used. E.g.: careful consideration,
emphasizing possibility that things might go wrong, prioritizing accuracy.
Where Does Regulatory Focus Motivation Come From?
Different styles of caretaker-child interactions contribute to the development of either a
promotion or prevention system.
Promotion focus:
o emphasize desired end states as ideals (hopes, wishes, aspirations) and make
advancement to a better state.
o Caretakers communicate that what matters is making progress and gains.
o Instructional scaffolding to support learning progress is example of
promotion-focused caretaking.
Prevention focus:
o Emphasize desired end states as oughts (duties, responsibilities, obligations)
and maintaining a satisfactory state rather than a worse state
o Caretakers communicate that what matters is to maintain safety and security
and to be prepared for what can jeopardize the current satisfactory
condition.
o Teaching children good manners and proper social practices is example of
prevention-focused caretaking.
Nurturing parenting stiles (encouragement) is associated with stronger ideal self-guides and
stronger promotion focus in adults. Controlling parenting styles (child must obey) is
associated with stronger ought self-guides in and stronger prevention focus in adults.
Not just caretakers but also situations can activate promotion/prevention concerns.
Additionally, motivational orientation is dynamic. For example, activating a particular
identity (e.g., students vs. best friend) leads to increased accessibility of the regulatory focus
motivation associated with that identity.
example: if person has promotion orientation with her boss but prevention motivation
with her partner, the likelihood of approaching tasks with an eager orientation may depend
on who she just saw for lunch (boss or partner).
How is regulatory focus motivation measured and manipulated?
Promotion and prevention orientation can arise from chronic accessibility (personality) or
from temporary accessibility (situational factors). The systems are orthogonal, at chronic
level they can simultaneously have strong promotion and prevention systems. However,
one system is likely to predominate and guide behavior.
,Two measures to assess chronic differences in regulatory focus:
Regulatory focus strength measure
o Assesses differences in chronic accessibility and sensitivity of the promotion or
prevention system.
Regulatory Focus Questionnaire.
o Captures differences in individual histories of being successful in promotion
versus prevention systems.
o Top performing scale
System Level: Promotion and Prevention Goals
The system level defines an individual’s overarching motivational concerns and goals.
goals serve as end states, standards that guide behavior.
Most common distinction at system level is approach vs. avoidance motivation: are
individuals regulating in relation to a desired end state (goal to achieve success) or
undesired end state (goal to avoid being failure).
The system level reflects what type of desired and undesired end states individuals are
regulating.
- Promotion focus: approaching gains, ideals, and growth, avoiding nongains and
nonfulfillment
- Prevention focus: approaching nonlosses, oughts and safety, avoiding losses and
danger.
Success and Failure Feel Different
Success in the promotion system reflects the presence of a positive outcome (gain) leading
to cheerfulness related emotions e.g., happiness and joy.
Failure in a promotion focus reflects absence of a positive outcome (nongain), leading to
dejection related emotions such as sadness and disappointment.
Success in the prevention system reflects absence of negative outcomes, leading to
quiescence related emotions e.g., peacefulness and calm.
Failure in prevention focus reflects presence of negative outcomes, resulting in agitation
related emotions e.g., anxiety and worry.
Priming ideal (promotion) leads to increase in dejection whereas priming ought (prevention)
leads to increase in agitation.
being socially rejected (prevention negative state) leads to increased anxiety. Being
socially ignored (promotion nongain) leads to sadness.
, Article 2 – Berger (2020) – Chapter 4 ‘Uncertainty’ from How to Change Anyone’s Mind
The Uncertainty Tax
People are risk averse. They like knowing what they are getting, and as long as what they are
getting is positive, they prefer sure things to risky ones.
Even if the risky choice is better.
Uncertainty Tax: the devaluing of things uncertain.
when choosing between a sure and risky option, the risky option has to be that much
better to get chosen.
Experiment: 3 groups. Group 1 was offered a 50$ gift card, they were willing to pay 26$.
Group 2 was offered a 100$ gift card, they would pay $45. Last group was offered a lottery
ticket with a 50/50 shot. 50% chance of winning a 50$ gift card, 50% chance of winning
100% gift card. They were willing to pay even less: around 16$. Uncertainty tax
The more change or ambiguity around a product or service, it becomes less valuable, and
people are less interested in changing. Uncertainty undermines the value of doing things
differently, making it less likely people will change.
Hitting the Pause Button
Experiment: Students had to imagine they had just taken a tough exam. They were asked if
they would buy a holiday pack to Hawaii at a very low price. Or if they would not buy it. The
offer expires tomorrow. Or if they would pay 5$ fee to retain the right to buy the package
tomorrow.
Group 1 knew they had passed. They would buy the pack. Second group knew they failed.
Their choice was identical, they would buy the pack.
Third group: they did not know the results. Outcome was uncertain. Adding uncertainty
changed wat people chose. Most deferred the choice and waited until things became more
certain.
Uncertainty acts like a pause button.
Trialability
Rogers argues that 87% of variance of how quickly things are adopted can be explained by 5
key factors. The most important one is trialability.
Trialability: how easy it is to try something new. The ease with which something can be
tested or experimented with on a limited basis.
Some products are easy try: a new blog for example, one click and it’s easy to check it out.
Contrasting: new management software is hard to try out (purchase software, spend time
getting to know the program, getting all your clients to sign up).
The easier it is to try something, more people will use it and the faster is catches on.
Trialability works because making things easier to try lowers uncertainty. It makes it easier
for people to experience and evaluate new things.
