Making it happen
Timur Sevincer et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has shown that positive thinking, in the form of fantasies about an idealized future, predicts low effort and poor performance. In the studies reported here, we used computerized content analysis of historical documents to investigate the relation between positive thinking about the future and economic development. During the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009, the more weekly newspaper articles in the economy page of USA Today contained positive thinking about the future, the more the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined in the subsequent week and 1 month later. In addition, between the New Deal era and the present time, the more presidential inaugural addresses contained positive thinking about the future, the more the gross domestic product and the employment rate declined in the presidents’ subsequent tenures. These counterintuitive findings may help reveal the psychological processes that contribute to an economic crisis.
----------------------
Objects of Desire: Subordinate Ingratiation Triggers Self-Objectification Among the Powerful
Ena Inesi, Sun Young Lee & Kimberly Rios
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, July 2014, Pages 19–30
Abstract:
We propose that powerful individuals can become victims of self-objectification, whereby power-relevant attributes become more important to their self-definition and lead to behavior consistent with that self-definition. This process is triggered by the receipt of ostensibly kind acts from subordinates, which are interpreted by power-holders as objectifying acts of ingratiation. In Studies 1 and 2, high-power participants rated power-relevant attributes as more important to their self-definition, but only after a triggering event (i.e., receiving a favor, reading a scenario about a subordinate who voices agreement with his boss’s ideas). In Studies 3 and 4, high-power participants who received a favor were more likely than others to believe that they are objectified for their power-relevant attributes. As a result, they rated power-relevant attributes as more important to their self-definition (Study 3) and were willing to pay more for products associated with power, but not for products unrelated to power (Study 4).
----------------------
Survivor mission: Do those who survive have a drive to thrive at work?
Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Elizabeth Shulman & Angela Duckworth
Journal of Positive Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Are helping professionals who have experienced the same types of struggles as their clients more engaged at work? In the current investigation, we examine this question in samples of police detectives (with and without a history of violent victimization) and mental health workers (with and without a history of mental illness). Our results indicate that police detectives who have experienced violent victimization and mental health professionals who have experienced the same mental illness as their clients do indeed exhibit greater work engagement than their colleagues who lack these parallel life experiences. The link between a professional’s firsthand experience of his/her client’s hardships and work engagement appears to be partially explained by higher levels of grit among police detectives and by a greater sense of life-narrative continuity among mental health professionals.
----------------------
Playing 'Hard to Get': An Economic Rationale for Crowding Out of Intrinsically Motivated Behavior
Wendelin Schnedler & Christoph Vanberg
European Economic Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Anecdotal, empirical, and experimental evidence suggests that offering extrinsic rewards for certain activities can reduce people's willingness to engage in those activities voluntarily. We propose a simple rationale for this ‘crowding out’ phenomenon, using standard economic arguments. The central idea is that the potential to earn rewards in return for an activity may create incentives to play ‘hard to get’ in an effort to increase those rewards. We discuss two specific contexts in which such incentives arise. In the first, refraining from the activity causes others to attach higher value to it because it becomes scarce. In the second, restraint serves to conceal the actor's intrinsic motivation. In both cases, not engaging in the activity causes others to offer larger rewards. Our theory yields the testable prediction that such effects are likely to occur when a motivated actor enjoys a sufficient degree of ‘market power.’
----------------------
Preliminary evidence of salivary cortisol predicting performance in a controlled setting
Franziska Lautenbach et al.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, April 2014, Pages 218–224
Abstract:
The aims of this study were to examine the influence of salivary cortisol on tennis serve performance in a controlled setting and to investigate if cortisol predicts unique variance in performance beyond a subjective anxiety measure (i.e., Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 [CSAI-2]). Twenty-three tennis players performed two series of second tennis serves separated by an anxiety induction (i.e., arithmetic task). Cortisol was assessed six times during the experiment. Results show that cortisol response and a drop in serving performance are positively correlated (r = .68, p < .001). Cortisol also explains unique variance in performance (i.e., 19%) beyond CSAI-2 measures. Thus, considering cortisol measurements seems warranted in future research aimed at understanding performance.
----------------------
Dopamine and the Cognitive Downside of a Promised Bonus
Esther Aarts et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
It is often assumed that the promise of a monetary bonus improves cognitive control. We show that in fact appetitive motivation can also impair cognitive control, depending on baseline levels of dopamine-synthesis capacity in the striatum. These data not only demonstrate that appetitive motivation can have paradoxical detrimental effects for cognitive control but also provide a mechanistic account of these effects.
----------------------
Combining Self-Affirmation With Implementation Intentions to Promote Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
Peter Harris et al.
Health Psychology, forthcoming
Objective: The current study tested whether self-affirmation in the context of a threatening health message helps promote a health behavior (fruit and vegetable consumption) over a 3-month period, and whether adding a manipulation to support the translation of intentions into behavior (an implementation intentions induction) enhances the impact of self-affirmation.
Methods: Participants (N = 332, 71% women) reported their baseline consumption and were randomly assigned to condition in a 2 (self-affirmation: yes, no) × 2 (implementation intentions: formed, not formed) between-subjects factorial design. They completed a self-affirmation/control task and then read a health communication advising eating at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables daily. Next participants reported intentions for behavior change, after which they formed/did not form relevant implementation intentions. Consumption was measured again 7 days and 3 months postintervention.
Results: Self-affirmed (vs. nonaffirmed) participants reported eating more fruit and vegetables at both follow-ups. Forming (vs. not forming) implementation intentions was also beneficial for consumption. At 7 days, there was also a significant self-affirmation × implementation intentions interaction: consumption was highest when self-affirmed participants also formed implementation intentions.
Conclusions: The present study offers new evidence concerning the impact and durability of self-affirmation on health behaviors and the role of implementation intentions in enhancing the impact of self-affirmation.
----------------------
Using memories to motivate future behaviour: An experimental exercise intervention
Mathew Biondolillo & David Pillemer
Memory, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study tested a novel memory-based experimental intervention to increase exercise activity. Undergraduate students completed a two-part online survey ostensibly regarding college activity choices. At Time 1, they completed questionnaires that included assessments of exercise-related attitudes, motivation and self-reported behaviours. Next, they described a memory of a positive or negative experience that would increase their motivation to exercise; students in a control condition did not receive a memory prompt. Finally, they rated their intentions to exercise in the future. Eight days following Time 1, students received a Time 2 survey that included an assessment of their self-reported exercise during the prior week. Students in the positive memory condition reported higher levels of subsequent exercise than those in the control condition; students in the negative memory condition reported intermediate levels of exercise. Activating a positive motivational memory had a significant effect on students' self-reported exercise activity even after controlling for prior attitudes, motivation and exercise activity.