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Psychologists have long been directing their energy to the domain of moral judgment or moral prediction, assuming that when extended to moral behaviour, results will prove consistent. The aim of this research was to explore the dissociation between moral prediction and moral behaviour. Pilot research suggests that people expect others to act less morally than they say they would. The results of two experiments, however, suggest the opposite. In both studies, participants were assigned to either a moral action condition, where they were placed in a moral dilemma, or a moral prediction condition, in which they had to predict their behavior in that dilemma. In Study 1, the Dictator Game was used to measure morality, whereas in Study 2, cheating behaviour was measured. In both experiments, participants acted more morally than they predicted they would. This research has implications for scrutinizing the applicability of previous work on moral self-prediction.

Psychologists have long been directing their energy to the domain of moral judgment or moral prediction, assuming that when extended to moral behaviour, results will prove consistent. The aim of this research was to explore the dissociation between moral prediction and moral behaviour. Pilot research suggests that people expect others to act less morally than they say they would. The results of two experiments, however, suggest the opposite. In both studies, participants were assigned to either a moral action condition, where they were placed in a moral dilemma, or a moral prediction condition, in which they had to predict their behavior in that dilemma. In Study 1, the Dictator Game was used to measure morality, whereas in Study 2, cheating behaviour was measured. In both experiments, participants acted more morally than they predicted they would. This research has implications for scrutinizing the applicability of previous work on moral self-prediction.

Causal uncertainty refers to the lack of confidence in one’s ability to understand causal relations in the social world (Weary & Edwards, 1994). Relative to people with low causal uncertainty, individuals with high causal uncertainty exhibit enhanced self-regulation performance following a social interaction (Jacobson, Papile, Passey, & Boucher, 2006). The current studies investigated the potential mechanisms underlying this relationship, and the role of self-esteem. Study 1 investigated whether the social or nonsocial nature of the depleting task and expectations about the need for future self-control could account for the relationship between causal uncertainty and self-regulation (N = 181). For the social task, high causally uncertain participants’ self-regulation performance was consistent across expectations for future self-control regardless of participant self-esteem. In contrast, low causally uncertain participants’ performance improved with increasing instructions to conserve energy for future tasks but only for participants with lower self-esteem. For low causally uncertain participants with higher self-esteem, self-regulation performance decreased with increased expectations for future self-control. In the nonsocial condition, the findings did not differ by self-esteem. Learning that the future task involved self-control and that the initial task was depleting were both associated with increases in self-regulation for high causally uncertain participants. In contrast, self-regulation abilities did not differ for low causally uncertain participants upon learning that the future task involved self-control and marginally decreased when they learned that the initial task was depleting. Study 2 examined whether or not self-presentation could account for the relationship between causal uncertainty and self-regulation abilities (N = 88). Higher causal uncertainty was associated with better self-regulation performance, but self-presentation goals did not moderate this relationship. Self-esteem did not influence self-regulation performance in this study. Study 3 investigated whether or not an accuracy goal could account for the relationship between causal uncertainty and self-regulation abilities (N = 112). For participants with lower self-esteem, high causally uncertain participants’ self-regulation performance was consistent regardless of the goal manipulation; whereas low causally uncertain participants’ performance improved with instructions to create accurate impressions of their partner. In contrast, for participants with higher self-esteem, self-regulation did not differ by causal uncertainty or goal conditions. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-28 14:40:08.139

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Scholarship has recognised the importance of entrepreneurship for economic development. Increasingly, policy makers promote entrepreneurship as one of the solutions for unemployment concerns. However, although many people formulate entrepreneurial intention they fail to convert their intention into action; this problem is called the intention-action gap. The problem of intention-action gap is particularly salient in Saudi Arabia. Although people have positive perceptions about entrepreneurship and high entrepreneurial intention, the country’s entrepreneurial activity is low. This presents a barrier in achieving the country’s national strategy to create more entrepreneurs through the promotion of entrepreneurship. Here, raising an intention to become an entrepreneur does not equate to becoming an entrepreneur. Scholars often predict entrepreneurship by entrepreneurial intention. Thus, they assume that entrepreneurial intention is the best predictor of action. They use dominant intention models to predict entrepreneurial behaviour. However, there is compelling evidence that entrepreneurial intention alone is an insufficient predictor of subsequent entrepreneurial behaviour. Thus, it is inadequate to prepare people to deal with difficulties of initiating action and striving towards goal attainment. Hence, there is a need for a more proximal predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour that can promote goal striving. Self-regulation (simplistically thought of as ‘will-power’) has been shown to be a better and more reliable predictor of intention in other fields. In fact, it was found that supporting intention with self-regulation can enhance the action prediction by up to 18%. In entrepreneurship, self-regulation has been suggested to differentiate people with entrepreneurial intention from active entrepreneurs. Against this background, this thesis investigates the processes underlying the forming of entrepreneurial intention to identify predictors of self-regulation. Hence, it extends existing intention models with self-regulation that facilitate action initiation. Consequently, this study focuses on the link between entrepreneurial intention and self-regulation. In addition, due to the salient influence of culture in Saudi Arabia’s context, the study explores the effect of cultural values on entrepreneurial intention. The conceptual framework is developed to explain the link between entrepreneurial intention and self-regulation and the effect of cultural values. This proposed two main levels, namely, goal setting and goal striving. The former reflects forming entrepreneurial intention and deliberative mind-set. The latter reflects forming implementation intention and implemental mind-set. This model is then tested through questionnaires among 405 non-entrepreneurs working in the private sector in Saudi Arabia. The data collected are analysed using the statistical tool, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The study found that several factors and their interactions are important to explain the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and self-regulation. First, concrete goal intention can be formulated through desirability, feasibility, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. However, this firm goal intention does not lead to self-regulation. Second, after formulating concrete goal intention, people can increase their self-regulation through implementation intention and optimism. The effect of cultural values is important as they appear to reduce entrepreneurial self-efficacy and, hence, decrease self-regulation. The outcomes have theoretical implications and lead to policy recommendations that can support better self-regulation and bridge the entrepreneurial intention-action gap, making a valued contribution to the development of entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia.

Self-handicapping has been conceptualized as an identity-based strategy motivated by impression management and, more recently, as an avoidance coping strategy. However, additional evidence suggests that self-handicapping can provide a short-term performance boost (with detriments accruing over the long-term). I use a resource conservation perspective to suggest that this boost in performance may be attributed to an individual's motivation to conserve resources, particularly when there is reason to believe that resources spent now may be better used later. The current study tests if handicapping situations (similar to ones created following the choice to self-handicap) encourage an individual to conserve their resources (e.g., reducing effort), allowing them to spend those resources on later tasks. It was hypothesized that individuals in a handicapping situation would show greater resource conservation (evidenced by decreased effort) as well as improved performance on a follow-up resource-dependent task, compared to those not in a handicapping situation. Additionally, I hypothesize that individuals in a handicapping situation will show greater conservation and greater subsequent performance on a resource-dependent task when there is anticipation for that follow-up task. Effort was also hypothesized to mediate the relationship between group assignment and subsequent performance differences. Finally, it was hypothesized that these relationships would be moderated by neuroticism, conscientiousness, and self-handicapping tendencies (traditional moderators of SH). Prior to an in-lab study, participants (N = 162 undergraduates) completed on-line measures of self-handicapping (SHS), neuroticism, and conscientiousness. Participants were then brought to the lab individually for a study supposedly testing the effects of sound on performance. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups differing in the information given regarding: (1) the level of distraction a stimulus would produce and (2) whether a follow-up task was anticipated after the noise-based task (i.e., Distraction-Anticipation, Distraction-No Anticipation, No Effect-Anticipation). All participants were first given a series of geometric tracing designs allegedly assessing their spatial reasoning ability (series contained 4 solvable designs and 2 impossible designs) and were provided with noncontingent success feedback. Then, participants were asked to complete a new series of tracing designs (eight solvable, one impossible) while a tone was playing. Participants in the distraction conditions (i.e, Distraction-Anticipation and Distraction-No Anticipation) were led to believe that the tone had the ability to significantly impair performance, while participants in the No Effect condition believed the tone had no impact on performance. Following this task, all participants were given a series of logic questions that served as an assessment of regulatory depletion. Results supported the two primary hypotheses. When participants believed that the tone was distracting, and when they anticipated a third task, they were more accurate on the part three logic task (F(2,159) = 7.69, p<.01) compared to both those in the No Effect-Anticipation and the Distraction-No Anticipation conditions. The relationship between group assignment and part three logic performance was mediated by effort during part two (quitting r2 = .14; F(2, 105) = 8.43, p<.001; indirect effect b = -.05, SE = .03, 95% CI [-.12, -.01]). No theoretically meaningful moderators were found. The findings provide initial evidence for resource conservation as a new and unique motivation for self-handicapping. Implications for future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

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This study explored the formative learning cycle's ability to increase student confidence to create quality homework. Student from a socio-economically diverse school district in Western Pennsylvania reported their confidence levels on homework production on two surveys. The first survey provided a rapid response at the end of lessons taught using the formative learning cycle. The second survey was completed at the end of the study window. The results from these surveys indicate a positive correlation between the formative learning cycle's ability to increase self-regulation processes to confidently produce quality homework. / School of Education; / Educational Studies (General Education) / EdD; / Dissertation;

Self-regulation is a highly adaptive process that enables goal-directed behaviour; however, individuals often fail to self-regulate successfully. Failures of self-regulation in the domain of health may be particularly harmful especially for those with chronic diseases. The Energy Model articulated by Baumeister and colleagues proposes that all acts of self-regulation rely on a single, finite energy resource. Thus, one possible explanation for self-regulation failure is insufficient energy. In the current research, four studies examine the relationship between the construct of energy, which can manifest in state or trait form, and self-regulatory success. Past research has demonstrated that individuals who perform two sequential tasks requiring self-regulation perform worse on the second task (the self-regulatory fatigue effect). The Energy Model proposes that this performance decrement can be explained by energy depletion. If this is true, then state energy should mediate the self-regulatory fatigue effect. A series of three experimental studies (studies 1-3) were designed to test this hypothesis. In Study 1, participants were randomly assigned to a gaze regulation task or to a no-regulation control group (as in Schmeichel et. al, 2003) before they watched a brief video clip. Following this first task, all participants worked on a second self-regulatory task (solving anagrams). Persistence and performance on this second task were the dependent measures and energy was measured before and after the initial video task. Contrary to the predictions of the Energy Model, the self-regulatory fatigue effect was not replicated in this study and so the mediating potential of energy could not be tested. However, ratings of task difficulty and effort suggested that individuals in the gaze regulation condition did not find this task to be very challenging. Accordingly, a second study was designed that added an additional level of self-regulatory demand by asking participants to rehearse a 7-digit number during the video clip (memory regulation). When this was crossed with the gaze regulation manipulation, four conditions were created: no regulation, gaze regulation only, memory regulation only and memory + gaze regulation. Study 2 then followed the same approximate procedure as Study 1, with individuals randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. The results of this study were consistent with Study 1 in that the self-regulatory fatigue effect was not replicated. However, the manipulation check suggested that some of the participants in the gaze regulation conditions may not have adhered to experimental instructions and the conditions may have differed in the degree to which they were enjoyable and interesting to participants. Accordingly, a third study used an eye-tracker to assess self-regulation during the video task and evaluated aspects of task engagement. Study 3 followed the same procedures as Study 2. Eye-tracker data verified significant differences between the groups in terms of self-regulation during the initial video task; however, there were no other significant between group differences. Taken together, these 3 studies indicate that the self-regulatory fatigue effect may be less robust than previous research would suggest. An unexpected finding was the high degree of variability in the energy measures, which implied that individual differences in energy may be important to consider. Accordingly, Study 4 prospectively examined the role of dispositional energy in the self-regulation of diet and exercise behaviour by testing whether energy moderated intention-behaviour concordance in a sample of individuals newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. This study demonstrated that energy predicted future exercise behaviour in this sample and provided some preliminary support for the hypothesis that individuals with higher levels of dispositional energy may show more intention-behaviour concordance than those with lower levels of dispositional energy. Overall, these 4 studies provide some tentative support for the role of dispositional energy in the implementation of health behaviour, but do not support the Energy Models predictions regarding self-regulatory fatigue.