Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. A. Fullagar / Regulatory focus has emerged as an important construct in the organizational sciences. In the past ten years more than 200 papers have been published applying regulatory focus to a wide variety of contexts ranging from marketing and persuasion to feedback and performance appraisal (Johnson et al., 2015). Despite the ubiquity of RFT’s application, only a few studies have targeted the psychometric properties of measures of regulatory focus; and the findings thus far suggest that improvement is needed. Haws (2010) evaluated five measures of regulatory focus and concluded that they differed substantially with respect to their theoretical content, and that most demonstrated unacceptably low internal consistency. Summerville & Roese (2008) drew similar conclusions in their evaluation of the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ) and the General Regulatory Focus Measure (GRFM) and added that the two scales might actually be measuring different underlying constructs. Given the inconsistencies and problems associated with existing measures of regulatory focus, the purpose of the current research is to extend the critical evaluation of existing measures of regulatory focus and then to propose the development of a new measure based on rigorous scale development practices like those set forth in Hinkin, (1995) and Crocker & Algina, (1986). A new scale of Regulatory Focus was developed designed to measure all aspects of RFT and to test whether a two-factor or a four-factor SEM model fit the data best. The final scale consisted of 14 items. CFAs were used to test whether a two-factor or a four-factor model of regulatory focus fit the data best. Results suggested that both models fit the data equally well. However, for parsimony reasons and given that one of the latent factors of the four-factor model contained only two items (making any estimates of internal consistency difficult) the two factor model of regulatory focus was retained as the preferred model.

Individuals who display high levels of reward sensitivity are motivated by and respond to reward related cues, thus exhibiting more approach-motivated behaviors. A majority of the research on physiological indices of reward sensitivity in relation to self-regulatory abilities has focused on adults or adolescents, with relatively little work examining these associations in children. Thus, the current study sought to examine whether a common neural measure of reward sensitivity, left frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, assessed in early childhood was predictive of children’s later self-regulation abilities in the context of reward delay. Emerging inhibitory control skills were also examined as a potential moderator of the association between reward sensitivity and self-regulation. The frontal asymmetry measure of reward sensitivity was assessed at Time 1, when children were between the ages of 4 and 7 years old. The Time 2 visit occurred 18-24 months later, at which point children completed a flanker task to assess inhibitory control and a lock-box task to measure two components of self-regulation: behavioral control (i.e., task effort and attentional focus) and emotion regulation (i.e., expressions of anger). Children with average levels of reward sensitivity showed the highest levels of overall effort (collapsed across low, moderate, and high effort scores) and the lowest levels of weak effort. Additionally, inhibitory control iv moderated the relation between reward sensitivity and effort such that children with low reward sensitivity and strong inhibitory control showed the highest levels of overall and moderate effort as well as the lowest levels of weak effort. There were no significant associations between reward sensitivity, inhibitory control, and attentional focus or anger expression. These results suggest that EEG frontal asymmetry is a useful physiological marker of reward sensitivity when predicting specific types of regulatory abilities in children.

Despite good intentions, people often encounter challenges and obstacles in pursuit of their goals. The types of difficulties people experience each day have been well-documented (e.g., desires and temptations, resource depletion, social influences). However, despite these difficulties, some people are still able to attain their goals. Research on self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) suggests that relative autonomous motivation (RAM) may explain inter-individual (and intra-individual) differences in effort and persistence when self-regulation is difficult (e.g., Ntoumanis et al., 2014). In two manuscripts, a series of daily diary designs are used to examine the role of motivation when self-regulation is difficult. The first focuses on the role of RAM during goal striving in a healthy eating across each day (Study 1) and during lunches (Study 2). These studies provide some evidence that students with higher (vs. lower) RAM are more likely to attain more difficult healthy eating goals, which may be due to perceiving fewer obstacles in pursuit of these goals, or through the use of more effective (i.e., approach-based) strategies. Then, the second manuscript involves undergraduate students enrolled in online (Study 1) and in-person classes (Study 2) during the Covid-19 pandemic, and focuses on how their situational motivation to do schoolwork may be impacted when they experience motivational interference. Mixed findings emerged regarding the impact of motivational interference on students’ situational motivation but further evidence highlighted the protective effects of RAM when interference occurred. Taken together, these manuscripts contribute to a growing body of research on the study of self-regulation in daily life and on the role of RAM when difficulties arise. / Graduate / 2022-12-14

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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosed during childhood can continue into adulthood, but most research on the topic has been done on children and adolescents. This research focus has thus often left out the population of adults with this disorder. In particular, there is little research on the role that self-regulation plays in the lives of adults on several life domains, especially in the workplace. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand the role that self-regulation plays in the occupational functioning of adults with ADHD. Self-regulation theory provided the tenets that were used to examine how adults with ADHD self-regulate their emotions in the occupational setting. A modified version of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of analysis of phenomenological data was used to analyze transcripts of participant interviews with 11 Adults who have an ADHD diagnosis and at least one year of work experience. The results showed that many of the participants had difficulty with self-regulation, particularly with effectively managing the situation by considering the long-term consequences for their actions. The study has several social change implications. First, the findings might add to scholarly literature regarding the later-life impact of adult ADHD, enabling such changes as additional treatment of ADHD in adulthood and potential accommodations, support, and training on the job. Given the centrality of employment issues in the life of an adult, the findings may provide direction and insight to employers in managing employees with ADHD, making them more productive members of the workplace.

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Book Summary: Sexual Offending presents the latest theory and research relating to the social cognition, emotion, and motivational goals of individuals who have committed sexual offences. Explores how individuals who have committed sexual offences perceive the world and themselves, and how understanding this can inform their rehabilitation Provides a broad-based view of cognition, and explores the complex relationship between cognition, emotion and associated constructs such as motivational goals Integrates recent work on female sexual offenders alongside the literature on their male counterparts, providing researchers and practitioners with a single resource A valuable handbook for researchers, practitioners and students concerned with understanding and rehabilitating individuals who have committed sexual offences

Debugging is a significant part of programming. However, a lot of introductory pro- gramming classes tend to focus on writing and reading code than on debugging. They utilize programming assignments that are designed in ways such that students learn debugging by completing these assignments which makes debugging more of an im- plicit goal. In this thesis, we propose a cognitive awareness scaffolding in debugging to help students self-regulate their debugging process. We validate its effectiveness by conducting experiments with students in four sections of a Data Structures course, which is one of the introductory computer science classes at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In this form, students identified the debugging stage, described the bugs in their own words, and tracked their attempts to fix them. The exit survey responses that students filled out at the end of the quarter indi- cate that students seemed to find the debugging form helpful with self-regulation in debugging process. For further investigation, we attempt to measure students’ under- standing of the bugs explained on the form. Additionally, we also discuss potential improvements for the debugging form.

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