Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1974. / Also available in print.

The question of how motivation affects our behavior is a long debated issue. Beyond pleasure and pain, motivation is closely related to cognitive functions and a key player in the self-regulation. The relationship between cognition and motivation was investigated from several angles, but a parsimonious explanation still awaits. In order to create a framework to understand the interaction between cognition and motivation, I chose two aspects of this relationship. Executive functions are one of the most studied psychological concepts and their components closely resemble the units of motivational processes. Secondly, a specific neural signature, dopamine, was selected due to its involvement in both executive functions and motivational processes. To enable dissection of motivation, in this thesis, we used a translational and a multilevel approach. In the first part, we focused on schizophrenia, which has a clinical presentation of cognitive (especially executive functions) and motivational deficits. Using a transgenic animal model mimicking the dopaminergic dysfunction related to schizophrenia, we manipulated motivation genetically, behaviorally, and pharmacologically and presented the changes in interval timing function. Part 2 of this thesis consists of 3 studies performed in humans to delineate the role of motivational orientations as measured by regulatory focus and regulatory mode surveys. A probabilistic reversal task and an n-back task were used to explore different components of executive functions; namely maintenance and monitoring, updating the representations, switching, and behavioral inhibition. The results of these studies showed that specific motivational orientations and their interactions could predict cognitive performance.

This dissertation explores the dynamic nature of passion. To do so, I theoretically and empirically examine the pursuit, experience, and perception of passion. This dissertation took its initial shape when my review of the passion literature revealed two key gaps. First, there was a proliferating number of definitions of passion; many of them focused on different, but what I deemed to be essential, aspects of passion. Drawing on, integrating, and extending prior conceptualizations of passion, I define passion as a strong feeling toward a personally value/preference that motivates behaviors to express that value/preference. The second gap in the passion literature I noted was that passion was almost always conceptualized as a static, trait-like characteristic, unvarying over time. In contrast, due to its’ affective and behavioral components, I propose that passion has a dynamic nature: it can vary in the short- and long-term and it is subject to social dynamics through how people perceive and respond to the expressions of passion by others. My dissertation includes four chapters, with each one offering new theoretical insights and empirical evidence that highlight the dynamic nature of passion. In Chapter 1, I explore how people define and conceptualize the pursuit of passion for themselves. I find that employees generally hold one of two lay beliefs about how to follow their passion, believing they should either a) engage in experiences that make them feel good or b) engage in personally important experiences. I then conducted two correlational and one experimental study and find that the differential endorsement of these different lay beliefs influences how likely employees are to attain their desired levels of passion, using a passion attainment scale I developed, and whether they quit their jobs. Chapter 2 investigates the existence and consequences of short-term variations in passion over time, what I term passion variability. To explore the dynamics of passion variability, I ran a study that asked a sample of 526 full-time employees to respond to 30 daily prompts and three surveys, conducted a week prior to, two weeks following, and two months following the daily survey portion. This data structure also allowed me to investigate the consequences of passion variability, operationalized as the standard deviation of daily levels of passion. Indeed, I find that passion variability is double-edged: while it is associated with worse evaluative outcomes, it also associated with increased motivation. In Chapter 3, I explore why prior studies linking both passion and grit to performance have been beset by contradictory evidence. Although grit has been defined as the combination of passion and perseverance, I highlight that prior measurements of grit have focused on perseverance but have not adequately captured passion. Across a meta-analysis and two correlational studies, I find that the combination of perseverance (measured through the grit scale) and passion attainment (a construct that explicitly incorporates passion’s dynamic nature) is associated with higher performance. Chapter 4 extends the dynamic nature of passion to the social world and explores how expressions of passion are interpreted by others. Across six studies, including an archival analysis of entrepreneurial pitches, I find that others confer status on those who express passion, but only when a) those displays of passion are viewed as appropriate to the situation, b) perceivers agree with the target of expresser’s passion, and c) when the context is cooperative. Taken together, the findings across the four chapters of this dissertation establish the dynamic nature of passion—its pursuit, experience, and perception.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1984. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves 64-70.

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / School of Physical Education

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-177).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, August 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Females are under-represented in advertising agencies by a ratio of 2.3 to 1. This paper examines the impact of gender proportions on an individuals regulatory focus (Higgins 1997). The theory of proportional representation (Kanter 1977) states that individuals in the severe minority within a group may be unable to acclimate to the group, causing performance and identification problems. Regulatory focus theory (Higgins 1997) states that there are two types of regulatory foci, a promotion focus and a prevention focus, which bring about different goal pursuits and strategies for success. It was predicted that proportional representation scenarios could induce regulatory focus, with majority representation inducing a promotion focus and minority representation inducing a prevention focus. Results from Studies 1a, 1b and 1c do not find support for this prediction. In Study 2, regulatory fit is used to explain the moderating effect of proportional representation on regulatory focus. Regulatory fit states that a match “between a person’s orientation to an activity and the means used to pursue that activity” (Higgins 2000, p. 1218) brings about a feeling of fit, causing the person to value and enjoy the task more and to have greater motivation on the task. It was predicted that membership both in a promotion focus and in the majority or membership both in a prevention focus and in the minority should bring about a feeling of fit resulting in increased motivation and value placed on the task, thus better results on the task. Study 2 tested seven dependent variables, and found support for fit for three of the dependent variables. In addition, one dependent variable measuring the generation of novel uses for a brick better supports the predictions of the theory of proportional representation than those of regulatory focus. Theoretical and practical implications are given. / text