The flow experience refers to a state characterized by complete involvement in a task. According to flow theory, the flow state is preceded by three antecedents, skill-task match, goals, and feedback. These antecedents lead to a flow state, which is exemplified by six components, merging of action and awareness, centering of attention, loss of self-consciousness, temporal distortion, sense of control, and autotelic nature. In a flow state, individuals persist on a task without regard or awareness of themselves or their surroundings. Currently, flow is a two-stage model in which the three antecedents lead to a flow state. Flow theory is severely limited as no mediating processes have been specified between flow antecedents and the flow state. The missing mediating processes in flow theory do not allow for empirically examining testable a priori predictions. Further, failure to specify a mediator brings into question the current flow antecedents and components. The aim of this study was to recast flow theory within a self-regulation framework to ameliorate these issues. I borrow from the self-regulation literature and propose that “feeling right” mediates the relationship between flow antecedents and components. Feeling right is a positive cognitive experience that arises from successful regulatory fit. I further posit that the antecedents of flow are the antecedents of feeling right, motivational orientation and goal pursuit strategies. Finally, I propose that the flow state only be characterized by four components, merging of action and awareness, centering of attention, loss of self-consciousness, and temporal distortion. Thus, in my revised model of flow, alignment between motivational orientation and goal pursuit will lead to feeling right, which will then lead to a flow state, characterized by the four aforementioned components. A secondary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between flow and task performance. I hypothesized that individuals in a state of regulatory fit would experience flow, operationalized by intense concentration, time distortion, and loss of self-consciousness. I further hypothesized that flow would mediate the relationship between regulatory fit and performance and that type of fit would influence performance quality or quantity. I utilized an experiment design to test this revised flow model in the context of a computer game. A path model was conducted to test these predictions. Results revealed that individuals in a state of regulatory fit exhibited greater time distortion and loss of self-consciousness. However, flow did not mediate the relationship between fit and performance. Based on these results, flow can successfully be applied to a self-regulatory framework. There is initial evidence that motivational orientation and goal pursuit, i.e., regulatory fit, are causal antecedents to a flow state. There was stronger evidence for the relationship between regulatory fit and flow when behavioral flow indicators were used. Future research should focus on identifying behavioral flow indicators and continue to explore the flow construct within a self-regulatory framework. / Ph. D. / Flow is a subjective experience that is characterized by deep immersion in the present moment. Flow theory was initially conceptualized to explain intrinsically motivated behavior, and since it’s conception in the 1960s, it has been applied to various domains, such as work, sports, and leisure activities. In this study, I critiqued flow theory and proposed a revised model of flow that applies self-regulation principles to help ameliorate the current issues regarding flow. The revised model was tested in the context of a computer game. Results revealed that in this context, regulatory fit is a causal precursor to flow. Further, flow did not lead to better task performance.

Résoudre une tâche nous met régulièrement au défit d'adopter les stratégies les plus adaptées au contexte et à la nature de celle-ci. En se basant sur la Théorie du Régulatory Focus, la présente étude propose d'utiliser certaines caractéristiques visuelles, formes et couleurs, afin d'amorcer une régulation cognitive susceptible de correspondre à des tâches demandant soit de la précision, soit de la créativité. Ainsi, une première étude identifie certaines formes et couleurs comme ayant la capacité d'activer une cognition soit de type « prevention », soit de type « promotion ». Ces résultats ont servi de base pour concevoir des interfaces graphiques amorçant de manière ciblée l'une ou l'autre de ces orientations cognitives. Il est suggéré que la concordance entre le type d'amorce (e.g., induisant une cognition « prevention »)et le type de tâche (e.g., demandant de la précision) influence positivement performance ainsi que vécu subjectif. Les résultats supportent ces hypothèses : Les participants exécutent plus correctement les tâches lorsque le type de celles-ci concorde avec l'orientation stratégique amorcée par les caractéristiques visuelles de l'interface graphique. De plus, les participants rapportent un vécu plus positif dans ces mêmes conditions. De manière générale, les résultats soulignent les avantages à utiliser le potentiel inhérent des caractéristiques visuelles afin d'optimiser une situation de résolution de tâche. Ces résultats sont considérés comme développant autant la recherche que les domaines plus appliqués. / Task-solving situations are often challenging our ability to approach them in the most adapted state of mind. Building on regulatory focus theory, we propose to use specific color and form characteristics to prime cognitive regulations that are likely to match either creative or accuracy framed tasks. In that line, a first study identified color and form characteristics as being involved in activating either a vigilant prevention cognition or a flexible promotion cognition. These findings were then used to visually design creative or accuracy oriented tasks. It was expected that a fit between the strategic orientations induced by these designs and tasks accuracy or creativity framing, would to positively influence both performance and overall subjective experience. Experimental results supported these predictions: Participants performed better when the visual design was composed of colors and forms inducing a regulatory orientation matching tasks' natures. Regulatory fit had also a global positive impact on subjective variables like fun and satisfaction. Overall, the results point out the advantage of taking benefit from visual characteristics' inherent priming potential. Our research can be related both to research domains (RFT, user experience research, color research) and to concrete applications in actual design processes.

This study extends Regulatory Fit Theory (Higgins, 2000) to examine horizontal regulatory fit (Scholer & Higgins, 2010) in the context of performance feedback. Participants completed the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (Higgins et al., 2001) to measure their chronic motivational orientation, then worked on an adapted version of an in-basket task (Holmes & Hauenstein, 2012) across two sessions. Hypotheses predicted that compared to instances of non-fit, conditions of regulatory fit between chronic and situational and motivational orientations (Promotion vs. Prevention) would have a significantly greater impact on the following three outcomes: 1) Variety and Frequency of Feedback Use, 2) Feedback Recall, and 3) Attitudes toward both Feedback and the In-basket Task. Overall results supported this assertion. Participants in condition of regulatory fit engaged in a significantly greater variety of behaviors and did so more frequently than those in non-fit conditions. Additionally, participants in regulatory fit conditions had stronger positive attitudes toward feedback than those in non-fit conditions. Counter to previous research, regulatory fit did not have significant impact on feedback recall in the current study, nor did regulatory fit have a significant impact on the attitudes toward in-basket task. / Master of Science

Estudos anteriores sugeriram que as compras de experiências, tais como viagens e shows, deixam as pessoas mais felizes do que compras materiais, como, por exemplo, roupas e eletrônicos. E, por esta razão, sugerem que as pessoas passem a alocar mais a sua renda discricionária em tais tipos de compra. Entretanto, acredita-se que isto não é verdade para todos os indivíduos. O nível de felicidade com cada tipo de compra, provavelmente, varie de acordo com o estado motivacional das pessoas. À luz da teoria de self-regulation, hipotetizase que a felicidade derivada das compras depende da adequação entre as diferentes orientações motivacionais (prevention x promotion) e o tipo de compra (experiência x material). Em um estudo experimental, manipulou-se o tipo de compra e o regulatory focus, e se descobriu que os participantes com promotion focus, realmente, são mais felizes com as compras de experiência, no entanto, os participantes com prevention focus são tão felizes com as compras materiais quanto com as de experiência. Em um segundo estudo experimental, testou-se como os participantes com diferentes estados motivacionais alocam sua renda discricionária de modo a se sentirem mais felizes. Dado os resultados, sugere-se que os participantes com promotion focus são os que devem melhorar sua forma de investir para ficarem mais felizes, estes sim devem seguir a recomendação à experiência. Ainda, quando o trade-off entre os tipos de compra (experiência e material) estava saliente, os participantes com prevention focus, na seqüência, avaliaram as experiências mais favoravelmente do que quando o trade-off não estava saliente. / Experiential consumption - which is made with the primary intention of acquiring a life experience - usually yields greater happiness than material purchases. However, it might not be true for all individuals. The level of happiness in each type of purchase may vary according to one's motivational state. Building on research on subjective well-being and regulatory focus it is being put forward a hypothesis that happiness derived from purchases depends on the fit between self-regulation (individual differences) and the type of purchase (experiential versus material). In the first experimental study, the regulatory focus (prevention vs. promotion) and type of purchase (experiential vs. material) have been manipulated. The data shows that the promotion-focused participants indeed were happier with the experiential purchases than with the material ones. However, the prevention-focused participants were as happy with the material purchases as with the experiential purchases. In the second experimental study, it has been tested how the participants with different regulatory foci allocate their discretionary income as to feel happier. According to the results, its been suggested that in order to spend their income more judisciously, the promotion-focused participants should choose the experiential form of purchase and the prevention-focused participants should continue to invest in both types of purchases. Further, when the trade-off between the material and experiential purchases was made salient, experiences were subsequently evaluated more favorably than when the trade-off was not salient.

Estudos anteriores sugeriram que as compras de experiências, tais como viagens e shows, deixam as pessoas mais felizes do que compras materiais, como, por exemplo, roupas e eletrônicos. E, por esta razão, sugerem que as pessoas passem a alocar mais a sua renda discricionária em tais tipos de compra. Entretanto, acredita-se que isto não é verdade para todos os indivíduos. O nível de felicidade com cada tipo de compra, provavelmente, varie de acordo com o estado motivacional das pessoas. À luz da teoria de self-regulation, hipotetizase que a felicidade derivada das compras depende da adequação entre as diferentes orientações motivacionais (prevention x promotion) e o tipo de compra (experiência x material). Em um estudo experimental, manipulou-se o tipo de compra e o regulatory focus, e se descobriu que os participantes com promotion focus, realmente, são mais felizes com as compras de experiência, no entanto, os participantes com prevention focus são tão felizes com as compras materiais quanto com as de experiência. Em um segundo estudo experimental, testou-se como os participantes com diferentes estados motivacionais alocam sua renda discricionária de modo a se sentirem mais felizes. Dado os resultados, sugere-se que os participantes com promotion focus são os que devem melhorar sua forma de investir para ficarem mais felizes, estes sim devem seguir a recomendação à experiência. Ainda, quando o trade-off entre os tipos de compra (experiência e material) estava saliente, os participantes com prevention focus, na seqüência, avaliaram as experiências mais favoravelmente do que quando o trade-off não estava saliente. / Experiential consumption - which is made with the primary intention of acquiring a life experience - usually yields greater happiness than material purchases. However, it might not be true for all individuals. The level of happiness in each type of purchase may vary according to one's motivational state. Building on research on subjective well-being and regulatory focus it is being put forward a hypothesis that happiness derived from purchases depends on the fit between self-regulation (individual differences) and the type of purchase (experiential versus material). In the first experimental study, the regulatory focus (prevention vs. promotion) and type of purchase (experiential vs. material) have been manipulated. The data shows that the promotion-focused participants indeed were happier with the experiential purchases than with the material ones. However, the prevention-focused participants were as happy with the material purchases as with the experiential purchases. In the second experimental study, it has been tested how the participants with different regulatory foci allocate their discretionary income as to feel happier. According to the results, its been suggested that in order to spend their income more judisciously, the promotion-focused participants should choose the experiential form of purchase and the prevention-focused participants should continue to invest in both types of purchases. Further, when the trade-off between the material and experiential purchases was made salient, experiences were subsequently evaluated more favorably than when the trade-off was not salient.

Estudos anteriores sugeriram que as compras de experiências, tais como viagens e shows, deixam as pessoas mais felizes do que compras materiais, como, por exemplo, roupas e eletrônicos. E, por esta razão, sugerem que as pessoas passem a alocar mais a sua renda discricionária em tais tipos de compra. Entretanto, acredita-se que isto não é verdade para todos os indivíduos. O nível de felicidade com cada tipo de compra, provavelmente, varie de acordo com o estado motivacional das pessoas. À luz da teoria de self-regulation, hipotetizase que a felicidade derivada das compras depende da adequação entre as diferentes orientações motivacionais (prevention x promotion) e o tipo de compra (experiência x material). Em um estudo experimental, manipulou-se o tipo de compra e o regulatory focus, e se descobriu que os participantes com promotion focus, realmente, são mais felizes com as compras de experiência, no entanto, os participantes com prevention focus são tão felizes com as compras materiais quanto com as de experiência. Em um segundo estudo experimental, testou-se como os participantes com diferentes estados motivacionais alocam sua renda discricionária de modo a se sentirem mais felizes. Dado os resultados, sugere-se que os participantes com promotion focus são os que devem melhorar sua forma de investir para ficarem mais felizes, estes sim devem seguir a recomendação à experiência. Ainda, quando o trade-off entre os tipos de compra (experiência e material) estava saliente, os participantes com prevention focus, na seqüência, avaliaram as experiências mais favoravelmente do que quando o trade-off não estava saliente. / Experiential consumption - which is made with the primary intention of acquiring a life experience - usually yields greater happiness than material purchases. However, it might not be true for all individuals. The level of happiness in each type of purchase may vary according to one's motivational state. Building on research on subjective well-being and regulatory focus it is being put forward a hypothesis that happiness derived from purchases depends on the fit between self-regulation (individual differences) and the type of purchase (experiential versus material). In the first experimental study, the regulatory focus (prevention vs. promotion) and type of purchase (experiential vs. material) have been manipulated. The data shows that the promotion-focused participants indeed were happier with the experiential purchases than with the material ones. However, the prevention-focused participants were as happy with the material purchases as with the experiential purchases. In the second experimental study, it has been tested how the participants with different regulatory foci allocate their discretionary income as to feel happier. According to the results, its been suggested that in order to spend their income more judisciously, the promotion-focused participants should choose the experiential form of purchase and the prevention-focused participants should continue to invest in both types of purchases. Further, when the trade-off between the material and experiential purchases was made salient, experiences were subsequently evaluated more favorably than when the trade-off was not salient.

No description available.

Pressure-performance relationship in sport situations was investigated within a self-regulatory focus framework (regulatory focus theory; Higgins, 1997). To that end, the role of regulatory fit in different ecologically valid handball penalty situations taken in the 2021 World Cup was examined. Competition data available from 102 games was collected; from 743 penalties taken in total, 716 penalties were finally included for analysis (those within the original game time of 60 minutes; handball match consists in two parts of 30 minutes each). A series of univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed; no significant effects were found on performance (goal or save/miss; in points) for neither situational focus (critical and non-critical moment), reward structure (losses [team taking the penalty is behind] and gains [team taking the penalty is ahead or score is tied]), or when the goalkeeper was substituted or not by the defending team. Furthermore, penalty shot placements were gathered to examine ‘safe’ versus ‘risky’ shooting options taken by players when under different situations (critical vs noncritical); it was found that players in general choose ‘safe’ penalty shot options under both situations. Findings are discussed considering pressure performance and regulatory fit frameworks. / Relationen mellan press och prestation i sportsituationer undersöktes inom ett självregulatoriskt fokusramverk; regulatoriskt fokus teorin (Higgins, 1997). Därav studerades rollen av regulatoriskt fit i olika ekologiskt valida handbollsstraffs situationer tagna under världsmästerskapet 2021. Tävlingsdata från 102 matcher samlades in, totalt sköts 743 straffar och 716 straffar var inkluderade för vidare analys: straffarna var tvungna att vara tagna inom ordinarie matchtid (60 minuter, två halvlekar om 30 minuter). Ett flertal univariate och multivariate logistiska regressioner genomfördes och ingen signifikant effekt av situationsfokus (kritiskt och icke kritisk situation), belöningsstruktur (losses [laget ligger under] och gains [laget leder eller lika]) och målvaktsbyte (byte innan straff sköts eller inget byte) på prestation (mål eller miss) hittades. Vidare undersöktes om skottplacering indikerade på om straffskyttarna valde att placera straffarna på ’säkra’ eller ’osäkra’ ställen i olika situationer, denna undersökning visade att spelarna generellt valde att skjuta på ett ’säkert’ ställe oavsett situation.

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No description available.