Motivation by Positive or Negative Role Models: Regulatory Focus Determines Who Will Best Inspire Us

Abstract

In 3 studies, the authors demonstrated that individuals are motivated by role models who encourage strategies that fit their regulatory concerns: Promotion-focused individuals, who favor a strategy of pursuing desirable outcomes, are most inspired by positive role models, who highlight strategies for achieving success; prevention-focused individuals, who favor a strategy of avoiding undesirable outcomes, are most motivated by negative role models, who highlight strategies for avoiding failure. In Studies 1 and 2, the authors primed promotion and prevention goals and then examined the impact of role models on motivation. Participants' academic motivation was increased by goal-congruent role models but decreased by goal-incongruent role models. In Study 3, participants were more likely to generate real-life role models that matched their chronic goals.

Full text

Motivation by Positive or Negative Role Models:
Regulatory Focus Determines Who Will Best Inspire Us
Penelope Lockwood
University of Toronto Christian H. Jordan and Ziva Kunda
University of Waterloo
In 3 studies, the authors demonstrated that individuals are motivated by role models who encourage
strategies that fit their regulatory concerns: Promotion-focused individuals, who favor a strategy of
pursuing desirable outcomes, are most inspired by positive role models, who highlight strategies for
achieving success; prevention-focused individuals, who favor a strategy of avoiding undesirable out-
comes, are most motivated by negative role models, who highlight strategies for avoiding failure. In
Studies 1 and 2, the authors primed promotion and prevention goals and then examined the impact of role
models on motivation. Participants’ academic motivation was increased by goal-congruent role models
but decreased by goal-incongruent role models. In Study 3, participants were more likely to generate
real-life role models that matched their chronic goals.
Positive role models, individuals who have achieved outstand-
ing success, are widely expected to inspire others to pursue similar
excellence. Accordingly, the accomplishments of star athletes,
musicians, and award-winning scientists are often showcased in an
attempt to enhance people’s goals and aspirations. People are also
assumed to be motivated by negative role models, individuals who
have experienced misfortune; public service announcements high-
light examples of AIDS patients, of smokers who have suffered
lung cancer, and of motorists who have been injured as a result of
drinking and driving, in the hope of motivating people to take the
steps necessary to avoid similarly unpleasant outcomes. Indeed,
positive role models can inspire one by illustrating an ideal,
desired self, highlighting possible achievements that one can strive
for, and demonstrating the route for achieving them (Lockwood &
Kunda, 1997, 1999); negative role models can inspire one by
illustrating a feared, to-be-avoided self, pointing to possible future
disasters, and highlighting mistakes that must be avoided so as to
prevent them (Lockwood, 2002). At different times, people may be
differentially receptive to positive and negative role models (cf.
Stapel & Koomen, 2001).
We propose that the inspirational impact of positive and nega-
tive role models may depend on the goals people are striving to
achieve when they encounter these models. Goals can take the
form of pursuing desirable outcomes or avoiding undesirable out-
comes (e.g., Carver & Scheier, 1998; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996;
Higgins, 1997). People may be especially likely to be inspired by
positive role models, who represent a desired self, when they are
bent on pursuing success, and by negative role models, who
represent a feared self, when they are intent on avoiding failure.
This prediction is based on a large body of theory and research
by Higgins and his colleagues (for reviews, see Higgins, 1997,
1998), who argue that individuals can pursue two different kinds of
regulatory goals: promotion and prevention. Promotion goals en-
tail striving to achieve an ideal self, and so produce a sensitivity to
the presence or absence of positive outcomes; strategies for
achieving promotion goals involve the eager pursuit of gains or
successes. In contrast, prevention goals entail striving to avoid
disasters, and so produce a sensitivity to the presence or absence of
negative outcomes; strategies for achieving prevention goals in-
volve the vigilant avoidance of losses or failures.
When people are driven by promotion goals, they scrutinize
their social world for information that bears on the pursuit of
success. They are especially likely to notice and recall information
relating to the pursuit of success by others (Higgins & Tykocinski,
1992). They are also especially well-attuned to emotions relating
to the successful or unsuccessful pursuit of positive outcomes (i.e.,
happiness and dejection; Higgins, Shah, & Friedman, 1997). In
addition, they tend to focus on interpersonal strategies geared
toward promoting desired outcomes (Higgins, Roney, Crowe, &
Hymes, 1994). They also tend to show especially high motivation
and persistence on tasks that are framed in terms of promotion
(Shah, Higgins, & Friedman, 1998). It stands to reason that people
in this state of mind will also be especially susceptible to positive
role models, who exemplify positive outcomes to be pursued.
Positive role models inspire others by encouraging the pursuit of
success, a promotion strategy.
Penelope Lockwood, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Christian H. Jordan and Ziva Kunda, Depart-
ment of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
This research was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Re-
search Council of Canada Grant 410-99-1376 awarded to Penelope Lock-
wood and Grant 410-99-0993 awarded to Ziva Kunda, by Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Grant 13843-98
awarded to Ziva Kunda, and by an NSERC doctoral fellowship awarded to
Christian H. Jordan. We are grateful to Niki Capogiannis, Keren Fyman,
Natalie Foong, Linor Gerchak, and Raymond Mar for their assistance with
data collection. We thank Michael Ross, Anne Wilson, and Joanne Wood
for their comments on an earlier version of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Penelope
Lockwood, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St.
George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: lockwood@
psych.utoronto.ca
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
2002, Vol. 83, No. 4, 854– 864 0022-3514/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.83.4.854
854
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