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More Fit, Less Load? Cognitive Processes of Feedback Framed toward Own Preferences

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Regulatory fit occurs when the manner of peoples' engagement in an activity sustains their current goal orientation or concerns with that activ-ity. It is proposed that regulatory fit changes the significance of con-sumers' reactions to something, including the perceived monetary value of a choice they have made or the persuasiveness of a message they have received. When there is a fit, people engage more strongly in and "feel right" about what they are doing, and subsequent evaluative reac-tions (positive or negative) can be intensified by this fit experience. The fit experience is shown to influence the strength of value experiences inde-pendent of hedonic experiences. The authors discuss how the fit effect on value is distinct from other factors that affect value, such as relevancy, matching, hedonic mood, and arousal. Using prior research on this topic, this article summarizes the current state of knowledge about how fit influ-ences value and offers new ideas for further research.
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This study was designed to test the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation will be differentially affected by task-involving and ego-involving evaluation, and that provision of both kinds of evaluation will promote ego-involvement rather than task-involvement. Twelve classes of fifth and sixth grade pupils were randomly assigned to one of three feedback conditions. Pupils received either ego-involving numerical grades or task-involving individual comments or both after performing interesting tasks, one convergent and one divergent, on each of two sessions. Interest and performance for 132 randomly selected pupils of high or low school achievement were measured at pre-test, during the manipulation and at a third session, when no further evaluation was anticipated. As hypothesised, interest and performance on both tasks at both levels of school achievement were highest after comments, both when further comments were anticipated and when they were not. Grades and grades plus comments had similar and generally undermining effects on both interest and performance, although high achievers who received grades maintained high interest and convergent thinking when further grades were anticipated. These results are discussed in terms of the contribution of this distinction between task and ego-involvement to further understanding of intrinsically motivated activity.
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The present research considered the effects of stereotypes on judgmental and memorial processes. In particular, we investigated the heuristic utility of stereotype application in difficult or demanding information-processing contexts. Our results supported the prediction that stereotypical effects on memory are contingent upon the characteristics of the task environment. Whereas perceivers displayed preferential recall for stereotype-inconsistent information under low processing loads, this switched to a preference for consistent information as task demands increased. Likewise, target-based judgments were most stereotypic under high processing loads. Judgment-recall correlations supported the contention that, under high-loads, these inferences are related to the relative memorability of stereotypic information. We consider these findings in the wider context of stereotype-based effects on social cognition.
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Two studies examined the impact of chronic and situational self-regulatory mechanisms on cognitive test performance. In both studies, test performance was enhanced when situationally induced regulatory mechanisms matched the chronic self-regulatory focus of the test taker. These results support the regulatory fit hypothesis put forward in regulatory focus theory and point to the importance of compatibility between chronic and situationally induced self-regulatory states when it comes to cognitive test performance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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This meta-analysis investigated the relationships between person–job (PJ), person–organization (PO), person–group, and person–supervisor fit with preentry (applicant attraction, job acceptance, intent to hire, job offer) and postentry individual-level criteria (attitudes, performance, withdrawal behaviors, strain, tenure). A search of published articles, conference presentations, dissertations, and working papers yielded 172 usable studies with 836 effect sizes. Nearly all of the credibility intervals did not include 0, indicating the broad generalizability of the relationships across situations. Various ways in which fit was conceptualized and measured, as well as issues of study design, were examined as moderators to these relationships in studies of PJ and PO fit. Interrelationships between the various types of fit are also meta-analyzed. 25 studies using polynomial regression as an analytic technique are reviewed separately, because of their unique approach to assessing fit. Broad themes emerging from the results are discussed to generate the implications for future research on fit.
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Higgins' (2000) theory of regulatory fit proposes that motivational strength will be enhanced when the manner in which people work toward a goal sustains (rather than disrupts) their regulatory orientation. This enhanced motivational strength in turn should improve efforts at goal attainment. In Experiment 1, predominantly promotion- and prevention-focused participants were given the goal of writing a report on their leisure time, and were assigned either eagerness- or vigilance-framed means to use. Promotion/eagerness and prevention/vigilance participants were about 50% more likely to turn in their reports than promotion/vigilance and prevention/eagerness participants. In Experiment 2, participants read either a promotion- or a prevention-framed health message urging them to eat more fruits and vegetables, and were then asked to imagine either the benefits of compliance or the costs of non-compliance. Promotion/benefits and prevention/costs participants subsequently ate about 20% more fruits and vegetables over the following week than promotion/costs and prevention/benefits participants. The implications of regulatory fit's enhancement of motivational strength are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Teachers with an individualized teacher frame of reference (TFR) emphasize improvement in relation to prior achievement, effort, and learning. Individualized TFRs were hypothesized to enhance self-concept and reduce the negative effects associated with the big fish little pond effect (BFLPE). Math achievement and math self-concept data (2150 students from 112 classes) were collected at the end of Grade 7 and the end of Grade 8. TFR was independently assessed by student ratings of their teacher and ratings by two trained observers. Multilevel analyses confirmed the BFLPE, the negative effect of class-average achievement on self-concept. An individualized TFR enhanced self-concept, but had no significant effect on the size of the BFLPE (the class-average achievement × TFR interaction was not significant). Results were very similar for both student and observer ratings of TFR. The findings suggest that individualized TFRs enhance academic self-concepts but do not suppress the negative effects of ability grouping.
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The inclusion/exclusion model provides an integrative framework for conceptualizing the emergence of assimilation and contrast effects in evaluative judgment. The model assumes that feature-based evaluative judgments require a mental representation of the object of judgment (target) and of a standard to which the target is compared. Both representations are context sensitive and based on the information that is most accessible at the time. The way in which accessible information influences the judgment depends on how it is used. Information that is used in forming a representation of the target results in assimilation effects; information that is used in forming a representation of the standard results in contrast effects. How information is used depends on (i) individuals' beliefs about whether the information was brought to mind by some irrelevant influence, (ii) the information's perceived representativeness for the target, and (iii) conversational norms that influence the perceived appropriateness of information use. We summarize the core assumptions of the inclusion/exclusion model, review empirical evidence bearing on it, and highlight its integrative nature.
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This paper reviews research literature on cognitive load measurement in learning and neuroimaging, and describes a mapping between the main elements of cognitive load theory and findings in functional neuroanatomy. It is argued that these findings may lead to the improved measurement of cognitive load using neuroimaging. The paper describes how current measures of cognitive load cannot accurately show the distinction between different types of cognitive load in different learning conditions, and existing approaches to cognitive load assessment are limited in terms of their precision and methodology. A literature review discusses the conceptual framework of Sweller's [Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design. Learning and Instruction 4, 295–312; Sweller, J. (1999). Instructional design in technical areas. Camberwell, Australia: ACER Press] cognitive load theory, and describes various approaches to load measurement and their limitations. The paper then describes how the core components of cognitive load – intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load – may be observable using neuroimaging techniques, and argues for the exploration of new links between education research and neuroscience.
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In four studies we show that participants' regulatory focus influences speed/accuracy decisions in different tasks. According to regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997), promotion focus concerns with accomplishments and aspirations produce strategic eagerness whereas prevention focus concerns with safety and responsibilities produce strategic vigilance. Studies 1-3 show faster performance and less accuracy in simple drawing tasks for participants with a chronic or situationally induced promotion focus compared to participants with a prevention focus. These studies also show that as participants move closer to the goal of completing the task, speed increases and accuracy decreases for participants with a promotion focus, whereas speed decreases and accuracy increases for participants with a prevention focus. Study 4 basically replicates these results for situationally induced regulatory focus with a more complex proofreading task. The study found that a promotion focus led to faster proofreading compared to a prevention focus, whereas a prevention focus led to higher accuracy in finding more difficult errors than a promotion focus. Through speed and searching for easy errors, promotion focus participants maximized their proofreading performance. In all four studies, the speed... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)