Regulatory focus and thinking about the future versus reality.

Abstract

People oriented toward promotion are concerned with changing (improving) their current state, while those oriented toward prevention are concerned with maintaining (not worsening) their current state (Higgins, 1997). Because a promotion orientation is directed at moving from the reality to a better future, whereas a prevention orientation is directed at keeping the reality, we predicted and found in 4 studies that when thinking about important personal wishes or concerns, promotion-oriented participants focused more on the future (vs. the reality) than prevention-oriented participants. Promotion-oriented participants also viewed the future more positively compared to their reality than prevention-oriented participants. We assessed focus toward the future and reality by asking participants to name and write about an important personal wish or concern and analyzing the content of their written texts. We observed the effects when we manipulated participants' regulatory focus by asking them to generate promotion (vs. prevention) oriented concerns (Studies 1 and 2) and when we measured their chronic regulatory focus (Study 3).

The Relationship Between Predominant Promotion Focus and Spontaneous Mental Contrasting

“…This is consistent with the mechanism of mental contrasting by juxtaposing the desired future with the obstacles of reality, which recognizes the need to act according to the status quo and achieve the former (Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2010). Furthermore, compared to prevention focused individuals, promotion-focused individuals focused more on the future than the present reality (Sevincer & Oettingen, 2021). The results of the present study align with these previous results showing that promotion focused participants were more inclined to use spontaneous mental contrasting (Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2010; Sevincer & Oettingen, 2021).…”

“…Furthermore, compared to prevention focused individuals, promotion-focused individuals focused more on the future than the present reality (Sevincer & Oettingen, 2021). The results of the present study align with these previous results showing that promotion focused participants were more inclined to use spontaneous mental contrasting (Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2010; Sevincer & Oettingen, 2021). Additionally, the results suggested that individuals with a prevention focus might benefit from using mental contrasting because they are less likely to experience it spontaneously.…”

“…This indicates the need to overcome hindrances to achieve the desired future goal. Förster et al (2001) found that individuals with a promotion focus showed higher persistence toward attaining a desired future goal compared to individuals with prevention focus; further, they focused more on the future compared to the reality than prevention-focused individuals (Sevincer & Oettingen, 2021). Spontaneous mental contrasting predicts higher goal pursuit (Sevincer & Oettingen, 2013) and goal commitment than the other modes (Oettingen et al, 2009; Wang et al, 2021) and represents a future motivational focus (Sevincer et al, 2014).…”

Episodic Future Thinking Reduces Delay Discounting of Gains and Losses: The Role of Regulatory Focus

“…The results showed that chronic promotion and prevention focuses predicted focusing on future opportunities and limitations, respectively. Furthermore, Sevincer and Oettingen (2021) compared mental focus on future versus reality between the two types of regulatory focuses by analyzing participants' written texts regarding personal concerns or wishes. The results suggested that promotion‐oriented individuals viewed the future more positively compared to reality than did prevention‐oriented individuals.…”