Promotion and Prevention

1. Promotion and Prevention

2. Approach and avoidance systems • We have talked about approach and avoidance • These systems may be engaged broadly • Higgins • Promotion focus: Focus on positive outcomes • Prevention focus: Focus on negative outcomes

3. Promotion focus • Driven by nurturance needs • Strong ideals--Personality • Gain/non-gain situations--Situation • Leads to • Sensitivity to positive outcomes • Seeks hits insure against errors of omission • Cheerfulness/Dejection

4. Prevention Focus • Driven by security needs • Oughts: responsibilities--Personality • Loss/non-loss situations--Situation • Leads to • Sensitivity to negative outcomes • Seek correct rejections/Avoid errors of commission • Relief/Agitation

5. Affecting cognition • Promotion • Because it seeks “hits” • More time on task • Prevention • Because it wants to avoid “false alarms” • Less time on task

6. Choice effects • Promotion • Attend both to the likelihood an event will occur as well as the value of the event • Frame in terms of “I” • Prevention • Focus more on the responsibility • Likelihood of the event is less important • Actions are taken out of obligation • Frame in terms of “We”

7. Regulatory Fit • Regulatory focus may fit or mismatch with task • Fit leads to a feeling of fluency • May increase preference for an option • Fit increases cognitive flexibility • Allows people to recognize when a situation changes • Fit increases involvement of explicit processes

8. Regulatory Fit and Exploration • Tradeoff between exploration and exploitation • Regulatory fit increases exploration • Exploration is systematic • Why does this happen? • Regulatory fit may signal that the world is acting as expected.

9. Choice and satisfaction • Need to ensure that focus during choice matches focus during use • If use will be in a promotion situation, choice should be made in a promotion frame • If use will be in a prevention situation, choice should be made in a prevention frame • Choices are made with future satisfaction in mind.

10. General Issues • Cognitive Psychology focuses on information processing • Decisions involve information processing • They also involve emotions and motivations • Understanding choice requires focusing on both information processing and motivation • Dual systems models are a way of thinking about this.