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Motive–goal congruence moderates the use of automatic self‐regulation
Author(s) -
Müller Florian,
Rothermund Klaus
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12355
Subject(s) - psychology , congruence (geometry) , implicit attitude , social psychology , need for achievement , task (project management) , agency (philosophy) , implicit association test , priming (agriculture) , implicit personality theory , goal orientation , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , personality , philosophy , botany , germination , management , epistemology , economics , biology
Objective We tested whether the fit between individuals' motives and goal properties predicts efficiency of implicit self‐regulation. Method Participants' (German university students; M age = 22; 64% female) implicit motives measurement (Multi‐Motive Grid) was followed by assessment of implicit self‐regulation in differently framed tasks. In Study 1 ( N = 45), positive implicit evaluations of stimuli relating to an achievement goal (studying) were used as an indicator of implicit self‐regulation. Study 2 ( N = 70) framed a laboratory task as either achievement or power related, thus experimentally controlling the goal's properties, and assessed implicit evaluations for task‐related stimuli with an evaluative priming paradigm. Study 3 ( N = 67) contrasted playing a game framed as agency related (achievement, power) with a control condition. Implicit evaluations of task‐related stimuli were assessed as an indicator of self‐regulation with an approach/avoidance task. Results In Study 1, implicit positive evaluations of an achievement goal were positively related to participants' achievement motive. Because of similarities between achievement and power, implicit positive evaluations of task‐related stimuli were positively related to the achievement motive in both conditions of Study 2. In Study 3, positive implicit evaluations of the task were positively related to the agency motives only in the agency condition. Conclusions Congruence between individuals' implicit motives and goal properties boosts implicit self‐regulation, thus identifying a promising predictor for success and failure in self‐regulation that potentially mediates effects of goal–motive fit on goal pursuit.