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Frustrated or engaged? Regulatory focus predicts experiences with online dating
Author(s) -
Song Sue,
Lockwood Penelope
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/pere.12386
Subject(s) - regulatory focus theory , promotion (chess) , focus (optics) , psychology , social psychology , political science , physics , optics , politics , creativity , law
We examined whether people's motivational orientations towards growth (i.e., promotion focus) and security (i.e., prevention focus), collectively termed regulatory focus , are associated with profile‐browsing experiences and perceived success in online dating. In an internal meta‐analysis of four studies ( N s = 220, 200, 300, and 478), we found that promotion focus was associated with an engaging and easy profile‐browsing experience, along with perceived success, whereas prevention focus was associated with an engaging yet more effortful profile‐browsing experience, along with a perceived lack of success. A preregistered follow‐up study ( N = 150) replicated the positive associations between promotion focus and engagement and perceived success, as well as the negative associations between prevention focus and ease and perceived success.