Edward Orehek

Relational regulation theory: a new approach to explain the link between perceived social support and mental health.

Perceived support is consistently linked to good mental health, which is typically explained as resulting from objectively supportive actions that buffer stress. Yet this explanation has difficulty accounting for the often-observed main effects between support and mental health. Relational regulation theory (RRT) hypothesizes that main effects occur when people regulate their affect, thought, and action through ordinary yet affectively consequential conversations and shared activities, rather than through conversations about how to cope with stress. This regulation is primarily relational in that the types of people and social interactions that regulate recipients are mostly a matter of personal taste. RRT operationally defines relationships quantitatively, permitting the clean distinction between relationships and recipient personality. RRT makes a number of new predictions about social support, including new approaches to intervention.

Three decades of lay epistemics: The why, how, and who of knowledge formation

A conceptual integration and review are presented of three separate research programmes informed by the theory of lay epistemics (Kruglanski, 1989). They respectively address the “why”, “how”, and “who” questions about human knowledge formation. The “why” question is treated in work on the need for cognitive closure that propels epistemic behaviour and affects individual, interpersonal, and group phenomena. The “how” question is addressed in work on the unimodel (Kruglanski, Pierro, Mannetti, Erb, & Chun, 2007) depicting the process of drawing conclusions from the “information given”. The “who” question is addressed in work on “epistemic authority” highlighting the centrality of source effects (including oneself as a source) in human epistemic behaviour. These separate research paradigms explore facets of epistemic behaviour that jointly produce human knowledge, of essential significance to peoples’ individual and social functioning.

Features of Multifinality

Diverse facets of the multifinality configuration in goal-directed behavior are identified and empirically explored. The multifinality construct denotes a motivational structure wherein a single means is linked to several ends. A multifinality configuration maximizes value that a given means promises to deliver while sacrificing expectancy of attainment due to a dilution effect. Several phenomena implied by multifinality theory are investigated, including an unconscious quest for multifinal means, the constraints that such quest imposes on means to a focal goal, and structural conditions under which an activity may be experienced as intrinsically motivated. Multifinality phenomena appear in numerous domains of social cognition, and the present theory offers a novel perspective on classic motivational effects.

Enacted Support’s Links to Negative Affect and Perceived Support Are More Consistent With Theory When Social Influences Are Isolated From Trait Influences

Social support theory typically explains perceived support’s link to mental health as reflecting the role of specific supportive actions (i.e., enacted support).Yet enacted support typically is not linked to mental health and perceived support as predicted by theory. The links are examined among enacted support, affect, and perceived support when links reflected (a) aspects of support and affect that generalized across relationship partners and time (i.e., trait influences) and (b) aspects that reflected specific relationship partners (i.e., social influences). Multivariate generalizability analyses indicated that enacted support was linked to low negative affect as predicted by theory only when correlations reflected social influences. When correlations reflected trait influences, enacted support was linked to high negative affect. Furthermore, perceived and enacted support were strongly linked when correlations reflected social influences but not trait influences. Thus, findings for enacted support fit social support theory better when social influences were isolated from trait influences.

Sequential and Concurrent Strategies of Multiple Goal Pursuit

People have many goals, presenting them with a challenge regarding how to navigate their multiple pursuits in each instant. Two such strategies exist, referred to here as sequential and concurrent goal pursuit. The present perspective on multiple goal pursuit is presented through which we can better understand (a) the resource demands that necessitate strategies of multiple goal pursuit, (b) the differences between sequential and concurrent goal pursuit, and (c) when each of these strategies is likely to be adopted. The explanatory power of the current framework for diverse behavioral domains, including diet, exercise, addiction, and moral behavior is discussed, as are the implications for acting on ones goals and the impact of success versus failure when pursuing each strategy.

When People Serve as Means to Goals Implications of a Motivational Account of Close Relationships

Goal pursuit is almost always conducted in concert with helpful others. People serve as instrumental means to goals, and evaluations of people are shaped by their perceived instrumentality. Assistance from another person may elicit feelings of relationship satisfaction and commitment. Assisting others in their goal pursuit is also gratifying. We present a novel goal-systemic perspective on close relationships. Our analysis suggests that satisfying relationships are achieved when partners experience mutual perceived instrumentality—when each partner feels instrumental to his or her partner’s important goals and perceives the partner as instrumental to his or her important goals. Considering relationship partners as means to goals has important implications for relationship processes including attraction, relationship maintenance, and relationship dissolution.

Need for closure and the social response to terrorism

It has been long contended that terrorism is a form of psychological warfare with the aim of advancing political objectives through the spreading of fear. The present set of five studies explored the relation between need for closure and the social response to terrorism. We found support for the notion that reminders of terrorist attacks elevate the need for closure and that the need for closure may enhance ingroup identification; interdependence with others; outgroup derogation; and support for tough and decisive counterterrorism policies and for leaders likely to carry out such policies. The implications of this research for the claims of terrorist ideologues regarding the efficacy of terrorism are discussed.

Positive affect as informational feedback in goal pursuit

Two studies investigated the cognitive activation of a goal following a promise to complete it. Current theorizing about the impact of positive affect as informational feedback in goal pursuit suggests two contradictory conclusions: (1) positive affect can signal that sufficient progress towards a goal has been made, but also (2) positive affect can signal that commitment to a goal should be maintained. When individuals infer that significant progress toward goal achievement has been made, the goal should be deactivated, but when individuals infer that commitment to the goal should be maintained, goal activation should be increased. To determine the conditions in which positive affect leads to increased goal activation as opposed to goal deactivation, we proposed that competing goals serve as a moderator. We found that positive affect led to decreased goal activation when competing goals were present, but to increased goal activation when competing goals were absent.

When the End Justifies the Means Self-Defeating Behaviors as “Rational” and “Successful” Self-Regulation

We explore the possibility that self-defeating behaviors represent self-regulatory success rather than failure. Specifically, we suggest that drug use, overeating, risky sexual behavior, self-harm, and martyrdom represent means toward individuals’ goals. In this capacity, they may be initiated and pursued upon goal activation despite potentially negative consequences, and thus exemplify the long-held notion that the end justifies the means. We propose a means-end analysis, present evidence that these activities demonstrate the hallmarks of goal pursuit, and discuss novel implications for understanding these behaviors.

On the Benefits of Giving Social Support: When, Why, and How Support Providers Gain by Caring for Others

People who are socially integrated and have strong social ties live happier, longer lives. The link between social connection and well-being is commonly explained in terms of the benefits of receiving care and support from others. However, the benefits of giving care and support to others for the support provider are often overlooked. We review emerging findings that suggest when, why, and how giving support to others provides benefits to the self. We identify possible mechanisms by which these benefits arise and outline boundary conditions that influence such benefits. To gain a richer understanding of the association between social ties and well-being, an important future research direction is to not only consider the support receiver but also emphasize the support provider.