Nicola Baumann

Intuition, affect, and personality: unconscious coherence judgments and self-regulation of negative affect.

According to personality systems interaction theory, a negative mood was expected to reduce access to extended semantic networks and to reduce performance on intuitive judgments of coherence for participants who have an impaired ability to down-regulate negative affect (i.e., state-oriented participants). Consistent with expectations, state-oriented participants reporting higher levels of perseverating negative mood had a reduced discrimination between coherent and incoherent standard word triples (Study 1) and individually derived word triples describing persons (Study 2). Participants who are able to down-regulate negative affect (i.e., action-oriented participants) did not show this tendency. In addition, Study 2 revealed a dissociation between state orientation and Neuroticism that is discussed in terms of a functional difference between the two constructs.

Self-Infiltration: Confusing Assigned Tasks as Self-Selected in Memory

Two studies examined determinants of self-infiltration (i.e., false self-attribution of externally controlled goals or activities). According to Personality Systems Interactions (PSI) theory, a sad mood was expected to reduce access to integrated self-representations and to lead to self-infiltration for participants who have an impaired ability to cope with negative affect (i.e., state-oriented participants). Consistent with expectations, state-oriented participants had a tendency toward self-infiltration (as indexed by higher rates of false self-ascription of assigned activities) when reporting higher levels of sadness (Study 1) and after the experimental induction of a sad mood (Study 2). Participants who are able to downregulate negative affect (i.e., action-oriented participants) did not show this tendency. Theoretical and practical implications of the process of self-infiltration are discussed.

Self-Infiltration vs. Self-Compatibility Checking in Dealing with Unattractive Tasks: The Moderating Influence of State vs. Action Orientation

Self-infiltration, or false self-ascription of external goals or ideas, is investigated using an implicit experimental procedure (J. Kuhl & M. Kazén, 1994). Based on personality systems interactions (PSI) theory (J. Kuhl, 2000), it was expected that state-oriented participants exposed to task-alienating conditions, under external pressure, or experiencing negative mood would show self-infiltration, because under those conditions access to their self-system is impaired, including integrated representations of personal preferences. A new prediction is that self-infiltration should occur in processing low-attractive goals or ideas and not in processing high-attractive ones, because the latter are internalized through integration or identification with the self. Three experiments yielded results consistent with this hypothesis: State-oriented participants showed self-infiltration with low-attractive items, whereas action-oriented did not show this pattern. A mechanism is proposed that helps people to resist external influences in the formation of personal goals and ideas: Self-compatibility checking. This mechanism is inferred on the basis of long latencies in counter-preferential decisions related to previous self-choices (autonoetic access). Only action-oriented participants gave systematic evidence of autonoetic access.

Seeing and mastering difficulty: The role of affective change in achievement flow

Achievement flow involves total absorption in an activity, high concentration without effort and merging of thought and action. The authors propose that achievement flow is facilitated by dynamic alternatives between low positive affect (“seeing difficulty”) and high positive affect (“mastering difficulty”). Consistent with this hypothesis, three studies showed that traits associated with reduced positive affect (avoidant adult attachment, schizoid-like personality style, introversion) and traits supportive of restoring positive affect (mastery orientation) predicted achievement flow, as assessed with a new operant motive test (OMT). Achievement flow motives were further found to be associated with flow experiences in achievement tasks (Study 1), intrinsic motivation in an academic context (Study 2), and volitional facilitation as assessed by removal of Stroop interference after experimentally induced difficulty and positive affect (Study 3). These findings offer converging evidence that flow experiences arise from dynamic changes in positive affect.

Work Craving: A Conceptualization and Measurement

Obsessive-compulsive models of workaholism do not allow diagnosing it as an addiction. We introduce an empirical evidence for conceptualization and measurement of work addiction as work craving. The Work Craving Scale (WCS) comprises: (a) obsessive-compulsive desire for work, (b) anticipation of self-worth compensation, (c) anticipation of reduction of negative affect or withdrawal symptoms resulting from working, and (d) neurotic perfectionism. Results (N = 1,459) confirmed the four-factorial structure of the WCS and indicated its good validity and reliability. The conceptualization of work craving significantly contributes to understanding of workaholism as an addiction, and should stimulate future research on work craving.

Live to Work or Love to Work: Work Craving and Work Engagement

Objective According to the theory of work craving, a workaholic has a craving for self-worth compensatory incentives and an expectation of relief from negative affect experienced through neurotic perfectionism and an obsessive-compulsive style of working. Research has shown that workaholism and work engagement should be considered as two distinct work styles with different health consequences. However, the mechanisms underlying the adoption of these work styles have been neglected. The present study proposes that work craving and work engagement are differentially associated with self-regulatory competencies and health. In particular, we expected that the working styles mediate the relationships between emotional self-regulation and health. Methods: In the cross-sectional study, 469 teachers from German schools completed online administered questionnaires. By means of structural equation modeling, we tested two indirect paths: a) from self-relaxation deficits via work craving to poor health and b) from self-motivation competencies via work engagement to good health. Results As expected, we found evidence that a) the negative relationship of self-relaxation deficits on health was partially mediated by work craving and b) the positive relationship of self-motivation competencies on health was partially mediated by work engagement. Conclusions The present study emphasizes the importance of self-regulation competencies for healthy or unhealthy work styles. Whereas work craving was associated with a low ability to down-regulate negative emotions and poor health, work engagement was associated with a high ability to up-regulate positive emotions and good health.

You Are Not Alone Relatedness Reduces Adverse Effects of State Orientation on Well-Being Under Stress

A low ability to self-regulate emotions (state orientation) is associated with reduced well-being—especially under stress. Until now, research has approached this topic from an asocial perspective that views the self as devoid from relatedness concerns. However, people are social creatures who benefit from their relationships with others. As such, we expected that personally valuing (Study 1) and experimentally priming (Study 2) a sense of relatedness with others would act as a buffer against stress-related impairments in state-oriented individuals. In Study 1, high (vs. low) benevolence values removed the adverse effect of state orientation on well-being found under stressful life circumstances. In Study 2, focusing on similarities (vs. differences) while comparing oneself with a friend removed the adverse effect of state orientation on recovery from a negative mood induction. Our findings suggest that individuals with low self-regulatory competencies may profit from valuing and directing their attention toward their relatedness with others.

The Effects of Social Exclusion on Play Experience and Hostile Cognitions in Digital Games

The social nature of multiplayer games provides compelling play experiences that are dynamic, unpredictable, and satisfying; however, playing digital games with others can result in feeling socially excluded. There are several known harmful effects of ostracism, including on cognition and the interpretation of social information. To investigate the effects of social exclusion in the context of a multiplayer game, we developed and validated a social exclusion paradigm that we embedded in an online game. Called Operator Challenge, our paradigm influenced feelings of social exclusion and access to hostile cognitions (measured through a word-completion task). In addition, the degree of experienced belonging predicted player enjoyment, effort, and the number of hostile words completed; however, the experience measures did not mediate the relationship between belonging and access to hostile cognitions. Our work facilitates understanding the causes and effects of exclusion, which is important for the study of player experience in multiplayer games.

Motivation und Gesundheit

Zusammenfassung. Die Befriedigung grundlegender psychischer Bedurfnisse ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung fur subjektives Wohlbefinden und psychische Gesundheit. In der Theorie der Personlichkeits-System-Interaktionen (PSI) wird angenommen, dass negativer Affekt den Zugriff auf integrierte Reprasentationen von eigenen Bedurfnissen und Handlungsoptionen reduziert, wenn Personen negativen Affekt nicht selbstgesteuert herabregulieren konnen (d.h. lageorientiert sind). Eine lageorientierte Perseveration negativen Affektes sollte daher die Wahrnehmung und Umsetzung eigener Bedurfnisse erschweren und zu einer Frustration eigener Bedurfnisse fuhren. Diese Bedurfnisfrustration wird als tiefgreifender Stressfaktor angesehen, der den Zusammenhang zwischen Selbststeuerungsdefiziten und psychosomatischen Symptomen vermitteln kann. In einer Untersuchung an N = 53 Probanden zeigte sich erwartungsgemas ein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen Lageorientierung und Bedurfnisfrustration. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Lageorientie...

Does achievement motivation mediate the semantic achievement priming effect

The aim of our research was to understand the processes of the prime-to-behavior effects with semantic achievement primes. We extended existing models with a perspective from achievement motivation theory and additionally used achievement primes embedded in the running text of excerpts of school textbooks to simulate a more natural priming condition. Specifically, we proposed that achievement primes affect implicit achievement motivation and conducted pilot experiments and 3 main experiments to explore this proposition. We found no reliable positive effect of achievement primes on implicit achievement motivation. In light of these findings, we tested whether explicit (instead of implicit) achievement motivation is affected by achievement primes and found this to be the case. In the final experiment, we found support for the assumption that higher explicit achievement motivation implies that achievement priming affects the outcome expectations. The implications of the results are discussed, and we conclude that primes affect achievement behavior by heightening explicit achievement motivation and outcome expectancies.