Regulatory Flexibility and Metacognition in Self-Control

With Sebastian Bürgler, University of Zurich
With Veronika Brandstätter, University of Zurich
With Rick Hoyle, Duke University

Self-control conflicts are conflicts in which a person has to initiate or persist in an aversive task or resist a temptation in order to reach personal goals. To accomplish this, people can use a wide variety of self-control strategies (such as thinking about the positive or negative consequences, enriching the task with something pleasant, set specific goals and many more). In this context, is flexibility in the use of strategies important for successfully resolving self-control conflicts? Specifically, three components of flexibility are of interest: The context-sensitive selection of a strategy, the repertoire of different strategies a person uses, and the monitoring of feedback regarding the efficacy of a chosen strategy. In addition, we are interested in metacognition in the service of self-control. How do people plan their behavior to avoid self-control conflicts? Do they know their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to self-control? And what are the antecedents and the consequences of these metacognitive processes?

Measuring Goals – Analysis of Current Practices and Development of a New Measure

With Korbinian Kiendl

Goals represent a central construct in the analysis of human motivation. How people appraise different goal dimensions like difficulty or importance has substantial influence on goal attainment and well-being. Nevertheless, there is disagreement about how goal dimensions should be measured. By literature review, we found goal dimensions being measured with up to 52 different item wordings, while some wordings were used for measuring several goal dimensions. This diversity of measures hinders the comparability of study results. Within the framework of our research project we want to get an overview about current measurement practices and derive solutions for a more standardized assessment of goals. Based upon this we will develop a new measurement instrument.

Intraindividual Variability of Approach and Avoidance Motivation

With Veronika Brandstätter, University of Zurich
With Melanie Koch, Ruhr-University Bochum
With Miriam Pfister, University of Zurich
With Andy Elliot, Rochester University
With Annette Brose, Humboldt-University of Berlin

Goals can be directed towards positive end-states (approach goals, e.g., passing an exam) or towards negative end-states (avoidance goals, e.g., not failing an exam). What are the consequences for the experience of goal-related means, that is, for the goal-directed activities (e.g., studying) whether a person´s goal is an approach goal or an avoidance goal? How can we explain intra- and interindividual differences in the extent to which a person thinks, feels, and acts in an approach- or in an avoidance motivated manner? What are antecedents and consequences of current approach and avoidance goal states in school and romantic relationships?

Consequences of Self-Control Conflicts on Thought Processes

With Pooja Kulkarni, University of Mumbai
With Johannes Koopmann, University of Siegen

What people think during a self-control conflict (e.g., about whether they are “licensed” to treat themselves to a little indulgence) likely impacts the outcome of the self-control conflict. In this project, we aim at developing a laboratory task to induce real self-control conflicts to investigate these and other thought processes.

Mutual Associations Between Self-Control and Affect (Regulation)

With Mario Wenzel, Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz
With Joniada Agalliu, Ruhr-University Bochum

Self-control can suffer if people experience negative feelings and prioritize emotion regulation over the pursuit of other goals. We investigate the mutual relations between affective states, self-control, and emotion regulation in an attempt to better understand conditions under which self-control and emotion regulation attempts succeed or fail.

Self-Regulation and Personality Development

With Dr. Sabrina Fuths, Ruhr-University Bochum
With Marion Spengler, Medical School Berlin

Developmental transitions like the one from school to university may be a time when a lot of personality changes happen. In this project, we investigate how demands of the transition and individual efforts to cope with these demands cause result in behavior change, habit formation, and lastly, more sustainable personality change.