Open Collections

Abstract

The distinction between approach and avoidance is widely used in psychological and behavioural science. Approach motivation is associated with ‘thriving’ goal experiences with a focus on positive gains, whereas avoidance motivation is associated with ‘distressing’ goal experiences with concerns about negative threats. This dissertation seeks to disentangle the everyday mechanisms underlying approach and avoidance motivation in goal pursuit, which are often attributed to evolutionary processes. Rather than assuming inherent motivational systems, I examine how different motivational elements (e.g., motivational concerns, emotions, goal pursuit) function both independently and interactively to maximize regulatory fit across diverse contextual circumstances. For this purpose, daily life assessments capturing everyday goal pursuit are used with samples spanning the adult lifespan into old age from two cultural contexts (South Korea and Canada). In Manuscript 1, I examine how different goal representations (i.e., hoped-for vs. feared goals) shape emotional experiences during goal pursuit among community-dwelling older adults. Results show that stronger hoped-for goal representations were associated with greater everyday goal pursuit in the presence of more intense positive emotions, whereas stronger feared goal representations were linked to less reduced everyday goal pursuit in the presence of elevated negative emotions for the most salient goal. In Manuscript 2, I extend the findings from Manuscript 1 by investigating both inter- and intraindividual associations between regulatory goal focus (i.e., promotion vs. prevention) and emotions in daily life. Results show that stronger promotion focus (specifically, gain focus) was associated with greater cheerfulness, and stronger prevention focus (specifically, loss focus) was associated with greater agitation both at the within- and between-person levels. In Manuscript 3, I examine various implications of regulatory focus for goal engagement and well-being across two cultural contexts. Findings point to regulatory fit effects in goal engagement: a stronger promotion focus was associated with greater daily goal pursuit in Canada whereas a stronger loss focus was associated with less reduced goal pursuit in Korea. There was limited evidence of regulatory fit effects for well-being. Through these empirical projects, this dissertation highlights the role of human agency and sociocultural context in shaping motivational processes in daily life.