The pleasures and pains of distinct self-construals: The role of interdependence in regulatory focus

Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between self-regulatory processes tha t focus on promotion and prevention strategies for goal pursuit Five studie s provide support for the hypothesis that these strategies differ for indiv iduals with distinct self-construals. Specifically; individuals with a domi nant independent self-construal were predicted to place more emphasis on pr omotion-focused information, and those with a dominant interdependent self- construal on prevention-focused information. Support for this hypothesis wa s obtained for participants who scored high versus low on the Self-Construa l Scale, participants who were presented with an independent versus interde pendent situation, and participants from a Western versus Eastern culture. The influence of interdependence on regulatory focus was observed in both i mportance ratings of information and affective responses consistent with pr omotion or prevention focus.