Expectations and experiences of screen time, social interaction, and solitude.

The current research examined how people forecast and experience screen time, social interaction, and solitude. When participants could freely use their smartphone, they forecasted (Study 1) and experienced (Study 2) better mood for face-to-face conversation, but worse mood for sitting alone. When participants were instructed to engage in specific screen time activities, they forecasted (Study 3) and experienced (Study 4) the best mood after watching television; followed by conversation, texting, and browsing social media (no difference); then sitting alone. Although participants in Studies 1 and 2 ranked conversation as their most preferred activity, participants in Studies 3 and 4 ranked it below television and texting, even though conversation improved mood compared to baseline (Study 4). These findings suggest that people may use their smartphones because they enable them to escape the unpleasant experience of being alone, or because they do not recognize or prioritize the mood benefits of social interaction.

Support-Giving Is Associated With Lower Systemic Inflammation.

BACKGROUND: Support-giving has emerged as a health-relevant social behavior, such that giving more support is associated with better physical health. However, biological mechanisms by which support-giving and health are linked remain unclear. Whether support-giving uniquely relates to health relative to other psychosocial factors is also an open research question. PURPOSE: Two studies test the hypothesis that support-giving is uniquely (over-and-above other psychosocial factors) related to lower systemic inflammation, a biological correlate of health. METHODS: Cross-sectional associations of support-giving with markers of systemic inflammation (i.e., interleukin-6 [IL-6], C-reactive protein [CRP]) were examined in two independent samples of midlife adults (Study 1, n = 746; Study 2, n = 350). RESULTS: Consistent with hypotheses, giving to more social targets (to family and friends, and also volunteering for various causes), but not receiving support from similar targets, was associated with lower IL-6. In conceptual replication and extension with a different measure of support-giving, higher frequency of support-giving behavior was associated with lower IL-6, even after adjusting for social network size and individual differences in social desirability. There were no associations between support-giving and CRP in either sample. CONCLUSIONS: Future research needs to establish causality and directly test mechanistic pathways, but together, findings reaffirm the health-relevance of support-giving behavior and shed light on a promising biological mechanism by which such effects may occur.

Support-giving behavior and health are linked such that more support-giving is related to better health and longevity for the person giving. How such a link occurs, however, is an open question for research. Two cross-sectional studies test the hypothesis that support-giving behavior relates to lower systemic inflammation, a potential biological pathway linking supportive behavior with health. Results of Study 1 show that giving to more social targets (to family and friends, and also volunteering) is associated with lower inflammation. Receiving support was not associated with inflammation. In a replication and extension, Study 2 shows that a greater frequency of giving is also related to lower systemic inflammation, over and above the size of one's social network and individual differences in reporting socially desirable responses. Although more research is needed to establish whether support-giving causes systemic inflammation to change, the current findings highlight a promising pathway by which support-giving behavior benefits health.

Interested and Instrumental: An Examination of Instrumentality Regulation With Potential Romantic Partners.

Instrumentality-the extent to which one facilitates another person's goal progress-has been described as the Rosetta Stone of attraction, and promotes closeness in ongoing relationships. Yet prior work has not examined whether people might regulate their instrumentality in contexts in which they desire (vs. do not desire) attraction or closeness with others. Four studies, employing imagined online scenario and in-lab experimental paradigms, examined whether people strive to be more instrumental to potential romantic partners (targets) under conditions that lead them to be more (vs. less) romantically interested in those targets. Single participants were more romantically interested in romantically available versus unavailable targets, which in turn, was associated with greater willingness to be instrumental. Results for romantically involved participants were less consistent. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Self-Expression While Drinking Alcohol: Alcohol Influences Personality Expression During First Impressions.

People are motivated to be perceived both positively and accurately and, therefore, approach social settings and adopt means that allow them to reach these goals. We investigated whether alcohol consumption helps or hinders the positivity and accuracy of social impressions using a thin-slicing paradigm to better understand the effects of alcohol in social settings and the influence of alcohol on self-expression. These possibilities were tested in a sample of 720 participants randomly assigned to consume an alcohol, placebo, or control beverage while engaged in conversation in three-person groups. We found support for the hypothesis that alcohol (compared with placebo or control) increased the positivity of observers' personality expression, but did not find support for the hypothesis that alcohol increased the accuracy of personality expression. These findings contribute to our understanding of the social consequences of alcohol consumption, shedding new light on the interpersonal benefits that alcohol can foster.

Patient-provider care goal concordance: implications for palliative care decisions.

Objective: Goal-concordant care is an important feature of high quality medical treatment. Patients' care goals may focus on curative and/or palliative outcomes. Patients rarely communicate their care goals, and providers' predictions of patient goals are often inaccurate, corresponding most closely to their own treatment goals. This projection of own goals onto patients introduces the potential for bias, leading to goal-discordant care. Design and Main Outcomes: We examined goal discordance using data from a U.S. sample of healthcare providers (N = 492) recruited online in 2017 using GfK Knowledge Panel. Providers reported their perceptions of their patients' care goals (curative relative to palliative), their own care goals if they were to become ill, and their willingness to deliver palliative care. Results: For 28% of providers, their own care goals differed from their patients'. Providers were more likely to prioritise palliative care (relative to curative) in their own goals than in their predictions about patients' goals. Providers were more willing to deliver palliative care when their own goals prioritised more palliative relative to curative care, but their perceptions of patient goals were unassociated with willingness to provide it. Conclusions: Efforts to improve goal communication and reduce projection biases among providers may facilitate goal-concordant care.

Parent Instrumentality for Adolescent Eating and Activity.

BACKGROUND: Parent-adolescent interactions have health implications for adolescents. Parents can be instrumental to healthy eating by purchasing fruits and vegetables or refraining from purchasing hedonic (low nutrient, high energy-dense) foods. Parents can be instrumental to healthy activity by modeling exercise behavior or discouraging sedentary activities. PURPOSE: This research leverages theory on goal pursuit within relationships to investigate whether parents are instrumental to adolescents' eating and activity. METHODS: Using a national sample of 1,556 parent-adolescent dyads, we conducted dyadic analyses to examine whether parent instrumentality (both parent-perceived and adolescent-perceived) for healthy behaviors was associated with adolescent engagement in those behaviors. We examined whether the link between parent instrumentality and adolescent BMI was mediated by parent instrumentality. We also explored whether parent instrumentality was associated with parent behaviors and parent BMI. RESULTS: Greater adolescent-perceived parent instrumentality was associated with greater fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity, and lower sedentariness. Parent-perceived parent instrumentality was associated with greater adolescent fruit and vegetable consumption, less hedonic eating, and more activity. Mediation modeling suggests that adolescent BMI is partially attributable to parent instrumentality for activity. Instrumental parents also engage in healthier behaviors, some of which in turn are associated with lower parent BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Findings have implications for the promotion of healthy eating and activity patterns among adolescents. Parental instrumentality for behavior may be an important target for interventions to improve adolescent health, and interventions may be most successful in facilitating adolescent behavior change if they target both parent- and adolescent-perceived parent instrumentality.

Cigarette tax rates, behavioral disengagement, and quit ratios among daily smokers.

Cigarette taxation is an economics-based policy associated with increased population-level quit ratios. However, the estimated effects of tax increase on smoking behavior vary substantially, underscoring the need to identify moderating variables. We examined whether behavioral disengagement - the tendency to abandon goals when experiencing stress - modified the association between cigarette taxes and daily smoking behavior. We connected state-level cigarette tax rate data with individual-level behavioral data, including a national sample of 725 US adults who smoked daily at baseline and reported follow-up data approximately 10 years later, and 376 who were resampled a third time after another 10 years. Analyses involved multilevel logistic regression (with time as a nested variable and anonymized state codes as a grouping variable), where current smoking status (dichotomous) was regressed on behavioral disengagement, state-level cigarette tax at baseline and current time, and the interaction between disengagement and current tax. Consistent with hypotheses, tax rate interacted with disengagement (OR=0.95, 95% CI=0.90,0.99, p=.0255): Among those one SD above the mean for disengagement, tax rate was unassociated with quit ratio (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.85,1.16, p=.6975). However, among those one SD below the mean, tax rate was significantly associated with higher quit ratio (OR=1.22, 95% CI=1.04,1.43, p=.0163). Our data suggest the possibility that cigarette taxes may be more effective in facilitating cessation among smokers low in behavioral disengagement or when accompanied by interventions that reduce stress or maintain goal pursuit. Identifying psychological moderators of policy effectiveness holds promise for improving policy design and targeting.

Effects of Emotion on Medical Decisions Involving Tradeoffs.

Risk perceptions for a disease can motivate use of medications that reduce disease risk. However, these medications are often accompanied by elevated risks for other adverse health effects, and perceived risk of these side effects may also influence decisions. Emotions experienced at the time of a decision influence risk judgments and decision making, and they may be important to examine in these tradeoff contexts. This study examined the effect of experimentally induced fear and anger on risk perceptions and willingness to use a hypothetical medical treatment that attenuates risk of one condition but increases the risk for another. Participants ( N = 1948) completed an induction of fear, anger, or neutral emotion and then read about a hypothetical medication that reduced risk for one health condition but increased risk for another, and they indicated their willingness to use it. Deliberative, experiential, and affective risk perceptions about both health conditions were measured, conditional on taking and not taking the medication. Fear condition participants were more willing to take the medication than those in the neutral condition (ß = 0.14; P = 0.009; 95% confidence interval, 0.036-0.25). Fear also increased deliberative, experiential, and affective risk when conditioned on not using the medication, Ps < 0.05. In contrast, anger did not influence willingness to use the medication ( P = 0.22) and increased deliberative and affective risk of side effects when conditioned on using the medication ( P < 0.05). As one of the first studies to examine how emotion influences tradeoff decision making, these findings extend our understanding of how fear and anger influence such decisions.

Personal failure makes society seem fonder: An inquiry into the roots of social interdependence.

A universal consideration among people concerns the relative premium placed on social interdependence relative to self-reliant independence. While interdependence requires submission to social constraints, it also offers empowerment through coalition. While independence fosters freedom, it also imposes individual responsibility for attained outcomes whether good or bad. In four studies we obtain the first direct evidence that failure prompts a shift toward interdependence. Implications are discussed for conditions under which people are driven to collective action.

People as Means to Multiple Goals: Implications for Interpersonal Relationships.

The present research examines the implications of having relationship partners who serve as means to multiple goals. Specifically, we test the hypotheses that (a) partners who serve more goals will be evaluated as more interpersonally close, supportive, and responsive than those who serve fewer goals, and (b) partners who serve more goals will be less common in social networks than those who serve fewer goals. Three studies ( N = 1,064) found consistent support for these hypotheses while examining relationships with all members of participants' active social network and their full range of goal pursuits. In addition, we found that the association between number of goals a partner serves and relationship evaluation is stronger for people who perceived their social networks as less (vs. more) instrumental on average, and among people who perceived their relationships as less close, less supportive, and less responsive, on average. Implications for close relationships are discussed.

A People-as-Means Approach to Interpersonal Relationships.

Interpersonal relationships and goal pursuit are intimately interconnected. In the present article, we present a people-as-means perspective on relationships. According to this perspective, people serve as means to goals-helping other people to reach their goals in a variety of ways, such as by contributing their time; lending their knowledge, skills, and resources; and providing emotional support and encouragement. Because people serve as means to goals, we propose that considering relationship processes in terms of the principles of goal pursuit can provide novel and important insights into the ways that people think, feel, and behave in these interpersonal contexts. We describe the principles of means-goals relations, review evidence for each principle involving people as means, and discuss implications of our approach for relationship formation, maintenance, and dissolution.

Self-Expression on Social Media: Do Tweets Present Accurate and Positive Portraits of Impulsivity, Self-Esteem, and Attachment Style?

Self-expression values are at an all-time high, and people are increasingly relying upon social media platforms to express themselves positively and accurately. We examined whether self-expression on the social media platform Twitter elicits positive and accurate social perceptions. Eleven perceivers rated 128 individuals (targets; total dyadic impressions = 1,408) on their impulsivity, self-esteem, and attachment style, based solely on the information provided in targets' 10 most recent tweets. Targets were on average perceived normatively and with distinctive self-other agreement, indicating both positive and accurate social perceptions. There were also individual differences in how positively and accurately targets were perceived, which exploratory analyses indicated may be partially driven by differential word usage, such as the use of positive emotion words and self- versus other-focus. This study demonstrates that self-expression on social media can elicit both positive and accurate perceptions and begins to shed light on how to curate such perceptions.

Attachment and Self-Regulation.

Close relationships and self-regulation are inextricably intertwined, yet many of the details regarding how interpersonal processes influence self-regulation are not well understood. To gain a better understanding of this link, we investigated the association between attachment styles and self-regulatory mode orientations. According to regulatory mode theory, locomotors are concerned with initiating goal-directed movement, whereas assessors are concerned with appraising potential means and goals. We predicted that the presence of an attachment figure with whom one has an anxious attachment would be associated with higher assessment tendencies. In addition, we predicted that the presence of an attachment figure with whom one has an avoidant attachment would be associated with lower locomotion tendencies. Five studies ( N = 1,434) supported our predictions, and demonstrated that attachment styles and self-regulatory mode orientations covary across interaction partners.

On the Nature of Objectification: Implications of Considering People as Means to Goals.

People are objectified when they are treated as a means to a goal. The most common example is when women are sexually objectified and reduced to their physical appearance, sexuality, or individual body parts. In such instances, people are used in the same way as objects and are evaluated according to their instrumentality to the others' goals. The aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of objectification. We will (a) outline basic principles of means-goal relations during goal pursuit, (b) review research in which people are means to goals, (c) explain objectification according to a means-goal psychology in which people serve as means to goals, and (d) explain the implications of our account for the consequences of objectification. Specifically, we argue objectification is inevitable and that the consequences of objectification, including its morality, depend on the goal to which a person serves and whether the objectified person wants to serve that goal.

Interdependent self-construals mitigate the fear of death and augment the willingness to become a martyr.

Humans are motivated by a quest for significance that is threatened by the inevitability of death. However, individuals with interdependent self-construals, self-representations that reflect embeddedness with and connection to others, are able to extend themselves through time and space through their linkage to a larger social group. The present set of 5 experiments tested the hypotheses that individuals primed with an interdependent self-construal would fear death less and would be more willing to face harm for the sake of the group than individuals with an independent self-construal, that is, self-representations that reflect autonomy and independence from others ("I have self-control"). The results show that interdependent self-construals, compared to independent self-construals, attenuate death anxiety, reduce the avoidance of death, increase the approach to death-related stimuli, induce a greater willingness to become a martyr, and induce a greater willingness to sacrifice the self for other members of important groups.

Terrorism--a (self) love story: redirecting the significance quest can end violence.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concepts of self-love (amour propre) and love of self (amour de soi même) are applied to the psychology of terrorism. Self-love is concern with one's image in the eyes of respected others, members of one's group. It denotes one's feeling of personal significance, the sense that one's life has meaning in accordance with the values of one's society. Love of self, in contrast, is individualistic concern with self-preservation, comfort, safety, and the survival of self and loved ones. We suggest that self-love defines a motivational force that when awakened arouses the goal of a significance quest. When a group perceives itself in conflict with dangerous detractors, its ideology may prescribe violence and terrorism against the enemy as a means of significance gain that gratifies self-love concerns. This may involve sacrificing one's self-preservation goals, encapsulated in Rousseau's concept of love of self. The foregoing notions afford the integration of diverse quantitative and qualitative findings on individuals' road to terrorism and back. Understanding the significance quest and the conditions of its constructive fulfillment may be crucial to reversing the current tide of global terrorism.

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.

Prioritizing association strength versus value: the influence of self-regulatory modes on means evaluation in single goal and multigoal contexts.

Means of goal attainment are said to be multifinal when they are capable of attaining more than 1 goal at the same time. Such means have an advantage over unifinal means because they have the potential to attain greater overall value. However, they have the disadvantage (relative to unifinal means) of diluting the association between the means and each of the goals (Zhang, Fishbach, & Kruglanski, 2007). In turn,diluted association strength is often interpreted as reduced means' instrumentality. Given these tradeoffs between value (favoring a multifinal option) and instrumentality (favoring the unifinal option), the question is under what conditions 1 or the other would be selected. Based on regulatory mode theory(Higgins, Kruglanski, & Pierro, 2003; Kruglanski et al., 2000), we predicted and found in 5 experiments that individuals operating in a locomotion self-regulatory mode prefer a unifinal to multifinal means,whereas individuals operating in an assessment mode prefer multifinal to unifinal means. Implications of these findings for self-regulatory phenomena are discussed.

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.

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.