__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *REGULATORY FOCUS STRENGTH MEASURE* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software LLC Date: 12-05-2012 last updated: 02-28-2022 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com) for Millisecond Software, LLC Script Copyright © 02-28-2022 Millisecond Software ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND INFO ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This Inquisit script implements the regulatory focus strength measure developed by Higgins, E. T., Shah, J., & Friedman, R. (1997). Emotional responses to goal attainment: Strength of regulatory focus as moderator. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 515-525. Higgins Lab: http://higginsweb.psych.columbia.edu/research/ From the webpage: "Regulatory focus theory posits two separate and independent self-regulatory orientations, both fundamentally related to value motivation (i.e., achieving desired end-states): Prevention [...], Promotion [...]. Regulatory focus is a state that can differ across individuals (chronic regulatory focus) and situations (momentary regulatory focus). The regulatory focus strength measure and regulatory focus questionnaire measure chronic regulatory focus. Momentary regulatory focus can be primed or induced using the regulatory focus induction." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ TASK DESCRIPTION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Description from http://higginsweb.psych.columbia.edu/research/: "Self-guide Strength Measure: Participants are asked to list, one at a time, four attributes they would ideally like to possess and four attributes they believe they ought to possess, in a seemingly random order—specifically, one ideal, two oughts, one ideal, one ought, two ideals, and one ought. After providing each ideal attribute, participants are asked to respond to the following two items: (1) "For the last attribute, rate the extent to which you would IDEALLY LIKE TO possess the attribute (from 1-4)." (2) "For the last attribute, rate the extent to which you believe you ACTUALLY possess the attribute (from 1-4)." After providing each ought attribute, participants are asked to respond to the following two items: (1) "For the last attribute, rate the extent to which you believe you OUGHT TO possess the attribute (from 1-4)." (2) "For the last attribute, rate the extent to which you believe you ACTUALLY possess the attribute (from 1-4)." The computer records participants’ (1) responses (both attributes and ratings) and (2) response latencies for attributes and ratings. Thus, three latencies are recorded for each attribute—time for typing attribute, time for ideal/ought rating, and time for actual rating. Only the first three ideals and the first three oughts are used in computed ideal and ought strength. To calculate ideal and ought strength, log-transform the reaction times. Sum them separately for ideals and oughts. Multiply these two totals by –1, so that higher numbers indicate greater strength/accessibility (i.e., shorter response times). Always control for the opposite focus in any analyses." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DURATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the default set-up of the script takes appr. 5 minutes to complete ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DATA FILE INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The default data stored in the data files are: (1) Raw data file: 'regulatoryfocusstrength_raw*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) build: The specific Inquisit version used (the 'build') that was run computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android) date, time: date and time script was run subject, group: with the current subject/groupnumber session: with the current session id blockcode, blocknum: the name and number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) trialcode, trialnum: the name and number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) Note: trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run; even those that do not store data to the data file such as feedback trials. Thus, trialnum may not reflect the number of main trials run per block. count_total/count_ideal/count_ought: counts ideal/ought/all attributes keyword: depending on condition, either 'HOPE' or 'OUGHT' response: the participant's response latency: the response latency in ms (built-in variable) RT: the response latency in ms (custom variable); in the case of openended responses it is the firstcharlatency (= first character is entered) values.log_rt: log (log10) transform of the latency (stored in RT) (2) Summary data file: 'regulatoryfocusstrength_summary*.iqdat' (a separate file for each participant) inquisit.version: Inquisit version run computer.platform: the platform the script was run on (win/mac/ios/android) startDate: date script was run startTime: time script was started subjectid: assigned subject id number groupid: assigned group id number sessionid: assigned session id number elapsedTime: time it took to run script (in ms); measured from onset to offset of script completed: 0 = script was not completed (prematurely aborted); 1 = script was completed (all conditions run) attribute_storage: contains all attributes (as well as 'I' and 'O' to indicate the condition in which the word was typed in) count_total/count_ideal/count_ought: counts ideal/ought/all attributes sum_selfdiscrepancymeasure_ideal13: sum of the first three Ideal-is discrepancy measures (Ideal minus actual rating) sum_selfdiscrepancymeasure_ought13: sum of the first three Ought-is discrepancy measures (Ought minus actual rating) sum_selfdiscrepancymeasure_ideal: sum of ALL Ideal-is discrepancy measures sum_selfdiscrepancymeasure_ought: sum of ALL Ought-is discrepancy measures mean_selfdiscrepancy_ideal13- mean_selfdiscrepancy_ought: mean self-discrepancy ratings for Ideal and Ought (13 = only item 1 to 3) sum_ideal13_logRT sum_ought13_logRT: sum of the log transformed latencies for ideal/ought trial sequences for first three measures sum_ideal_logRT sum_ought_logRT: sum of the log transformed latencies for ALL ideal/ought trial sequences + converted scores (multiplied by -1) mean_logRT_ideal13/mean_logRT_ought13: Mean log latencies of the first three IdealOught measures mean_logRT_ideal/mean_logRT_ought: Mean log latencies of all IdealOught measures ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This script provides the basic building blocks to run trial sequences for IDEAL trials and OUGHT trials. The default is to run the following 8 sequences: 1 I, 2 O, 1 I, 1, O, 2 I, 1 O (see note above) If a different sequences or a different number of trial sequences should be run, go to section BLOCKS -> block.RegulatoryFocus and follow instructions Trial Sequences: trial sequences for IDEAL/OUGHT condition start with a) openended question for attribute b) check if that attribute is a repeat (only works if the same spelling of word is used) c) if new attribute: rating for hope to possess/ought to posses (if repeat attribute, back to a) d) rating for is states ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions are not original to the task. They are provided by Millisecond Software as htm/html pages and can be edited by changing the provided htm/html files. To edit htm/html-files: open the respective documents in simple Text Editors such as TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ EDITABLE CODE ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ check below for (relatively) easily editable parameters, stimuli, instructions etc. Keep in mind that you can use this script as a template and therefore always "mess" with the entire code to further customize your experiment. The parameters you can change are: /color_ideal/color_ought: colors in which the words 'HOPE TO BE'/'OUGHT TO BE' are printed in the instructions