Regulatory Fit Induction

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 11, 2013

Last Modified: January 06, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements the regulatory fit induction task as described by Dr. E. T. Higgins:

Higgins Lab: https://higginsweb.psych.columbia.edu/research/

From the webpage:

"Regulatory Fit One's goal orientation can be either sustained or disrupted by his or her goal pursuit strategy. Regulatory fit theory suggests that a match between one's orientation to a goal and the means used to pursue that goal produces a state of regulatory fit that:

•Creates a feeling of rightness about the goal pursuit •Increases task engagement •Intensifies responses (i.e., positive responses become more positive and negative responses become more negative) such as the value of a chosen object, persuasion, or job satisfaction.

Regulatory fit is a broad theory about the general effects of fit. Although regulatory fit consistently arises from a match between any orientation and its preferred strategy, it has been most commonly investigated using regulatory focus and regulatory mode.

Regulatory fit can be manipulated incidentally (outside the context of interest) or integrally (within the context of interest) using the regulatory fit induction."

Duration

2 minutes

Description

Participants are asked to list 1 goal and then up to 8 strategies (-> set number under VALUES->editable values) to help reach it.

Procedure

4 between participant conditions (assignment by groupnumber, participants should be blind to the condition
they are in):
Regulatory fit (prevention focus and vigilant strategy)
Regulatory non-fit (prevention focus and eager strategy)
Regulatory fit (promotion focus and eager strategy)
Regulatory non-fit (promotion focus and vigilant strategy)

Instructions

provided by Millisecond - can be edited under section Editable Instructions

Summary Data

File Name: regulatoryfitinduction_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed

Raw Data

File Name: regulatoryfitinduction_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
build Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
blockCode Name of the current block
blockNum Number of the current block
trialCode Name of the current trial
trialNum Number of the current trial
stimulusItem The presented stimuli in order of trial presentation
response The participant's response
latency The response latency (in ms); measured from: onset of trial

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
repeatStrategy Set how many strategies participants are supposed to list per goal 8