You have to let go sometimes: advances in understanding goal disengagement

Goal adjustment processes as coping responses to a blocked goal: the sample case of ostracism

Introduction

Recently, Rühs et al. (2022) used an adapted ostracism-paradigm to study goal adjustment processes, and goal disengagement processes (GD) in particular, as regulatory responses to goal-blocking situations such as ostracism. The present study conceptually replicates this study and extends it by inclusion of sub-personal indicators of GD in the paradigm.

Methods

The goal to belong to a newly formed group was induced in 188 participants (Induction Phase). Afterwards, blockage of this goal was experimentally manipulated via ostracism: Participants were either included or excluded from their group in a virtual ball game (Cyberball, Blockage Phase). Finally, participants worked alone on a cognitive task to give regulatory responses some time to unfold. After each phase, dependent measures were recorded (e.g., indicators of GD and well-being).

Results

Exclusion (vs. inclusion) in Cyberball lead to a decrease in subjective attainability of the belonging goal (goal blockage) and to affective-cognitive and behavioral GD (e.g., explicit devaluation of the belonging goal and the own group, behavioral deprioritization of ostracizing compared to new group members in a following game). However, ostracism had no effect on implicit group evaluation (repeated IATs showed a constant own group bias) and although excluded participants recovered from ostracism-induced impairments in emotions and needs, associations between recovery and GD indicators were mixed.

Discussion

Most of the results of Rühs et al. (2022) could be replicated. Beyond that, the present study showed divergence of personal and sub-personal indicators of cognitive-affective GD (i.e., change in explicit and implicit group evaluations). This illustrates the importance of combining personal and sub-personal perspectives in GD research. Taken together, the study contributes to a conceptual and functional clarification of GD processes and, at the same time, offers a fruitful new perspective on coping with ostracism.

Preliminary Development and Validation of the Inventory of Goals and Anti-Goals

Objective

The clinical and empirical investigation of the role of investment in goals and anti-goals is limited by the lack of an easy-to-use tool. This is critical, as psychopathology, and specifically pathological personality, is characterized by an overinvestment in goals and anti-goals, rigidity in these investments and, consequently, by a poor existential plan that generates suffering and resistance to change. To develop a preliminary version of a self-report questionnaire measuring investment levels in goals and anti-goals, described as core features of the most common psychopathological conditions. To test the factorial structure of the tool and examine preliminary data on its construct validity.

Method

The Inventory of Goals and Anti-Goals (IGAG) was developed. A total of 572 participants (Mage= 33.05 years; SD= 10.01; 61.62 % females), including community participants (n =424) and patients (n =148), was asked to complete a battery of questionnaires including the IGAG, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 and the Symptom-Checklist-90-Revised. Exploratory factor analysis, Mann-Whitney U tests and correlations were computed.

Results

Analyses identified an eight-factor structure and significant differences between groups on several factors. IGAG scores were largely significantly and positively correlated with the PID-5 and SCL-90-R in the expected directions.

Conclusions

The IGAG appears to be a promising instrument for both research and clinical practice. Results suggest a strong relationship between overinvestment in goals and anti-goals and psychopathology. Several limitations necessitate future modifications of its content and additional efforts for validation.

There's no such thing as a free lunch: A computational perspective on the costs of motivation

Understanding the psychological computations underlying motivation can shed light onto motivational constructs as emergent phenomena. According to Murayama and Jach, reward-learning is a key candidate mechanism. However, there's no such thing as a free lunch: Not only benefits (like reward), but also costs inherent to motivated behaviors (like effort, or uncertainty) are an essential part of the picture.

Individual differences in goal adjustment: convergence and divergence among three theoretical models

Introduction

Individual differences in dealing with unattainable goals or resource-consumptive goal pursuit are conceptualized as goal adjustment processes in three theoretical approaches: accommodative coping (two-process model of developmental regulation), compensatory secondary coping (motivational theory of life-span development), and goal disengagement and goal reengagement (goal adjustment theory). The aim of this paper is to conceptually and empirically analyze convergences and divergences between the three approaches as well as their relationship with indicators of well-being and their intersections with cognitive emotion regulation.

Methods

The empirical study is based on a cross-sectional online survey (N = 433; M = 28.9 years, SD = 8.4 years; 50% female).

Results

The conceptual analysis yields clear convergences, but also differences. Empirically, clear but partially non-redundant relationships between the concepts are found in structural equation models. Accommodative coping showed the strongest correlations with measures of well-being and cognitive emotion regulation. When all goal adjustment measures are included simultaneously as predictors of well-being, accommodation remains as the strongest predictor (and partly goal reengagement as well), while goal disengagement shows opposing relationships with most measures of well-being.

Discussion

We discuss the lessons learnt from these findings and conclude by proposing future avenues to examine goal adjustment processes.

Commentary: Engage or disengage? Interpretations from a resource conservation perspective

In this commentary, I discuss the eight empirical contributions to the Motivation and Emotion special issue on goal disengagement from a resource conservation perspective. This process was not in the focus of the reported studies, but is central for understanding both engaging and disengaging. I will outline that many of the new findings on disengagement reported in this special issue are highly compatible with the predictions of and research on motivational intensity theory. Examples are the roles of commitment, subjective goal value, affective experiences, autonomy, self-awareness, and action planning. These variables have been found to be central for both engagement and disengagement and their consideration in a resource mobilization perspective should contribute to a more complete understanding of “letting go”.