The Affective Self-regulation of Covert and Overt Reasoning in a Promotion vs. Prevention Mind-set

The main hypothesis of studies presented in this article is that episodic implicit evaluations (affects) toward task-relevant objects determine thinking and decisions by actively placing them within or outside the scope of attention. In these studies we also aimed to test the impact of regulatory focus on implicit evaluations and goal pursuit. We applied the Promotion-Prevention Self-control Scale as a measure of mind-set during thinking in the Wason Selection Task (WST) in Study 1 and Island Decision Game (IDG) in Study 2. Directly after learning of the tasks, participants evaluated (in affective priming paradigm) objects that constituted the task’s content. The findings are in line with the hypothesis stating that goals influence the way in which objects are automatically evaluated. The effects of promotion mind-set were more pronounced in both studies. Promotion-focused individuals positively assessed objects that serve as a confirmation. The implicit evaluations by prevention-oriented individuals disclosed their falsifying approach to the WST. The positive implicit evaluation of correct objects suggests their sensitivity to information useful for falsification and is consistent with their tendency to cautiously self-control thinking.