Regulatory focus and the Michelangelo Phenomenon: How close partners promote one another's ideal selves

a r t i c l e i n f o This work examines the consequences of regulatory focus in the context of the Michelangelo phenomenon, a process whereby interaction partners shape one another's goal pursuits. We advanced predictions regarding the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of target and partner promotion orientation using the concepts of target-goal congruence, partner-goal congruence, and interpersonal match. We used data from four complementary measurement methods—self-report questionnaires, daily diary records, partners' ratings of ideal-relevant interaction behaviors, and coders' ratings of interaction behaviors—and using both target-and partner-reports of model criteria. Consistent with predictions, (a) target promotion orientation is associated with the elicitation of partner affirmation, (b) partner promotion orientation is associated with the display of partner affirmation, and (c) partner affirmation partially mediates the associations of target and partner promotion orientation with target movement toward the ideal self. We also examine the motivational, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms that account for these associations. People have hopes, dreams, and aspirations, or mental representations of the skills and traits that they would ideally like to acquire. Ideal self representations shape cognition, emotion, and motivation, such that people dedicate considerable effort to the goal of bringing the actual self into closer alignment with the ideal self (Higgins, 1987). Success at goal pursuit rests on diverse individual-level attributes, including insight, ability, and motivation. But such intrapersonal processes do not tell the whole story, in that people do not pursue goals in social isolation. Goal pursuit also rests on interpersonal processes, the most prominent theory of which is the Michelangelo phenomenon, a model of the process whereby interaction partners shape one another's ideal goal pursuits (Rusbult, Kumashiro, Stocker, & Wolf, 2005). To date, we know a good deal about individual-level elements of goal pursuit. The sizeable intrapersonal literature has examined such phenomena as the nonconscious activation of goals, goal attainment and emotional experiences, and the association of strategic inclinations with decision making and creativity (e. & Friedman, 1997). In this tradition, regulatory focus theory highlights the distinction between promotion and prevention orientation— whether people are attuned to that which they ideally wish to become versus that which they believe they ought to become (Higgins, 1998). Unfortunately, we know far less about the interpersonal elements of goal pursuit. The handful of extant studies has examined nonconscious mimicry, the association of significant other representations with goals and goal pursuits, and how close partners may promote …