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This version was published on April 1, 2007
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 4, 588-598 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167206296954

The Attractiveness of Enriched and Impoverished Options

Culture, Self-Construal, and Regulatory Focus

Yinlong Zhang

University of Texas at San Antonio,yzhang@utsa. edu.

Vikas Mittal

University of Pittsburgh

The authors propose that there is a systematic impact of a person's activated self-construal (interdependent vs. independent) on the evaluation of enriched and impoverished options. This hypothesis is tested using a cross-country comparison of participants from China and the United States (Study 1) and by priming self-construal (Study 2) and regulatory focus (Study 3). Results show that people with an independent self-construal and a promotion focus perceive enriched options as more attractive than impoverished options. Conversely, people with an interdependent self-construal and a prevention focus perceive enriched options as less attractive than impoverished options. Mediation analyses show that the effect of cultural orientation operates through self-construal. In turn, self-construal operates through activated regulatory focus. Analysis of cognitive responses shows that the effect of regulatory focus is mediated by positive/negative thoughts about option attributes.

Key Words: cultural orientation • self-construal • regulatory focus • option attractiveness


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