We hypothesize that there is a general bias, based on both innatepredispositions and experience, in animals and humans, to give greater weight to negative entities (e.g., events, objects, personal traits). This is manifested in 4 ways: (a) negative potency (negative entities are stronger than the equivalent positive entities), (b) steeper negative gradients (the negativity of negative events grows more rapidly with approach to them in...

Researchers have obtained conflicting results about the role of prosocial motivation in persistence, performance, and productivity. To resolve this discrepancy, I draw on self-determination theory, proposing that prosocial motivation is most likely to predict these outcomes when it is accompanied by intrinsic motivation. Two field studies support the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation moderates the association between prosocial motivation and persistence, performance, and productivity. In Study...

We tested the hypothesis that employees are willing to maintain their motivation when their work is relationally designed to provide opportunities for respectful contact with the beneficiaries of their efforts. In Experiment 1, a longitudinal field experiment in a fundraising organization, callers in an intervention group briefly interacted with a beneficiary; callers in two control groups read a letter from the beneficiary and discussed it...

Being happy and finding life meaningful overlap, but there are important differences. A large survey revealed multiple differing predictors of happiness (controlling for meaning) and meaningfulness (controlling for happiness). Satisfying one’s needs and wants increased happiness but was largely irrelevant to meaningfulness. Happiness was largely present oriented, whereas meaningfulness involves integrating past, present, and future. For example, thinking about future and past was associated with...

This study explored the effects of layoffs on survivors. We assessed subjects' work performance as a function of whether a co-worker had been laid off and the circumstances of that layoff. Consistent with equity theory, subjects worked harder when they believed that a co-worker's dismissal was based on a random process rather than on the relative merits of their and their co-worker's prior performance. Data...

Based on a model of bereavement guilt developed by the investigators, this study assessed the frequency of guilt feelings, explored their sources, and compared the guilt experiences of parents whose children died by different modes–suicide, accident, and chronic disease. Of the 132 parents who participated in the study: sixty-two experienced a child's death by suicide; thirty-two by an accident; and thirty-eight by a chronic disease....

Venture creation generates value in a variety of forms both for the entrepreneur him or her-self and the venture's stakeholders. Recent research explores entrepreneurial action as a vehicle for personal transformation and development for the individual, especially as it pertains to overcoming adversity. We build on this emerging literature by exploring victims creating new ventures in the aftermath of a disaster event, where widespread adversity...

Is healing possible at the end of life? Answering "yes," this paper argues that the achievement of holistically conceived health-related goals that patients value is an important dimension of the phenomena of healing and that such achievements are possible at the end of life, especially if hope is adroitly managed. Conceiving of hope: (1) as a set of goal-directed cognitive processes that influence and are...

The relationship between possible selves and delinquency is explored. In this study, 238 youths between the ages of 13–16 who varied in the degree of their delinquency were asked to describe their possible selves. Although many similarities were found among their hoped-for selves, the groups of youth differed markedly in the nature of their expected and feared selves. The balance between expected possible selves and...

The relationship between possible selves, depression, and coping styles was examined. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Possible Selves Questionnaire (PSQ), and the Coping Skills Inventory (CSI) were administered to university students. The results revealed significant relationships between scores on the BDI and scores on the positive possible selves scale of the PSQ and between the negative possible selves scores and the BDI. The depressed...