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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

Regulatory focus in predictions about others.

Karl-Andrew Woltin¹, Vincent Yzerbyt²

¹Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, Brussels, Belgium University of London, Egham, UK Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK karl-andrew.woltin@rhul.ac.uk.

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin

|January 11, 2015

Summary

People project their own regulatory focus (promotion or prevention) onto others when predicting their choices and inclinations. This social projection is constrained by gender stereotypes and knowledge about the target individual.

Keywords:

egocentrism person perception projection regulatory focus social judgment

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Economics

Background:

Social projection describes the tendency to assume others share our own attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between promotion focus (advancing goals) and prevention focus (avoiding losses).

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether individuals' chronic or induced regulatory focus influences their predictions about others' strategic inclinations and choices.
To examine boundary conditions of social projection in regulatory focus, specifically gender stereotypes and target knowledge.

Main Methods:

Four studies utilized experimental designs to manipulate regulatory focus (chronic and induced).
Participants made predictions about others' strategic inclinations and choices between different options.
Boundary conditions, including gender stereotypes and target knowledge, were manipulated to test mediation and moderation effects.

Main Results:

Regulatory focus significantly shaped predictions of others' promotion or prevention strategies and choices.
Social projection of regulatory focus was limited when it conflicted with gender stereotypes or when specific target knowledge was available.
Effects were not mediated by mood, judgment certainty, or task characteristics.

Conclusions:

Individuals often project their own regulatory focus onto others, influencing social perception and judgment.
Social projection is not a universal process and is moderated by social-cognitive factors like stereotypes and individual knowledge.
Findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms and limitations of social projection in interpersonal contexts.