Regulatory Focus in the Life Story: Prevention and Promotion as Expressed in Three Layers of Personality

Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997) outlines the ways in which people attempt to achieve the presence of positive outcomes (promotion) or preserve the absence of negative outcomes (prevention), suggesting that individuals may differ in chronic orientations. The present work examines regulatory outlooks within a multilayered model of personality composed of dispositional traits, characteristic goals, and life stories (narrative identity). Foregrounding the concept of narrative identity, the current study investigates how narrative themes of prevention and promotion relate to regulatory focus as expressed in dispositional traits and characteristic goals and explores the relative contribution of each layer of personality to psychological well-being and physical health. The findings suggest that dispositional traits, personal goals, and life narratives cohere loosely around the central themes of prevention and promotion. Moreover, promotion focus across layers of personality was related to higher levels of self-reported quality of life, compared to prevention focus. Illustrating the incremental validity of different layers of personality, promotion focus in life stories independently predicted psychological health above and beyond promotion focus in dispositional traits.