How does Conditional Regard Impact Well-being and Eagerness to Learn? An Experimental Study.

Sofie Wouters,Karine Verschueren,Hilde Colpin,Sander Thomaes,Koen Luyckx

doi:10.5334/pb.401

Sofie Wouters, Karine Verschueren + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5334/pb.401

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Journal: Psychologica Belgica	Publication Date: Apr 27, 2018
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: KU Leuven, Utrecht University

Abstract

Conditional regard refers to regard dependent upon the receiver’s fulfillment of certain expectations. Using an experimental design, we examined the effect of conditional negative and positive regard on well-being and eagerness to learn in university freshmen (N = 131). Participants experienced either failure or success followed by conditional vs. unconditional regard. As expected, success and failure had opposite effects on well-being and eagerness to learn. More importantly, there was an increase in positive affect following success in the context of conditional regard, but not in the context of unconditional regard. Additionally, the decrease in positive affect following failure was more pronounced when accompanied by conditional as compared to unconditional regard. Conditional regard thus magnified the impact of success versus failure on students’ emotional experiences.

Highlights

Wouters et al: The Impact of Conditional Regard has primarily been correlational, and so the causal role of CR in well-being and motivation remains unclear
Positive affect related positively to students’ intention to participate in future short-term memory trainings and both self-esteem and affect were significantly related to the chosen difficulty level for the extra training
Participants’ state self-esteem and positive affect decreased and negative affect increased after failure, whereas the reverse occurred after success

Summary

Introduction

Wouters et al: The Impact of Conditional Regard has primarily been correlational, and so the causal role of CR in well-being and motivation remains unclear. Limited empirical evidence supports these hypotheses, showing that parental CNR is clearly detrimental with regard to students’ adjustment and motivation and that parental CPR is related to more shame or devaluation after failure, and to more self-aggrandizement after success (Assor & Tal, 2012; Roth et al, 2009). These studies were correlational and relied on youth’s selfreport of parental CR. This study found that lower grades (received three weeks after the manipulation) only resulted in more negative feelings for students who had not imagined unconditional regard (Brummelman et al, 2014)

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