{"id":758,"date":"2018-03-03T14:58:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-03T14:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/?page_id=758"},"modified":"2021-02-22T01:19:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T01:19:48","slug":"focus-promotion-prevention","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/?page_id=758","title":{"rendered":"Motivational Focus & Fit: Promotion & Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Two Types of Motivational Focus<\/h2>\n

Motivational focus affects how an individual approaches life\u2019s challenges and demands.<\/h3>\n

Promotion-focused people see their goals as creating a path to gain or advancement and concentrate on the rewards that will accrue when they achieve them.<\/em><\/h4>\n

They are eager and they play to win.\u00a0 You\u2019ll recognize promotion-focused people as those who are comfortable taking chances, who like to work quickly, who dream big and think creatively.\u00a0 But, they may be prone to error, less likely to think things through, and have no plan B if things go wrong.\u00a0 That\u2019s a price they are willing to pay, because, for the promotion-focused, the worst thing is a chance not taken, a reward unearned, a failure to advance.<\/p>\n

The promotion-focused are engaged by inspirational role models.\u00a0 Maybe a high-performing salesperson, a uniquely effective team leader or a great motivational speaker.
<\/em><\/p>\n

Prevention-focused people, in contrast, see their goals as responsibilities, and they concentrate on staying safe.<\/em><\/h4>\n

They worry about what might go wrong if they don\u2019t work hard enough or aren\u2019t careful enough.\u00a0 They are vigilant and play to not lose, to hang on to what they have, to maintain the status quo.\u00a0 They are often more risk-averse, but their work is also more thorough, accurate, and carefully considered.\u00a0 To succeed, they work slowly and meticulously.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t usually the most creative thinkers, but they may have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n

The prevention-focused are engaged by cautionary tales, perhaps about someone\u2019s path they shouldn\u2019t follow.
<\/em><\/p>\n

While the promotion-minded generate lots of ideas, good and bad, it often takes someone prevention-minded to tell the difference between the two.<\/p>\n

Creating Motivational Fit with a Message<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not just people who have different motivational focus, products, activities, and ideas can have focus too.<\/p>\n

Some are obvious: seat belts, home security systems, and health screens are essentially about avoiding loss (prevention), while holiday homes, lottery tickets, and training courses to land your dream job are about potential gains (promotion).\u00a0 Others can be either promotion or prevention-focused, depending on how you talk about them.\u00a0 When toothpaste is about a \u201cwhiter smile,\u201d it\u2019s a promotion product.\u00a0 But when it\u2019s about \u201cavoiding cavities,\u201d it\u2019s all prevention.<\/p>\n

You can more effectively market something if you tailor your message to fit the motivational focus of the product or the audience for which you\u2019re aiming.<\/p>\n

Combining Focus and Fit \u2013 \u201cIt Feels Right\u201d<\/h3>\n

Two sources of motivational fit may be:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the fit between the focus and the delivery within the message itself;<\/li>\n
  2. the fit between a person\u2019s own dominant focus and the focus\/delivery of the message.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The more sources of fit you can create, the more persuasive your message.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

    With acknowledgement to the work of Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. and Jonathan Halvorson, Ph.D<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Two Types of Motivational Focus Motivational focus affects how an individual approaches life\u2019s challenges and demands. Promotion-focused people see…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-758","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1977,"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/758\/revisions\/1977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seehear.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}