Promotion and prevention regulatory focus LIWC dictionary. Polish adaptation and validation

Magdalena Marszałek; Amadeusz Miązek; Marta Roczniewska

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288726

Promotion and prevention regulatory focus LIWC dictionary. Polish adaptation and validation

PLoS One. 2023 Jul 20;18(7):e0288726. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288726. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Magdalena Marszałek¹, Amadeusz Miązek², Marta Roczniewska^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
² Department of International Finance, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland.
³ Department of Learning, Informatics, Karolinska Institutet, Management and Ethics, Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

This article describes the adaptation and validation of a Polish version of the regulatory focus (RF) Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) dictionary. RF theory proposes that there are two types of self-regulation: promotion (focus on gains, growth, and ideals) and prevention (focus on losses, security, and oughts). Apart from self-report questionnaires, one method to measure RF includes a linguistic analysis. LIWC counts the frequency of words from relevant categories and presents the output as a percentage of all words used in a writing sample. RF LIWC contains two categories: promotion (e.g., achieve, ideal) and prevention (e.g., afraid, fail). To test the psychometric properties of our Polish adaptation of the RF LIWC instrument, we performed three studies. In Study 1 (N = 10), experts in RF theory rated the extent to which each dictionary entry was related to promotion and prevention foci. Results showed that words from the promotion category were rated as more promotion than prevention-related, and the pattern was reversed for words from the prevention category. In Study 2 (N = 130) we examined the divergent validity of the instrument by experimentally manipulating RF and testing the writing patterns. When a promotion focus was activated, individuals wrote more words from the promotion than prevention category, and the pattern was reversed in the prevention group. Study 3 (N = 414) investigated whether the promotion and prevention scores obtained through RF LIWC are linked with results obtained using a self-report questionnaire that measures chronic RF. Promotion scores from RF LIWC correlated positively with chronic promotion RF and prevention scores from RF LIWC correlated positively with chronic prevention RF. These preliminary findings provide initial support for the validity of the Polish adaptation of the RF LIWC.

Copyright: © 2023 Marszałek et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Linguistics*
Poland
Self Report
Surveys and Questionnaires
Writing*

Grants and funding

(a) MR Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Poland. GRIEG grant. The results of these studies are financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism for 2014-2021. Contract No 2019/34/H/HS6/00597 entitled “Bridging Psychology with Societal Development Science: Fifty Countries Research into the Relation Between ‘Folk Theories of Societal Development’ and ‘Ideal Types of Well-being’” (https://www.eog.gov.pl/en; https://www.ncn.gov.pl/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. (b) AM Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Poland. PRELUDIUM 13 grant. Project Contract No 2017/25/N/HS4/02037 entitled “Individual and Situational Determinants of Managerial Risk in Corporate Governance of Public Companies in Poland” (https://www.ncn.gov.pl/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.