I Seek Autonomy,We Rely on Each Other: Self-Construal and Regulatory Focus as Determinants of Autonomy- and Dependency-Oriented Help-Seeking Behavior

There are two typical approaches to requesting help: autonomy-oriented help-seeking (asking in order to learn how to fix a problem) versus dependency-oriented help-seeking (asking a helper to fix it). this article presents three studies demonstrating a systematic impact of a person's chronic or activated self-construal (interdependent vs. independent) that operates through activated regulatory focus (prevention vs. promotion) on these two help-seeking styles. the hypothesis was tested by measuring chronic self-construal,regulatory foci,and help-seeking styles (study 3),and by priming self-construal (study 1) and regulatory focus (study 2). results show that people with an independent self-construal and a promotion focus prefer autonomy-oriented help,whereas people with an interdependent self-construal and a prevention focus seek dependency-oriented help. mediation analysis (study 3) shows that regulatory focus is a mediator between self-construal and help-seeking styles. the conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed. © 2014 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.