Self‐regulation is essential for maintaining harmonious social connections and sustaining groups, yet little research has examined how individuals regulate their actions for the benefits of groups and which self‐regulatory strategies promote effective self‐regulation (active engagement and disengagement) in group contexts. In three experiments, focusing on identity groups (family and friends in Study 1) and two distinct functional groups (workplace teams in Study 2; sports teams in Study 3), we investigated whether mental contrasting of a desired future with the obstacle of reality, compared to indulging in the desired future, facilitates expectancy‐dependent contributions for the benefits of groups. We assessed participants' expectancies of successfully contributing to their groups and varied the mode of thought (mental contrasting vs. indulging). Contributions to groups were measured 1 week (Studies 1 and 2) and 3 weeks later (Study 3). Results showed that mental contrasting guided people to align their actions with expectancy levels; the higher their expectancy, the more people contributed to their groups. In contrast, indulging resulted in insensitivity to expectancy levels. Our findings suggest the potential applicability of the mental contrasting strategy for promoting effective self‐regulation in various group settings and provide insights into designing interventions to enhance individuals' engagement in groups.

中文翻译：

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心理对比促进有效的自我调节，使群体受益


自我调节对于维持和谐的社会关系和维持群体至关重要，但很少有研究考察个人如何为了群体的利益而调节自己的行为，以及哪些自我调节策略在群体环境中促进有效的自我调节（积极参与和脱离）。在三个实验中，重点关注身份群体（研究 1 中的家人和朋友）和两个不同的功能群体（研究 2 中的工作场所团队;研究 3 中的运动队），我们调查了与沉迷于理想未来相比，将理想未来与现实障碍进行心理对比是否有助于预期依赖性贡献群体的利益。我们评估了参与者对成功为他们的小组做出贡献的期望，并改变了思维模式（心理对比与放纵）。在 1 周（研究 1 和 2）和 3 周后（研究 3）测量对组的贡献。结果表明，心理对比指导人们将他们的行为与期望水平保持一致;他们的期望越高，为他们的小组做出贡献的人就越多。相比之下，放纵导致对预期水平不敏感。我们的研究结果表明，心理对比策略在各种团体环境中促进有效的自我调节的潜在适用性，并为设计干预措施以提高个人在团体中的参与度提供了见解。