Motivational Underpinnings of Fluid Reasoning: The Fit Between Motivational Orientation and Task Demands in Promoting Psychological Flow

The present study examined how different combinations of promotion and prevention focus are associated with the experience of flow during fluid reasoning tasks of different difficulty, and whether flow is in turn associated with fluid intelligence assessed through a fluid reasoning task. Promotion focus reflects a self-regulatory orientation toward ideals, advancement, and gains, whereas prevention focus reflects an orientation toward duties, security, and non-losses. A total of 242 participants completed self-report measures of regulatory focus and task-related flow, along with a fluid reasoning task. One group completed a lower-demanding version of the task (N = 136), whereas the other completed a higher-demanding version (N = 106). A three-way moderated mediation analysis was conducted to test the indirect association between a promotion focus and fluid reasoning, mediated by flow, at the conditional level of high versus low levels of prevention for each difficulty condition. The results showed that, in the lower-demanding condition, promotion focus was more strongly positively associated with flow when prevention focus was low rather than high. In the higher-demanding condition, promotion focus was more strongly positively associated with flow when prevention focus was high rather than low. Across both conditions, higher flow was associated with better performance in the fluid reasoning task. Overall, the findings suggest that different motivational configurations may be differentially compatible with fluid reasoning task demands, and that flow may represent one process through which motivational orientations are associated with fluid intelligence.