Social behavior is ordinarily treated as being under conscious (if not always thoughtful) control. Howmer, considerable evidence now supports the view that social behavior often operates in an implicit or unconscious fashion. The identifying feature of implicit cognition is that past experience influences judgment in a fashion not introspectively known by the actor. The present conclusion-that attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes have important implicit modes of operation-xtends both the construct validity and predictive usefulness of these major theoretical constructs of social psychology. Methodologically, this review calls for inmased use of indirect measures--which are imperative in studies of implicit cognition. The theorized ordinariness of implicit stereotyping is consistent with r ent findings of discrimination by people who explicitly disavow prejudice. The finding that implicit cognitive effects arc often reduced by focusing judges ' attention on their judg-ment task provides a basis for evaluating applications (such as affirmative action) aimed at reducing such unintended discrimination. Long before they became central to other areas of psycholog-ical theory, concepts of cognitive mediation dominated the anal-ysis of social behavior. The constructs on which this article fo-

People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach-avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations)from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach-avoidance, expectancy-value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenonomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain. It seems that our entire psychical activity is bent upon procuring pleasure and avoiding pain, that it is automatically regulated by the PLEASURE-PRINCIPLE. (Freud, 1920/1952, p. 365) People are motivated to approach pleasure and avoid pain. From the ancient Greeks, through 17th- and 18thcentury British philosophers, to 20th-century psychologists, this hedonic or pleasure principle has dominated scholars ' understanding of people's motivation. It is the basic motivational assumption of theories across all areas of psychology, including theories of emotion in psychobiology (e.g., Gray, 1982), conditioning in animal learning

This article develops the hypothesis that intervention strategies that cultivate positive emotions are particularly suited for preventing and treating problems rooted in negative emotions, such as anxiety, depression, aggression, and stressrelated health problems. Fredrickson's (1998) broaden–and–build model of positive emotions provides the foundation for this application. According to this model, the form and function of positive and negative emotions are distinct and complementary. Negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger, and sadness) narrow an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire toward specific actions that served the ancestral function of promoting survival. By contrast, positive emotions (e.g., joy, interest, and contentment) broaden an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire, which in turn can build that individual's enduring personal resources, resources that also served the ancestral function of promoting survival. One implication of the broaden–and–build model is that positive emotions have an undoing effect on negative emotions. By broadening

Information technology (IT) is fundamentally altering the way in which healthcare is delivered to consumers, and offers the promise of improving patient safety, reducing medical errors, improving efficiency, and increasing the reach of health delivery programs. The aim of this research is to examine the factors affecting the adoption and post-adoption of a significant IT innovation in healthcare: online health intervention programs that provide technology-mediated guidance and aid individuals in self-managing their health care. A key challenge confronting health program providers is that of motivating initial enrollment and subsequent continued participation in these interventions. Limited prior work in the information systems and health informatics literature has examined the uptake of technology-mediated health intervention programs. Using data from an online healthcare portal site, this study proposes and empirically tests relationships between the determinants and participation in online health intervention programs.

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of future goal attainment in order to overcome anticipated obstacles in goal pursuit. In support of the counteractive optimism model, participants in 5 studies predicted better performance, more time invested in goal activities, and lower health risks when they anticipated high (vs. low) obstacles in pursuing their goals. These predictions in turn motivated pursuing the goals. These studies further revealed that emphasizing accuracy in predictions reverses the effect of anticipated obstacles on predictions and negatively affects the process of overcoming obstacles in goal pursuit.

The relationship of optimism with psychological and physical well-being is a well researched topic. Maintaining an optimistic view on life has been shown to reduce depression and help with the recovery process from major surgery. Other daily life events (i.e., job performance) have been found to be positively related to high levels of optimism. The literature on optimism also provides information on ways to measure optimism and distinguishes between the different theoretical constructs used to define optimism. Throughout this review, these topics, as well as other important issues related to optimism will be discussed in great detail. It is hoped that by reading this review, the reader will become appreciative of the powerful benefits of maintaining a positive outlook on life. Optimism 3

Drawing from the foundation of positive psychology and the recently emerging positive organizational behavior, two studies (N = 1,032 and N = 232) test hypotheses on the impact that the selected positive psychological resource capacities of hope, optimism, and resilience have on desired work-related employee outcomes. These outcomes include performance (self-reported in Study 1 and organizational performance appraisals in Study 2), job satisfaction, work happiness, and organizational commitment. The findings generally support that employees ’ positive psychological resource capacities relate to, and contribute unique variance to, the outcomes. However, hope, and, to a lesser extent, optimism and resilience, do differentially contribute to the various outcomes. Utility analysis supports the practical implications of the study results.