ought self-guide

n. Self-guides are self-directive standards, which are a major source of people's emotions and motivation. They both directly prompt action as desired end states (i.e., goals to be attained) and, through their use in selfevaluation (i.e., standards to be met), arouse emotions that are themselves motivating. Ought self-guides represent a person's beliefs about his or her duties, responsibilities, and obligations.

Ought self-guides vary in strength. There are different modes of strong socialization that produce strong ought self-guides. Strong ought self-guides are produced by interactions with significant others that involve protection and safeguarding, as well as punishment and criticism for failure to meet an ought self-guide. Success and failure in meeting strong ought self-guides arouse different emotions. When people's representation of their actual self-representation is congruent with one of their ought selfguides, they experience quiescence-related emotions, such as feeling calm or relaxed.When people's representation of their actual self- representation is discrepant with one of their ought self-guides, they experience agitation-related emotions, such as feeling nervous or worried.

When strong ought self-guides predominate, people have a prevention focus on safety and security. They prefer to use vigilant strategic means to make decisions and perform tasks. They appraise the world and remember past events in terms of the absence of negative outcomes (nonlosses) and the presence of negative outcomes (losses). – ETH