To test our hypotheses, a total of five studies are proposed. Study 1 is a correlational study that will test the entire path-model. Study 2 and 3 test age-related differences in the association between social approach and avoidance motivation and attentional preference for positive and negative social stimuli (Study 2) as well as the experience and behavior in a social interaction (Study 3). Study 4 and 5 will experimentally test the causal predictions of the model. Using the same tasks as Study 2 and 3, Study 4 and 5 will manipulate the time perspective and the focus on the duration of social relationships, and test their joint impact on the association between social approach and avoidance motivation and attentional preference for positive and negative social stimuli (Study 4), as well as experience and behavior in a social interaction (Study 5).
