Regulatory Fit: An Experience that Creates Value

Abstract

Where does value come from? This paper presents a new answer to this classic question. When an individual's goal orientation is sustained by the manner in which the goal pursuit activity is carried out, the individual experiences regulatory fit, which makes the individual “feel right” about what they are doing (Higgins 2000). This is a different type of value experience than the pleasure and pain experiences associated with positive and negative outcomes. Research is described which tested two implications of the “feel right” fit experience being a distinct type of value experience: (a) that the regulatory fit experience contributes to evaluative experiences, such as increasing the intensity of feeling good or feeling bad about prospective choices, independent of the contribution of outcome experiences (i.e., pleasure from an anticipated positive outcome and pain from an anticipated negative outcome); and (b) that the “feel right” fit experience can transfer to a subsequent outcome evaluation, so that the...