Regulatory focus theory (RFT) is a

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

goal pursuit Goal pursuit is the process of attempting to achieve a desired future outcome. This generally follows goal setting, the process of forming these desires. Definition Gollwitzer and Brandstatter (1997) define four phases of goal pursuit as * pr ...

Cesario, J: "Regulatory fit and persuasion: Basic principles and remaining questions", Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2(1) formulated by

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

and

researcher Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

E. Tory Higgins regarding people's motivationsand

perceptions Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

in judgment and

decision making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...

processes. RFT examines the relationship between the

motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...

of a person and the way in which they go about achieving their

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or a ...

. RFT posits two separate and independent self-regulatory orientations: prevention and promotion (Higgins, 1997). This psychological

, like many others, is applied in

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...

, specifically in the subfields of

nonverbal communication Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesics, distance (proxem ...

and

persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persuas ...

. Chronic regulatory focus is measured using the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (Higgins et al., 2001) or the Regulatory Strength measure. Momentary regulatory focus can be primed or induced.

Background

Regulatory fit theory

To understand RFT, it is important to understand another of E. Tory Higgins'

theories A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

: regulatory fit theory. When a person believes that there is "fit", they will involve themselves more in what they are doing and "feel right" about it.Higgins, E. T. (2005). Value From Regulatory Fit. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(4), 209–213. Regulatory fit should not directly affect the hedonic occurrence of a thing or occasion, but should influence a person's assurance in their reaction to the

object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ai ...

or event. Regulatory fit theory suggests that a match between orientation to a goal and the means used to approach that goal produces a state of regulatory fit that both creates a feeling of rightness about the goal pursuit and increases task engagement (Higgins, 2001, 2005). Regulatory fit intensifies responses, such as the value of a chosen object, persuasion, and job satisfaction. Regulatory fit does not increase the assessment of a decision; instead when someone feels "right" about their decision, the

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience invol ...

of "correctness and importance" is transferred to the ensuing assessment of the chosen

, increasing its superficial worth.Avnet, T: "Locomotion, assessment, and regulatory fit: Value transfer from 'how' to 'what'", Journal of Experimental Psychology 39(5):525 Research suggests that the "feeling right"

can then sway

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

or prospective evaluations. Regulatory fit can be manipulated incidentally (outside the context of interest) or integrally (within the context of interest).

Definition

RFT refers to when a person pursues a

in a way that maintains the person's own personal values and

beliefs A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take ...

, also known as ''regulatory orientation''. This

operates on the basic

principle A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. In law, it is a rule that has to be or usually is to be followed. It can be desirably followed, or it can be an inevitable consequence of something, such as the la ...

that people embrace

pleasure Pleasure refers to experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something. It contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad. It is closely related to value, desire and action: humans and other conscious animals ...

but avoid

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...

, and they then maintain their regulatory fit based on this standard. The ''regulatory focus'' is basically the way in which someone approaches pleasure but avoids pain. An individual's regulatory focus concentrates on desired end-states, and the approach

used to go from the current state to the desired end-state. This theory differentiates between a ''promotion-focus'' on

hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

s and accomplishments, also known as gains. This focus is more concerned with higher level gains such as advancement and accomplishment.Higgins, E: "Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: promotion pride versus prevention pride", ''European Journal of Social Psychology''. 31(1):4 Another focus is the ''prevention-focus'' based on

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

and responsibilities, also known as non-losses. This focus emphasizes security and safety by following the guidelines and the rules. These two regulatory focuses regulate the influences that a person would be exposed to in the

decision-making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rati ...

process, and determine the different ways they achieve their goal, as discussed by RFT. An individual's regulatory orientation is not necessarily fixed. While individuals have chronic tendencies towards either promotion or prevention, these preferences may not hold for all situations. Furthermore, a specific regulatory focus can be induced. The value taken from interaction and goal attainment can be either positive or negative. The decision has positive value when people attempt to attain their goal in a way that fits their regulatory orientation and it will have negative value when people attempt to attain their goal in a way that does not fit their regulatory orientation. Regulatory fit allows value to be created by intensifying the commitment, based on one of the regulatory focus orientations. Making

choices A choice is the range of different things from which a being can choose. The arrival at a choice may incorporate motivators and models. For example, a traveler might choose a route for a journey based on the preference of arriving at a give ...

and fulfilling objectives are considered as activities, and with any activity, people can be more or less involved. When this involvement is strong, it can intensify the feelings and values about this activity, and the approach to the activity determines whether they are or are not satisfied with the outcome and method of achieving the outcome. This theory has noteworthy implications for increasing the value of life. For example, in

interpersonal The concept of interpersonal relationship involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. Interpersonal relationships vary in their degree of intimacy or self-disclosure, but also in their duration, in t ...

conflict, if each person experiences "fit", each one will be satisfied with and committed to the outcome. In the broad sense, for people to appreciate their own lives, they need to be satisfied and "feel right" about what they are doing, and the way they are doing it. If it is not satisfying, it is known as "non-fit", and they will not reach their desired goal.

Goal attainment and motivation

Regulatory focus theory, according to Higgins, views motivation in a way that allows an understanding of the foundational ways we approach a task or a

. Different factors can motivate people during goal pursuit, and we self-regulate our methods and processes during our goal pursuit. RFT proposes that motivational strength is enhanced when the manner in which people work toward a goal sustains their regulatory orientation. Achieving a goal in a way that is consistent to a person's regulatory orientation leads to an

individual An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own need ...

sense of importance to the event. The impact of

is considered calculated and this creates a greater sense of commitment to the goal. The more strongly an individual is engaged (i.e., involved, occupied, fully engrossed) in an activity, the more intense the motivational force experienced. Engagement is of great importance to attain and motivate in order to reach a goal. Engagement serves as intensifier of the directional component of the value experience. An individual who is strongly engaged in a goal pursuits will experience a positive target more positively and a negative target more negatively. Individuals can pursue different goals with diverse regulatory orientations and in unlike ways. There are two different kinds of regulatory orientations that people use to obtain their goals: ''promotion-focus orientation'' and ''prevention-focus orientation''. These terms are derived from E. Tory Higgins's Theory of Regulatory Focus. In which, he adds to the notion that people regulate their goal-oriented behavior in two very distinct ways, coined ''promotion-focus orientation'' and ''prevention-focus orientation'' E. Tory Higgins uses this example: there is Student A and Student B, and they both have the shared goal to make an ''A'' in a class they are both taking in college. Student A uses a ''promotion-focus orientation'' which slants them towards achieving their goal and towards advancement, growth and life accomplishment. This would cause Student A to view the goal as an ideal that satisfies their need for accomplishment. Student B uses a ''prevention-focus orientation'' where the goal is something that should be realized because it fulfills their need for

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

and prevention of negative outcomes. Student A uses an eager approach where they read extra materials to obtain their goal of an ''A''. Student B uses a vigilant approach where they become more detail oriented and pay careful attention to completing all of the course requirements. Both forms of regulatory orientation can work to fulfill goals, but the choice of

orientation Orientation may refer to: Positioning in physical space * Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building des ...

is based on individual

preference In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision t ...

s and style. When a person pursues their goal in the focus that fits their regulatory orientation, they are more likely to pursue their goal more eagerly and aggressively than if they were using the other focus. In this case each student has different styles. They both feel more comfortable in persuading their goal. The outcome in this experiment would have been different if the students were given an undesirable choice. When people make decisions, they often envision the possible "

" of the possible outcomes that the focus orientation will produce. A person imagining making a pleasing choice is more likely to engage in promotion-focus orientation because envisioning the possible outcome of success maintains eagerness about the outcome but does not place importance on vigilance. A person imagining the possible

by making an undesirable choice maintains more vigilance but less eagerness. A person with promotion-focus orientation is more likely to remember the occasions where the goal is pursued by using eagerness approaches and less likely to remember occasions where the goal is pursued by vigilance approaches. A person with prevention-focus orientation is more likely to remember events where the goal is pursued by means of vigilance than if it was pursued using eagerness approaches.

Application

Regulatory focus theory and persuasion

When relating regulatory focus theory to

, it is important to remember that RFT is a

-attainment

, and that RFT can spawn feelings of rightness/wrongness which in turn may produce formulations for

judgment Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...

s.Vaughn, A: "'This story is right on': The impact of regulatory fit on narrative engagement and persuasion", European Journal of Social Psychology. 39:448 The feelings of rightness give an

more commitment to the

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...

coming in and therefore can avoid endangering their regulatory fit which in turn changes their regulatory focus and accepting a probable motive to change. If a person experiences feelings of wrongness they will suffer negative

emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...

s and deem the

and information as a

threat A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for c ...

to their regulatory fit and therefore a threat to their regulatory focus and their

. Studies have been done where fit and focus have been applied to show their applicability to

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

purchasing Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between ...

, health advisories, and

social policy Social policy is a plan or action of government or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform society. Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize soci ...

issues. To be persuaded is to change your prior feelings, actions, and/or beliefs on a matter to where you agree with the persuader. The "fit" involved in RFT plays a large role in such issues and stories because it can be a device to help an

receive and review the experience during a particular

message A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus. A ...

delivery.

Positive reinforcement In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher freq ...

and

feeling Feelings are subjective self-contained phenomenal experiences. According to the ''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; and feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensation ...

s of rightness while decoding the

creates a stronger engagement and relationship with processing the

, and

negative reinforcement In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fre ...

and feelings of wrongness lessens the engagement and

attachment Attachment may refer to: Entertainment * ''Attachments'' (novel), a 2011 novel by Rainbow Rowell * ''Attachments'' (TV series), a BBC comedy-drama that ran from 2000 to 2002 Law * Attachment (law), a means of collecting a legal judgment by lev ...

Researcher Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

s found that targeting the two different regulatory focus orientations, and their coinciding types of fit, works as an effective process to aid in persuasive charm or pull when they introduced a manner of

where the framing of the

was everything and the content was irrelevant to uphold or interrupt a person's regulatory fit and follow the pattern of logic used in regulatory orientation. Lee and Aaker (2004) conducted an

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

that involved whether or not to give their information in a prevention-focus- or promotion-focus-concerning way. The study involved an

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

for a grape juice drink, which they split into two to create prevention-focus concerns (disease-preventing) and then promotion-focus concerns (energy enhancement). In doing so, they demonstrated that rather than trying to know each

recipient's qualities, one needs only to start by nailing the focus (prevention/promotion) and then framing the

so that it creates that "rightness". Some may confuse RFT with regulatory fit, regulatory relevance, message matching, and source attractiveness in such an example. The extent of similarities between closely related

of RFT, such as ones stated above, make it hard to clarify when this theory is applicable or apparent in respect to the

process.

Regulatory focus theory and nonverbal communication

RFT can be a useful outline for a better understanding of the effects of

nonverbal Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesics, distance (proxemi ...

cues in

and

impression formation Impression formation in social psychology refers to the processes by which different pieces of knowledge about another are combined into a global or summary impression. Social psychologist Solomon Asch is credited with the seminal research on impr ...

. Regulatory Fit Theory suggests that the effect of a cue cannot be understood without remembering what the cue means given a recipient's focus orientation.Cesario, J., Higgins, E. (2008 May) Making Message Recipients "Feel Right": How Nonverbal Cues Can Increase Persuasion. Psychological Science, 19(5)

Nonverbal Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesics, distance (proxemi ...

cues can be used by the

source to vary delivery style, more specifically to convey eagerness or vigilance, of a given message in a way that will produce regulatory fit in message recipients of different focus orientations. Advancement implies eager movement forward, so eagerness is conveyed by gestures that involve animated, broad opening movements such as hand movements projecting outward, forward leaning body positions, fast body movement, and fast

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they ar ...

rate. Caution implies vigilant carefulness, so vigilance should be conveyed by

gesture A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, o ...

s that show precision like slightly backward-leaning body positions, slower body movement, and slower speech rate. An eager

delivery style will result in greater

effectiveness for promotion-focus recipients than for prevention-focus recipients, while the opposite is true for a vigilant

style. There are various aspects, which may contribute to whether or not a

's persuasive element is successful. One aspect is the effect of

cues and their association with persuasive appeals based on the

recipient's

al regulatory orientation. This determines the recipient's impression of the source during

. Research has found that

cues are an essential element of most persuasive appeals. RFT creates the background that allows a

prediction A prediction (Latin ''præ-'', "before," and ''dicere'', "to say"), or forecast, is a statement about a future event or data. They are often, but not always, based upon experience or knowledge. There is no universal agreement about the exac ...

for when and for whom a

cue can have an effect on

. When

cues and signals are used appropriately, they increase the effectiveness of

Moral judgment

RFT has also been applied within

moral psychology Moral psychology is a field of study in both philosophy and psychology. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. Moral psychology eventually came to refer more broadly to var ...

to the topic of moral judgment, contrasting the notions of "oughts" and "ideals."

References

Sources

*Avnet, T., & Higgins, E. (2003, September). Locomotion, assessment, and regulatory fit: Value transfer from "how" to "what". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39(5), 525. Retrieved April 10, 2009, *Cesario, J., Higgins, E. (2008 May) Making Message Recipients "Feel Right": How Nonverbal Cues Can Increase Persuasion. Psychological Science, 19(5), 415–420

*Cesario, J., Higgins, E., & Scholer, A. (2008, January). Regulatory fit and persuasion: Basic principles and remaining questions. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 444–463. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from PsycINFO database *Higgins, E. (1997, December). Beyond pleasure and pain. ''American Psychologist'', 52(12), 1280–1300. Retrieved April 10, 2009, *Higgins, E. (2000, November). Making a good decision: Value from fit. ''American Psychologist'', 55(11), 1217–1230. Retrieved April 10, 2009, *Higgins, E. "Value From Regulatory Fit." American Psychological Society 14 (2005): 209–13. *Higgins, E., Friedman, R., Harlow, R., Idson, L., Ayduk, O., & Taylor, A. (2001, January). Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(1), 3–23. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from Academic Search Elite database. *Higgins, E., Idson, L., Freitas, A., Spiegel, S., & Molden, D. (2003, June). Transfer of value from fit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1140–1153. Retrieved April 10, 2009, *Spiegel, S., Grant-Pillow, H., & Higgins, E.(2004, January). How regulatory fit enhances motivational strength during goal pursuit. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34(1), 39–54. Retrieved April 10, 2009, . *Vaughn, Leigh Ann, Sarah J. Hesse, Zhivka Petkova, and Lindsay Trudeau. ""This story is right on": The impact of regulatory fit on narrative engagement and persuasion." 4 Oct. 2008. Wiley InterScience. Journals. University of Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Library, Norman. 9 Apr. 200

External links and further reading

HigginsLab
An overview, with additional reading suggestions, for E. Tory Higgins' theories
Understanding Regulatory Fit
A look from a marketing perspective
Counterfactual thinking and regulatory focus and fit
Application of Regulatory Focus and Regulatory Fit to Counterfactual Thinking
Recasting Goal Setting in Negotiation
A Regulatory Focus Perspective {{DEFAULTSORT:Regulatory Focus Theory Communication Nonverbal communication Motivation Motivational theories Psychological theories Attitude change