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2 - 1. Overview Regulatory Focus - Beyond Pleasure and Pain
2 - 1. Overview Regulatory Focus - Beyond Pleasure and Pain
E . Tory Higgins
Columbia University
People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover to move beyond the pleasure principle did not move be-
the true nature of approach-avoidance motivation, psy- yond the hedonic principle of seeking pleasure and
chologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle avoiding pain.
to the principles that underlie the different ways that it The problem with the hedonic principle is not that
operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which it is wrong but that psychologists have relied on it too
distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (ac- heavily as an explanation for motivation. After many cen-
complishments and aspirations)from self-regulation with turies, it continues to be the dominant way to conceptual-
a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This ize approach versus avoidance. This dominance has taken
principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of attention away from other approach-avoidance princi-
approach-avoidance, expectancy-value relations, and ples. Is people's entire psychical activity controlled by
emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regu- the hedonic principle, as Freud (1920/1952) wondered,
latory focus are applied to phenonomena that have been or might there be other self-regulatory principles that
treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or underlie both its operation and other psychical activities?
prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory If there are, then psychologists' understanding of the he-
focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and donic principle itself would be increased by understand-
regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the ing more about these other principles. Moreover, these
different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid other ways of conceptualizing approach versus avoidance
pain. could have implications beyond the hedonic principle.
It's time for the study of motivation to move beyond
the simple assertion of the hedonic principle that people
approach pleasure and avoid pain. It's time to examine
It seems that our entire psychical activity is bent upon procuring how people approach pleasure and avoid pain in substan-
pleasure and avoiding pain, that it is automatically regulated tially different strategic ways that have major conse-
by the PLEASURE-PRINCIPLE. (Freud, 1920/1952, p. 365) quences. It's time to move beyond the hedonic principle
by studying the approach-avoidance principles that un-
People are motivated to approach pleasure and avoid derlie it and have motivational significance in their own
pain. From the ancient Greeks, through 17th- and 18th- right.
century British philosophers, to 20th-century psycholo- This article begins by introducing the concept of
gists, this hedonic or pleasure principle has dominated regulatory focus, a principle that underlies the hedonic
scholars' understanding of people's motivation. It is the principle but differs radically in its motivational conse-
basic motivational assumption of theories across all areas quences. I describe how viewing motivation from the
of psychology, including theories of emotion in psychobi- perspective of regulatory focus sheds light on the funda-
ology (e.g., Gray, 1982), conditioning in animal learning mental nature of approach-avoidance, expectancy-
(e.g., Mowrer, 1960; Thorndike, 1935), decision making value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivi-
in cognitive and organizational psychology (e.g., Dut- ties. I discuss how relying on the hedonic principle alone
ton & Jackson, 1987; Edwards, 1955; Kahneman & Tver-
sky, 1979), consistency in social psychology (e.g., Fes-
tinger, 1957; Heider, 1958), and achievement motivation Editor's note. Denise C. Park served as action editor for this article.
in personality (e.g., Atkinson, 1964). Even when Freud
Author's note. The research reported in this article was supported by
(1920/1952) talked about the ego becoming controlled National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH39429.
by the reality principle, and in this sense developing "be- I am indebted to Carol Dweck, Bob Krauss, Arie Kruglanski,
yond the pleasure principle," he made it clear that the John Levine, Walter Mischel, Yaacov Trope, and Robin Wells for many
reality principle "at bottom also seeks pleasure--al- discussions of the ideas in this article as well as their extremely helpful
comments on the article itself.
though a delayed and diminished pleasure" (p. 365). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Environmental demands simply modify the pleasure prin- E. Tory Higgins, Department of Psychology, Columbia University,
ciple such that avoiding pain becomes almost equal in Schermerhorn Hall, New York, NY 10027. Electronic mail may be sent
importance to gaining pleasure. Thus, Freud's proposal via Internet to tory@paradox.psych.columbia.edu.
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When the Hedonic Principle Is Not that cannot be explained in simple hedonic terms. The
Enough role of regulatory focus in emotional and evaluative sensi-
tivities is then considered. Evidence is presented that
This section reviews research on regulatory focus that people' s emotional experiences of the objects and events
examines a variety of psychological phenomena tradi- in their lives involve different kinds of pleasure and dif-
tionally treated in hedonic terms. I begin with the phe- ferent kinds of pain depending on their regulatory focus,
nomena of approach and avoidance that are central to the a variability not covered by the hedonic principle.
hedonic principle. Evidence is presented that promotion
focus and prevention focus involve distinct approach- Approach and Avoidance
avoidance strategies, and these different ways of regulat-
ing pleasure and pain are shown to have important moti- The hedonic principle asserts that people approach plea-
vational consequences in their own right. Next, research sure and avoid pain. It is silent, however, on how people
on Expectancy × Value effects is described that has found do this. But how people approach pleasure and avoid
different effects for promotion focus and prevention focus pain, what strategies they use, has important motivational
Table l
Self-Regulatory Principles of Approach-Avoidance Orientation
Self-regulatory principle Avoidance orientation Approach orientation
tive to some neutral reference point and that gains and the dangers to be avoided, which involve a prevention
losses are coded relative to a reference point that differs focus and anticipating undesired end-states. But at the
from the status qua, or one's current assets (shifting refer- critical moment when condoms will or wilt not be used,
ence points). the partners are more likely to be in a promotion focus
It is evident from these examples that postulates and anticipating desired end-states. Thus, messages with
relating to both anticipation and reference points can be a promotion focus on anticipated desired end-states might
contained in a single theory. These theories, however, do be more effective (e.g., condom use promotes a caring
not explicitly identify regulatory anticipation and regula- relationship).
tory reference as independent principles of motivation. Concluding Comment
By doing so and considering the relation between them,
What do I mean by going beyond the hedonic principle?
psychologists could increase their understanding of moti-
One interpretation is that psychologists should not restrict
vation still further. One basic issue, for example, is how
themselves to this principle's simple assertion but should
regulatory anticipation functions in relation to positive
versus negative reference points. Are the motivational examine more fully the different ways that people ap-
effects of anticipated success, for example, the same proach pleasure and avoid pain. I do, indeed, mean to
suggest this. But I also mean to suggest something more.
when approaching a desired end-state as when avoiding
an undesired end-state? Are the motivational effects of The subjective utility models are not just incomplete
when they ignore the unpredicted negative interaction
anticipated failure the same when approaching a desired
end-state as when avoiding an undesired end-state? between expectancy and value for people in a prevention
It also might be useful to combine regulatory focus focus. A single emotional distress category that collapses
mild depression and anxiety is not just too broad when
with regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference in
future research and theory development. These three prin- these emotions, differing in regulatory focus, involve
ciples might be fruitfully combined, for instance, to un- fundamentally different strategic motivation. Claims
derstand emotions as direct experiences of different com- about biological underpinnings of emotion based on neu-
binations of self-regulation (see Higgins, Grant, & Shah, roimages of brain responses to pleasure and pain are not
in press). Hope, for example, might be the anticipation just overly general when they fail to distinguish among
of a desired end-state with a promotion focus, terror the types of pleasure and types of pain. In such cases, the
anticipation of an undesired end-state with a prevention problem is not simply that psychologists overlook im-
focus, depression the anticipation or attainment of an portant distinctions by restricting themselves to the he-
undesired end-state with a promotion focus, and calm the donic principle. The problem is that overreliance on the
anticipation or attainment of a desired end-state with a hedonic principle can yield misleading conclusions. To
prevention focus. Combining the different regulatory discover the true nature of approach-avoidance motiva-
principles might have applied significance as well. The tion, it is not simply desirable but essential to move
effectiveness of persuasive messages might be enhanced, beyond the hedonic principle to the principles underlying
for example, by considering different combinations of its operation.
the three principles. To reduce the spread of AIDS, for REFERENCES
instance, campaigns for condom use have naturally Adler, A. (1964). Problems of neurosis. New York: Harper & Row.
framed the persuasive messages in terms of safe sex and (Original work published 1929)