Beyond pleasure and pain.

Abstract

People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach-avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations)from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach-avoidance, expectancy-value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenonomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain.

Social anxiety and disinhibition: An analysis of curiosity and social rank appraisals, approach–avoidance conflicts, and disruptive risk-taking behavior

“…There are several theoretical distinctions between approach and avoidance processes (Carver, Sutton, & Scheier, 2000;Gray, 1990;Higgins, 1997). Of these, regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) suggests that people can be differentiated by their focus on promotion (approach) or prevention (avoidance).…”

“…Of these, regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) suggests that people can be differentiated by their focus on promotion (approach) or prevention (avoidance). A promotion focus is concerned with ideals, growth, and more generally, the presence or absence of gains.…”

“…There has been a recent surge of research using approachavoidance frameworks to understand the ways people navigate threats and rewards in everyday life. An approach avoidance framework seems useful in understanding the nature of social anxiety and related self-regulatory processes.There are several theoretical distinctions between approach and avoidance processes (Carver, Sutton, & Scheier, 2000;Gray, 1990;Higgins, 1997). Of these, regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) suggests that people can be differentiated by their focus on promotion (approach) or prevention (avoidance).…”

Principles, processes, and puzzles of social cognition: An introduction for the special issue on social cognitive neuroscience

“…Primes can be activated outside of awareness, but they need not be as long as individuals are unaware of how the primes are serving as primes (Bargh, 1992). Whole frameworks for understanding and motivating behavior can be primed by describing scenarios in slightly different terms (Higgins, 1997;Tversky and Kahneman, 1981). Finally, fully explicit expectations can serve as primes.…”

Initiation and Maintenance of Weight Loss after Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding. The role of Outcome Expectation and Satisfaction with the Psychosocial Outcome

“…Positive expectations of the consequences of behavior change are thought to guide the initiation of health behavior, whereas satisfaction with the outcome guides decisions on maintenance of health behavior [9]. According to this model, initiation can be considered an "approach"-based, self-regulated process in which people strive to reduce the discrepancy between their current state and their desired state [8][9][10][11], whereas maintenance can be regarded as an "avoidance"-based, self-regulated process in which people strive to maintain the discrepancy between their favorable current state and an undesired prior state [9,10].…”