Response to Comments on “How Regulatory Fit Affects Value in Consumer Choices and Opinions”

The effect of regulatory fit on the value of a decision involves two important components: a “feeling-right ” com-ponent and a strength-of-engagement component. The feeling-right component is related to people’s feelings about their decision activity, suggesting that the activity itself is experienced as being better when the manner of the deci-sion making sustains or fits their current regulatory orienta-tion (Freitas and Higgins 2002; Higgins 2000). The strength-of-engagement component is related to the motiva-tional force that people experience when making a decision, suggesting that people are more engaged in their decision responses (e.g., evaluative responses) when the manner of their decision making sustains or fits their current regula-tory orientation (Higgins, in press). These two components of regulatory fit are both considered independent of a sim-ple hedonic or pleasure/pain experience. The main implica-tion of this independency is that increasing the feeling-right experience and strengthening people’s engagement in a decision can have either a positive effect or a negative effect on the decision value itself. Although both the feeling-right experience and strength-ened engagement contribute to regulatory fit effects, the feeling-right experience received more attention from the commentaries in this issue on our article (Avnet and Hig-gins 2006) than did strengthened engagement. We begin our response to the commentaries by addressing the different issues raised regarding the feeling-right experience, noting that strengthened engagement also contributes to regulatory fit effects. We then address other notable propositions and remarks offered in the commentaries.