Making a good decision: Value from fit

The classic answer to what makes a decision good concerns outcomes. A good decision has high outcome benefits (it is worthwhile) and low outcome costs (it is worth it). I propose that, independent of outcomes of value from wo rth, people experience a regulatory fit when they use goal pursuit means th at fit their regulatory orientation, and this regulatory fit increases the value of what they are doing. The following postulates of this value from f it proposal are examined: (a) People will be more inclined toward goal mean s that hale higher regulatory fit, (b) people's motivation during goal purs uit will be stronger when regulatory fit is higher; (c) people's (prospecti ve) feelings about a choice they might make will be more positive for a des irable choice and more negative for an undesirable choice when regulatory f it is higher (d) people's (retrospective) el evaluations of past decisions or goal pursuits will be more positive when regulatory fit was higher, and (e) people will assign higher value to an object that was chosen with highe r regulatory fit. Studies testing each of these postulates support the valu e-from-fit proposal. How value from fit can enhance or diminish the value o f goal pursuits and the quality of life itself is discussed.