ABSTRACT
What is meant by something having value to someone? Where does value come from? These questions have been central to philosophical and social scientific disciplines, including economics and psychology. In this chapter, I briefly review how value has been conceptualized and defined in the literature (for a fuller discussion, see Higgins, in press-a). This includes a consideration of the role of hedonic or valence experiences in making something valuable to someone. I then introduce a source of value that is independent of valence—regulatory fit. Research demonstrating how regulatory fit can create value, including monetary value, independent of people's pleasure/pain experiences, is reviewed. I conclude with a brief discussion of some implications for economic behavior and policy of value being more than just pleasure/pain valence or hedonism.
