ABSTRACT
Clearly a good life is one that involves positivity and personal happiness, and models of well-being have traditionally acknowledged the significance of hedonic experience. Like other eudaimonic approaches to well-being, then, the approach assumes that the good life is one that not only provides positivity but also purpose in fulfilling fundamental regulatory need. Indeed, the self-regulatory purpose of a good life may determine how such a life is ultimately lived, how it impacts daily behaviour and experience, and the role it plays in general well-being. The approach taken is inspired by research and theorizing on regulatory focus theory, which also encourages a definition of the good life that emphasizes its underlying regulatory purpose. J. Y. Shah, E. T. Higgins and T. Friedman examined how regulatory focus affected the specific ways in which goals were pursued behaviourally. Participants' regulatory focus, then, may impact how individuals ultimately experience positivity in their own lives.
