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	Regulatory Focus Questionnaire	BIS/BAS Scales
Field	Social Psychology	Social Psychology
Family	Latent structure	Latent structure
Year of origin	2001	1994
Originator	E. Tory Higgins and colleagues	Charles Carver & Teri White
Type	Self-report two-dimensional scale	Self-report multidimensional scale
Seminal source	Higgins, E. T., Friedman, R. S., Harlow, R. E., Idson, L. C., Ayduk, O. N., & Taylor, A. (2001). Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(1), 3-23.	Carver, C. S., & White, T. L. (1994). Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 319-333.
Aliases	RFQ, Promotion-Prevention Questionnaire, Regulatory Focus Scale	BIS/BAS, Carver-White Scales, Behavioral Activation Behavioral Inhibition Scales
Related	3	3
Summary	The Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ), developed by Higgins and colleagues in 2001, measures two independent motivational orientations derived from regulatory focus theory: a promotion focus concerned with growth, ideals, gains, and eager pursuit of positive outcomes, and a prevention focus concerned with safety, duties, responsibilities, and vigilant avoidance of negative outcomes. Rather than asking directly about current motivation, the RFQ assesses respondents' subjective histories of success in promotion and prevention self-regulation, yielding two scores that can be high or low independently. Because promotion and prevention foci predict different strategic preferences -- eagerness versus vigilance -- emotional reactions, and responses to framing, the RFQ is widely used in research on motivation, persuasion, decision making, and organizational behavior to capture chronic self-regulatory style.	The BIS/BAS Scales, developed by Carver and White in 1994, are self-report measures of two fundamental motivational systems proposed by Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory. The Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) governs sensitivity to punishment, threat, and nonreward, and underlies anxiety and avoidance; the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) governs sensitivity to reward and underlies approach motivation and positive affect, and is measured by three subscales (Drive, Reward Responsiveness, and Fun Seeking). Respondents rate agreement with statements about their reactions to anticipated reward and punishment. Carver and White validated the scales by showing that BIS sensitivity predicted nervousness in the face of impending punishment and BAS sensitivity predicted happiness in anticipation of reward. The instrument is widely used in personality, clinical, and affective research as a trait measure of approach and avoidance temperament.