copyrighted property of the Chinese University Press Relationship Between Social Axioms and Subjective Well-Being: The Role of Self-Regulation CHIN-MING HUI Northwestern University MICHAEL HARRIS BOND Hong Kong Polytechnic University This study was designed to examine the relationships among social axioms and four different dispositional components of self-regulation, namely optimism, mindfulness, regulatory modes, and approach versus avoidance motivation. We focused on two dimensions of beliefs about the world—social cynicism, that constellation of beliefs judging the social world to be dominated by power, and reward for application, that constel- lation of beliefs judging the world to respond positively to inputs of human effort and investment of resources. Results indicated that two axiom dimensions, namely, social cynicism and reward for application, were related to this subset of self-regulatory orientations. Moreover, mediational analyses suggested that social cynicism was related to less adaptive self-regulatory orientations, which in turn compromised Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies 《華人心理學報》 , Vol. 11, No. 1 (2010), 1–24 Chin-Ming Hui, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Illinois, USA; Michael Harris Bond, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong S.A.R., China. The study was supported by a Direct Grant for Research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong to the authors. We thank members of the Self-Regulation Team for their enduring effort and commitment to the project. Correspondence concerning the manuscript should be directed to Chin-Ming Hui, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. Electronic mail should be sent to cmhui@u.northwestern.edu.