Counterfactual Thinking and Experiences of Regret
Counterfactual thinking and experiences of regret
Introduction
Counterfactual thinking is the cognitive process in which individuals can simulate alternative realities, to think about how things could have turned out differently, with statements such as ‘what if’ and ‘if only’. Counterfactuals can be either upward, in which alternative realities are improved, or downward, in which alternative realities are worsened. Reflecting on previous outcomes can make individuals experience regret and this review will focus on the effects of counterfactual thinking and feelings of regret, which has been referred to as a ‘counterfactual emotion’.
Opportunities and regret
Roese & Summerville (2005) put forward the idea that regret is based upon an opportunity principle, meaning that greater opportunity breeds regret. The principle is based upon two factors, 1) lost opportunity initiates cognitive dissonance reduction and 2) regret spurs corrective actions and such actions only make sense when opportunities remain open. In the meta-analysis of nine papers by Roese and Summerville, they found that the top six biggest regrets in life were (in descending order) education, career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure. It’s significant that education is the biggest regret because people in modern western society have many opportunities to continue their education throughout life. In addition two laboratory experiments were carried out on college students to test if there was a link between the rankings of regret with opportunity effects, one required participants to recall one regret then place it in a set category of life domains, the other focused on measuring high and low opportunities and its relation to regret intensity. They found that life domains ranked with high opportunity compared to low opportunity were more likely to be vividly regretful. This is the first study support the claim that people’s biggest regrets in life are linked to where they see the most
Introduction
Counterfactual thinking is the cognitive process in which individuals can simulate alternative realities, to think about how things could have turned out differently, with statements such as ‘what if’ and ‘if only’. Counterfactuals can be either upward, in which alternative realities are improved, or downward, in which alternative realities are worsened. Reflecting on previous outcomes can make individuals experience regret and this review will focus on the effects of counterfactual thinking and feelings of regret, which has been referred to as a ‘counterfactual emotion’.
Opportunities and regret
Roese & Summerville (2005) put forward the idea that regret is based upon an opportunity principle, meaning that greater opportunity breeds regret. The principle is based upon two factors, 1) lost opportunity initiates cognitive dissonance reduction and 2) regret spurs corrective actions and such actions only make sense when opportunities remain open. In the meta-analysis of nine papers by Roese and Summerville, they found that the top six biggest regrets in life were (in descending order) education, career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure. It’s significant that education is the biggest regret because people in modern western society have many opportunities to continue their education throughout life. In addition two laboratory experiments were carried out on college students to test if there was a link between the rankings of regret with opportunity effects, one required participants to recall one regret then place it in a set category of life domains, the other focused on measuring high and low opportunities and its relation to regret intensity. They found that life domains ranked with high opportunity compared to low opportunity were more likely to be vividly regretful. This is the first study support the claim that people’s biggest regrets in life are linked to where they see the most
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