Test 2: Regret and Debiasing Flashcards
What is Landman’s (1993) definition of regret and why is it better then the Webster’s dictionary definition:
“A more or less painful COGNITIVE and EMOTIONAL state of feeling sorry about ones misfortunes. IS an experience of felt REASON or REASONED EMOTION. Includes the sins of omission (inaction) and commission (action). They can be voluntary or accidental, executed deeds or entirely mental (Counterfactual Thinking).
The psychological definition of regret is better because it acknowledges the cognitive aspect of regret. Regret is a unique emotion because it involves reason, the comparison of actual outcome with a better alternative (upward CF thinking) that produces negative affect.
Why will everyone have regret?
Lifetime of choices: everybody has a lifetime of choices. > some of them will be ill- advised and lead to an imperfect outcome. > realisation that unfortunate outcome could have been avoided.
From this view of regret one can see that everybody will have experienced regret in their lifetime (instances where things could have gone better).
What are the (3) perspectives: to understand regret?
- Philosophical Perspective
> reflects on the nature of the internal state. > does "thinking" or "feeling" better describe regret (i.e. if it is more cognitive or affective in nature). > questions if regret is distinguishable from other emotional states like disappointment, guilt, remorse or sadness.
**evidence suggests yes,
regret is a unique emotion.
- Economic
> you feel regret anytime there is a difference in value between assets received and the maximum value possible if one had chosen an other alternative.
**If what you have is less than
what you could have had you
will feel regret.
**If you do not know the outcome of the rejected alternative then you can not feel regret.
**bigger the difference
between our alternative and
forgone alternative the more
regret you will feel.
- Counterfactual Thinking
> Events are not evaluated in isolation (according to the norm theory, people compare the the actual outcome with an exemplar). > Alternative reality is compared to the actual outcome (what "could have been" vs "what did happen").
**thus, imagined outcomes can
cause regret (do not need to
know the outcome of the
forgone alternative).
Research Example:
What do people regret more?
Gilovich & Medvec (1995)
Elderly
In a longitudinal study Gilovich and Medvec (1995) asked 720 elderly individuals “in their lifetime what would you have done differently?”
Responses were coded and they found that responses fell into two categories:
A) Regrets of Inaction
e.g. should have been more
assertive, should have
completed school etc.
B) Regrets of Action
e.g. shouldn’t have married
early, been divorced or
stressed so much.
Inaction regrets were more common than action regrets as being elderly individuals biggest regret in their lifetime (54% vs 12%).
Research Example:
Gilovich and Medvec (1994)
Community
A random sample of adults with the mean age of 40 were drawn from a COMMUNITY sample.
Participants were asked “when you look back on your life and the things you regret, which do you regret more?”
A) All those things you did but
wished you didn’t.
B) All those things you didn’t
do but wish you did.
**Inaction was regretted more then action (75% vs 25%).
In a different COMMUNITY sample participants were asked to “thinking of their greatest regretted action and inaction. Which do you regret more?”
**70% said that inaction, something they
didnt do but wish they did was
regretted more than an
an action (70% vs 30%).
Gilovich and Medvec (1994)
Multiple samples:
Old vs Young
Why?
compared whether action or inaction was regretted more in older or younger samples.
Participants were asked “when you look back on your life to this point, what are your biggest regrets?”
**Inaction was regretted more than actions in YOUNGER and OLDER samples, but the effect was stronger in OLDER sample.
why? > actions do not tend to cluster into consistent categories like inaction regrets do. > Actions regretted seem to be expansive, meaning that there are limitless actions you can regret and themes of their regretted actions vary between people.
What is the “shift of action into inaction”
Finding that over the time course peoples biggest regrets shift from actions to inactions.
For example, When PSYC333 students were asked “think over the last month or [of your life] what do you regret most?”
Month:
> Action was regretted more
then inactions.
Life Course:
> Inactions were regretted
more than actions (held
greater weight over time).
Regret Research using Scenario’s
Participants were given the scenario:
Dave and Jim are enrolled in the same university but are both considering transferring to another more prestigious school. Dave stays where he is and Jim moves but they both end up with a poor outcome. Would Dave or Jim regret their decision more?
Majority of people said action (Jim) would be regretted more than inaction (Dave). i.e. 72% vs. 28%.
When asked who would regret their actions more in the long run. People shifted their answer from action to inactions (Dave > Jim).
Why does regret shift with time?
- Factors which can reduce the
pain of regrettable actions
more than inactions.
a) Behavioural
i.e. Compensatory
behaviours.
> engaging in other behaviours
that may make the situation
better, fix the problem or poor
outcome.
*Thinking of ways to make
things better is easier
following an action relative to
inaction.
b) Psychological
> More silver-linings can be found for actions than inactions. > Functions to reduce cognitive dissonance caused by regretting your actions.
e.g. Downward counterfactual thinking - it could have been worse (making ourselves feel better by thinking we could not have changed the outcome).
2.Factors that increase the pain
of regrettable inactions more
then actions.
a) inexplicable inaction
> time increases retrospective
confidence making inactions
inexplicable.
*the factors at the time where we decided whether to do or not do something is not assessable in retrospect. Thus, in retrospect inactions seem inexplicable because we can not recall the good reasons that lead to us not doing something.
> inhibitory factors are less
salient, so reasons for
inactions are hard to explain.
*Hindsight bias: I know i should have done that in hindsight now that I know the outcome and i find it hard to imagine choosing differently- maintains regret for longer.
b) what was vs what might have
been
> the consequences of our actions are finite. Meaning there is only what did happen. In contrast the consequences of inaction are infinite (what could have beens-better alternatives.)
Especially if we believe the infinite forgone opportunities may have changed our life course. In contrast the finite missed opportunities seem in substantial in comparison (why inactions feel more painful in the long run).
- Factors that promote cognitive
accessibility of inactions more than
actions.
a) Zeigarnik Effect
Failures to act are more memorable and
enduring then actions.
i.e. in-completed actions stay in our head longer and more accessible then completed actions. People are unable to let it go because it is incomplete, an unclosed action.
Regret and Decision Making:
What are the two ways that regret influences decision making?
- Retrospectively
after a decision has been made we come
to regret our choice. - Anticipated Regret
(prefeactual thinking)
Comparing what might be with other
possible alternatives. A form of projective
thinking trying to anticipate regret in order
to select the best choice of action.
Research Example 1:
Decision Making and Regret:
Simonson (1992)
Scenario:
> Participants were asked to think about a tv
on sale and decide if they would buy it in
July or August.
Participants would only know in August if
the price was lower in July or August.
Q: Would you feel more regret if…
A) You bought it in July and the August price
was better? Action regret
B) You wait till August to act and the price
was better in July? Inaction regret
When asked to make the decision without considering regret people choose equally between A and B.
When people were told to THINK about which action they would regret more they found that missing a sale due to Inaction was perceived to be regretted more than buying a TV and it being cheaper later (action).
FOMO (fear of missing out) is an example of how regret can influence our decisions and lead to impulse buys.
Research Example 2:
Decision Making and Regret:
Simonson (1992)
Participants were asked what they would regret more….
A) If the lesser known brand TV was inferior
and less reliable.
B) The name brand was not any better.
*before being asked about which they
would regret more there was no significant
difference in whether people selected (A) or
(B).
When THINKING about regret people said they would regret (B) more than (A) and this lead to most people purchasing the cheaper tv.
Prospect theory: the loss of a poor outcome from a cheaper tv is perceived to be less of a loss relative to the more expensive tv not being any better.
Why?
Doeds regret influence our decisons:
Regret theory
Regret Theory:
- People experience regret and rejoicing
(prospect theory: losses loom larger than
wins. Thus, regret is more influential on
our decisions than gains.) - People try to anticipate the likelihood of
experiencing these emotions.
(people try to anticipate regret to make in
an attempt to avoid a poor outcome that
will make us feel regret).
Research example:
Regret Theory
(A) $1,000,000 for sure
(B) 10% chance of $2,500,000
89% chance of $1,000,000
1% chance of $0
Rational decision makers should in theory select (B) but most people choose (A). Why? because as the prospect theory losses loom larger than wins and people tend to overestimate the likelihood of low probabilities. Thus, anticipation of regret leads people to fall into a behavioural trap of choosing (A) and being Loss Aversive.
**Regret theory argued that avoiding regret
is equivilant to avoiding risk.
Contradictory study to Regret theory:
Zeelenberg et al. (1996)
Argues people are not risk-averse, they are regret averse (i.e. they aren not equal) we can seperated.
Example:
A) 35% chance of $130
65% chance of $10
*risky option
B) 65% chance of $69
35% chance of $0
*safer option
If risk aversive you “should” choose the safer option (B).
Choice Only:
No matter what option you choose you will only get to know the outcome of the option you chose. Thus, if people are regret minimisers (and not risk adverse) then it shouldn’t matter if you choose the risky or safe option because there is no alternative to compare it to and thus, no chance of regret.
Risky Feedback:
No matter what option you choose you will get feedback for the risky outcome. Thus, if people are regret minimisers they will choose the risky option to avoid the chance of feeling regret (risk aversion and regret minimisation is not =).
Safe Feedback:
No matter which option you choose you will get feedback for the safe option. Thus, if people are regret minimisers they will choose the safe option.
**people will choose to minimise regret
irrespective of risk.
Results:
Preference Reversal on risk occurs because people are regret minimisers.
i. e. Risky Feedback = preference for safe
i. e. Safe Feedback = preference for risky
