The Experience of Regret: What, When, and Why

小行星9319558 摘要 先前的研究表明，人们对所采取的行动产生的负面结果比对所放弃的行动产生的相同结果感到更多的遗憾。 例如，人们认为，一个因卖出股票买入另一只股票而亏损的人，比一个想转换股票但仍持有当前股票的人更后悔。尽管这看起来很有说服力，但它与日常生活中的观察相冲突：当人们描述他们最后悔的事情时，他们的遗憾往往集中在他们没有做的事情上。本研究的目的是通过将日常观察与先前的研究结果相协调来进一步理解后悔。 研究有三个目标。第一，每天观察。事实上，人们生活中最大的遗憾是遗漏吗？一系列结构化的采访将确定人们生活中最常见的遗憾。第二个目标是从第一个目标引出的。如果人们最大的遗憾涉及他们在生活中没有做的事情，我们如何解释先前的研究表明相反的结果？ 这项研究将探讨后悔的经历是否有一个系统的时间过程：人们在短期内更后悔自己的不幸行为（正如目前的研究所表明的那样），但从长远来看，他们不幸的不作为（正如日常经验所表明的那样）。将对这一拟议的时间模式进行实验测试。第三个目标是理解为什么这种时间模式可能存在。 特别是，一系列的实验室实验将研究：1）为什么对行动的后悔倾向于随着时间的推移而减少，2）为什么对不作为的后悔倾向于随着时间的推移而加剧，3）为什么我们令人遗憾的不作为在长期内仍然更容易被认知。 通过加深我们对遗憾的理解，这项研究有望改善日常判断和决策。 此外，对潜在机制的研究应该扩展我们对基本社会心理现象的知识，如决策后失调减少，主观信心和反事实思维。

9319558 GILOVICH ABSTRACT Previous research indicates that people experience more regret over negative outcomes that stem from actions taken than over identical outcomes that stem from actions foregone. For example, someone who loses money by selling stocks to buy another one is believed to regret the loss more than someone who thinks about switching but hangs onto his or her current stock. As compelling as this might seem, it conflicts with an observation from everyday life: when people describe what they regret most, their regrets often center around things they failed to do. The purpose of this research is to further our understanding of regret by reconciling everyday observation with the results of previous research. The research has three objectives. The first is to verify everyday observation. Do omissions in fact predominate in the biggest regrets of people's lives? A series of structured interviews will ascertain the most common regrets in people's lives. The second objective follows from the first. If people's biggest regrets involve things they failed to do in their lives, how can we account for previous research that demonstrates the opposite result? This research will explore whether there is a systematic time course to the experience of regret: people regret their unfortunate actions more in the short term (as current research suggests), but their unfortunate inactions more in the long run (as everyday experience suggests). An experimental test of this proposed temporal pattern will be conducted. The third objective is to understand why this temporal pattern might exist. In particular, a series of laboratory experiments will examine: 1) why regret over action tends to diminish with time, 2) why regret over inaction tends to intensify with time, and 3) why our regrettable inactions remain more cognitively available to us in the long run. By furthering our understanding of the regret, this research promises to improv e everyday judgement and decision making. In addition, the examination of underlying mechanisms should expand our knowledge of basic social psychological phenomena such as post-decision dissonance reduction, subjective confidence, and counterfactual thinking.