The Experience of Regret: What, When, and Why

摘要以往的研究表明，人们对因采取的行动而产生的消极结果比因放弃的行动而产生的相同结果更感到后悔。例如，人们认为，与那些考虑过换股但仍持有现有股票的人相比，那些因抛售股票而亏损的人更后悔自己的损失。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能做的事情上。本研究的目的是通过调和日常观察和以往研究的结果，进一步加深我们对后悔的理解。这项研究有三个目标。首先是验证日常观察。人们一生中最后悔的事真的是疏漏吗？一系列结构化的访谈将确定人们生活中最常见的遗憾。第二个目标紧随第一个目标。如果人们最大的遗憾是他们在生活中没有做到的事情，那么我们如何解释之前的研究表明相反的结果呢？这项研究将探索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他们不幸的行为（正如目前的研究表明的那样），但他们不幸的不作为在长期内更多（正如日常经验所表明的那样）。将对这一提出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，以及3)为什么从长远来看，我们对不作为的遗憾在认知上更容易获得。通过加深我们对后悔的理解，这项研究有望提高我们的日常判断和决策能力。此外，对潜在机制的研究应该扩大我们对基本社会心理现象的认识，如决策后失调减少、主观自信和反事实思维。

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.