Counterfactual thinking.

“…Gavanski, Sherman, & McMullen, 1993; Niedenthal, Tangney, & Gavanski, 1994; Sanna, 1997), and can have constructive consequences, such as generating inferences about the causes of previous difficulties, guiding effective preparative and preventive behavior (Mandel & Lehman, 1996; Roese, 1997).”

“From an authoritative review of the literature, Roese (1997) concluded that emotion, specifically negative emotional experience, is the “chief determinant of the mere activation of counterfactual processing” (p. 135).”

“2Because humans can easily entertain counterfactuals (Roese, 1997), attempted harm also fits a dyadic template (e.”

“Counterfactual thoughts are alternative representations of events (i.e., outcomes that could have occurred but did not; Roese, 1997, 1999), such as “If I had chosen to quit smoking 5 years ago as I planned, perhaps I would not be diagnosed with lung cancer today.””

“Put differently, regret is a counterfactual emotion (Kahneman & Miller, 1986; Roese, 1997; Zeelenberg, Van Dijk, Van der Pligt, et al., 1998) that heavily relies on comparison processes (E. Van Dijk & Zeelenberg, 2005; Zeelenberg & Van Dijk, 2005).”

“It can vary depending on which mental account the context suggests is appropriate for calculating its value (Thaler, 1999) or on what the context suggests is normal (Kahneman & Miller, 1986) or might have happened instead (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982; Markus & Nurius, 1986; Roese, 1997).”

“…to goals and are a component of regulatory mechanisms that keep behavior on track, particularly within social interactions (Epstude & Roese, in press; Johnson & Sherman, 1990; Markman & McMullen, 2003; Roese, 1997, 2001; Roese & Olson, 1997; Roese, Sanna, & Galinsky, 2005; Segura & Morris, 2005).”

“It means “counter to the facts” [46], and takes one step further that assigns the “clash of worlds” combination of values to variables.”

“On balance, Roese (1997) argues that CFT produces net beneficial effects for individuals.”

“Upward counterfactuals can makes us feel worse as we ponder what we should have done but did not (Roese, 1997), and can therefore play a role in correcting future behavior by highlighting actions that can improve future outcomes (Boninger, Gleicher, & Strathman, 1994; Gleicher, Boninger, Strathman, Armor, & Ahn, 1995;…”

“…in more negative emotions when it is easy to think of alternative actions (conduct) that could have been implemented by the organization, when it is feasible to implement alternative actions, and when other options are likely to result in a much better outcome for the customer (see Roese 1997).”

“We may perform mental simulations in order to generate forecasts or to plan future activities (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982b), and we may also need to simulate possibilities, in order to decide whether we believe conditional statements (Evans & Over, 2004), or to engage in counterfactual thinking about what might have bee…”

“Negative emotions in particular stimulate retrospective analysis, including counterfactual thinking (e.g., Roese, 1997).”

“In addition, the counterfactual outcome comparisons that underlie emotional experiences of regret, rejoicing, disappointment, or elation may help people learn from their failures and successes (Roese, 1997), whereas social comparisons with other’s welfare may support norms of justice and equity that seem broadly desir…”

“Regretful thinking is important because such strong sentiments may have profound effects on entrepreneurs’ mood, understanding of cause-effect relationships, decisionmaking, and task performance (Roese, 1997).”

“Past work indeed reveals that considering upward counterfactuals ''that are evaluatively better than actuality'' (Roese, 1997, p. 134), influences people's (emotional) interpretation of factual reality (Mandel & Dhami, 2005; Zeelenberg et al., 1998) and their subsequent decisions (Markman,…”

“Research on counterfactual reasoning has found that individuals engage in valuable counterfactual thinking as a result of negative affect and misfortune (e.g., Galinsky, Seiden, Kim, & Medvec, 2002; Lipe, 1991; Roese, 1997).”

“Alternatively, it may lead to an analysis of the causes of failure and, thereby, lead to improved future performance (Roese, 1997).”

“Indeed, research shows that taking responsibility for unfavorable events can engender disappointment and blame (Roese, 1997).”

“…intentions to carry out activities that will ensure a better outcome in the future, compared to those who create a downward counterfactual and imagine how things could have turned out worse, or who do not imagine how things could have turned out differently (e.g., Markman et al. 2008, Roese 1997).”

“Counterfactuals are thoughts of what might have been, of what could have happened if some past action had been different (Roese, 1997).”

“For example, Roese (1997) defined simulation as ‘imaginative mental construction’ (p. 134), Buckner et al .”

“And research on counterfactual thinking indicates that reflecting on “what could have been” (Roese 1997, as cited in Fong 2006, p. 1017) may introduce, for individuals and collectives alike, an oppositional stance into otherwise positive events (“it could have been better”) and negative events (“it…”

“Cognitive scientists refer to such mental representations of alternatives to past events as counterfactuals (‘‘contrary-to-fact’’) [15].”

“Recent research on regret has pinpointed numerous cognitive consequences, including effects on blame, expectancies, superstition, suspicion, and ongoing behavior (Connolly & Zeelenberg, 2002; Roese, 1997, 2005).”

“Additive counterfactuals simulate the event turning out differently by inserting an additional factor into the causal chain, whereas subtractive counterfactuals do so by deleting a factor that was present in the actual causal chain (Roese, 1997).”

“Regret is considered to be a consequence of a decision that lead to an unwanted outcome and, thus, counterfactual thinking about what might have been (Epstude & Roese, 2008; Roese, 1997).”

“…been the subject of numerous theories in the areas of counterfactual thinking (e.g., Kahneman & Miller, 1986; McMullen, Markman, & Gavanski, 1995; Roese, 1997), social comparison (e.g., Festinger, 1954; Kruglanski & Mayseless, 1990; Taylor & Lobel, 1989), temporal comparison (e.g., Albert, 1977;…”

“Similarly, if we had considered different types of purchases, then the imperfections of what we actually have may prompt us to make counterfactual comparisons with what we could have had, producing disappointment and regret (Roese, 1997).”

“…are customary strategies for regulating negative feeling states (M. S. Clark & Isen, 1982; Forgas et al., 1998; Klinger, 1982; Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999; Roese, 1997; Thayer et al., 1994), this suggests that people who focus on themselves in a reflexive way try to regulate their mood states.”

“By shifting to counterfactual thinking (see Byrne, 2005; Epstude & Roese, 2008; Roese, 1997), decision makers can justify their performance by comparing it to what would have happened had they employed different strategies.”

“For instance, recent findings indicate that they are less likely than other persons to engage in counterfactual thinking—imagining outcomes or events different from those that actually occurred (e.g., Roese, 1997).”

“Counterfactual thinking has a strong effect on individual cognition and enhances learning and application in a variety of ways (Roese, 1997).”

“They have both been called counterfactual emotions, both have negative valence, both are common experiences, and both are the result of decisions with unfortunate outcomes (Landman, 1993; Loomes & Sugden, 1982, 1987; Roese, 1997; Roese & Olson, 1997; Zeelenberg, Van Dijk, Manstead, & Van der Pligt, 1998; Zeelenberg, V…”

“Consistent with Roese (1997), we view counterfactual thinking as a subset of mental simulation (Roese, 1997), or the imaginative mental construction of scenarios (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982; Taylor & Schneider, 1989).”

“Roese (1997) Creative cognition is usually the An understanding of the basic reflection of the balance between mental operations of creativity. novelty and familiarity.”

“The counterfactual conditions were meant to foster our judgments of greater explanatory power (Bhaskar, 2009) of greater explanatory power (Bhaskar, 2009) of causality in the functional theory that was developing (Roese, 1997).”

“In this way, counterfactual reconstructions of the past can pave the way for future improvement (Markman, Gavanski, Sherman, & McMullen, 1993; Roese, 1994; 1997; Taylor & Schneider, 1989; for a review see Ellis, et al., 2014).”

“" This is highly relevant because such thinking can have a profound effect on entrepreneurs' understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, decision making, and task performance (Markman, Balkin, & Baron, 2002; Roese, 1997).”

“(Roese 1997).”

“As one considers possible outcomes, emotions such as fear can creep in (Roese, 1997), and negative emotions such as fear, impact entrepreneurs’ evaluations of opportunities negatively (cf. Grichnik et al., 2010; Welpe et al., 2012).”

“So, for example, when one misses an airplane by just a few minutes or a gold medal by just a few meters, it is all too easy to imagine how a small change in one’s own behavior might have changed the outcome (Miller & Gunasegaram, 1990; Roese, 1997).”

“Counterfactual thinking involves imagining how actual outcomes might have been altered if the antecedents to an event had been different (Roese, 1997).”

“…is worth noting that, although research on the cognitive neuroscience of counterfactual thinking – broadly defined as thoughts of what may have been (Roese, 1997; Byrne, 2002; Epstude & Roese, 2008) – is growing, most studies focus on the simulation of counterfactual alternatives to impersonal…”

“When the work environment generates social cues contradictory to a person’s experience, he or she may be prompted to engage in counterfactual thinking and imagine alternative realities (Roese, 1997).”

“Thus, the self-explanation and data verification components help individuals more effectively learn from experience by clarifying the causal link between behavior and outcomes, and they promote more counterfactual thinking (Barsalou, 2008; Cheng, 1997; Chi, de Leeuw, Chiu, & Lavancher, 1994; Roese, 1997; Spellman, 199…”

“…in relation to several social-cognitive and self-related phenomena such as rumination and goal progress (Conway, Csank, Holm, & Blake, 2000; Martin & Tesser, 1996), counterfactual thinking (Roese, 1997), and the certainty or clarity of the self-concept (Baumgardner, 1990; Campbell et al., 1996).”

“Counterfactual thinking refers to the ruminations about alternative decisions and potential consequences (Roese, 1997).”

“had never developed its Apollo Project? Would the Soviet Union have ‘won’ the Space Race? Would Neil Armstrong ever have coined his famous words strolling across the moonscape? Counterfactual reasoning, our ability to consider this hypothetical scenario, is pervasive in everyday life (e.g., Byrne, 2002; Kahneman & Mil…”

“Praise and blame may sometimes be phrased as a counterfactual inference (Roese, 1997), which may also be self-serving: ‘‘If not for me, we would have failed’’ or ‘‘If only she had tried harder, we would have succeeded’’ (Roese & Olson, 1993).”

“Counterfactual thinking itself has been shown to bring benefits in terms of subsequent problem-solving and performance enhancement (Epstude and Roese in press; Markman et al. 2008; Roese 1994, 1997).”

“One is the affective function (e.g., McMullen, 1997; Roese, 1997; Taylor & Schneider, 1989), whereby a given outcome will be judged more favorably to the extent that a less desirable alternative is salient.”

“Such emotions may stimulate simulating counterfactuals, that is, better or worse courses of events than actually met, especially when they arise in response to imagined events (Roese, 1997).”

“Abduction also involves the application of counterfactual thinking (creating possible alternatives to events) to identify positive and negative outcomes (Roese, 1997).”

“Roese (1997) and Roese and Hur (1997) have suggested that negative affect is the primary driver of counterfactual thinking and that event normality affects the content but not the activation of counterfactual thoughts.”

“Because negative cues are often more salient than positive cues (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1981; Roese, 1997; Wong & Weiner, 1981), if an employee enacts helpful actions but has a bad reputation, his or her negative reputation should stand out.”