Counterfactual thinking.

“…focus on better possible alternative worlds, are not just inherently unpleasant but are also an unwelcome prelude to experiencing regret (Landman, 1993; Markman, Gavanski, Sherman, & McMullen, 1993; Roese, 1994, 1997; Zeelenberg, van Dijk, van der Plight, Manstead, van Empelen, & Reinderman, 1998).”

“…unpleasant, recent, or have resulted in a failure to achieve a particular goal (Byrne 2016; Galinsky and Moskowitz 2000; Kahneman and Miller 1986; Roese 1997; Roese and Epstude 2017), social comparisons are evoked for good and bad outcomes often (Gerber, Wheeler, and Suls 2018; Summerville and…”

“” This perspective of what-if is often associated with a human cognitive activity that imagines other possible scenarios for events that have already happened [39].”

“, Landman, 1988); however, there is debate over this issue (Gilovich & Medvec, 1995; Roese, 1997; Zeelenberg, van den Bos, van Dijk, & Pieters, 2002).”

“Participants induced to generate upward episodic counterfactual thoughts reported higher negative affect and greater feelings of regret relative to participants induced to generate downward episodic CFT (see also Gilovich and Medvec, 1995; Landman, 1993; Roese 1997; 1999; Allen, Greenless, & Jones; 2014; Stanley, Pari…”

“…Zeelenberg, 2002); these are thoughts of one’s previous action or inaction and how things would have been different, had one behaved differently (e.g., Roese, 1994, 1997; Gilovich et al., 1998; Roese and Summerville, 2005; Epstude and Roese, 2008; Epstude and Jonas, 2015; Roese and Epstude,…”

“Besides important to decisionmaking and learning, counterfactual emotions may also be beneficial because of an emotional regulatory function (Roese, 1997).”

“…study of counterfactual thinking (CFT), as it is now known, was almost entirely confined to behavioral economics e University, Durham, NC, 27708 rikh). m 4 May 2018; Accepted 22 May (Kahneman and Tversky, 1982), social psychology (Roese, 1997), and, more recently, cognitive science (Byrne, 2005).”

“Each case-based modified theory will be tested to check their explanatory power through the process of counterfactual thinking towards a functional theory.(48) ICAMO matrices will be used to present data for each higher-level outcome of concern.”

“…time . . .’’ In Roese’s (1997) review of the counterfactual literature, he speculates along these exact lines: ‘‘To the extent that counterfactually mediated causal inferences suggest future efficacious action, they extend to generalized expectancies of personal efficacy’’ (Roese, 1997, p. 143).”

“These speculations result in counterfactual emotions: the feelings of regret and relief that enrich our experience of reality and help us learn from our mistakes (Roese [33]).”

“According to this concept, ‘‘counterfactuals are mental representations of alternatives to the past and produce consequences that are both beneficial and aversive to the individual’’ (Roese, 1997, p. 133).”

“When people experience undesirable events, they often cannot help but think of how things might have been (see Hofstadter, 1979; Roese, 1997).”

“…their influential work on norm theory, Kahneman and Miller (1986) highlighted normality as a core determinant of regret and counterfactual thought – imagined alternative versions of the past about what could have happened differently (Byrne, 2016; Miller, Turnbull, & McFarland, 1990; Roese, 1997).”

“Kahneman and Miller’s (1986) norm theory inspired considerable experimental research on counterfactual thinking (see Roese, 1997)—the tendency to think counter to the facts after an event has occurred.”

“Whereas the hindsight bias (Fischhoff and Beyth, 1975; Roese and Vohs, 2012) sometimes leads to overconfidence and complacency (Wilson and Gilbert, 2008), negative events typically trigger counterfactual thinking and corrective action (Epstude and Roese, 2008; Roese, 1997; Roese and Epstude, 2017).”

““mental storytelling” (Irwin, 2014), “internal mentation” (Andrews-Hanna, 2012), “mentally playing with ideas” (Diamond & Lee, 2011), “creative intelligence” (Fuster, 2003), “prospective memory” (Dobbs & Rule, 1987), “memory of the future” (Ingvar, 1985), “counterfactual thinking” (Roese, 1997).”

“Affective contrast arises when people generate counterfactual representations (i.e, how things could have been different) after near-misses and use them as comparison standards to evaluate their current standings (Markman, Gavanski, Sherman, & McMullen, 1993; Roese, 1994, 1997).”

“Emotions stimulate counterfactual thinking (Roese, 1997), and regret is felt most intensely when there is something worth learning, in that some particular changes would likely have produced a better outcome (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982; Medvec, Madey, & Gilovich, 1995).”

“Some individuals may experience a “vicious circle” in which counterfactual thinking creates negative affect, which then leads to more counterfactual thinking (44).”

“Byrne, 2002; Kahneman & Miller, 1986; Roese & Olson, 1995). Counterfactuals are more likely to follow negative outcomes (Roese, 1997), therefore each scenario described events during which participants were asked to imagine making a series of decisions which lead to an unexpected and bad outcome. Each scenario was fol…”

“The increased motivation to continue playing following NMBs may be a result of counterfactual thinking; when a player experiences a NMB, the nearly-obtained win is an additive counterfactual, in that the obtained outcome is compared with a win that was yet to come (Roese, 1997).”

“Although both processes rely on counterfactual thinking, i.e., representations of alternatives to past events (Roese, 1997), the representation of another, social agent is not necessary for comparing the outcomes for the self-resulting from the chosen and the unchosen alternative.”

“So far, research on counterfactual mutability has focused on behaviours perceived as exceptional with respect to an intrapersonal norm—intended as the counterfactual target’s behavioural standard (see Davis & Lehman, 1995; Roese, 1997).”

“Knowledge of an important cause of the outcome bias might spur research in related domains, such as the hindsight bias (Hawkins & Hastie, 1990), overconfidence (Moore & Healy, 2008), and counterfactual thinking (Roese, 1997), as similar processes might be at play in these areas.”

“Additionally, or alternatively, they may not be willing to incur either the cognitive costs involved in counterfactual thinking (Roese 1997) or the actual costs associated with change (Pichert and Katsikopoulos 2008).”

“Counterfactual Thinking (Roese, 1997) is a concept that refers to the human propensity to consider possible alternatives to events that have happened already.”

“Here, counterfactuals are thoughts about alternatives to past outcomes [51].”

“Through their association with causal reasoning (Wells & Gavanski, 1989) and problem solving (Roese, 1994, 1997) reality-improving upward counterfactuals can help people to learn from their mistakes and modify future behaviour (Markman et al., 1993; Roese, 1994; Roese, Hur & Pennington, 1999), but…”

“Moreover, counterfactual thinking is more related to negative emotions, regret and disappointment, than to positive emotions (Rose, 1997).”

“In the Best condition, participants could imagine a negative outcome had the agent instead chosen Worst, recruiting downward counterfactuals (Roese, 1997) and mitigating blame; conversely, in the Worst condition, participants could imagine a positive outcome had the agent instead chosen Best,…”

“According to Roese (1997), a downward counterfactual is a thought about the past in which the outcome is worse than what actually happened.”

“…& Tverksy (1979); Kelsey & Schepanski (1991); Knutson, Rick, Wimmer, Prelec, & Loewenstein (2007); Kobayashi, Yoshino, Takahashi, & Nomura (2007); Loomes & Sugden (1986); Mellers (2000); Raij, Numminen, Narvanen, Hiltunen, & Hari (2005); Ritov & Baron (1995); Roese (1997); Roese & Olson (1995).”

“2 The logical exercise used in this analysis, known by behavioral economists as the simulation heuristic, entails the construction of an “if only” proposition (Kahneman and Tversky 1998; Roese 1997).”

“Moreover, when working through grief entails counterfactual thinking, the individual may have feelings of disappointment, regret, and/or anxiety due to missing opportunities for avoiding the failure overall (cf. Baron 2000, 2004; Roese 1997).”

“This pattern is surprising since the ability to identify relief is thought to develop later than regret [Guttentag & Ferrell, 2004; Weisberg & Beck, 2010], downward counterfactual reasoning is less prevalent than upward [Roese, 1997], and understanding relief has been shown to be particularly impaired in children with…”

“Outcome closeness manipulations are one of the most frequent independent variables in counterfactual reasoning research, particularly in the context of blameworthy behavior (Roese, 1997).”

“Counterfactual reasoning involves thinking alternative versions of the past, such as mental subtraction (i.e., imagining how things would have been worse if a positive event has not occurred) (Roese, 1997).”

“With respect to counterfactual thinking, some authors have suggested that following aversive life events people are more likely to engage in upward relative to downward counterfactuals (Kahneman & Miller, 1986; Roese, 1997).”

“Extrapolation of results into the future requires prognostication of available evidence derived from current trends, but is further conditioned by the other changes implicit within a particular scenario as an extension of ‘what-if’ counterfactual thinking (Roese, 1997).”

“According to fairness theory (Folger & Cropanzano, 2001), individuals strive for justice in exchange situations, and justice judgments are driven primarily by morality concerns and a desire to hold someone accountable.”

“Psychologists of counterfactual thinking (Roese, 1997) observe that upward counterfactual thoughts are much more common than downward ones.”

“Roese 1997.”

“It is likely that normality would have a similar impact on associated biases (Feldman, Kutscher, & Yay, 2020), such as counterfactual thought (Roese, 1997), the omission-bias (Anderson, 2003; Reb & Connolly, 2010; Ritov & Baron, 1990), the harm-action link (Cushman, Young, & Hauser, 2006).”

“There are a number of distinctions that are helpful in the analysis of emotions based on coun-terfactual thinking (Roese, 1997).”

“The generation of counterfactual thoughts is very common in everyday life, especially after bad outcomes (e.g., McEleney & Byrne, 2006; Roese, 1997; Walsh & Byrne, 2007).”

“However, counterfactual thoughts can serve positive functions in daily life, especially when people face traumatic events (Kahneman &Miller, 1986; Roese, 1997).”

“the national economy would be better today”) (Roese 1997).”

“Counterfactual researchers have shown that such simulations are highly influential in evaluations and decisions, despite the fact that they are simulations of forgone alternatives to the present reality, that is, realities that could never come to pass (Kahneman & Miller, 1986; Kahneman & Tversky, 1982; Roese, 1997).”

“The literature on counterfactual thinking (e.g., Epstude and Roese 2008; Hafner, White, and Handley 2016; Kahneman and Miller 1986; Roese 1997) leads us to predict that the choice overload effect is moderated by a school’s outcome performance.”

“Humans routinely and automatically engage in counterfactual thinking (Roese, 1997; Goldinger et al., 2003), mentally changing the internal representation of relevant facts to simulate a counterfactual scenario, while maintaining the factual representation in parallel (Byrne, 2016).”