What We Regret Most Are Lost Opportunities: A Theory of Regret Intensity

Author:

Beike Denise R.1,Markman Keith D.2,Karadogan Figen2

Affiliation:

1. University of Arkansas,

2. Ohio University

Abstract

A recent theory (Roese & Summerville, 2005) has suggested that regret is intensified by perceptions of future opportunity. In this work, however, it is proposed that feelings of regret are more likely elicited by perceptions of lost opportunity: People regret outcomes that could have been changed in the past but can no longer be changed and for which people experience low psychological closure. Consistent with the lost opportunity principle, Study 1 revealed that regretted experiences in the most commonly regretted life domains are perceived as offering the least opportunity for improvement in the future, Study 2 indicated that people experience the most regret for outcomes that are not repeatable, and Study 3 revealed that perceptions of higher past than future opportunities and low psychological closure predict regret intensity. Discussion focuses on the hope-inducing yet ephemeral nature of perceived future opportunity and on the relationship between dissonance reduction and closure.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Social Psychology

Reference64 articles.

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3. Beike, D.R., Kleinknecht, E.K. & Wirth-Beaumont, E.T. (2004). How emotional and non-emotional memories define the self. In D. R. Beike , J. M. Lampinen, & D. A. Behrend (Eds.), The self and memory (pp. 141-159). New York: Psychology Press.

4. Striving for a Consistent Life Story: Cognitive Reactions to Autobiographical Memories

5. Psychological closure as a memory phenomenon

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