Gaining Control through Counterfactual Thinking

Nasco, Suzanne Altobello; Marsh, Kerry L.

doi:10.1177/0146167299025005002

Cited by 117 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…To study the processing of explicitly provided comparisons, we need to posit a different cognitive mechanism (i.e., selectively attending to hypothesis confirming comparisons) and, by extension, different boundary conditions. In addition, whereas research on social comparisons (Huguet et al 2001) and counterfactual comparisons (Nasco and Marsh 1999) has argued that an increased willingness to imagine and search for upward comparisons tends to improve future performance, we argue that increased attention to unfavorable feedback can result in an underappreciation of the current choice and unnecessary switching to inferior alternatives. Finally, the explicit availability of the comparative feedback may not only change the underlying mechanism of the effect and its normative consequences, but it could possibly eliminate the effect of anticipated future choices altogether.…”

Section: Processing Multiple Price Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Learning from Mixed Feedback: Anticipation of the Future Reduces Appreciation of the Present

Meyvis¹,

Cooke²

2007

J Consum Res

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Section: Processing Multiple Price Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Learning from Mixed Feedback: Anticipation of the Future Reduces Appreciation of the Present

Meyvis¹,

Cooke²

2007

J Consum Res

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“…Landman, Vandewater, Stewart, and Malley (1995) reported that upward counterfactual thinking among a sample of midlife women was associated with envisioning future changes in career, lifestyle, and interpersonal relationships. Nasco and Marsh (1999) tracked college students for a month, measuring their thoughts and reactions to exam scores, and then comparing these to their actual grades a month later. Immediately after receiving grades on a test early in the semester, students were asked to write down any counterfactual thoughts that came to mind.…”

Section: Counterfactuals Influence Behavior-mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking

Epstude

Roese

2008

Pers Soc Psychol Rev

659

713

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Counterfactuals are thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what might have been. This article provides an updated account of the functional theory of counterfactual thinking, suggesting that such thoughts are best explained in terms of their role in behavior regulation and performance improvement. The article reviews a wide range of cognitive experiments indicating that counterfactual thoughts may influence behavior by either of two routes: a content-specific pathway (which involves specific informational effects on behavioral intentions, which then influence behavior) and a content-neutral pathway (which involves indirect effects via affect, mind-sets, or motivation). The functional theory is particularly useful in organizing recent findings regarding counterfactual thinking and mental health. The article concludes by considering the connections to other theoretical conceptions, especially recent advances in goal cognition.Keywords counterfactual thinking; regret; goals; rumination; mental simulation; inference; decision making; conditional; volition; motivation Who among us has never wondered about what might have been had some past choice been different? With perhaps a little more effort, you might have been an athlete, a doctor, maybe even a rock star. Who among us has never regretted choices made and actions taken? Maybe you should have studied harder in school, traveled more when you had the chance, or had the salmon for lunch instead of the pasta. And who has never pondered a lost love and imagined how passionate it might have been? Thinking about what might have been, about alternatives to our own pasts, is central to human thinking and emotion. Such thoughts are called counterfactual thoughts.Counterfactual thoughts are mental representations of alternatives to past events, actions, or states (Byrne, 2005;Roese, 1997). They are epitomized by the phrase "what might have been," which implicates a juxtaposition of an imagined versus factual state of affairs. The term counterfactual derives from philosophical writings in which the logical status of possibility and probabilistic reasoning were closely scrutinized (e.g., Chisholm, 1946;Evans & Over, 2004;Goodman, 1947;Kvart, 1986;Lewis, 1973;Vaihinger, 1965). For example, to say that a basketball team "almost" won a game is to specify a counterfactual outcome with a particular (although not necessarily exact) level of probability. In everyday life, an individual's counterfactual musings often take the form of a conditional proposition, in which the antecedent corresponds to an action and the consequent corresponds to an outcome (e.g., "If only I had studied, I would have passed the exam"). Crucially, counterfactual thoughts are often evaluative, specifying alternatives that are in some tangible way better or worse than actuality. Better alternatives are termed upward counterfactuals; worse alternatives are termed downward counterfactuals (Markman, Gavanski, Sherman, & McMullen, 1993; Please address correspondence to Neal J. R...

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“…This represents a significant contribution because, as was mentioned earlier, prior counterfactual research has typically employed behavioral measures that are confined to the duration of the experimental session. The only other known study to take a longitudinal approach to assessing the effects of counterfactual thinking on individuals' actions and motivations is that of Nasco and Marsh (1999). Over the course of a month, the authors examined the influence of counterfactual thoughts on real-life exam performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

If only I hadn't smoked: The impact of counterfactual thinking on a smoking‐related behavior

Page

Colby

2003

Psychology and Marketing

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The role of counterfactual thinking as an effective antismoking communications strategy is examined. Specifically, this study investigates how various types of counterfactual thoughts, generated in response to a detrimental smoking scenario, impact individuals' affective evaluations of the scenario, as well as their willingness to participate in a smoking-related behavioral test, a lung-capacity test. This is tested in three experiments, which differ in the timing of gathering individuals' willingness to participate in the lung-capacity test. Experiment 1 collected individuals' willingness to participate in the test shortly after the counterfactual task, whereas Experiments 2 and 3 made this assessment 2 and 7 days following the counterfactual task (respectively). The results of all three experiments indicated that although upward counterfactuals had a negative impact on individuals' affective evaluations of the scenario, they had no effect on participants' willingness to schedule a lungcapacity test. Alternatively, additive counterfactuals did have a significant impact on individuals' preparative actions, despite having no influence on their affective evaluations. This effect, however, decreased with time. By demonstrating that counterfactual thinking may significantly influence smoking-related behaviors, this study's findings contribute to and extend prior counterfactual and antismoking research. ᭧

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Gaining Control through Counterfactual Thinking

Cited by 117 publications

References 24 publications

Learning from Mixed Feedback: Anticipation of the Future Reduces Appreciation of the Present

Learning from Mixed Feedback: Anticipation of the Future Reduces Appreciation of the Present

The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking

If only I hadn't smoked: The impact of counterfactual thinking on a smoking‐related behavior

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