The Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking

Abstract

Part 1: Counterfactuals, Causality and Mental Representation. Counterfactual and Causal Explanation: From Early Theoretical Views to New Frontiers D.R. Mandel. The Relation between Counterfactual and Causal Reasoning B.A. Spellman, A.P. Kincannon and S.J. Stose. The Course of Events: Counterfactuals, Causal Sequences and Explanation D.J. Hilton, J.L. McClure and B.R. Slugoski. The Mental Representation of What Might Have Been C.R. Walsh and R.M. J. Bryne Part 2: Functional Bases of Counterfactual Thinking. Reflective and Evaluative Modes of Mental Simulation K.D. Markman and M.N. McMullen. Scenario Simulations in Learning: Forms and Functions at the Individual and Organizational Levels S. Segura and M.W. Morris. Finding Meaning from Mutability: Making Sense and Deriving Significance through Counterfactual Thinking. A.D. Galinsky, K.A. Liljenquist, L.L. Kray and N.J. Roese Part 3: Counterfactual Thinking and Emotion. When a Small Difference Makes a Big Difference: Counterfactual Thinking and Luck K.H. Teigen. On the Comparative Nature of Regret. M. Zeelenberg and E. van Dijk Part 4: Counterfactual Thinking in the Context of Crime, Justice and Political History. Escape from Reality: Prisoners' Counterfactual Thinking about Crime, Justice, and Punishment M.K. Dhami, D.R. Mandel and K.A. Souza. When the Social Context Frames the Case: Counterfactuals in the Courtroom P. Catellani and P. Milesi. Theory- versus Imagination-Driven Thinking about Historical Counterfactuals: Are We Prisoners of Our Preconceptions? P.E. Tetlock and E. Henik.