Effect Of Counterfactual Thinking Research Articles

How counterfactual thinking affects willingness to consume green restaurant products: Mediating role of regret and moderating role of COVID-19 risk perception

Given the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, one may wonder how this situation might have differed if green consumption had been prioritized. Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept wherein people ponder alternative outcomes of events that have already happened. This paper presents two experiments to explore (a) the effect of counterfactual thinking on individuals' willingness to consume green restaurant products and (b) the roles that regret and risk perception play in the main effect. Study 1 revealed that consumers who think counterfactually express stronger willingness to consume green restaurant products than those who do not think counterfactually. A partial mediating effect of regret was also confirmed in this process. Study 2 showed that risk perception moderates the impact of counterfactual thinking on one's willingness to consume green restaurant products. Theoretical contributions of these findings to counterfactual thinking theories are discussed, and managerial implications for tourism marketing are provided.

Decision Reversibility and Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Counterfactual Thinking and Anticipated Regret.

PurposeExtensive research has shown that reversible decisions yield lower post-decision satisfaction than irreversible decisions. However, to date, little is known about how decision reversibility affects post-decision satisfaction. Based on regret theory, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of counterfactual thinking and anticipated regret in the association between decision reversibility and satisfaction.MethodsIn this study (130 participants), participants were randomly assigned to two personnel decision situations with reversible and irreversible decision outcomes, and all participants completed questionnaires during the process of completing the decision task. The questionnaires used included the Counterfactual Thinking for Negative Events Scale, Anticipated Regret Scale, and satisfaction questionnaire. Finally, the data were statistically analyzed using the base package in R and PROCESS 3.5.ResultsThe results show that (1) Compared to irreversible decisions, reversible decisions have a significant negative impact on satisfaction. (2) Counterfactual thinking plays a mediating role between decision reversibility and satisfaction. (3) Compared with irreversible decisions, reversible decisions further lowered the level of post-decision satisfaction through the chain mediating effects of counterfactual thinking and anticipated regret.ConclusionPeople’s lowered levels of post-decision satisfaction in the reversible decision condition relate to increased levels of counterfactual thinking and anticipated regret. In addition, counterfactual thinking can play a mediating role alone, indicating that this variable may be critical in understanding the mechanisms by which decision reversibility affects satisfaction. This knowledge may be used to help people optimize their decision-making behavior.

“If only…”: customer counterfactual thinking in failed recovery

Purpose This paper aims to examine counterfactual thinking as a key mediator of the effects of failed recovery (vs. failed delivery) on negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). The authors further investigate the effectiveness of using recovery co-creation in minimizing customers’ counterfactual thinking. Design/methodology/approach This research includes textual analysis of online reviews (Study 1) and three scenario-based experiments (Studies 2, 3a and 3b). In addition to using item-response scales, the authors analyze negative online reviews and participants’ open-ended responses to capture their counterfactual thinking. Findings Failed recovery (vs failed delivery) increases counterfactual thinking, which, in turn, increases negative eWOM. These mediating effects of counterfactual thinking are consistent across textual analyses and experimental studies, as well as across different measures of counterfactual thinking. Counterfactual thinking also impacts customer anger in experiments; however, anger alone does not explain the effects of failed recovery on negative eWOM. Counterfactual thinking can be minimized by co-created recovery, especially when it is used proactively. Practical implications The findings demonstrate the detrimental effects of counterfactual thinking and offer managerial insights into co-creation as a strategy to minimize customers’ counterfactual thinking. The authors also highlight the importance and ways of tracking counterfactual thinking in digital outlets. Originality/value The authors contribute to counterfactual thinking and service recovery research by demonstrating the effects of failed recovery on counterfactual thinking that, in turn, impacts negative eWOM and offering a novel way to measure its expression in online narratives. The authors provide guidance on how to use co-creation in the service recovery process to minimize counterfactual thinking.

The Effect of Counterfactual Thinking on the Sunk Cost Effect

The Effect of Counterfactual Thinking on the Sunk Cost Effect

For Better of For Worse: The Effect of Counterfactual Thinking and Relative Performance Information on Escalation Tendencies

For Better of For Worse: The Effect of Counterfactual Thinking and Relative Performance Information on Escalation Tendencies

The Effect of Counterfactual Thinking on Post-purchase Behavior of Retail Management

The Effect of Counterfactual Thinking on Post-purchase Behavior of Retail Management

The Effects of Counterfactual Thinking and Meaning-Making about Intimate Relationship on Meaning in Life

The Effects of Counterfactual Thinking and Meaning-Making about Intimate Relationship on Meaning in Life

The effect of autonomy on counterfactual thinking about controllable events

ABSTRACTWe investigated the role of autonomy in counterfactual thinking in two experiments. Autonomy emphasises intrinsic motivation and reduced preoccupation with external outcomes. Experiment 1 demonstrated that autonomy influences both the number and content of counterfactual thoughts, particularly for individuals performing a task rather than reading about someone else performing a task. Experiment 2 investigated the performance improving effects of counterfactual thinking, while considering the role of autonomy. Individuals higher in autonomy were more likely to focus on undoing controllable aspects of their behaviour compared to individuals lower in autonomy. Controllable (versus uncontrollable) counterfactual thoughts were associated with greater performance improvement on a subsequent task. Self-regulatory traits such as autonomy may be important in the types of counterfactual thoughts that people generate. We discuss the mechanisms by which autonomy may exert an influence on counterfactual thinking and consider the implications of the findings for the functional theory of counterfactual thought.

General attainability beliefs moderate the motivational effects of counterfactual thinking

Previous research has demonstrated that upward counterfactuals generated in response to less than optimal outcomes on repeatable tasks are more motivating than are downward counterfactuals. In the present work, however, it was hypothesized that upward counterfactuals should only be motivating to the extent that one believes that improvement is generally attainable. By contrast, it was hypothesized that upward counterfactuals should actually diminish motivation and downward counterfactuals should enhance motivation to the extent that one believes that improvement is generally unattainable. In support of these hypotheses, the results of two studies indicated that incremental theorists (who believe that intelligence-related abilities are malleable) displayed greater motivation and enhanced performance in response to upward as compared to downward counterfactuals, whereas entity theorists (who believe that intelligence-related abilities are fixed) displayed greater motivation and enhanced performance in response to downward as compared to upward counterfactuals.

Effects of Outcomes and Random Arbitration on Emotions in a Competitive Gambling Task

Research on self-serving biases in judgments and decision-making suggests that individuals first evaluate the outcomes they get, and then the procedures by which these outcomes were obtained. Evidence also suggests that the appraisal of the former (outcome favorability) can bias the appraisal of the latter (procedural fairness). We investigated the nature of the emotions that are elicited by these appraisals by using a new paradigm in which participants performed a choice task between pairs of competing gambles against a virtual opponent. Conflicts (when the participant selected the same gamble as his virtual opponent) were resolved by a neutral arbitrator who either confirmed the participant’s choice (“pro-self”) or attributed his gamble to the virtual opponent (“pro-competitor”). Trials in which the participant and his virtual opponent selected different gambles (“no-conflict”) served as a control condition. In order to validate this new task, emotional reactions to the outcomes of the gambles were measured using self-reports, skin conductance responses, and facial electromyography (zygomaticus, corrugator, and frontalis). In no-conflict trials, effects of counterfactual thinking and social comparison resulted in (i) increased happiness as well as SCR and zygomaticus activity for wins compared to losses (valence effect) and for high compared to low gains (magnitude effect), and (ii) increased anger, regret, disappointment, and envy for losses compared to wins (valence effect). More importantly, compared to no-conflict trials and to pro-self awards with similar outcomes, pro-competitor awards increased subjective reports of anger for unfavorable outcomes, and increased happiness and guilt for favorable outcomes. Although the outcomes were independent from the arbitrators’ decisions, and both the arbitrators’ decisions and the outcomes were kept equally likely, individuals tended to attribute their outcomes to unfair arbitrators, reacting emotionally, especially when the modification of their initial choice for a gamble led to a negative outcome.

Customer’s self regulatory mode effects on negative emotion and response in failed services -Focusing on the mediating effect of counter-factual thinking, regret, disappointment and customer satisfaction-

Customer’s self regulatory mode effects on negative emotion and response in failed services -Focusing on the mediating effect of counter-factual thinking, regret, disappointment and customer satisfaction-

Strategies to offset dissatisfactory product performance: The role of post-purchase marketing

This research examines the role of post-purchase recovery initiatives in offsetting the negative effect of a dissatisfactory product experience. Experiment 1 explores the effect of counterfactual thinking, a mental simulation process of reflecting upon past events and generating alternative possible outcomes, on product evaluations after an individual experiences a negative purchase outcome. Experiment 2 builds on these findings and shows how customer surveys can be used as tactical tools to boost post-purchase product evaluations. The results indicate that post-purchase marketing efforts, such as customer surveys, can engage consumers in counterfactual thinking and positively affect their product evaluations.

Food for thought: the effect of counterfactual thinking on the use of nutrition information

AbstractIn three experiments, we examine the efficacy of counterfactual thinking (CFT) as a strategy to enhance consumers' motivation to process and use nutrition information on food packages. In the first study, we test whether CFT leads to greater motivation to process nutrition label information in the process of forming product attitudes. We also test whether motivation mediates the relationship between CFT and the influence of the nutrition label in product evaluation. In a second study, we test the effect of upward versus downward CFT on motivation. We also examine whether nutrition information on food packages moderates the relationship between CFT and product attitudes. In a third study, we examined the duration of the motivational effect of CFT. Results from the three studies support the role of CFT as a mechanism that enhances consumers' motivation to elaborate on and use nutrition information to form product attitudes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of counterfactual thinking on customers' negative emotions and reactions in service failures: moderating role customer participation

Effects of counterfactual thinking on customers' negative emotions and reactions in service failures: moderating role customer participation

Counterfactual Thinking as a Scientific Method

Abstract : »Kontrafaktisches Denken als wissenschaftliche Methode« . Despite their alleged uselessness, we frequently encounter instances of counterfactual thinking in everyday-life situations. During the last two decades, psychologists have examined this phenomenon and have been able to show that counterfac-tual thoughts about past (and, therefore, unchangeable) events can be useful for the thinker. This article retraces the effects of counterfactual thinking in every-day life and seeks to translate them into an academic context. Can counterfac-tuals produce similar analytical benefits in the sciences? And if so, what ex-actly are those benefits? After briefly examining the psychological aspects of counterfactual thinking, the article discusses its potential uses from a general scientific perspective before using counterfactual history as a concrete exam-ple. Eventually and for good measure, attention is drawn to the clear and pre-sent dangers associated with counterfactual thinking in an academic context.

The Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking

Abstract : »Die Psychologie kontrafaktischen Denkens« . Counterfactual think-ing refers to mental constructions of alternatives to past events. In this over-view of the psychological basis of counterfactual thinking, we examine how such thoughts influence emotions and carry benefits for everyday behavior. Two psychological mechanisms, contrast effects and causal inferences, can ex-plain many of the effects of counterfactual thinking reported by psychologists. We then consider how counterfactuals, when used within expository but also fictional narratives (for example, in alternative histories), might be persuasive and entertaining. Keywords : counterfactual thinking, causal inference effect, contrast effect. The Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking What might your life be like if you had made key choices differently? What if you had attended a different college, chosen a different career, married some-one else? Most people ponder such possibilities at least once in awhile; some-times they are haunted by the apparent failings such musings reveal. These sorts of thoughts are termed

MANAGERIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL COGNITION Conference Symposia Abstracts.

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings includes abstracts of all papers and symposia presented at the annual conference, plus 6-page abridged versions of the “Best Papers” accepted for inclusion in the program (approximately 10%). Papers published in the Proceedings are abridged because presenting papers at their full length could preclude subsequent journal publication. Please contact the author(s) directly for the full papers. ArticlesMANAGERIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL COGNITION Conference Symposia Abstracts.Published Online:13 Dec 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2004.13862710AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AbstractThis section presents abstracts of conference symposia on managerial and organizational cognition, including a study of organizational silence and voice in the context of highly dynamic systems, a discussion of the effect of counterfactual thinking on the perceptions, motivations, and decision making processes of individuals and groups in organizational settings, and a look at the impact that identity has on key work outcomes.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 2004, No. 1 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 13 December 2017 Published in print 1 August 2004 InformationCopyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.KeywordsMANAGEMENT -- AbstractsABSTRACTSCOGNITION -- AbstractsWORK environment -- AbstractsIDENTITY (Philosophical concept) -- AbstractsINDUSTRIAL management -- AbstractsDECISION making -- AbstractsORGANIZATIONAL sociology -- AbstractsDownload PDF

On Becoming What We Might Have Been: Counterfactual Thinking and Self-efficacy

Three experiments examined the hypothesis that, in the aftermath of a performance event, upward counterfactuals reinforce feelings of self-efficacy toward similar future events, whereas downward counterfactuals decrease feelings of self-efficacy. Using a scenario methodology, the first two experiments confirmed this hypothesis: upward counterfactual thinking enhanced feelings of self-efficacy relative to downward counterfactual thinking. In a third experiment, conducted in a more real-world context, upward counterfactuals again led to greater feelings of self-efficacy than downward counterfactuals. However, there were important limiting conditions: the effect of counterfactual thinking on self-efficacy was more or less pronounced depending on both situational and dispositional factors. Whereas the pattern of results provided little support for a self-protection explanation for these limiting conditions, the results were consistent with a depth of processing explanation.

Counterfactual Thinking, Blame Assignment, and Well-Being in Rape Victims

Blame assignment and well-being among women who had been raped (N = 85) were investigated as a function of counterfactual thinking. The more upward counterfactuals (i.e., ways the rape might have been avoided) victims concurred with where some aspect of the self was mutated, the poorer their well-being. The effect of such upward counterfactual thinking on well-being was mediated by increases in self-blame. The amount of blame assigned to both the rapist and society did not mediate the effect of counterfactual thinking on well-being. These observed effects of counterfactual thinking on blame assignment are consistent with those obtained with uninvolved observers and with victims of other types of trauma. Models testing other possible relationship orderings were not supported. Implications for intervention strategies with rape victims are considered.

Effect of counterfactual and factual thinking on causal judgements

The significance of counterfactual thinking in the causal judgement process has been emphasized for nearly two decades, yet no previous research has directly compared the relative effect of thinking counterfactually versus factually on causal judgement. Three experiments examined this comparison by manipulating the task frame used to focus participants' thinking about a target event. Prior to making judgements about causality, preventability, blame, and control, participants were directed to think about a target actor either in counterfactual terms (what the actor could have done to change the outcome) or in factual terms (what the actor had done that led to the outcome). In each experiment, the effect of counterfactual thinking did not differ reliably from the effect of factual thinking on causal judgement. Implications for research on causal judgement and mental representation are discussed.