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Counterfactuals, emotions, and context.

David Mandel1

  • 1a University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Cognition & Emotion
|May 3, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Thinking about how things could have been different (counterfactual thinking) impacts emotions and blame, especially in academic situations. Upward counterfactuals link to negative feelings, but downward ones didn't regulate emotion as expected.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Emotion Research

Background:

  • Counterfactual thinking, the act of imagining alternative pasts, is linked to emotional regulation and attributions.
  • Previous research suggests both upward (better outcomes) and downward (worse outcomes) counterfactuals influence emotions.
  • The role of situational context in counterfactual thinking and its consequences requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationships among counterfactual thinking, negative emotions, and attributions of blame and control.
  • To investigate the influence of situational context (academic vs. interpersonal) on these cognitive and emotional processes.
  • To test the emotion-regulatory function of downward counterfactual thinking.

Main Methods:

  • Participants recalled negative academic or interpersonal experiences.
  • Data collected on counterfactual thinking, emotions, and attributions of blame and control.
  • Situational context effects were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Situational context significantly affected attributions, counterfactual thinking, and emotions.
  • The academic context showed a greater tendency toward self-focused cognition and emotion compared to the interpersonal context.
  • Upward counterfactual thinking correlated with negative emotions (guilt, shame, regret, disappointment, sadness).
  • Downward counterfactual thinking did not demonstrate emotion-regulatory effects as hypothesized.

Conclusions:

  • Counterfactual thinking, particularly upward counterfactuals, is closely tied to negative emotional experiences and attributions.
  • Situational context plays a crucial role in shaping cognitive and emotional responses to negative events.
  • The findings challenge previous assumptions about the emotion-regulatory function of downward counterfactual thinking.