Counterfactual thinking pdf file

One possible consequence of this type of counterfactual thinking is regret, an emotion which has been shown to affect decisionmaking. Pdf counterfactuals are thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what might have been. Upward counterfactual thinking can have some benefits. Counterfactual thinking description university of british columbia. Counterfactual reasoning means thinking about alternative possibilities for past or future events. Pdf the psychology of counterfactual thinking researchgate. Counterfactual thinking, 3 selfhandicapping, excusemaking, and counterfactual thinking.

Counterfactuals are thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what might have been. Lets say it was a negotiation that didnt play out your way. These thoughts are usually triggered by negative events that block ones goals and desires. Counterfactual thinking and posttraumatic stress reactions. Against a backdrop ofthe functional benefits of counterfactual thinking, two distinct types of bias, one liberal and one conservative, are discussed. The functional basis of counterfactual thinking article pdf available in journal of personality and social psychology 665. Counterfactuals explanation and examples conceptually. Recognizing counterfactual thinking in social media texts acl. The psychology of counterfactual thinking article pdf available in historical social research historische sozialforschung 342 january 2009 with 2,736 reads how we measure reads. A special class of counterfactual thinking is selfrelated, involving counterfactual scenarios in which the individual made a different choice. The objective of this study was to explore factors that affect the difficulty of counterfactual reasoning in 35yearold children and to shed light on the reason why counterfactual reasoning. Those thoughts that identify how an outcome could have been worse e.

If you didnt study for an exam, and then you bombed it, you may well think about this fact the next time that you have an exam scheduled. Cognitive neuroscience of human counterfactual reasoning. To do this, we need to develop a model of adaptive learning, and then consider the consequence on the learning process of introducing the counterfactual thinking. In this over view of the psychological basis of counterfactual thinking, we examine how such thoughts influence emotions and carry benefits for. In other words, you imagine the consequences of something that is contrary to what actually happened or will have happened counter to the facts. We propose that counterfactual thinking depends on the coordination of multiple information processing systems that together enable adaptive. Counterfactual thinking focus on how the past might have been, or the present could be, different. Pdf the functional theory of counterfactual thinking.

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. Selfhandicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual. Counterfactual thinking and regulatory fit judgment and decision. Although participants induced to generate downward counterfactuals report more positive affect than those generating upward or no counterfactual thoughts. Counterfactual thoughts are defined, especially in psychology, as mental representations of alter natives to past events, actions, or states. Causation issues in computational advertising after giving an overview of the advertisement placement problem, which serves as.

Consequences for selfesteem and future motivation counterfactual thinking involves thinking about how a past event could have been better or worse. According to williamson the philosophy of philosophy, blackwell, oxford, 2007, our knowledge of metaphysical necessities and possibilities is just a spe cial case of our knowledge of counterfactual conditionals. Pdf the functional basis of counterfactual thinking. Counterfactual thinking, persistence, and performance.