ABSTRACT
When.deciding.what.to.do,.we.often.think.about.the.consequences.of.our.actions.and.evaluate.their. attractiveness. and. likelihood.of.occurrence..Our. choices. are. then. at. least.partly.based.on. these. appraisals..However,.when.decisions.are. important.enough,.we.also.tend.to. think.about.how.we. would.evaluate.our.outcomes.in.light.of.the.outcomes.forgone..This.has.sometimes.been.referred.to. as.prefactual thinking.(e.g.,.Sanna,.1996)..For.example,.when.choosing.to.invest.all.our.savings.in. risky.stocks,.we.may.envision.the.situation.that.the.stock.market.crashes.and.compare.that.outcome. to.the.alternative.in.which.our.money.would.have.been.securely.placed.in.a.savings.account..In. turn,.entertaining.such.prefactual.thoughts.arouses.emotions..In.this.particular.example,.one.could. already.feel.the.regret.on.learning.that.the.savings.account.would.have.dramatically.outperformed. the. stock. market. investment.. This. feeling. of. potential. regret. concerning. future. worlds. is. often. called.anticipated regret.or.anticipatory regret..More.than.two.decades.of.research.have.shown.that. when.this.type.of.regret.is.elicited,.it.can.exert.a.strong.influence.on.our.behavior.(for.a.review,.see. Zeelenberg,.1999a)..More.specifically,.decision.makers.tend.to.regulate.their.regrets,.such.that.they. behave.in.a.way.that.allows.them.to.avoid.experiencing.this.emotion.in.the.future..In.this.chapter,. we.review.what.we.have.learned.over.these.years.and.what.remains.to.be.learned,.and.we.do.so.by. presenting.our.attempt.to.formulate.a.theory.of.regret.that.integrates.these.observations.and.delineates.opportunities.for.future.research..We.first.address.what.regret.is.before.turning.to.the.effects. of.its.anticipation.
