Premium
Regret Regulation: Disentangling Self‐Reproach From Learning
Author(s) -
Jeffrey Inman J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1207/s15327663jcp1701_4
Subject(s) - regret , outcome (game theory) , mechanism (biology) , control (management) , psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , epistemology , computer science , artificial intelligence , economics , microeconomics , philosophy , machine learning
This article begins with several testable propositions inspired by Zeelenberg and Pieters (this issue). I argue that a critical skill for decision makers is to decouple the aspect of regret that leads to self‐reproach from that aspect that can be used to learn from the outcome and improve future decision making. Results of an illustrative study are presented and discussed. Two other useful strategies are to match the decision effort to the decision's importance and to break big decisions into smaller ones. I close with a call for research examining regret as a self‐control mechanism.