SPRING Counterfactual Thinking

Question 1

what is counterfactual thinking

Answer 1

how things could have turned out different
if..then..
change to desired outcome
explain the past and prep for the future - affect decisions and future intent

Question 2

what is semifactual thinking

Answer 2

even if.. then…still

change events leaduing up to outcome but not change outcome

Question 3

antecedents of coutnerfactual thinking

Answer 3

what triggers counterfactuals?

closeness of event and negative outcome/affect

Question 4

closeness of event - antecedent of counterfactual thinking (kahenman and tversky)

Answer 4

how close you are to percieve something as having nearly occured
mr crane and mr tees - lateness to catch flight - regret flight that 5 mins delay and still miss

Question 5

negative outcome/affect - antecedent of couterfactuals

Answer 5

more counterfactuals if outcome was neg>positive or makes someone feel worse
change to desired
BUT counterfac can have a knock on effect - feel worse

Question 6

what do people think about in counterfactuals

Answer 6

generate alternatives to reality
BUT limited -
appear to be regularities in outcomes generated

Question 7

what are the 5 main couterfactual biases

Answer 7

exceptionality, controllability, temporal order, causal order, action effect

Question 8

describe exceptionality effect

Answer 8

more likely to change what is an exception to the norm
kahenman and tversky - mr jones car crash
can be exception to habit (intrapersonal) or exception to social rules (interpersonal)

Question 9

describe controllability

Answer 9

focus on aspect that is under the persons control opposed to changing external factors
regardless of if uncontrollable factor is internal or external to the protagonist

Question 10

describe temporal order

Answer 10

last event most salient and lead to counterfactual even though each event leading up to it was independent
ie last score of a game

Question 11

describe causal order

Answer 11

if events are in causal order (not independent) then likely to change the first event

Question 12

describe action effect

Answer 12

tendency to regret actions in short term and regret non actions in long term

Question 13

two consequences of counterfactuals

Answer 13

impact future actions and choices

contrast effects and causal inferences

Question 14

describe contrast effects

Answer 14

counterfactual acts as an anchor to which reality is compared
upwards or downwards comparison
feel worse if counterfactual better outcome and feel better if counterfactual is worse

Question 15

describe causal inferences

Answer 15

mental undoing puts weight onto what can change
implicated feelings of blame and guilt
identify causal explanation and flagged as something to change in the future

Question 16

how do we make judgements in the causaility of events on outcomes?

Answer 16

causal judgements
responsibiity and blame
affective consequences

Question 17

describe causal judgements (mccloy and byrne)

Answer 17

how we assign weight onto the cause of an outcome
olympic runners and pain killers -
causal drug in winning > counterfactual 6.23 > semifactual 5.25 > control 4.26
generate own statements of causailty - coutnerfactual increase causality of events and semi decrease

Question 18

describe responsibility and blame

Answer 18

more likely to assign blame if change in beh likely to have diff outcome
more likely to assign blame if chane in action undoes the outcome than when it doesnt

Question 19

describe affective consequences

Answer 19

conterfactuals linked to regret, shame, elation, joy, suprise, disappointment and relief - depends on the focus and direction

Question 20

affective consequence of counterfactuals - mccloy and byrne

Answer 20

counterfactual increases regret

semifactual decreases regret

Question 21

niedenthal, tagney and gavanski 1995 affective consequence

Answer 21

if focus on behaviour then feeel guilt
ie if only i had done …
if focus on personality then feel shame
ie if only i wasnt so…

Question 22

roese 1994 affective consequence of counterfactual

Answer 22

downward coutnerfactual - feel better
upward counterfactual - feel worse
BUT upward relate to performance - feel worse so try more next time and improve in future (anagram task)

Question 23

why are counterfactuals useful

Answer 23

onterfactuals identify what we can change
semifactuals identify what we cant
allows reflection on past actions to prevent negative consequences in the future

Question 24

when are we more likely to engage in downwards counterfactuals

Answer 24

whe nthe situation is not repeated and is percieved as out of out control
makes feel better about the situation and reflect about how could have been worse and wasnt

Question 25

k+T mr jones

exceptionality effect

Answer 25

leave ealy- change time
diff route - change route
- dont focus on what is out of his control

Question 26

medvec madey and gilovich 1995

closeness antecendent of couterfactuals

Answer 26

silver medallists feel worse than bronze

closer to goal of gold whereas bronze just happy that did better than most below them (not as close to gold)

Question 27

read life example of closeness to goal as an antecedent of counterfactual thinking

Answer 27

stepping into road and realising there is an oncoming car

“if i didnt notice that car i could have died”

Question 28

davis et al 1995 neg outcome and antecedent of counterfactuals

Answer 28

more counterfactuals generated following those who recently expereinced death of child - grief
neg affect = increased counterfac and
counterfac = increased neg affect

Question 29

byrne 2016 dysfunctional counterfactuals and neg affect

Answer 29

regret that follows from counterfactual thinking is associated with depression
depressed people reported to generate more unreasonable alternatives to life events

Question 30

markman and miller 2006 dysfunctional counterfactuals and neg affect

Answer 30

mild to mod depressed - more counterfactuals about controllable aspects of neg academic events - put things into perspective
severely depressed - more counterfactuals about uncontrollable, unreasonable and characterological - exacerbate feelings of self blame and worsens symptoms

Question 31

define an unreasonable counterfactual

byrne 2016

Answer 31

can by definition be controllable
unlikely to be reasonable as unlikely to be able to be performed fully by the individual
“if only i never put myself is risky situations, there would be no chance of me getting hurt”

Question 32

define intrapersonal exceptions of normality

Answer 32

adherence to or deviation from habitual modes of behaviour

Question 33

define interpersonal exceptions of normality

Answer 33

adherence to or deviations from societal norms and expectations

Question 34

gavanski and wells 1989 exceptionality and norm correspondence effect

Answer 34

‘andrea’ fails exam
- failure norm to self
- failure exceptional
2 normal and 2 exceptional events described that led up to exam
NCE - neg outcomes caused by neg antecedent, exceptional outcome caused by exceptional antecedent and vise versa
BUT only intrapersonal (self failure)

Question 35

describe girotto, legrenzi and rizzo 1991 controllability - mr bianchi

Answer 35

mr bianchi
4 alt to death of wife based on active decision actions or passive uncontrollable events
ie enter bar, flock of sheep, lorry in car park, tree trunk in road
more ocunterfactuals if bar > other as controllable by protagonist

Question 36

miller and gunasegaram 1990

temporal order

Answer 36

alicia and laura toss coin and if both get the same then win $1000
alicia first and toss tails
laura second and toss heads
- laura more guily even though chances independent

Question 37

byrne et al 2000 temporal order

Answer 37

two contestants win £1,000 if pick the same color card
pick black - interruption and restart - pick black and next pick red - temp effect, blame first person
pick black - interruption and restart - pick red and next pick black then temp eliminated
+ depends on the order of events in the world, not their descriptive order
- temporality effect arises because first event is presupposed and so immutable; elimination of
the temporality effect arises because availability of counterfactual alternative to the first event creates an opposing tendency to mutate

Question 38

wells taylor and turtle 1987 william scenario

causal order

Answer 38

man takes shortcut - broken glass- flat tyre - speeds - speed ticket
most likely to try and undo the shortcut

Question 39

causal order

david and lehman 1995

Answer 39

lose spouse or child in motor accident or to SIDS
both report mentally undoing loss
ie lose baby from SIDS regret not acting on fuss from baby

Question 40

gilovich and medvec 1994 action effect

Answer 40

dave and jim at elite uni
dave stays where he is - doesnt like and wishes gone
jim go to uni - doesnt like and wished stayed
report jim regret more short term but dave regret more long term
- psychological processess decrease regret of actions taken and increase regret of actions no acted upon

Question 41

kahenman 1995 short term and long term regret

Answer 41

short term = “hot regret”
- direct reaction following outcome
long term = “wistfull regret”
- less intense, assoc with sad fantasies of what might have been

Question 42

zeelenberg et al 2002 exceptionality override

regretting short term inaction

Answer 42

regret of ST and LT deopends on norm of situation
fb team with win or losing record
more regret if change team strategy if winning
more regret if dont change team strategy if losing

Question 43

byrne and mceleney 1999

exceptionality override of ST and LT regret

Answer 43

undo LT inaction when consequences of possible action are unknown/may be better than consequence of inaction (upward)
undo action in LT when alt consequence is known

Question 44

ritov and baron 1990 action aand ST and LT regret

Answer 44

risks of bad outcome from vaccine smaller than disease outcome
but inaction minimise regret even though increases risk

Question 45

define upward counterfactuals

Answer 45

better outcome to reality
feel worse
amp regret guilt and shame

Question 46

define downwards counterfactuals

Answer 46

worse outcome to reality
feel better
amp relief satisfaction and sympathy

Question 47

teigen and jensen 2011 downward counterfactuals

Answer 47

tourist survivors of 2004 tsunami in south east asia

spec how things could have been worse and view selves as survivors > victims

Question 48

macrae 1992 responsibility and blame

Answer 48

first time at restaurant = recomment greater find following accident (unusual) than at restaurant go to a lot

Question 49

zeelenberg and pieters 2001

counterfac and responsibility

Answer 49

if feel personally responsible for outcome then incease regret

Question 50

roese 1994 counterfac and responsibility

Answer 50

feelings can determine intent to change in the future
downward make feel better
- when no opp to change then increase downward (teigen and jensen tsunami)
BUT upward feel worse - increase intent to change - anagram task