The inaction effect in the psychology of regret.

Full Abstract

Previous research showed that decisions to act (i.e., actions) produce more regret than decisions not to act (i.e., inactions). This previous research focused on decisions made in isolation and ignored that decisions are often made in response to earlier outcomes. The authors show in 4 experiments that these prior outcomes may promote action and hence make inaction more abnormal. They manipulated information about a prior outcome. As hypothesized, when prior outcomes were positive or absent, people attributed more regret to action than to inaction. However, as predicted and counter to previous research, following negative prior outcomes, more regret was attributed to inaction, a finding that the authors label the inaction effect. Experiment 4, showing differential effects for regret and disappointment, demonstrates the need for emotion-specific predictions.

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Author information

Author/s: Zeelenberg, Marcel (M); van de Bos, Kees (K); van Dijk, Eric (E); Pieters, Rik (R);

Affiliation: Department of Economic and Social Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands. m.zeelenberg@kub.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Mar; vol 82 (issue 3) : pp 314-27

Dates: Created 2002/03/20; Completed 2002/09/20; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 11902619, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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