When does it occur: type of regret

People can regret both things done (actions) and things left undone (inactions). Much debate centers around whether actions or inactions are regretted more frequently and strongly (Feldman, Miyamoto, & Loftus, 1999; Gilovich & Medvec, 1995; Gilovich et al., 1998). We explore whether levels of felt regret differ depending on whether one regrets an action or inaction. Based on the findings of previous studies, actions may evoke more hot regret, and inactions may evoke more wistful and despairing regret (Kahneman, 1995; Gilovich et al., 1998).

We also investigate differences in reversibility between actions and inactions. Inactions may be rated as more reversible since it is easier to do something that has not been done than to undo something that has already been done. For instance, if one regrets never learning to play the piano, it is easier to do that in the future than to undo saying a rude statement.

HYPOTHESIS

In the current study, the following hypotheses are addressed. In regards to felt regret:

(a) Women will rate higher levels of global, hot, wistful, and despairing regret.
(b) Actions will evoke more hot regret, and inactions will evoke more wistful and despairing regret.

In regards to reversibility:

(a) Reversibility ratings will correlate with the global level of felt regret.
(b) Regrets high in reversibility will elicit hot emotions more strongly, whereas regrets low in reversibility will elicit wistful and despairing regrets more strongly.
(c) Inactions will be rated as more reversible than actions.
(d) Do men or women rate regrets as more reversible?

METHOD

Participants

Participants were 215 students from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, ranging from 20-59 years (M age = 24 years). Men composed 52.6% of the sample. Unfortunately, ethnicity was not collected. As a substitute, the general student population at Concordia University identified as Canadian (24%), Middle Eastern and South Asian (14%), Chinese (10%), European (10%), Caucasian (5%), and other ethnic minorities (14%). Twenty-three percent did not list ethnicity. Participants were recruited through undergraduate classes and paid $8.00 Canadian for participation.

Measures

Regret Questionnaire. The Regret Questionnaire included questions concerning regretted actions and inactions in the participants’ lives. Only questions relevant to the current study are discussed. Participants were asked to look back over their lives and briefly describe something they regret having not done (inaction). Participants then rated the intensity of their global felt regret and their levels of hot regret-related emotions, wistful regret-related emotions, and despairing regret-related emotions on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very strongly) (Gilovich et al., 1998). Participants were asked about the reversibility of the regretted inaction. That is, “You have just been thinking about something you regret not having done in your life. How possible would it be for you to do this thing now or at some later time?” Participants answered this question on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = not possible, 5 = definitely possible).

Participants were also asked to describe a regretted action and rate how strongly they regretted having done the item on a 5-point scale (global felt regret: 1 = not at all, 5 = very much). Participants were then asked to rate how they felt about the regretted item in terms of hot, wistful, and despairing regret-related emotions using the previously described scales. Finally, participants were asked how possible it would be for them to undo their regretted action now or in the future (reversibility). As before, participants provided ratings on a 5-point scale.

Procedure

Regret Questionnaires were administered in groups as part of a larger study. There were three versions of the Regret Questionnaire. Preliminary analyses suggested no differences in felt regret across these experimental conditions; thus, the sample was treated as a whole. Regret Questionnaires were counterbalanced for action and inaction.

RESULTS

Preliminary Analyses

Cronbach’s Alpha determined scale reliabilities for the three types of felt regret. Hot (α = .77), wistful (α = .77), and despairing (α = .82) regret formed reliable subscales.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine whether the three versions of the Regret Questionnaire differed on global or the three types of felt regret. Felt regret ratings on global, hot, wistful, and despairing regrets were combined across actions and inactions by taking the mean of these ratings for this analysis. The experimental groups did not statistically differ on ratings of felt regret, so the sample was treated as a whole in subsequent analyses.

Main Analyses

Felt regret. To test the hypothesis that women rate felt regret higher than men, a 2 (gender) x 2 (action, inaction) ANOVA for global, hot, wistful, and despairing regret was performed. Repeated measures was used to control for multiple intercorrelated measures of regret (see Table 1). Levels of felt regret did not differ by gender, F (4, 166) = .16, MSE = .31, p = .96.

This analysis was also used to test whether actions evoke more hot regret and inactions evoke more wistful and despairing regret. Felt regret differed by whether the regret was an action or inaction, F (4, 166) = 7.56MSE = 4.55, p < .001. Actions (M = 2.71, SD = 1.11) were rated higher on hot regret (inaction, M = 1.24, SD = 3.41), F (1,183) = 25.19, MSE = 15.69, p < .001. However, there was no difference between actions and inactions on ratings of global regret, wistful regret, or despairing regret. Means and standard deviations are presented in Table 2. Additionally, there were no interactions between gender and action/inaction.

Reversibility. To test which gender is more likely to rate regrets as reversible, and whether inactions are more likely to be rated as reversible than actions, a 2 (gender) _ 2 (action, inaction) ANOVA was performed. Men and women rated regrets as equally reversible, F (1, 138) = .001, MSE = .003, p < .97. As hypothesized, reversibility of actions (M = 2.27, SD = 1.57) were lower than inactions (M = 3.27, SD = 1.64), F (1, 138) = 28.85, MSE = 69.39, p < .001. There was no interaction.

To examine whether ratings of a regret’s reversibility is related to global regret or specific types of felt regret, Pearson correlations by action and inaction were performed between reversibility and global, hot, wistful, and despairing regret. Reversibility of action and inaction were treated separately due to the previous finding of differences in reversibility ratings between actions and inactions. Reversibility of actions was not related to ratings of global regret, r (173) = .04, p = .64, hot regret, r (175) = .13, p = .08, wistful regret, r (175) = .03, p = .70, or despairing regret, r (175) = .02, p = .75. Reversibility of inactions was negatively correlated with hot regret, r (164) = -.19, p = .01, and despairing regret, r (164) = -.22, p < .01. Reversibility of inactions were not related to global regret, r (164) = -.03, p = .75, or wistful regret r (164) = -.13, p = .10.

DISCUSSION

A person’s feelings about the past can influence present well-being (Diener et al., 2002). An individual cannot experience optimal life satisfaction if he or she is unhappy with past decisions. The results from this research add to the growing body of literature on well-being over the lifespan (Diener et al.).

Gender and regret

Our regret findings do not support theories of gender differences in emotional expressiveness (e.g., Lupton, 1998). Young men and women did not differentially see regrets as reversible, or experience types of regret to different extents.

Type of regret: Actions and inactions

We identified differences between regrets of actions and inactions, but only for hot regret. This is consistent with the model of regret posed by Kahneman (1995) and Gilovich et al. (1998), who found that regret of action showed higher ratings for hot regret than inactions. In the current study, actions and inactions were rated similarly on global, wistful, and despairing regret. These data differ from previous findings, which showed that wistful and despairing regret of inactions were rated as more intense (Gilovich et al.).

As hypothesized, inactions were rated as more reversible than were actions. Additionally, hot and despairing regrets of inactions were negatively related to reversibility. The reversibility of a regret has no relation to global and wistful felt regret, either of actions or inactions. These findings show that not all types of felt regret are moderated by the extent to which an individual could do or undo the regretted item.

Conclusion

Young men and women experience regret in everyday life. Regret is not age or gender-based, but occurs as a normative everyday emotion in response to life challenges and decisions. Understanding regret offers one window to the experience of well-being. Future regret research should identify additional predictors that help us understand well-being in younger adults and across the lifespan, such as personality dimensions.

REFERENCES

1. Diener, E., Lucas, R.E., Oishi, S., & Suh, E.M. (2002). Looking up and down: Weighting good and bad information in life satisfaction judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 437-445.
2. Feldman, J., Miyamoto, J., & Loftus, E.F. (1999). Are actions regretted more than inactions? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 78, 232-255.
3. Gilovich, T. & Medvec, V.H. (1995). The experience of regret: What, when, and why. Psychological Review, 102, 379-395.
4. Landman, J. (1987). Regret: A theoretical and conceptual analysis. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 17, 135-160.
5. Lupton, D. (1998). The ‘emotional woman’ and the ‘unemotional man.’ In The emotional self (pp. 105-136). London: SAGE Publications.
6. Seta, J.J., McElroy, T., & Seta, C.E. (2001). To do or not to do: Desirability and consistency mediate judgments of regret. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 861-870.

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