Thoughts About Possible Failure: Regulatory Focus and the Anticipation of Regret

Abstract

We examined the influence of self-regulatory focus on the anticipation of regret in the context of life decisions. Eager promotion-focused individuals consider different negative outcomes to be more relevant than do vigilant prevention-focused individuals (e.g., non-gains vs. losses). We proposed that the two regulatory foci would elicit more regret for different negative decision consequences and that these regrets would induce preferences for different options. In four studies, we found that promotion-focused selfregulation elicits more regret for absent positive aspects and the failure to realize ideal goals, whereas prevention-focused self-regulation elicits more regret for present negative aspects and the failure to fulfill ought goals. Further, we observed that prevention-relevant regret is related to a common conceptualization of regret associating regret with uncertainty and rumination about one's decisions. Promotion-relevant regret, instead, seems to represent a different type of regret—regret centering on missed positive outcomes and unfulfilled ideal goals—that has been neglected in previous research. Finally, we document that the two types of regret result in different choice behavior.