Regret - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

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Regret
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regret is a negative conscious and emotional reaction to

personal past acts and behaviors. Regret is often a feeling of
sadness, shame, embarrassment, depression, annoyance, or
guilt, after one acts in a manner and later wishes not to have
done so. Regret is distinct from guilt, which is a deeply
emotional form of regret one which may be difficult to
comprehend in an objective or conceptual way. In this regard,
the concept of regret is subordinate to guilt in terms of its
emotional intensity. By comparison, shame typically refers to
the social (rather than personal) aspect of guilt or (in minor
context) regret as imposed by the society or culture
(enforcement of ethics, morality), which has substantial bearing
in matters of (personal and social) honor.

It is also distinct from remorse, which is more direct and

emotional form of regret over a past action that is considered by John Greenleaf Whittier's
society to be hurtful, shameful, or violent. Unlike regret, it fictional heroine Maud Muller
includes a strong element of desire for apology to others rather gazes into the distance, regretting
than an internal reflection on one's actions, and may be her inaction and thinking about
expressed (sincerely or not) in order to reduce the punishment what might have been.
one receives.

Regret can describe not only the dislike for an action that has been committed, but also,
importantly, regret of inaction. Many people find themselves wishing that they had done something
in a past situation.

Contents
1 Models
2 Psychological
2.1 Opportunity principle
2.1.1 The lost opportunity principle
2.2 Anticipated regret
2.3 Neurology
3 In other species
4 See also
5 References

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Models
There are extremely specific models of regret mostly in economics and finance under a new field
called behavioral economics. Of these, the most clearly emotional is buyer's remorse, also called
buyer's regret. Other examples include regret aversion or more generally, regret (decision theory).

Existential regret has been specifically defined as 'a profound desire to go back and change a past
experience in which one has failed to choose consciously or has made a choice that did not follow
ones beliefs, values, or growth needs'.[1]

Psychological
People who have antisocial personality disorder and dissocial personality disorder are incapable of
feeling regret or remorse.

Meta-analysis involving what we regret most has concluded that overall, Americans regret choices
regarding their education the most. Subsequent rankings then include decisions about career,
romance, and parenting. Education was the forerunner of regret in a number of different studies.
This finding can be attributed to the opportunity principle.[2]

Opportunity principle

Opportunity principle defines people's biggest regrets as those marked by the greatest opportunity
for corrective action.[2] When the opportunity to improve conditions is nonexistent, cognitive
processes proceed to mitigate regret. Education is the forerunner of what we regret most because it
is seen as something where circumstances could be changed: "In contemporary society, education is
open to continual modification throughout life. With the rise of community colleges and student aid
programs in recent decades, education of some sort is accessible to nearly all socioeconomic
groups."[2]

Regret pushes people toward revised decision making and corrective action that often bring
improvement in life circumstances. A study measured regret in accordance to negative reviews with
service providers. It was concluded that regret was an accurate predictor of who switched
providers. Regret can be seen as an evolutionary development. As more intense regret is
experienced, the likelihood of initiating change is increased. Consequently, the more opportunity of
corrective action available, the larger the regret felt and the more likely corrective action is
achieved. People learn from their mistakes.[3]

The lost opportunity principle

In response to the opportunity principle, the lost opportunity principle directly opposes its views.
The lost opportunity principle states that regret should intensify, not diminish, when people feel that

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they could have made better choices in the past but now perceive limited opportunities to take
corrective action in the future. "People who habitually consider future consequences (and how they
may avoid future negative outcomes) experience less, rather than more, intense regret after a
negative outcome." [4] This principle offers another reason as to why education is the most
regretted aspect in life. Education becomes a more limited opportunity as time passes. Aspects such
as making friends, becoming more spiritual, and community involvement tend to be less regrettable
which makes sense because these are also aspects in life that do not become limited opportunities.
As the opportunity to remedy a situation passes, feelings of hopelessness may increase.[5] An
explanation of the Lost Opportunity Principle can be seen as a lack of closure. Low closure makes
past occurrences feel unresolved.[6] Low closure is associated with "reductions in state self-esteem
and persistent negative affect over time". Because high closure is associated with acceptance of lost
opportunity, low closure is then associated with the realization and regret of lost opportunity.

The lost opportunity principle suggests that regret does not serve as a corrective motive (which the
opportunity principle suggests). Instead, regret serves as a more general reminder to seize the day.
Feeling regret will spur future action to make sure other opportunities are taken so that regret will
not be experienced again.

Anticipated regret

People appear to overestimate how much regret they will feel in the future. In particular, anticipated
regret (how much regret one thinks one will feel) appears to be overestimated for actions and
choices.[7][8] This appears to be, in part, due to a tendency to underestimate the extent to which
people attribute bad outcomes to external factors than to internal factors (i.e., themselves).[7]

Neurology

Research upon brain injury and fMRI link the orbitofrontal cortex to the processing of regret.[9][10]

In other species
A study conducted in 2014 by neuroscientists based at the University of Minnesota show that rats
are capable of feeling regret about their own actions. This emotion had never previously been found
in any other mammals apart from humans. The study reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience,
found that rats expressed regret through both their behavior and their neural activity. Those signals
were specific to situations the researchers set up to induce regret, which led to specific neural
patterns in the brain and in behavior.[11]

See also
Regret (decision theory)
Non-apology apology

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References
1. Lucas, Marijo (January 2004). "Existential Regret: A Crossroads
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Regret.
doi:10.1177/0022167803259752. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
2. Roese, N.J. (2005). "What We Regret Most...and Why".
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Personality & social psychology bulletin. 31 (9): 127385.
quotations related to:
doi:10.1177/0146167205274693. PMC 2394712 .
Regret
PMID 16055646.
3. Zeelenberg, M (1999). "The use of crying over spilled milk: A
Look up regret in
note on the rationality and functionality of regret". Philosophical
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Psychology. 13 (0951-5089): 326340.
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4. Roese, Neal J. (Jan 1997). "Counterfactual Thinking.".
Psychological Bulletin. 121 (1): 133148.
doi:10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.133. PMID 9000895.
5. Beike, Denise (December 19, 2008). "What We Regret Most Are
Lost Opportunities: A Theory of Regret Intensity". Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin. 35 (3): 385397.
doi:10.1177/0146167208328329. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
6. Beike, Denise; Wirth-Beaumont, Erin (2005). "Psychological
closure as a memory phenomenon". Memory. 13 (6): 574593.
doi:10.1080/09658210444000241. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
7. Gilbert, Daniel T.; Morewedge, Carey K.; Risen, Jane L.; Wilson,
Timothy D. (2004-05-01). "Looking Forward to Looking
Backward The Misprediction of Regret". Psychological Science.
15 (5): 346350. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00681.x.
ISSN 0956-7976. PMID 15102146.
8. Sevdalis, Nick; Harvey, Nigel (2007-08-01). "Biased Forecasting
of Postdecisional Affect". Psychological Science. 18 (8):
678681. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01958.x.
ISSN 0956-7976. PMID 17680936.
9. Coricelli, G; Critchley, HD; Joffily, M; O'Doherty, JP; Sirigu, A;
Dolan, RJ (2007). "Regret and its avoidance: a neuroimaging
study of choice behavior". Nat Neurosci. 8 (9): 125562.
doi:10.1038/nn1514. PMID 16116457.
10. Coricelli, G; Dolan, RJ; Sirigu, A (2007). "Brain, emotion and
decision making: the paradigmatic example of regret". Trends
Cogn Sci. 11 (6): 25865. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.04.003.
PMID 17475537.
11. Steiner, Adam P; Redish, A David (2014-06-08). "Behavioral
and neurophysiological correlates of regret in rat decision-
making on a neuroeconomic task". Nature Neuroscience. 17:
9951002. doi:10.1038/nn.3740. ISSN 1546-1726.
PMC 4113023 . PMID 24908102.

Hein, David. "Regrets Only: A Theology of Remorse." The Anglican 33, no. 4 (October

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2004): 5-6.

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