Reining in regret: emotion regulation modulates regret in decision making

Whereas the influence of regret on decision making is well-established, it remains unclear whether emotion regulation may modulate both the affective experience of regret and its influence on decisions. To examine this question, participants made decisions about options involving uncertainty using t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition and emotion 2024-12, Vol.38 (8), p.1368-1375
Main Authors: Reeck, Crystal, LaBar, Kevin S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affective experiences
Arousal
Cognitive strategies
Decision Making
emotion regulation
Emotional behavior
Emotional Regulation
Emotions
Female
financial decision making
Humans
Male
Physiological arousal
Regret
risky decision making
Uncertainty
Welfare
Young Adult
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Summary:Whereas the influence of regret on decision making is well-established, it remains unclear whether emotion regulation may modulate both the affective experience of regret and its influence on decisions. To examine this question, participants made decisions about options involving uncertainty using two different, instructed emotion regulation strategies. In one case, they were instructed to treat each choice individually, while in the other they were encouraged to treat a series of decisions as a portfolio. The present experiment demonstrates that approaching a series of decisions as a portfolio led to less extreme affective reactions to outcomes and lowered physiological arousal levels compared to focusing on each decision in isolation. However, the different emotion regulation strategies did not alter the influence of anticipatory regret on choices. The results indicate that these different emotion regulation strategies can be used to alter the experience of regret. These findings support a role for cognitive strategies in mitigating the affective experience of regret and suggest a means to encourage consumer welfare.
ISSN:0269-9931
1464-0600
1464-0600
DOI:10.1080/02699931.2024.2357847