What to Do on Spring Break? The Role of Predicted, On-Line, and Remembered Experience in Future Choice

When individuals choose future activities on the basis of their past experiences, what guides those choices? The present study compared students' predicted, on-line, and remembered spring-break experiences, as well as the influence of these factors on students' desire to take a similar vac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2003-09, Vol.14 (5), p.520-524
Main Authors: Wirtz, Derrick, Kruger, Justin, Scollon, Christie Napa, Diener, Ed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Choice Behavior
Computers, Handheld
Decision making
Desire
Emotion
Emotions
Female
Happiness
Holidays
Humans
Leisure Activities
Male
Memory
Memory, Short-Term
Motivation
Past
Personality psychology
Predictions
Psychology
Questionnaires
Research Reports
Retention (Psychology)
Social Environment
Social psychology
Time dependence
Vacations
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Summary:When individuals choose future activities on the basis of their past experiences, what guides those choices? The present study compared students' predicted, on-line, and remembered spring-break experiences, as well as the influence of these factors on students' desire to take a similar vacation in the future. Predicted and remembered experiences were both more positive--and, paradoxically, more negative--than on-line experiences. Of key importance, path analyses revealed that remembered experience, but neither on-line nor anticipated experience, directly predicted the desire to repeat the experience. These results suggest that although on-line measures may be superior to retrospective measures for approximating objective experience, retrospective measures may be superior for predicting choice.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1111/1467-9280.03455