Changeability and Counterfactual Thinking
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Eastern Kentucky University Changeability and Counterfactual Thinking Counterfactual thinking describes the tendency that many people have to imagine alternative outcomes for the things that occur in their lives, especially situations with negative outcomes. Counterfactual thoughts might include how a situation could have been better, or how a situation could have been worse. For example, a person who gets a speeding ticket might think, “If I hadn’t been running late because I overslept, I wouldn’t have needed to go so fast,” or “I’m lucky the officer didn’t catch me when I was going even faster!”
Counterfactual thinking can be beneficial; for instance, when it helps someone
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According to a study by van de Ven & Zeelenberg (2015), envy involves a particular type of counterfactual thinking that makes social comparisons between people, and that focuses on thoughts of “it could have been me” (van de Ven & Zeelenberg, p. 954, 2015). Similar to Summerville, van de Ven & Zeelenberg found that counterfactual thinking can affect emotional regulation, by helping individuals recognize that their circumstances or the outcome of a situation could have been worse, and that they are better off by comparison. Their findings also indicate that like envy, counterfactual thinking can cause people to think about how different choices or actions might result in better outcomes in the future. Like regret and envy, free will is a distinctly human quality that appears to influence – and be influenced by – counterfactual thinking. In one study about the link between free will and counterfactual thinking, the researchers found that people who believe more strongly in free will are likely to view their choices in a given situation as being more mutable, which in turn makes them more likely to engage in counterfactual thinking (Alquist, Ainsworth, Baumeister, Daly, & Stillman, …show more content…
In this experiment, we looked at how changeability affects counterfactual thinking. We hypothesize that when people see a situation as being more changeable, they will generate more counterfactual thoughts, and we predict that those counterfactual thoughts will in turn affect how particpants evaluate the cause of the situation. References
Alquist, J.L., Ainsworth, S.E., Baumeister, R.F., Daly, M., & Stillman, T.F. (2015). The making of might-have-beens: Effects of free will belief on counterfactual thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(2), 268-283. doi:10.1177/0146167214563673
Gilbert, E.A., Tenney, E.R., Holland, C.R., & Spellman, B.A. (2015). Counterfactuals, control, and causation: Why knowledgeable people get blamed more. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(5), 643-58. doi:10.1177/0146167215572137
Petrocelli, J.V., & Dowd, K. (2009). Ease of counterfactual thought generation moderates the relationship between need for cognition and punitive responses to crime. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(9), 1179-92. doi:10.1177/0146167209337164
Summerville, A. (2011). Counterfactual seeking: The scenic overlook of the road not taken. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(11), 1522-33.
(Lerner, p, 34) People try to get you to stay in those set ways because once you set out of those ways their anxiety can escalate. Lerner states that “countermoves are an expression of anxiety, as well as of
In an experiment conducted by Kathleen Vohs and Jonathan Schooler, they concluded the disbelief in free will correlated to less responsible actions. Also, in another experiment conducted by Roy Baumeister, he concluded that disbelief in free will correlated to misery (Cave). This was also shown true in the novel when Ethan and Mattie both tried to commit suicide (Wharton 169-172). Mattie says, “ So’t we’d never have to leave each other any more” (Wharton 165). They both believed they had no other choice but to die together. This event highlights how disbelief in free will relates to unhappiness. Without the belief in free will, people are more likely to give into their negative emotions and decisions
Do we control the judgments and decisions that we make every day? In the book,
A determinist’s reply would state that humans are ignorant of the forces around them that are actually controlling their behavior in this sense; man becomes a puppet to irresistible forces acting upon him. Neither the free will nor the determinism theories can be proven to be wholly causal of human behavior. Alternate theories are formulated that incorporate main points of free will and determinism that appear...
Counterfactual thinking is part of everyday life because people are always thinking of past and future possibilities that may have happened or might happen. When people imagine the different possibilities it can cause them to feel upset or to have hope, which can motivate them to do or not to do something. Gopnik expresses that although counterfactuals are not reality it still affects all humans, when she states, “counterfactual thinking is pervasive in our everyday life and deeply affects our judgments, our decisions and our emotions” (Gopnik 164). Counterfactual thoughts start with our imagination and as a result, can change the future by triggering emotions and effecting beliefs. Gopnik explains an experiment completed by psychologists Daniel Kahnemanto to prove how exactly counterfactuals effect emotions. In the experiment, Mr. Tee and Mr. Crane both missed their 6:00 flights, but Mr. Crane watched his flight take off as he arrives and is much
“Life is all about making decisions: some big, some little, some mundane, some vital to your existence.” (Zimabardo & Boyd Prologue) Philip Zimbardo’s Time Orientation Theory states that our choices are surrounded by many time zones, such as past-positive, past-negative, present-hedonistic, present-fatalism, and future. Many people acquire a prejudiced outlook on a situation based on something that happened in the past, present, or future although these bad outlooks can be changed and adapted to make better decisions and live a better life. Some characteristics of my personality can be defined by looking at the results of my Time Orientation Survey, which consists of having a high past-negative score, an equivalent present-fatalistic and hedonistic
The most inclusive perspective on free will, compatibilism, combines ideas of determinism and free will, claiming that although we do have the freedom of will and choice, our past experiences define our judgement and therefore our will. (McKenna) Determinists who disagree with the first part, free will, in compatibilism, agree with the later statement, that experiences playing a defining role in our will. In his book, “Between Chance and Choice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Determinism” author Robert Bishop states the principle of deter...
People may believe it is relatively easy to predict what would make them happiest in certain circumstances. It should be a simple task given that one spends their whole life learning what makes them happy. However, in the essay, “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert demonstrates that people often fail to correctly predict one’s own happiness. Daniel Gilbert gives various examples expressing when people make incorrect predictions about their life and how that affects their knowledge, understanding, and behaviors. That is because the unconscious mind picks up factors that influence a person’s happiness, knowledge, and understanding. These influences cause the human mind to quickly produce inaccurate reasons for why they do what they do.
Sollod, R. N., Wilson, J. P., & Monte, C. F. (2009). Defending Against Envy: The Most Deadly of Sins. Beneath the Mask; an introduction to theories of personality (p. 233). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. (Original work published 2003).
... middle of paper ... ... Understanding psychological theories helps criminologists to design appropriate correctional strategies to mitigate crime. Works Cited Eysenck, H.J., & Gudjonsson, G.H. d. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a The causes and cures of criminality.
Criminal Thinking Patterns is a theory that proposed that criminals engage in a different thinking pattern then those who are noncriminal. This theories downfall is that it was not researched in a systematic way and there were not a wide enough study done. Due to this we can not actually say how well it applies to the population of offenders. Glenn Walters created the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles which measures thinking styles presumed to reinforce, support, and maintain a criminal lifestyle. This study was done in a more systematic and scientifically valid approach to investigating the way offenders think. Measure of Offending Thinking Styles-Revised was developed to examine the structure of dysfunctional thinking exhibited by criminal offenders. It supports the three factor model of criminal thinking. The three factors are
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
"At some point, things that are predetermined are admitted into consciousness” (Haynes). This studies reveals that fact that although we may be unaware the notion of free will is prevalent throughout everyday life in the actions we believe we choose to do.
Understanding Psychology and Crime; Perspectives on Theory and Action, New York. PENNINGTON, D ( 2002) , Introducing Psychology: Approaches, Topics and Methods, London, Hodder Arnold TANNENBAUN, B, (2007),Profs link criminal behaviour to genetics [online] , Available at: http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2007/11/profs_link_criminal_behavior_to_genetics [accessed 16th October 2011]. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/41182390/Explanations-of-Criminal-behaviour
The hindsight bias, as defined in the article Hindsight Bias and Developing Theories of Mind by Andrew N. Meltzoff and Geoffrey R. Loftus, occurs when “people armed with advanced knowledge of an outcome overestimate the likelihood of that particular outcome, in essence claiming that they ‘knew it all along’” (Meltzoff). People who are victims of this very common bias can be drawn to the idea of going to the past to fix all of their problems because they live in the present. Knowing what the present holds, people believe that if they went back in time, they could change the future and, in turn, have a better