When doing better means feeling worse: The effects of categorical cutoff points on counterfactual thinking and satisfaction.

Counterfactual thoughts of what might have been have been shown to influence emotional responses to outcomes. The present investigation extends this research by proposing a model of how categorical cutoff points, or arbitrary values that impose qualitative boundaries on quantitative outcomes, induce counterfactual thoughts and influence individuals' satisfaction. In particular, just making a cutoff for a category is hypothesized to elicit downward counterfactual comparisons, boosting satisfaction, whereas just missing a cutoff prompts upward counterfactual thoughts, decreasing satisfaction. In some circumstances, this asymmetry can reverse the usual relationship between objective outcome and satisfaction, causing people who do objectively better to feel worse than those they outperform. This hypothesis is supported by the results of 1 naturalistic study and 2 scenario experiments.

[1]  J. V. Wood,et al.  It Could Be Worse: Selective Evaluation as a Response to Victimization , 1983 .

[2]  T. Gilovich,et al.  When Less Is More: Counterfactual Thinking and Satisfaction Among Olympic Medalists , 1995 .

[3]  S. Siegel,et al.  Level of aspiration and decision making. , 1957, Psychological review.

[4]  J. Kee.  Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications , 1983 .

[5]  Robert Rosenthal,et al.  Interpretation of significance levels and effect sizes by psychological researchers. , 1986 .

[6]  A. Tversky,et al.  The Psychology of Preferences , 1982 .

[7]  W. Edwards,et al.  Decision and Choice: Contributions of Sidney Siegel , 1967 .

[8]  D. Kahneman,et al.  Propensities and counterfactuals: The loser that almost won , 1990 .

[9]  P. Legrenzi,et al.  Event controllability in counterfactual thinking , 1991 .

[10]  R. Frank,et al.  The Winner-Take-All Society , 1995 .

[11]  R. Rosenthal,et al.  Statistical Procedures and the Justification of Knowledge in Psychological Science , 1989 .

[12]  N. Roese.  The Functional Basis of Counterfactual Thinking , 1994 .

[13]  S. E. Taylor,et al.  Social comparison activity under threat: downward evaluation and upward contacts. , 1989, Psychological review.

[14]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Counterfactual thinking and social perception : thinking about what might have been , 1990 .

[15]  N. Roese,et al.  The Structure of Counterfactual Thought , 1993 .

[16]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[17]  Joel T. Johnson.  The Knowledge of What Might have Been , 1986 .

[18]  A. Tversky,et al.  Prospect Theory : An Analysis of Decision under Risk Author ( s ) : , 2007 .

[19]  E. Rosch,et al.  Cognition and Categorization , 1980 .

[20]  F. Heider.  The psychology of interpersonal relations , 1958 .

[21]  A. Tversky,et al.  The simulation heuristic , 1982 .

[22]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives , 1986 .

[23]  Christopher G. Davis,et al.  The Undoing of Traumatic Life Events , 1995 .

[24]  D. Kahneman.  Varieties of counterfactual thinking. , 1995 .

[25]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases , 1974, Science.

[26]  F. Crosby,et al.  A model of egoistical relative deprivation. , 1976 .

[27]  K. Markman,et al.  The Impact of Perceived Control on the Imagination of Better and Worse Possible Worlds , 1995 .

[28]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Temporal order and the perceived mutability of events: implications for blame assignment , 1990 .

[29]  David M. Messick,et al.  Outcome Biases in Social Perception: Implications for Dispositional Inference, Attitude Change, Stereotyping, and Social Behavior , 1996 .

[30]  Jerry Suls,et al.  Social comparison processes: Theoretical and empirical perspectives , 1977 .

[31]  K. Markman,et al.  The Mental Simulation of Better and Worse Possible Worlds , 1993 .

[32]  David M. Messick,et al.  A Reverse Outcome Bias: The Influence of Multiple Reference Points on the Evaluation of Outcomes and Decisions , 1995 .

[33]  Robert Rosenthal,et al.  Further Evidence for the Cliff Effect in the Interpretation of Levels of Significance , 1964 .

[34]  A. Burgess,et al.  Rape, crisis and recovery , 1979 .

[35]  Robert Rosenthal,et al.  The Interpretation of Levels of Significance by Psychological Researchers , 1963 .

[36]  James M. Olson,et al.  Counterfactual thinking: A critical overview. , 1995 .

[37]  N. Roese,et al.  What Might Have Been: The Social Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking , 1995 .

[38]  H. Tajfel,et al.  Classification and quantitative judgement. , 1963, British journal of psychology.

[39]  R. B. May,et al.  Replication Report: Interpretation of Levels of Significance by Psychological Researchers , 1964 .