The Influence of Psychological Distance on Regret

Abstract

Abstract: Regret is a kind of cognitive emotion which occurs when the outcome will be better than it was if one made a different choice. Individuals interpretation to the situation affects judgment and decision making, sequentially affects the intensity of regret. Construal Level Theory (CLT) is a social cognitive theory which assumes that the psychological distance perceived from the objects or events can make people product different construal levels, and then influence judgment and decision making. The research based on the CLT explored how psychological distance influences individuals regret intensity. This study was operated from four dimensions of psychological distance (temporal, spatial and social distance, probability), and we surveyed 302 students from Soochow University and picked up 275 valid data. Every participant should finish one of the situational questionnaires randomly. The results showed that Individuals experience more regret under the near temporal, spatial, social distance and high possibility condition. Future study should confirm these findings by other methods of experiment and explore the other factors affecting the regret.

Key words: construal level theory, psychological distance, regret

摘要： 基于解释水平理论,考察了心理距离的不同维度对后悔程度的影响。本研究从心理距离的四个维度展开,时间距离采用组内设计,空间距离、社会距离和概率维度采用单因素完全随机设计,312名被试随机分配至各个维度参与实验处理,检验不同心理距离是否调节着后悔程度,其中有效数据275份。结果表明:在时间距离、空间距离、社会距离、概率和假设性条件下,均出现决策时心理距离越近,对决策事件或客体的解释水平越低,随后在获得负性结果反馈时体验到的后悔就越强烈。由此可见,决策事件的心理距离越近,后悔程度越大。

关键词: 解释水平, 心理距离, 后悔

CLC Number:

B849:C934

Duan Jinyun, Wang Xuepeng, Gu Xiaohua. The Influence of Psychological Distance on Regret[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2014, 12(5): 671-674.

段锦云，王雪鹏，古晓花. 心理距离对后悔的影响^*[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2014, 12(5): 671-674.

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