 Actions, or errors of commission, generate more regret in the short term (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982).Kahneman & Tversky, 1982  Inactions, or errors of omission, produce more regret in the long run (Hattiangadi et al., 1994; Gilovich & Medvec, 1994).Gilovich & Medvec, 1994 The experience of regret Gilovich and Medvec (1995) Gilovich and Medvec (1995) present a review of evidence for the experience of regret that explains the fact that:regret Contributor The authors document evidence for psychological mechanisms that render the above-mentioned temporal pattern possible:  Pain of regrettable action decreases over time;  Pain of regrettable inaction increases over time;  The two types of regret are differentially available.available © POSbase 2004

 More compensatory steps tend to be taken to ameliorate regrettable actions; it has been shown that people deal more with their regrettable action than with their most regrettable inaction.  Participants in a survey by Gilovich and Medvec saw more silver linings for their most regrettable action than for their most regrettable inaction.  Regrettable action induces more dissonance reduction than regrettable inaction (Gilovich et al., 1995).Gilovich et al., 1995 Pain of regrettable action decreases over time Gilovich and Medvec have identified three factors that decrease pain of regrettable action over time: © POSbase 2004

 In retrospect, people get more confident in their ability that they could have acted, rendering inaction inexplicable, and hence inexcusable (Gilovich et al., 1993).Gilovich et al., 1993  Factors that lead to inaction are less salient – and probably less memorable over time – than factors that lead to action; this makes inaction again inexplicable, and hence inexcusable (Dunning & Parpal, 1989; Hansen & Hall, 1993).Hansen & Hall, 1993  The consequences of regrettable action seems to be finite, the consequences of regrettable inaction tend to be psychologically infinite, as indicated by a survey showing that people‘s life would change more by undoing regrettable inactions than by undoing regrettable actions. Pain of regrettable inaction increases over time Gilovich and Medvec have identified three factors that increase pain of regrettable inaction over time: © POSbase 2004

The experimenters first recruited respondents from an outdoor shopping mall in Ithaca, New York, and asked them to describe their biggest three regrets of action and their biggest three regrets of inaction. Three weeks later, they contacted the respondents and asked them to recall the regrets they had mentioned three weeks ago. In line with a Zeigarnik effect, the respondents recalled 64% of their regrettable inactions, but only 39% of their actions. The two types of regret are differentially available Gilovich and Medvec tested the idea that a Zeigarnik effect may result in higher availability of action than of inaction.Zeigarnik effectavailability © POSbase 2004