Antecedents to spontaneous counterfactual thinking: Effects of expectancy violation and outcome valence

被引:133
作者
Sanna, LJ
Turley, KJ
机构
[1] Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman
[2] Washington State University, Pullman, WA
关键词
D O I
10.1177/0146167296229005
中图分类号
B84 [心理学];
学科分类号
04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Three studies examined the effects of expectancy violation and outcome valence on spontaneous counterfactual thinking. In Study I, prior expectations and outcome valence were varied orthogonally in a vignette. More counterfactuals were generated after failures and unexpected outcomes. Also, more additive than subtractive counterfactuals were found after failure, particularly unexpected failure, and more subtractive than additive counter-factuals were found after unexpected success. Evidence for the generality of these results was obtained in Study 2, in which counterfactuals were assessed after students' real-life exam performances. In Study 3, the authors further assessed nonspontaneous counterfactuals, which were shown to differ in number and structure from spontaneous counterfactuals. Discussion centers around antecedents to spontaneous counterfactual thinking and comparisons to research on spontaneous causal attributions.
引用
收藏
页码:906 / 919
页数:14
相关论文
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