The Effect Of Social Reference On Regret In A Sequential Risk Taking Task

Regret is a common negative emotion in life.People often compare the outcomes of their chosen and unchosen options after making risky decisions,and if they realize that the unchosen option was better,they tend to feel regret.Previous research has found that when people evaluate their decision outcomes,they not only compare them to the outcomes of unchosen options but also often refer to others’ decision outcomes.Comparing one’s own decision outcomes with others’ can affect feelings of regret.In real life,people not only pay attention to others’ decision outcomes but also are often influenced by others’ emotions as a form of social reference information.However,there is limited research on whether and how others’ emotions regulate individuals’ regret related to risky decision-making.Therefore,this study systematically investigates the influence of social references based on others’ decision outcomes and others’ post-decision emotions on regret during sequential risky decision-making processes.Given that the identity of the reference target(collaborator/competitor)is an important moderating variable of social reference effects,this study further distinguishes between collaborators and competitors as social reference targets to investigate their different roles in this process.Regret is an emotion closely related to risky decision-making.Situationalfactors and personality traits related to risky decision-making have been found to be closely related to post-decision emotions.To more comprehensively explore the influence of social reference information from competitors and collaborators on individuals’ regret in sequentialsequentialrisky decision-making situations;it is necessary to add risk-related situational factors and risk-taking personality traits to answer the impact of social reference information from collaborators and competitors on high-and low-risk-taking individuals’ regret in high-and low-risk situations.In summary,based on related research on the influence of social reference on individual regret emotions,this paper attempts to answer the following questions:(1)How do social references based on others’ decision outcomes and others’ post-decision emotions respectively affect regret emotions under continuous risky decision-making?(2)How do the identities of social reference targets(cooperators/competitors)and high/low-risk situations regulate the social reference effects based on others’ decision outcomes and post-decision emotions?(3)Do the above regulatory effects have different manifestations in the two social reference effects based on others’ decision outcomes and post-decision emotions? To this end,this paper set up two studies with8 experiments to explore the above questions,as follows:Study 1 included 4 experiments to explore the impact of social reference information based on others’ decision outcomes on individual regret emotions.Experiment 1 used a continuous box-opening risky decision-making task paradigm,introducing others’ decision outcome information to explore the basic effect of social reference based on others’ decision outcomes on individual regret emotions.Based on Experiment 1,Experiment 2 divided others into cooperators and competitors to explore the impact of decision outcome reference information from cooperators/competitors on individual regret emotions.Experiment 3,based on Experiment 2,introduced high/low risk situations to explore the impact of reference information on decision outcomes of cooperators/competitors in high/low risk situations on individual regret emotions.Experiment 4 used the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking(DOSPERT)Scale to screen for subjects with high/low risk-taking tendencies to explore the impact of reference information on decision outcomes of cooperators/competitors in high/low risk situations on the regret emotions of individuals with low/high risk-taking tendencies.Study 2 also includes 4 experiments,exploring the impact of social reference based on the emotions of others after decision-making on individual regret.The experimental design is the same as study 1,except that the social reference information provided by study 2 is the post-decision emotions of others.The results show that whether it is social reference based on the decision results of others or social reference based on the emotions of others after decision-making,both have an impact on individual regret.In the social reference experiment based on the decision results of others,it was found that compared to being the same as others,the regret of the subjects was stronger when they were worse than others,and the sense of relief of the subjects increased when they were better than others.This reference effect was stable in the four experiments of Study 1.The identity of the reference target as a collaborator/competitor regulates the reference effect of the result.When the reference target is a competitor,the reference effect of the result is stable.When the reference target is a collaborator,the sense of relief of the subjects will decrease when the decision result is better than others compared to when it is worse.When high and low-risk situations are introduced,the regulation of the reference effect of the result by the identity of the reference target is separated in high and low-risk situations.Specifically,when the reference target is a competitor,a stable result reference effect is observed in both high and low-risk situations;when the reference target is a collaborator,compared to the decision result being worse than others,when the decision result is better than others,the sense of relief of the subjects will decrease in low-risk situations,and this difference disappears in high-risk situations.Further distinguishing between individuals with high and low risk tendencies,it was found that when the reference target is a collaborator,a similar separation effect is still observed in individuals with low risk tendencies,but this separation effect disappears in individuals with high-risk tendencies.In the social reference based on the emotions of others after decision-making,the regret of individuals will be infected by the emotions of others after decision-making,making the regret response of individuals converge with the reference target,that is,compared to the neutral reference condition,the negative bias of others triggers stronger regret in the subjects,and the positive bias of others leads to a more comforting emotional experience for the subjects.This emotional reference effect is stronger and more stable in collaborators.Further distinguishing between individuals with high and low risk tendencies,it was found that the emotions of individuals with low risk tendencies are more easily influenced by the emotions of others after decision-making.Compared to individuals with high risk tendencies,in profitable situations,the emotional reference effect of individuals with low risk tendencies is more pronounced,especially when the reference target is a collaborator;in loss situations,individuals with low risk tendencies are less likely to be influenced by the positive emotions of competitors.In conclusion,this thesis uses a continuous risk decision-making task paradigm to systematically explore the impact of social reference on individual feelings of regret.To a certain extent,it reveals the patterns of how different reference content(decision results/emotions after decisions),reference subjects(collaborators/competitors),and risk contexts(high risk/low risk)affect individual feelings of regret.It also shows the corresponding differences in individuals with different personality traits(high-risk takers/low risk takers).This study enriches the theory of regret and social reference to a certain extent,and provides empirical evidence for exploring the strategies of regret emotion regulation from the perspective of social reference.