A Study Of The Relationship Between Regret And Responsibility

Regret is the emotional response that occurs when the selected result is compared with the better outcome of the alternative option.In the decision making context,the degree to which the individual blames himself for the negative consequences of his choice is responsibility.As a kind of higher-order cognitive emotion,the influencing factors of regret have been the research hotspot in related fields.Despite the fact that researchers have done a lot of work,there are still many controversy over the relationship between regret and responsibility.Whether the responsibility is a necessary condition for regret,and whether the impact of responsibility on regret is always positive,it is difficult to make a conclusive conclusion on these issues.Combined with previous studies,it can be found that certain factors may affect the relationship between regret and responsibility.The function of responsibility to regret cannot be simply applied to all situations,it may vary according to different conditions.Existing studies have shown that the regret content,the extent of the failure of chosen option,the knowledge of the superior outcome of foregone option,the age of subjects and the research paradigm may have an impact on the relationship between regret and responsibility.More than this,in the current study of the influence of responsibility on regret,the superior outcomes of foregone options are usually known.The relationship between the two is still unclear when the result is unknown.In view of the above situation,this study examines the role of responsibility in respect of regret under the premise of considering potential variables,and clarifies the moderating variables that affect the relationship between the two.At the same time,the impact of the superior outcome of foregone option on the relationship between responsibility and regret in known and unknown situations is explored,and the role of outcome evaluation and cognitive dissonance is discussed.Firstly,in view of the debate among researchers,this study uses meta-analysis to integrate the relevant foreign literature.This meta-analysis was carried out to clarify the relationship between regret and responsibility and to identify moderators that might explain variable results between studies.Major electronic databases including Web of Science,Wiley,Springer,Pro Quest,Elsevier database were searched from January 1990 to January 2016,using keyword “regret” or “repentance” and any of the following: “responsibility”,“responsible”,“self-blame”,“personal agency”,“self-attribution”,or “internal attribution”.Title,abstract and full-text searches were performed to identify citations.Nineteen studies that altogether evaluated 4333 participants met all selection criteria.The heterogeneity across studies was explored by Q-test and I2 statistic.The possibility of publication bias was assessed using Egger's test and Trim & Fill analysis.The results were reported based on correlation coefficient with 95% confidence intervals(CI).Secondly,based on the results of meta-analysis,this study further explores the effect of foregone option on the relationship between responsibility and regret.The aim of this study was to examine the possible changes in the relationship between the two in the absence of the superior outcome of foregone options,and to clarify the role of outcome evaluation and cognitive dissonance.The results are as follows:(1)Generally speaking,there is a significant positive correlation between regret and responsibility.(2)There is a significant difference in the relationship between regret and responsibility under the influence of regret content: responsibility is more strongly related to educational regret than health regret and finical regret.(3)Extent of the failure of the chosen option have an significant influence on the relationship between regret and responsibility: responsibility enlarges regret in a negative circumstance and mitigates regret when failure outcome is extremely negative.(4)For the superior outcome of the foregone option,the relationship between responsibility and regret has a significant difference.When people are aware that another alternative would have been better,they tend to be more dissatisfied with the chosen option and more pleased with the foregone one.In this case,participants may have more cognitive dissonance,their responsibility will amplify regret.Nevertheless,when the superior outcome of the foregone option is unknown,people will suppress cognitive dissonance by raising the evaluation of existing results and reducing the foregone outcomes' evaluation.Under such circumstances,personal responsibility may curb regret following a negative outcome.(5)Mediation analysis suggested that cognitive dissonance could be an intermediary between outcome evaluation and regret.Among them,the high evaluation of the existing results can lessen the degree of self separation and psychological discomfort,reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions to a certain extent,so as to cut down the intensity of regret.While the low evaluation of foregone option is to reduce the degree of self-separation and negative emotions to achieve the purpose of reducing regret.(6)Age and research paradigms have no significant effect on the relationship between regret and responsibility.