The Development And Influencing Factors Of Children’s Interpersonal Regret

When our decisions or behaviors bring bad results to ourselves or others,regret may be induced.The former is called intrapersonal regret,and the latter is called interpersonal regret.A large number of studies have explored the development of children’s intrapersonal regret,and basically the same conclusions has been reached.However,it remains controversial when children can experience interpersonal regret and whether the development of interpersonal regret lags behind that of intrapersonal regret.In addition,previous studies have shown that the development of children’s interpersonal regret is closely related to prosocial behavior.Therefore,the development and influencing factors of interpersonal regret in children aged 7-12 were discussed in two studies.Firstly,study 1 compared the developmental differences of interpersonal regret and intrapersonal regret in children aged 7-12 years using the prosocial risk decision task.In this task,children had to weigh their own and others’ chances of scoring and make corresponding choices from the left and right roulette wheels.Their choices determined both their own and others’ scores and whether they and others would win the reward at the end of the game.The results of study 1 showed that although children can experience intrapersonal regret after age 7,interpersonal regret is only experienced after age 10.In addition,children who are more likely to make prosocial choices are more likely to experience interpersonal regret.Secondly,since the development of children’s interpersonal regret is closely related to prosocial behavior,and prosocial behavior is mainly affected by altruistic tendency,empathy and interpersonal distance.Therefore,study 2 combined questionnaire method and behavioral experiment method to preliminarily explore the influence of three factors on children’s interpersonal regret.The results of study 2 showed that children with higher altruistic tendency and empathy ability were likely to experience interpersonal regret.In addition,even 11-12 year old children have difficulty in experiencing interpersonal regret under the stranger conditions,while 9-10 year old children can experience interpersonal regret under the acquaintance condition.In a word,the results of this study show that the development of interpersonal regret lags behind the intrapersonal regret,children’s interpersonal regret significantly affected by the development of prosocial behavior,altruistic tendency and empathic ability is likely to be the internal factors restricting their development of interpersonal regret,and interpersonal distance will affect children’s interpersonal regret.As for other possible influencing factors,further researches and discussions are needed.