Reflecting on life often leads to the familiar expression, “No regrets.” This sentiment is widely embraced in popular culture, with the hashtag #noregrets appearing in millions of posts on social media platforms like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
Temple University study
A new study from Temple University faculty member Crystal Reeck suggests that this phrase might be more than just a cliché. The study, soon to be published in the journal Cognition and Emotion, is titled “Reining in regret: emotion regulation modulates regret in decision making.” It explores how individuals can reshape their memories to alter their past feelings of regret. The study was co-authored by Kevin LaBar, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.
“Regret is a powerful emotion that can significantly influence decision-making. Often, when we experience regret, we wish we had acted differently, which can then change how we approach decisions in the future,” explained Reeck, an associate professor of marketing and the associate director of the Center for Applied Research in Decision Making at Temple’s Fox School of Business.
Reeck highlighted the importance of understanding regret because of its substantial impact on behavior, particularly in financial decisions. “Regret can lead people to make suboptimal decisions, especially in financial contexts. For instance, the fear of losing money might cause someone to avoid a good investment opportunity, simply because they want to avoid the potential regret,” she noted.
In their study, Reeck and LaBar asked 60 participants to make real bets, with the chance to win or lose actual money. The participants were encouraged to employ two different emotion regulation strategies when making decisions under uncertainty. One strategy, which Reeck referred to as the “portfolio approach,” proved particularly helpful in dealing with past negative experiences.
“With the portfolio approach, you recognize that in decision-making, you’re going to have both wins and losses,” Reeck explained. “The key is not to dwell on individual outcomes but to focus on the overall result.”
The second strategy involved treating each gamble as if it were the only one that mattered. As expected, participants using this approach experienced more intense feelings of regret when things didn’t go their way.
Conversely, those who adopted the portfolio strategy maintained a more positive outlook during the gambling exercise. Even when they lost, they appreciated their wins and recognized that their losses could have been worse.
Reeck suggests that this portfolio approach can also be applied to past regrets in life. “When people evaluate their past decisions this way and focus on the positives, they often realize that, overall, they’re doing well,” she said. “Everyone experiences losses—it’s a part of life. But by concentrating on the gains, it becomes easier to avoid being weighed down by past regrets.”
