Séminaire – Marcel ZEELENBERG

Regret in Decision Making
Regret is the prototypical decision related emotion. It is felt when the outcome of a non-chosen alternative is better than the outcomes obtained. Regret a functional emotion that helps people to correct mistakes. It is also functional because people can anticipate regret beforehand and then choose in such a way to avoid regret from happening. Researchers in economics proposed regret theory, an alternative to rational choice theory that takes into account the anticipation of regret and its influence in choice. Researchers in psychology in studied how anticipations of regret influence decision making in a variety of domains, amongst which the health domain. The findings suggest that interventions can be developed that are based on the idea that people are regret averse. I will provide an overview of research on regret and how it may impact choice.

Marcel ZEELENBERG, Professeur à l’Université de Tilburg (Pays-Bas) et à l’Université Libre d’Amsterdam (VU). Ses travaux portent en particulier sur les émotions et la prise de décision.