Nature & Development of Anticipated Regret as a Protective Factor in Adolescent Risk Taking

Matthew Dunham

Adolescent Risk Taking (Psych 4900)

Weber State University

INTRODUCTION

Regret Theory– Negative feeling associated with negative outcome

and specifically how they could have been avoided if different decision had been made

Anticipated Regret– Lottery ticket exchange

Review – Correlation Approach– Experimental Approach– Developmental Approach

Caffray & Schneider (2000)

Affective Motivators in risk-taking behaviors– Three classes of affective states

Promote risky behaviors by enhancing pleasant affective states Promote behaviors by reducing or avoiding negative affective states Deter risky behaviors by avoiding anticipated regret

– METHODS High Risk Group vs. Low Risk Group

– RESULT Low risk takers reported influence of anticipated regret as deterrent

whereas high experience desired to avoid unpleasant emotions in addition to positive affective states which motivated them to engage in risky behaviors

Anticipated regret correlated with deterrence

Richard et al. (1996)

Does anticipated regret decrease risky behavior?– Study tested whether anticipated regret actually caused decrease

in risky behavior– METHODS

Students randomly assigned to think about (control group) and after (anticipated regret induction) unprotected sex

Students reported feelings immediately after thought experiment & their respective behavior five months later

– RESULTS Subjects in anticipated regret induction condition felt worse and

subsequently used more protective measures (condoms) as compared to the control group.

Anticipated regret caused deterrence.

Amsel et al. (2003)

Is anticipated regret a skill that is acquired or typically not used?

METHODS– Preteens vs. college students scaffold as they think through

decisions basing them on desirable and potentially regretful (hang out w/. friends as opposed to study) compared to less desirable behavior but less regretful (studying and maybe being teased by friends for not hanging out)

RESULTS – At each stage, preteens performed worse in their ability to make

judgments (anticipated feelings about outcomes, etc).– With extensive scaffolding, preteens were able to make adult-like

anticipated regret based decisions.

CONCLUSION

SUMMARY– Anticipated Regret is a causal influence on risk

deterrence. Adolescents appear to be “adult” in way they think about risk

(not impulsive; future long-term perspective) which adolescents, in general, are particularly bad at doing.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS– Educational Implications

How to develop resources for adolescents to anticipate regrets?

– Role of Context Assess when adolescents will or will not anticipate regret

REFERENCES

Caffray, C., & Schneider, S. (2000)– Why do they do it? Affective motivators in adolescents’ decisions

to participate in risk behaviors. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 543-576

Richard, R., Van der Pligt, J., & De Vries, N. (1996)– Anticipated Regret and Time Perspective: Changing Sexual Risk-

taking Behavior. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 9, 185-199

Amsel, E., Bowden, T., Cottrell, J., & Sullivan, J. (2003)– Anticipating and Avoiding Regret as a Model of Adolescent

Decision-Making. In J. Jacobs & P. Klaczynski, (Eds.) The development of judgment and decision-making in children and adolescence (pp. 119-154). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.