Explain how counterfactual thinking can lead to either greater satisfaction or greater dissatisfaction with current outcomes
What will be an ideal response?
Answer:
Counterfactual thinking involves our imagining alternative possible situations and outcomes. If a person imagines an upward counterfactual, she or he is engaged in the process of comparing a current outcome with a more favorable one. Such upward counterfactual thinking can lead to increased dissatisfaction with current reality. If a person imagines a downward counterfactual, she or he is engaged in the process of comparing a current outcome with a less favorable one. Downward counterfactual thinking can lead to increased satisfaction with current reality.
You might also like to view...
Hormones are transported throughout the body by
a. nerves b. muscles c. the bloodstream d. all of the above
Stanley Schachter suggested that our emotions depend upon both the degree of physiological arousal we experience and
a. the cognitive label we apply to that arousal b. whether the arousal is positive or negative c. our self-esteem d. the range of emotions considered acceptable in our culture