Regret and decision making: a developmental perspective

Teresa McCormack, Aidan Feeney, Sarah Beck

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
272 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Regret is a common emotion that has important links with decision-making in adults. Recent research suggests that the ability to experience regret emerges relatively late in development. By around 6 years, most children will experience regret but the likelihood of experiencing this emotion increases across childhood and into adolescence. The developmental emergence of regret seems to affect children’s decision-making: children who experience regret about a choice are more likely to make a better choice next time round and regret also seems to help children learn to delay gratification and behave more prosocially.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)346-350
JournalCurrent Directions in Psychological Science
Volume29
Issue number4
Early online date14 Jul 2020
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 14 Jul 2020

Keywords

  • decision making
  • development
  • regret

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