THE IMPACT OF PERCEIVED CONTROL ON THE IMAGINATION OF BETTER AND WORSE POSSIBLE WORLDS

Effects of perceived control and close alternative outcomes on counter factual generation were examined Subjects played a computer-simulated ''wheel of fortune'' game along with another player (a confederate) in which two wheels spun simultaneously. Subjects had either control ove r spinning the wheel or control over which wheel would determine their outcome and which would determine the other player's outcome. Subject s experienced either a ''near big win,'' with a loss by the other play er, or a ''near loss, '' with a big win by the other player. Results s howed that (a) subjects generated counterfactuals about the aspect of the game they controlled, (b) the direction of these counterfactuals c orresponded to the close outcome associated with the aspect they contr olled, and (c) these counterfactuals predicted affective responses to the outcome of the spin. Cognitive and motivational implications of th e influence of perceived control on counterfactual generation are disc ussed.