Effort invested in vain: The impact of effort on the intensity of disappointment and regret

Two scenario studies investigated the impact of the investment of instrumen tal and noninstrumental effort on the intensity of disappointment and regre t, The role of effort was investigated in the context of other determinants of disappointment and regret: the desirability of the outcome, its likelih ood and the perceived responsibility for (not) obtaining die outcome. Study I shows that after failure, disappointment is more intense after an invest ment of higher levels of instrumental effort, whereas regret is more intens e an investment of less instrumental effort. Study 2 shows that both disapp ointment and regret are more intense after an investment of higher levels o f noninstrumental effort. Further analyses suggest that the effect of instr umental effort on disappointment is due to a direct effect of the investmen t of effort The effect of instrumental effort on disappointment was mediate d by the perceived likelihood of attaining the outcome and also related to the perceived desirability of the outcome. The impact of instrumental effor t on regret was found to be due to a direct effect of the investment of eff ort, and to the perceived responsibility for not attaining the outcome. The effect of the investment of noninstrumental effort on the intensity of bot h disappointment and regret was found to be due to a direct effect of effor t. Desirability also affected disappointment (with increased desirability l eading to higher levels of disappointment), whereas only regret was affecte d by perceived responsibility. Implications of these findings for the study of disappointment and regret are discussed.