To do or not to do: Desirability and consistency mediate judgments of regret

In 4 studies, the authors demonstrated that when errors associated with act ion were inconsistent with decision makers' orientation, they were undesira ble and produced more regret than did errors associated with inaction. Conv ersely, when errors associated with action were consistent with decision ma kers' orientation, they were desirable and produced less regret than did er rors associated with inaction. Desirability and consistency mediated this r elationship, independent of mutability. These results were obtained when ju dgments and decisions to act or not act were made in close temporal proximi ty to one another as well as when participants reflected on their past deci sions. The authors provide an analysis of when counterfactuals would and wo uld not be expected to mediate judgments of normality and regret.