Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:13:16.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Regret and justification as a link from argumentation to consequentialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2011

Terry Connolly  and
Jochen Reb
Terry Connolly
Affiliation:
Eller College, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721. [email protected]://management.eller.arizona.edu/faculty/tconnolly.asp
Jochen Reb
Affiliation:
Singapore Management University, Singapore 178899. [email protected]://www.business.smu.edu.sg/faculty/organisational_behavior/jreb.asp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mercier and Sperber (M&S) argue that reasoning has evolved primarily as an adjunct to persuasive communication rather than as a basis for consequential choice. Recent research on decision-related regret suggests that regret aversion and concomitant needs for justification may underpin a complementary mechanism that can, if appropriately deployed, convert M&S's facile arguer into an effective decision maker, with obvious evolutionary advantages.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 75
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Connolly, T., Ordóñez, L. D. & Coughlan, R. (1997) Regret and responsibility in the evaluation of decision outcomes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 70:73–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connolly, T., Reb, J. & Kausel, E. E. (2010) Intuitive politicians or intuitive penitents? Regret aversion, accountability and justification in the decoy effect. Working paper, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Connolly, T. & Zeelenberg, M. (2002) Regret in decision making. Current Directions in Psychological Science 11:212–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reb, J. (2005) The role of regret aversion in decision making. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reb, J. (2008) Regret aversion and decision process quality: Effects of regret salience on decision process carefulness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 105:169–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reb, J. & Connolly, T. (2010) The effects of action, normality, and decision carefulness on anticipated regret: Evidence for a broad meditating role of decision justifiability. Cognition & Emotion 24:1405–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reb, J. & Connolly, T. (2009) Myopic regret avoidance in repeated decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 109:182–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shafir, E. & Tversky, A. (1992) Thinking through uncertainty: Nonconsequential reasoning and choice. Cognitive Psychology 24(4):449–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simonson, I. (1989) Choice based on reasons: The case of attraction and compromise effects. Journal of Consumer Research 16(2):158–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonson, I. & Nye, P. (1992) The effect of accountability on susceptibility to decision errors. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 51:416–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaughter, J. E., Bagger, J. & Li, A. (2006) Context effects on group-based employee selection decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 100: 47–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slovic, P. (1975) Choice between equally valued alternatives. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 1:280–87.Google Scholar