Counterfactual Thinking (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Counterfactual thinking is a term of psychology that describes the tendency people have to imagine alternatives to reality. Humans are predisposed to think about how things could have turned out differently if only..., and also to imagine what if?. A person may imagine how an outcome could have turned out differently, and they can reflect on how the antecedents that led to the event might have been different. For example, a person may reflect upon how a car accident could have turned out, and they can reflect on how some of the antecedents might have been different e.g., if only I hadn't been speeding... or the same even if I had been going slower.... People can imagine alternatives that are better or worse than reality, e.g., if only I hadn't been speeding, my car wouldn't have been wrecked or if I hadn't been wearing a seatbelt I would have been killed (Roese & Olson, 1995). People can contemplate the consequences of the alternative outcome.