Thank goodness: Children's experience of their own relief by Daniel Weisberg

Thank Goodness: Children’s Understanding of their own Relief Daniel Weisberg Dr. Sarah R. Beck “Counterfactual-Thinking-Based Emotions” Regret Decision Outcome Mentally travel back to moment decision was made, undo the decision and reconstruct alternate, better reality Regret Go out with friends the night before an exam Fail exam Happiness Sadness (basic emotion) “I shouldn’t have gone out with my friends the night before my exam” Regret “At least I have a second chance, I can re-sit the exam” “In future, I won’t go out with my friends the night before an exam” Regret (complex emotion) Self-console Less intense regret Contemplate future Learning mechanism Relief is less frequent - Relief involves responding to outcome, then comparing to ‘what could have been’ (counterfactual thinking) - After a positive or negative outcome - Compared to a more negative outcome - After a positive outcome, we are far less likely to think about alternate outcomes - Meaningful, worthwhile, valuable Deal or No Deal Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The developmental literature - No positive evidence for children’s experience of relief (Guttentag & Ferrell, 2004; Amsel & Smalley, 2000) - Regret is experienced at 7 years, through a methodology of reading stories (G & F, 2004) – which character feels worse? - And playing games (A & S, 2000) – how do you feel? - Weisberg & Beck (submitted). Children’s experience of regret and relief - Used the games task The Games Task – Regret trials win 2/3, could have won 8 – Relief trials win 2/3, could have won 0 Alternative box, alternative question, alternative score Initial box, initial question, initial score The Games Task – Alternative score – initial score – = range of between -4 and 4 for each participant – A negative result significantly different from 0, demonstration of experience of regret – A positive result significantly different from 0, demonstration of experience of relief Experiment 1 – – – – – – – 91 children, age 5-9 From 2 middle-class schools in Manchester and Birmingham Age 5-6 (year 1), n = 24, m = 5;7, r = 5;1 – 6;4, 14 males Age 6-7 (year 2), n = 20, m = 6;7, r = 6;1 – 7;5, 4 males Age 7-8 (year 3), n = 23, m = 7;8, r = 7;0 – 8;5, 15 males Age 8-9 (year 4), n = 24, m = 8;10, r = 8;1 – 9;4, 9 males Adults (UoB), n = 24, m = 20;4, r = 18;7 – 24;8, 1 male Experiment 1 – From 5-6-years-old, children were able to experience regret t(20) = -3.700, p = .001 – From 7-8-years-old, children were able to experience relief t(18) = 4.925, p < .001. – (Age 5: t(20) = .899, p = .379) – Adults: – Regret: t(23) = -8.269, p = <.001 – Relief: t(23) = 11.569, p = <.001 Experiment 2: Why The Lag? – Two hypotheses for lag in development of relief: • Worthwhile, valuable or meaningful • • Regret: Won 2/3, could have won 8 – Difference of 6/5 stickers – 2/3 of a possible 10/11 Relief: Won 2/3, could have won 0 – Difference of 2/3 stickers – 2/3 of a possible 2/3 • Negative outcomes to events trigger thoughts about what could have been, i.e. counterfactual thinking • • German (1999); (Gleicher et al. 1990) Children only (adults tend to) think counterfactually after negative outcomes to events Experiment 2: Scale? – Relief trials e.g., Relief-win trials (win 2/3, lost 3) and relief-lose trials (lose 2/3, lost 8) Initial score of 5 – alternative score cannot be higher – Regret trials e.g., win 2/3, won 8 – Initial score of 1 – alternative score cannot be lower Experiment 2 – 162 children, age 4-7 – From 1 lower-class and ethnically diverse school, and 1 middleclass school in Birmingham – Age 4-5, n = 55, m = 5;1, r = 4;8 – 5;7, 29 males – Age 5-6, n = 52, m = 6;2, r = 5;8 – 6;7, 27 males – Age 6-7, n = 55, m = 7;3, r = 6;8 – 7;8, 31 males – Gilovich, T., Wang, R.F., Regan, D. & Nishina, S. (2003). Regrets of action and inaction across cultures. J Cross Cult Psych, 34, 61-71 Experiment 2 Regret-Win trials (Win 2/3, could have won 8) Relief-Win trials (Win 2/3, could have lost 3) Regret-Lose trials (Lost 2/3, could have won 3) Relief-Lose trials (Lost 2/3, could have lost 8) Experiment 2 Summary – First positive evidence of children’s experience of relief – Baseline for experience of regret – 4-5? (W2,W8) – Even younger, or just an anomaly? – Evidence for parallel development of regret and relief – Notable exception is relief-lose trial (L2,L8) – not until at least 6-7 – Learned response? – Self-consoling aid? Thanks a lot… – – – – – – Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School King David Primary School Allens Croft Primary School Colmers Farm Primary School Hollywood Primary School Alston Primary School – Dr. Sarah Beck and Birmingham Cognitive Developers