Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:17:30.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Emotional consequences of alternatives to reality: Feeling is for doing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2008

Marcel Zeelenberg
Marcel Zeelenberg
Affiliation:
Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, TheNetherlands. Marcel@uvt.nl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When creating alternatives to reality, people often feel emotions in response to these imaginary worlds. I argue that these emotions serve an important purpose. They signal how the world could have been better and prioritize actions to bring this better world about.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 5-6 , December 2007 , pp. 469 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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

Byrne, R. M. J. (2005) The rational imagination: How people create alternatives to reality MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frijda, N. H. (1986) The emotions Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Van Dijk, E., & Zeelenberg, M. (2005) On the psychology of “if only”: Regret and the comparison between factual and counterfactual outcomes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 97:152–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeelenberg, M. & Pieters, R. (2006) Feeling is for doing: A pragmatic approach to the study of emotions in economic behavior. In: Social psychology and economics, ed. de Cremer, D., Zeelenberg, M. & Murnighan, J. K., pp. 117–37. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Zeelenberg, M. & Pieters, R. (2007) A theory of regret regulation 1.0. Journal of Consumer Psychology 17:3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeelenberg, M., van Dijk, W. W., Van der Pligt, J., Manstead, A. S. R., Van Empelen, P., & Reinderman, D. (1998b) Emotional reactions to the outcomes of decisions: The role of counterfactual thought in the experience of regret and disappointment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 75:117–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar