The Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking

well as advanced undergraduates and graduates in psychology--particularly those with an interest in social cognition, social judgment, decision judgment, decision making, thinking and reasoning.

This book provides a critical overview of significant developments in research and theory on counterfactual thinking that have emerged in recent years and spotlights exciting new directions for future research in this area. Key issues considered include the relations between counterfactual and casual reasoning, the functional bases of counterfactual thinking, the role of counterfactual thinking in the experience of emotion and the importance of counterfactual thinking in the context of crime and justice.

Part 1: Counterfactuals, Causality and Mental Representation. Counterfactual and Causal Explanation: From Early Theoretical Views to New Frontiers D.R. Mandel. The Relation between Counterfactual and Causal Reasoning B.A. Spellman, A.P. Kincannon andS.J. Stose. The Course of Events: Counterfactuals, Causal Sequences and Explanation D.J. Hilton, J.L. McClure andB.R. Slugoski. The Mental Representation of What Might Have Been C.R. Walsh and R.M. J. Bryne Part 2: Functional Bases of Counterfactual Thinking. Reflective and Evaluative Modes of Mental Simulation K.D. Markman andM.N. McMullen. Scenario Simulations in Learning: Forms and Functions at the Individual and Organizational LevelsS. Segura and M.W. Morris. Finding Meaning from Mutability: Making Sense and Deriving Significance through Counterfactual Thinking. A.D. Galinsky, K.A. Liljenquist, L.L. Kray and N.J. Roese Part 3: Counterfactual Thinking and Emotion. When a Small Difference Makes a Big Difference: Counterfactual Thinking and Luck K.H. Teigen. On the Comparative Nature of Regret. M. Zeelenberg andE. van Dijk Part 4: Counterfactual Thinking in the Context of Crime, Justice and Political History. Escape from Reality: Prisoners’ Counterfactual Thinking about Crime, Justice, and Punishment M.K. Dhami, D.R. Mandel and K.A. Souza. When the Social Context Frames the Case: Counterfactuals in the Courtroom P. Catellani and P. Milesi. Theory- versus Imagination-Driven Thinking about Historical Counterfactuals: Are We Prisoners of Our Preconceptions? P.E. Tetlock and E. Henik.

David R. Mandel is a Defence Scientist with the Department of National Defence in Canada. His areas of research expertise include thinking and reasoning, judgment and decision making, and social cognition. Denis J. Hilton is Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Toulouse-II. His research interests include social cognition, reasoning, judgment, and experimental economics. Patrizia Catellani is Full Professor of Social Psychology at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. Her research is focused on the area of cognitive social psychology, with a particular emphasis on applications to the political and judicial contexts.