Learning about unchosen alternatives: When does curiosity overcome regret avoidance?

Abstract

Much of the research on emotions and decision making has focused on how desire to avoid regret influences choices and post-decision information search. Recently van Dijk and Zeelenberg (2007) demonstrated that under certain circumstances individuals will seek out information about an alternative even though this information may induce regret about a previous decision. In two experiments, we extend this finding and show that curiosity is least likely to affect information seeking when the initial choice is made from fewer alternatives (a regret-inducing “near miss”) and the outcome of the choice is negative.

Keywords:

• Curiosity
• Regret
• Decision-making