This research shows that the strength of assessment orientation, defined as the “aspect of self-regulation concerned with critically evaluating entities or states,” increases a person’s sensitivity to the size of a missed opportunity. Study 1 revealed that the experimental induction of an assessment orientation reduced the likelihood to act on a present offer after missing out on a large opportunity. Following a small missed opportunity, on the contrary, seizing the present offer was more likely. Studies 2 and 3 generalized this effect to chronic assessment orientations. In Study 4, the findings were replicated in a field study, which also demonstrated that differential value judgments explain assessors’ sensitivity to the size of a missed opportunity.
ArkesH. R.KungY.-H.HutzelL. (2002). Regret, valuation, and inaction inertia. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 87, 371-385. doi:10.1006/obhd.2001.2978
2.
AvnetT.HigginsE. T. (2003). Locomotion, assessment, and regulatory fit: Value transfer from “how” to “what.”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 525-530. doi:10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00027-1
3.
BaronJ.HersheyJ. C. (1988). Outcome bias in decision evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 569-579. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.4.569
4.
BurgerJ. M. (1986). Increasing compliance by improving the deal: The that’s-not-all technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 277-283. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.51.2.277
DharR.HuberJ.KhanU. (2007). The shopping momentum effect. Journal of Marketing Research, 44, 370-378. doi:10.1509/jmkr.44.3.370
7.
ForehandM. R. (2000). Extending overjustification: The effect of perceived reward-giver intention on response to rewards. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 919-931. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.6.919
8.
FunderD. C.LevineJ. M.MackieD. M.MorfC. C.SansoneC.VazireS.WestS. G. (2014). Improving the dependability of research in personality and social psychology: Recommendations for research and educational practice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18, 3-12. doi:10.1177/1088868313507536
9.
HayesA. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable moderation, mediation, and conditional process modeling (White paper). The Ohio State University. Retrieved from http://www.afhayes.com/public/process2012.pdf
10.
HigginsE. T. (2006). Value from hedonic experience and engagement. Psychological Review, 113, 439-460. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.113.3.439
11.
HigginsE. T. (2012). Beyond pleasure and pain: How motivation works. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
12.
HigginsE. T.KruglanskiA. W. A.PierroA. (2003). Regulatory mode: Locomotion and assessment as distinct orientations. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 293-344. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(03)01005-0
13.
HigginsE. T.PierroA.KruglanskiA. W. (2008). Re-thinking culture and personality: How self-regulatory universals create cross-cultural differences. In Handbook of motivation and cognition across cultures (pp. 161-190). doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-373694-9.00008-8
14.
KruglanskiA. W.PierroA.HigginsE. T. (2016). Experience of time by people on the go: A theory of the locomotion-temporality interface. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20, 100-117. doi:10.1177/1088868315581120
15.
KruglanskiA. W.ThompsonE. P.HigginsE. T.AtashM. N.PierroA.ShahJ. Y.SpiegelS. (2000). To “do the right thing” or to “just do it”: Locomotion and assessment as distinct self-regulatory imperatives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 793-815.
16.
KumarP. (2004). The effects of social comparison on inaction inertia. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 95, 175-185. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.06.004
17.
MathmannF.ChylinskiM.de RuyterK.HigginsE. T. (2017). When plentiful platforms pay off: Assessment orientation moderates the effect of assortment size on choice engagement and product valuation. Journal of Retailing, 93, 212-227. doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2017.02.001
18.
PatrickV. M.LancellottiM. P.DemelloG. (2009). Coping with non-purchase: Managing the stress of inaction regret. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 463-472. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2009.04.006
19.
PetrocelliJ. V.SetaC. E.SetaJ. J. (2012). Prefactual potency: The perceived likelihood of alternatives to anticipated realities. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1467-1479. doi:10.1177/0146167212453747
20.
PierroA.LederS.MannettiL.HigginsE. T.KruglanskiA. W.AielloA. (2008). Regulatory mode effects on counterfactual thinking and regret. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 321-329. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2007.06.002
21.
PierroA.OrehekE.KruglanskiA. W. (2009). Let there be no mistake! On assessment mode and the transference effect in social perception. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 879-883. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.010
22.
PierroA.PresaghiF.HigginsE.KleinK. M.KruglanskiA. W. (2011). Frogs and ponds: A multilevel analysis of the regulatory mode complementarity hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 269-279. doi:10.1177/0146167211424418
23.
PittmanT.TykocinskiO. E.Sandman-KeinanR.MatthewsP. A. (2008). When bonuses backfire: An inaction inertia analysis of procrastination induced by a missed opportunity. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 21, 139-150.
24.
SetaC. E.SetaJ. J.PetrocelliJ. V.McCormickM. (2015). Even better than the real thing: Alternative outcome bias affects decision judgements and decision regret. Thinking & Reasoning, 21, 446-472. doi:10.1080/13546783.2015.1034779
25.
SpillerS.FitzsimonsG.LynchJ. G.Jr.McClellandG. H. (2013). Spotlights, floodlights, and the magic number zero: Simple effects tests in moderated regression. Journal of Marketing Research, 50, 277-288. doi:10.1509/jmr.12.0420
26.
TsirosM. (2008). Releasing the regret clock: Consumer responses to new alternatives after a sale. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 1039-1059. doi:10.1086/593698
27.
TykocinskiO. E.PittmanT. S. (1998). The consequences of doing nothing: Inaction inertia as avoidance of anticipated counterfactual regret. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 607-616. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.3.607
28.
TykocinskiO. E.PittmanT. S. (2001). Product aversion following a missed opportunity: Price contrast or avoidance of anticipated regret?Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23, 149-156. doi:10.1207/S15324834BASP2303_1
29.
TykocinskiO. E.PittmanT.TuttleE. (1995). Inaction inertia: Foregoing future benefits as a result of an initial failure to act. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 793-803. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.5.793
30.
van PuttenM.ZeelenbergM.van DijkE. (2007). Decoupling the past from the present attenuates inaction inertia. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 20, 65-79. doi:10.1002/bdm.541
31.
van PuttenM.ZeelenbergM.van DijkE. (2008). Multiple options in the past and the present: The impact on inaction inertia. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 21, 519-531.
32.
van PuttenM.ZeelenbergM.van DijkE. (2009). Dealing with missed opportunities: Action vs. state orientation moderates inaction inertia. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 808-815. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.05.011
33.
van PuttenM.ZeelenbergM.van DijkE.TykocinskiO. E. (2014). Inaction inertia. European Review of Social Psychology, 24, 123-159. doi:10.1080/10463283.2013.841481
34.
WongK. F. E.KwongJ. Y. Y. (2007). The role of anticipated regret in escalation of commitment. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 545-554. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.2.545
35.
ZeelenbergM.NijstadB. A.van PuttenM.van DijkE. (2006). Inaction inertia, regret, and valuation: A closer look. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 101, 89-104. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.11.004
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
