Post-decisional counterfactual thinking by actors and readers

How do individuals think counterfactually about the outcomes of their decisions? Unfortunately, most previous studies have investigated the way in which readers think about fictional stories, rather than the way in which actors think about events they have actually experienced. We assume that an individual’s role (actor vs. reader) can make different information available, which in turn can affect counterfactual thinking. Hence, we predict a role effect. In eight studies, we show that readers undo the negative outcome of a story by undoing the protagonist’s choice to tackle a given problem, rather than her unsuccessful attempt to solve it. But actors who make the same choice and experience the same negative outcome as the protagonist alter problem features. We also show that the effect does not depend on motivational factors. These results contradict current accounts of counterfactual thinking and demonstrate the necessity to investigate the counterfactual thoughts of individuals other than story readers.