Gratitude Reduces Regret: The Mediating Role of Temporal Focus

Mo Luan, Yufeng Zhang () and Xiaoyu Wang
Additional contact information
Mo Luan: University of International Business and Economics
Yufeng Zhang: Beijing Normal University
Xiaoyu Wang: Beijing Normal University

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2023, vol. 24, issue 1, No 1, 15 pages

Abstract: Abstract Although gratitude has received increasing attention from positive psychology researchers in recent years, few studies have examined the benefits of gratitude in decision making. In the present research we explored the effect of gratitude on regret, a decision-making-specific negative emotion. Across five studies (N = 738), the results revealed that gratitude reduced regret in decision-making, and past-focus was the underlying mechanism. The results of Studies 1, 2 and 3 consistently showed that gratitude reduced regret in decision-making. Studies 4 and 5 provided a potential explanation, demonstrating that temporal focus was the mechanism underlying the effect of gratitude on regret. These results indicate the benefits of gratitude in decision-making, suggesting a need to investigate why gratitude enhances well-being.

Keywords: Gratitude; Regret; Decision making; Temporal focus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-022-00597-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:24:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10902-022-00597-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-022-00597-0

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().