Why Cognitive Accuracy Matters

Buyers Remorse--Predicting Emotions After Decision-making

A study conducted by University College London found that people under-estimated their likely remorse and over-estimated their likely pleasure over the potential outcome of a test. In other words, when asked how bad they would feel if they did less well than they expected to, they discounted their potential disappointment. Can we abstract from this that when they DID do less well, they found it more painful than they might otherwise? Did their assessment of their likely reaction reduce their perceived likelihood of doing less well? The study apparently didn't address that.

Another related study found that in a simulated negotiation, people who acted more reasonable (ie, make more reasonable offers) had far less "buyer's remorse" than more aggressive negotiators.

Sounds like a job for Cognitive Accuracy!

If we make decisions with awareness of the possibilities and a realistic assessment of how the outcomes might affect us, we suffer less regret when the outcomes don't go our way. We have lower expectations, and thus lower vulnerability to shock from potential losses.