What to do on spring break? The role of predicted, on-line, and remembered experience in future choice.
When individuals choose future activities on the basis of their past experiences, what guides those choices? The present study compared students' predicted, on-line, and remembered spring-break experiences, as well as the influence of these factors on students' desire to take a similar vacation in the future. Predicted and remembered experiences were both more positive-and, paradoxically, more negative-than on-line experiences. Of key importance, path analyses revealed that remembered experience, but neither on-line nor anticipated experience, directly predicted the desire to repeat the experience. These results suggest that although on-line measures may be superior to retrospective measures for approximating objective experience, retrospective measures may be superior for predicting choice.
Wirtz
Derrick
D
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA. d-wirtz@s.psych.uiuc.edu
Kruger
Justin
J
Napa Scollon
Christie
C
Diener
Ed
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009042:Motivation; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012931:Social Environment