title: Regret causes ego-depletion and finding benefits in the regrettable events alleviates ego-depletion.
abstract: This study tested the hypotheses that experiencing regret would result in ego-depletion, while finding benefits (i.e., "silver linings") in the regret-eliciting events counteracted the ego-depletion effect. Using a modified gambling paradigm (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) and a retrospective method (Experiments 3 and 5), five experiments were conducted to induce regret. Results revealed that experiencing regret undermined performance on subsequent tasks, including a paper-and-pencil calculation task (Experiment 1), a Stroop task (Experiment 2), and a mental arithmetic task (Experiment 3). Furthermore, finding benefits in the regret-eliciting events improved subsequent performance (Experiments 4 and 5), and this improvement was mediated by participants' perceived vitality (Experiment 4). This study extended the depletion model of self-regulation by considering emotions with self-conscious components (in our case, regret). Moreover, it provided a comprehensive understanding of how people felt and performed after experiencing regret and after finding benefits in the events that caused the regret.
authors.affiliation: a Beijing Normal University.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ying-Yi
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004532:Ego; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012649:Self Concept; D057190:Stroop Test; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: benefit-finding; ego-depletion; regret; self-consciousness; significance