Regret and the rationality of choices

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Regret helps to optimize decision behaviour. It can be defined as a rational emotion. Several recent neurobiological studies have confirmed the interface between emotion and cognition at which regret is located and documented its role in decision behaviour. These data give credibility to the incorporation of regret in decision theory that had been proposed by economists in the 1980s. However, finer distinctions are required in order to get a better grasp of how regret and behaviour influence each other. Regret can be defined as a predictive error signal but this signal does not necessarily transpose into a decision-weight influencing behaviour. Clinical studies on several types of patients show that the processing of an error signal and its influence on subsequent behaviour can be dissociated. We propose a general understanding of how regret and decision-making are connected in terms of regret being modulated by rational antecedents of choice. Regret and the modification of behaviour on its basis will depend on the criteria of rationality involved in decision-making. We indicate current and prospective lines of research in order to refine our views on how regret contributes to optimal decision-making.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)249-257
Number of pages9
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume365
Issue number1538
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 Jan 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Addiction
  • Decision weight
  • Paradoxes of rationality
  • Predictive error signal
  • Regret

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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