Downward Counterfactuals and Motivation: The Wake-Up Call and the Pangloss Effect

By Matthew N. McMullen, K. Markman. 2000

98 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e8e9145ae3b212d130ff6373864cf32c8df91215

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Applied Psychology

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Counterfactual Thought. (2016, background): “For example, when opportunities for future action do not exist, people imagine how things could have been worse, as the tourists after the 2004 tsunami did, which can provide consolation (e.g., Epstude & Roese 2008, McMullen & Markman 2000, Teigen & Jensen 2011).”
The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking (2008, background): “First, affective assimilation effects, as well as contrast effects, have been demonstrated to follow from counterfactual thoughts (Markman & McMullen, 2003; Markman, McMullen, & Elizaga, 2008; McMullen, 1997; McMullen & Markman, 2000; Summerville & Roese, in press).”
The effects of near wins and near losses on self-perceived personal luck and subsequent gambling behavior (2003, background): “It is interesting to note that if we were to ignore the implications of near experiences for self-perceived personal luck, the counterfactual thinking approach might suggest a different set of predictions (e.g., Markman & Tetlock, 2000; McMullen & Markman, 2000; Sanna, 1996, 1998).”
The Dissatisfaction of Having Your First Offer Accepted: The Role of Counterfactual Thinking in Negotiations (2002, background): “This alternative explanation would be consistent with work by McMullen (1997) and McMullen and Markman (2000), which suggests that the mere measurement of satisfaction can produce affective contrast because such a measure implicitly requires one to evaluate the present reality in light of a…”
Counterfactual and semi-factual thoughts in moral judgements about failed attempts to harm (2017, background): “People tend to focus on one or the other of these two possibilities (e.g., Markman & McMullen, 2003; McMullen & Markman, 2000).”
Counterfactual thinking, persistence, and performance: A test of the Reflection and Evaluation Model (2008, background): “Whereas the REM suggests that DR can serve as a ‘‘wake-up call’’ (McMullen & Markman, 2000), the others suggest that DR elicits maladaptive dwelling and rumination.”
Motivation by positive or negative role models: regulatory focus determines who will best inspire us. (2002, background): “…counterfactual thinking suggests that reflecting on possible feared selves by imagining a narrowly avoided misfortune can lead to an increase in the motivation to avoid such misfortunes in the future and can increase intentions to pursue appropriate avoidance strategies (McMullen & Markman, 2000).”