Discover how our minds play “what if” games to learn from the past and manage emotions in this episode of Learning English with Human Beans: “What If...? – Exploring Counterfactual Thinking.” We unpack the psychology behind imagining alternative outcomes, show how these thoughts help-or sometimes hinder-us, and illustrate the concept with everyday examples and popular fiction.

References:

• Roese, N. J., & Olson, J. M. (1995). What Might Have Been: The Social Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Roese, N. J. (1997). Counterfactual Thinking. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 133–148 .

• Roese, N. J. (2007). The Functional Theory of Counterfactual Thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(4), 168–192 .

• Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2017). The functional theory of counterfactual thinking: New evidence, new challenges, new insights. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 1–52