Decisional Regret Theory: Reducing the Anxiety About Uncertain Outcomes During Group Decision Making Through Shared Counterfactual Storytelling

Abstract

People want to live in a predictable world, yet regularly face uncertain outcomes from decision choices. Here, a decision-making theory of communication is proposed. Faced with decisions, people experience anxiety as they anticipate choice-regret. The communicative dynamic of Decisional Regret Theory (DERT) is the production, sharing, and reconstruction of predecisional imaginary narratives that allow alternative decisional outcomes to be anticipated. DERT predicts a type of shared communication (counterfactual storytelling) under specific circumstances (anticipation of making a meaningful decision). It further predicts listener responses: (a) reproducing the story, (b) altering the story, (c) creating an alternative story, or (d) disconfirming the story. Exemplars of counterfactual communication during jury decision making are offered, together with a model describing the emergence of group counterfactual storytelling.

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