Would Have, Could Have, Should Have: When Choosing Feels Like Losing [Archive.org URL]

With all the choices consumers are given, it stands to reason that we should feel pleased with our decision s if we have given them careful thought. But often we feel a sense of loss for the options that got away. Professors Ziv Carmon, Klaus Wertenbroch, and Marcel Zeelenberg look into this phenomenon and discover that it might not just be our natural fickleness that fuels this regret. In this recent working paper they reveal that consumers often become attached to the options offered, and in the deliberating process actually begin to feel a sense of ownership. When a decision is finally made, consumers experience a sense of loss for those not selected, a feeling that is often as powerful as the positive feelings for the option selected.

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