{
  "attribution": "Likelier — https://likelier.app",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/",
  "schema_version": 1,
  "generated_at": "2026-08-17T00:55:02.554Z",
  "count": 204,
  "decisions": [
    {
      "slug": "abortion-vs-continue",
      "question": "Having an abortion vs continuing an unplanned pregnancy",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having an abortion",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% at five years post-procedure",
        "population": "US women who received a wanted abortion at or near gestational limits"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continuing an unplanned pregnancy",
        "regret_rate": 0.04,
        "regret_display": "~4% at five years — expressed regret about continuing the pregnancy",
        "population": "US women denied abortion who carried to term (Turnaway Study)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.01,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/abortion-vs-continue"
    },
    {
      "slug": "accept-kafala-contract-gulf-vs-stay",
      "question": "Accepting a domestic-worker contract in the Gulf under the kafala sponsorship system vs. staying home",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Accepting the kafala contract and migrating to the Gulf",
        "regret_rate": 0.47,
        "regret_display": "Not a measured regret rate: no survey asks kafala workers if they regret migrating. The ~47% is a harm proxy — HRW documents passport confiscation, excessive hours, wage theft and abuse as routine (and makes no population-prevalence claim), not a share who report regret",
        "population": "Migrant domestic workers under kafala system in Gulf states (Ethiopia, Kenya, Philippines, Indonesia, South Asia)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying home and not taking the kafala contract",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "Not a measured regret rate: no survey asks non-migrants whether they regret declining a Gulf contract. The ~38% is a structural foregone-income proxy from the Gulf-vs-home wage gap, not observed regret",
        "population": "Adults in high-kafala-sending communities (Ethiopia, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh) who did not take a Gulf contract"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.09,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/accept-kafala-contract-gulf-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "active-protest-vs-stay-silent",
      "question": "Actively participating in public protest vs staying silent during injustice",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Participating in public protest",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "No direct protest-participation regret survey exists; shown is the general long-term action-regret rate (~16% name an action as their biggest regret, Gilovich & Medvec 1994) as a proxy baseline",
        "population": "General adults recalling their single biggest lifetime regret, not protest participants (Gilovich & Medvec 1994)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying silent during injustice",
        "regret_rate": 0.53,
        "regret_display": "53% of workers have regretted not speaking up when they had something to say (proxy from workplace voice literature — closest analog to civic silence)",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany — used as analog for civic silence"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/active-protest-vs-stay-silent"
    },
    {
      "slug": "admit-serious-mistake-vs-cover-up",
      "question": "Admitting a serious mistake openly vs. concealing or deflecting it",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Admitting the serious mistake openly",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "no direct survey measures this; ~14% is an author proxy for the minority whose admission backfires (career or relationship harm), anchored on the direction-of-effect evidence that admitting fault is broadly valued and trust-repairing -- not a measured rate of admitters reporting bad outcomes",
        "population": "Professionals and adults who disclosed a significant error"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Concealing or deflecting the serious mistake",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "no direct survey measures this; ~40% is an author proxy anchored on the World Regret Survey finding that moral regrets (which include covering up mistakes) are among the most intense and persistent regret types -- not a measured rate of concealers reporting ongoing guilt",
        "population": "Adults who knowingly concealed a significant personal or professional error"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.26,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/admit-serious-mistake-vs-cover-up"
    },
    {
      "slug": "adult-mmr-booster-vs-skip",
      "question": "Get an adult MMR titer or booster during the 2025 measles resurgence, or skip it?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Get an adult MMR titer or booster dose",
        "regret_rate": 0.00001,
        "regret_display": "<0.001% — proxy: a serious adverse event (anaphylaxis) is the only material downside; redundancy in an already-immune adult is not a regret-worthy outcome",
        "population": "US adults who seek an MMR titer or a precautionary MMR dose (1963-67 killed-vaccine cohort, healthcare personnel, immunocompromised contacts) during the 2025 resurgence"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Skip the titer/booster and rely on assumed childhood immunity",
        "regret_rate": 0.06,
        "regret_display": "~6% — proxy: share of a US healthcare-worker serosurvey lacking a measles immunity marker (seronegative + equivocal); an upper bound on who carries an immunity gap, not a measured regret rate",
        "population": "US adults in the named higher-risk cohorts (1963-67 killed-vaccine recipients, healthcare personnel, immunocompromised) who skip serologic check or revaccination during the 2025 resurgence"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/adult-mmr-booster-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "advance-directive-now-vs-later",
      "question": "Complete an advance directive now vs. deferring until closer to death",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Complete an advance directive now (in middle age)",
        "regret_rate": 0.03,
        "regret_display": "No significant regret documented among AD completers; literature reports under-completion, not over-completion, as the problem",
        "population": "US adults who completed an advance directive, various settings (Health Affairs, NEJM data)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Defer advance directive completion",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "30% of families of patients without advance care planning showed clinically significant depression at follow-up (vs 0% with planning)",
        "population": "Bereaved families of elderly hospital inpatients who died without advance care planning (Australia, comparable to US data)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.27,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/advance-directive-now-vs-later"
    },
    {
      "slug": "aggressive-cancer-treatment-vs-palliative",
      "question": "Pursue aggressive cancer treatment at end of stage vs. integrating palliative care early",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursue aggressive cancer treatment (standard oncology, no early palliative integration)",
        "regret_rate": 0.43,
        "regret_display": "Bereaved caregivers of patients who received aggressive end-of-life care report a mean decision-regret score of 43/100 (Decision Regret Scale) — significantly higher than caregivers of patients who did not",
        "population": "Bereaved caregivers of deceased cancer patients whose relative received aggressive end-of-life care (Tönnies et al. 2021, n=84 of 298 caregivers)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Integrate palliative care from diagnosis (alongside oncology)",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "Bereaved caregivers of patients who did not receive aggressive end-of-life care report a mean decision-regret score of 33/100 (Decision Regret Scale) — significantly lower than caregivers of aggressively-treated patients",
        "population": "Bereaved caregivers of deceased cancer patients whose relative did not receive aggressive end-of-life care (Tönnies et al. 2021, n=184 of 298 caregivers)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.1,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/aggressive-cancer-treatment-vs-palliative"
    },
    {
      "slug": "alcohol-vs-abstain",
      "question": "Drinking alcohol regularly vs abstaining",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Drinking alcohol",
        "regret_rate": 0.7,
        "regret_display": "70% of drinkers regretted getting drunk in the past year",
        "population": "Global, 31 countries, self-selected online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Abstaining from alcohol",
        "regret_rate": 0.12,
        "regret_display": "~12% (social friction proxy, not direct abstinence regret)",
        "population": "Finnish adults aged 15–79, population-based"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.58,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/alcohol-vs-abstain"
    },
    {
      "slug": "allotment-garden-vs-no-plot",
      "question": "Getting an allotment or community garden plot vs remaining without one",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting an allotment or community garden plot",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "91.9% of allotment holders rate their plot's mental-health benefit 8/10 or higher (satisfaction proxy — no direct regret or plot-relinquishment survey exists; the ~8% shown is the non-top-rating share, NOT a measured regret rate)",
        "population": "UK allotment plot holders"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Remaining without a garden or allotment plot",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "~38% of non-gardeners cite lack of access as the reason they do not garden",
        "population": "UK adults who have not gardened in the past 12 months"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/allotment-garden-vs-no-plot"
    },
    {
      "slug": "allow-child-on-social-media-vs-delay",
      "question": "Allowing your child to create social media accounts vs delaying or blocking access",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Giving child social media account access (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.)",
        "regret_rate": 0.54,
        "regret_display": "54% of parents felt they had to allow social media because so many other families already had",
        "population": "US parents aged 18+ with at least one child under 18 who had already allowed social media access, nationally representative online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Delaying or blocking social media account access",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% of parents who delayed social media access report significant social friction or self-doubt about the restriction (estimated proxy)",
        "population": "US parents who delayed or blocked child's social media account access; rate is a conservative proxy estimate — no direct retrospective regret survey of this group exists for social-media-specific access"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.44,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/allow-child-on-social-media-vs-delay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "apologize-vs-hold-ground",
      "question": "Apologizing after a conflict vs standing your ground",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Apologizing",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "~22% of apologizers reported residual regret (estimated from qualitative coding — not a survey percentage)",
        "population": "US adults, undergraduate and community samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Standing your ground",
        "regret_rate": 0.43,
        "regret_display": "~43% of non-apologizers reported lingering regret (estimated from qualitative coding — not a survey percentage)",
        "population": "US adults, undergraduate and community samples"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.21,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/apologize-vs-hold-ground"
    },
    {
      "slug": "appeal-court-ruling-vs-accept",
      "question": "Appealing a court judgment vs accepting the original ruling",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Appealing the court ruling",
        "regret_rate": 0.86,
        "regret_display": "~86% of civil appeals in federal court do not result in reversal of the lower court's judgment",
        "population": "Private civil litigants in US federal courts of appeals"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting the original ruling without appeal",
        "regret_rate": 0.6,
        "regret_display": "~60% proxy: share of tried civil cases with an adverse trial judgment where the losing side does not appeal at all (federal appellate-filing data)",
        "population": "Civil litigants who received adverse judgments at trial in US federal courts"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.26,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/appeal-court-ruling-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "appeal-health-insurance-denial-vs-accept",
      "question": "Appealing a health insurance claim denial vs accepting it",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Appealing the denial",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "~14% of those who appeal a health insurance denial regret doing so (proxy; majority succeed, cost is time only)",
        "population": "US adults who filed internal or external appeals against ACA Marketplace or Medicare Advantage claim denials"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting the denial",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "~44% of those who accept a health insurance denial likely forfeit coverage they were entitled to (proxy; 34–75% of appealed denials are reversed, yet <1% of denied claims are appealed)",
        "population": "US adults who received a health insurance claim denial and did not appeal"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/appeal-health-insurance-denial-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "ask-for-raise-vs-wait",
      "question": "Asking for a raise vs waiting to be recognized",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Asking for a raise",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "~20% of people who asked for a raise regret the ask",
        "population": "US workers who initiated salary negotiations, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waiting to be recognized",
        "regret_rate": 0.6,
        "regret_display": "60% of workers regret not asking for a raise",
        "population": "US, UK, French, and German workers, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.4,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/ask-for-raise-vs-wait"
    },
    {
      "slug": "authorize-organ-donation-family-vs-refuse",
      "question": "Authorizing organ donation for a deceased family member vs. refusing",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Authorizing organ donation",
        "regret_rate": 0.04,
        "regret_display": "4% of consenting next-of-kin would not consent again if they could decide over",
        "population": "Next-of-kin who consented to organ donation (donors), United States"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Refusing to authorize organ donation",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of families who refused donation would now consent if they could decide over",
        "population": "Next-of-kin who refused organ donation consent (nondonors), United States"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.23,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/authorize-organ-donation-family-vs-refuse"
    },
    {
      "slug": "breastfeeding-vs-formula",
      "question": "Breastfeeding vs formula feeding your baby",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Breastfeeding",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "15% of breastfeeding mothers report guilt about their feeding method (guilt proxy)",
        "population": "Mothers with infants ≤26 weeks who had initiated breastfeeding, recruited via social media (international, majority UK)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Formula feeding",
        "regret_rate": 0.67,
        "regret_display": "67% of formula-feeding mothers report guilt about their feeding method (guilt proxy)",
        "population": "Mothers with infants ≤26 weeks currently formula feeding in any quantity, recruited via social media (international, majority UK)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.52,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/breastfeeding-vs-formula"
    },
    {
      "slug": "buy-house-vs-rent",
      "question": "Buying a house vs renting long-term",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Buying a house",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "8% of homeowners wish they'd rented",
        "population": "US homeowners, nationally representative online survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Renting long-term",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "45% of renters wish they'd bought",
        "population": "US renters in 20 major metros"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/buy-house-vs-rent"
    },
    {
      "slug": "buying-grandchild-every-gift-vs-restraint",
      "question": "Buying your grandchild (or child) every toy and gift they ask for vs restraining gift-giving and saying no",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Indulgent gift-giving — rarely saying no",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "40% of parents say grandparents are too soft or lenient (proxy)",
        "population": "US parents of children ages 0–18 who reported disagreements with a grandparent (subset of nationally representative n=2,016 sample)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Restrained gift-giving — saying no, following parents' limits",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "14% of parents say grandparents are too strict or tough (proxy)",
        "population": "US parents of children ages 0–18 who reported disagreements with a grandparent (subset of nationally representative n=2,016 sample)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.26,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/buying-grandchild-every-gift-vs-restraint"
    },
    {
      "slug": "buying-organic-vs-conventional",
      "question": "Buying organic produce vs sticking with conventional",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Buying organic — paying the premium",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "15% of US adults actively avoid organic foods (avoidance proxy — stance, not retrospective regret)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Sticking with conventional produce",
        "regret_rate": 0.46,
        "regret_display": "46% of US adults rank pesticide residues among their top-3 food safety concerns (concern proxy — not direct regret)",
        "population": "US adults aged 18-80, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.31,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/buying-organic-vs-conventional"
    },
    {
      "slug": "career-pursuit-vs-work-life-balance",
      "question": "Aggressively pursuing career advancement vs prioritizing work-life balance",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursuing career aggressively",
        "regret_rate": 0.59,
        "regret_display": "59% regret not prioritizing work-life balance",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Prioritizing work-life balance",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% regret not making a full career change (proxy)",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/career-pursuit-vs-work-life-balance"
    },
    {
      "slug": "change-career-vs-stay",
      "question": "Changing careers vs staying in your current field",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Changing careers",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "38% regret quitting a job",
        "population": "US, UK, French, and German workers"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in your current field",
        "regret_rate": 0.58,
        "regret_display": "58% regret staying too long",
        "population": "US, UK, French, and German workers"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/change-career-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "cheat-in-relationship-regret",
      "question": "Cheating on a committed partner vs staying faithful when tempted",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having an affair",
        "regret_rate": 0.55,
        "regret_display": "~55% of US adults with a history of extramarital sex separate or divorce from that spouse (behavioral proxy; attitudinal regret in affair-seeker samples runs far lower)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative panel (General Social Survey)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Resisting an affair / staying faithful",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "≤15% ceiling — an editorial low-regret estimate. No survey measures regret of staying faithful, and no cited source states a satisfaction-decline rate for faithful spouses; read this as a coarse upper bound on any plausible inaction regret, consistent with the cited finding that ~77% of fidelity-maintaining (non-infidelity) couples remain married at five years, not a direct rate.",
        "population": "Couples in longitudinal marital quality studies; non-infidelity couples in randomised therapy trials"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.4,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/cheat-in-relationship-regret"
    },
    {
      "slug": "child-tonsillectomy-vs-watchful-waiting",
      "question": "When a child has recurrent throat infections, do parents regret having the tonsils removed — or regret waiting and keeping them?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Removing the child's tonsils",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "~9% of parents not satisfied with the benefit; decisional regret low (median 0 on the Decision Regret Scale)",
        "population": "Parents of children who underwent (adeno)tonsillectomy"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping the tonsils (watchful waiting)",
        "regret_rate": 0.28,
        "regret_display": "28% of parents regretted not having arranged surgery earlier (inaction-regret proxy)",
        "population": "Parents of children who underwent (adeno)tonsillectomy, looking back on the delay"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.19,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/child-tonsillectomy-vs-watchful-waiting"
    },
    {
      "slug": "china-delay-marriage-vs-marry-on-schedule",
      "question": "Delaying or skipping marriage for career in China vs. marrying at the socially expected age",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Delaying or skipping marriage (the 'sheng nu' path)",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "~44% of unmarried urban Chinese women (18-26) do not plan to marry -- a marriage-aversion intent proxy, not a self-reported regret-about-delaying rate",
        "population": "Unmarried urban Chinese youth aged 18-26 (women's figure shown)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Marrying at the socially expected age (before 27)",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "~20% (one in five) of married women in China say they regret getting married -- up from 9% in 2012, with dissatisfaction peaking among wives currently aged 36-45",
        "population": "Married women in China (national survey reported by SCMP)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.24,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/china-delay-marriage-vs-marry-on-schedule"
    },
    {
      "slug": "china-gaokao-major-regret",
      "question": "Accepting your gaokao result and university major vs. re-sitting the exam for a better outcome",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Accepting the gaokao result and enrolling",
        "regret_rate": 0.66,
        "regret_display": "66% of gaokao takers would choose differently if they could re-sit",
        "population": "Chinese gaokao takers, Weibo survey respondents"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Re-sitting the gaokao as a fukaosheng",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% of re-sitters achieve no meaningful score improvement after a full year of preparation",
        "population": "Chinese gaokao re-sitters (fukaosheng)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.36,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/china-gaokao-major-regret"
    },
    {
      "slug": "circumcision",
      "question": "Circumcising a son vs not circumcising",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Circumcising",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "21% of parents — moderate to strong regret",
        "population": "US parents of circumcised boys presenting to pediatric urology clinic"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not circumcising",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "21% of parents — moderate to strong regret",
        "population": "US parents of uncircumcised boys presenting to pediatric urology clinic"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/circumcision"
    },
    {
      "slug": "coming-out-vs-staying-closeted",
      "question": "Coming out about your sexuality vs staying closeted",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Coming out",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "7% of LGBT adults say their sexual orientation is mainly something negative in their life (proxy)",
        "population": "US self-identified LGBT adults (predominantly out)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying closeted",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "16% past-year suicide attempt rate among LGBTQ youth who delayed coming out 2+ years (proxy)",
        "population": "LGBTQ+ young people ages 13–24 in the US who delayed disclosure"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.09,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/coming-out-vs-staying-closeted"
    },
    {
      "slug": "consult-ai-before-deciding-vs-skip",
      "question": "Consulting AI before a major personal decision vs deciding without it",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Consulting AI before deciding",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "~22% of those who consulted AI for a significant decision report a harmful or problematic outcome (proxy; 11% received unsafe health recommendations; 21–49% of AI medical responses are rated problematic in controlled studies)",
        "population": "US adults who consulted AI chatbots for health, financial, or life decisions"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Deciding without AI input",
        "regret_rate": 0.28,
        "regret_display": "No survey measures regret among people who declined to consult AI. As a rough opportunity-cost ceiling (NOT a measured regret rate), among AI users 46–59% report a concrete information benefit and ~90% of those who acted on AI financial advice called the result 'profitable or worthwhile' — benefits non-users forgo; ~28% is a conservative inferred upper bound, not a direct measurement",
        "population": "US adults who made significant decisions without consulting AI"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/consult-ai-before-deciding-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "continue-gambling-vs-quit",
      "question": "Continuing to gamble vs quitting (among problem gamblers and at-risk gamblers)",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Continuing to gamble",
        "regret_rate": 0.56,
        "regret_display": "~56% of at-risk and problem gamblers (PGSI 1+) report harm-to-self from continuing (proxy for regret — no direct regret-framed survey)",
        "population": "At-risk and problem gamblers (PGSI 1+), drawn from national prevalence and treatment-seeking samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Quitting / sustained abstinence",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "No direct measure exists; regret-about-quitting is undocumented in the recovery literature. The ~5% shown is a nominal near-floor placeholder, not a measured or derived rate.",
        "population": "Recovered problem gamblers — inpatient treatment cohort plus US natural-recovery cohort"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.51,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/continue-gambling-vs-quit"
    },
    {
      "slug": "continuous-self-development-vs-coast",
      "question": "Committing to continuous personal development (courses, books, skill-building) vs being content with current skills",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Continuous self-development (courses, certifications, deliberate learning)",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "~20% inferred regret-equivalent rate (proxy: time/cost burden on lifelong learners — see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults who identify as lifelong learners (~74%); cross-survey inference"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Coasting on current skills, no active development",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "Education ranks as the #1 most-regretted life domain in Roese & Summerville's meta-analysis of 11 ranking studies; in Pink's World Regret Survey, inaction regrets (chances not taken) outnumber action regrets roughly 2:1",
        "population": "Adults; meta-analytic synthesis and open-ended regret survey"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.1,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/continuous-self-development-vs-coast"
    },
    {
      "slug": "controlled-teen-alcohol-vs-prohibition",
      "question": "Giving a teenager supervised access to alcohol vs strict prohibition",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Supervised/managed alcohol access",
        "regret_rate": 0.36,
        "regret_display": "36% of teenagers given adult-supervised access to alcohol experienced harmful alcohol consequences by grade 9 (child-harm proxy for parental regret)",
        "population": "Secondary-school students in Victoria, Australia (permissive-norm context), followed from grade 7"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Strict prohibition (no parental alcohol supply)",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "21% of teenagers in a strict-prohibition policy context (Washington State) experienced harmful alcohol consequences by grade 9 (harm-outcome proxy)",
        "population": "Secondary-school students in Washington State (prohibition-norm context), followed from grade 7"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/controlled-teen-alcohol-vs-prohibition"
    },
    {
      "slug": "correcting-child-vs-letting-it-slide",
      "question": "Consistently correcting and disciplining your child vs being permissive and letting things slide",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Consistent discipline and limit-setting",
        "regret_rate": 0.11,
        "regret_display": "11% of adults raised in stricter households say it was a bad thing (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults whose parents were stricter than peers, n=1,000 US adult citizens, nationally representative online sample"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Permissive / low-correction parenting",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "26% of adults raised in more lenient households say it was a bad thing (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults whose parents were more lenient than peers, n=1,000 US adult citizens, nationally representative online sample"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/correcting-child-vs-letting-it-slide"
    },
    {
      "slug": "cosmetic-surgery",
      "question": "Having cosmetic surgery vs not having it",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having cosmetic surgery",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% regret the procedure (range 5–33% by type)",
        "population": "Cosmetic surgery patients, multi-study systematic review"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not having cosmetic surgery",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "~7% (ceiling proxy: share willing to undergo cosmetic surgery — not a measured regret rate)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.03,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/cosmetic-surgery"
    },
    {
      "slug": "couple-therapy-vs-no-couple-therapy",
      "question": "Starting couple/marital therapy vs not going to couple therapy",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Going to couple therapy",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "~27% of couples attending therapy are separated or divorced within 5 years (outcome-based proxy for regret)",
        "population": "Seriously distressed married couples enrolled in randomised controlled trials of couple therapy, US clinical samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not seeking couple therapy",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "~33% of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 10 years (CDC/NCHS structural floor, proxy for inaction regret)",
        "population": "US first marriages tracked longitudinally by the National Survey of Family Growth; used as a structural floor for the dissolution outcomes of distressed couples who do not seek therapy"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/couple-therapy-vs-no-couple-therapy"
    },
    {
      "slug": "csection-vs-vaginal-birth",
      "question": "Having a cesarean delivery vs vaginal delivery",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Cesarean delivery",
        "regret_rate": 0.19,
        "regret_display": "19% of cesarean-delivery women were dissatisfied with the birth experience (dissatisfaction proxy)",
        "population": "Women who delivered by cesarean section in Scotland, recruited via postal survey (mixed planned and unplanned)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Vaginal delivery",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "7% of women had a negative birth experience at 1 year postpartum (negative experience proxy)",
        "population": "Swedish women recruited at all antenatal clinics nationally, assessed 1 year after delivery (predominantly vaginal births given ~15% national C-section rate)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.12,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/csection-vs-vaginal-birth"
    },
    {
      "slug": "diagnose-vs-denial",
      "question": "Getting diagnosed and treated early vs denial and avoidance",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting diagnosed early",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "20% regret early treatment decisions",
        "population": "Localized prostate cancer patients, 14 studies"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Avoiding/denying health issues",
        "regret_rate": 0.252,
        "regret_display": "~25.2% regretted inactions specifically (delayed screening, not seeking info)",
        "population": "Young breast cancer survivors, US"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.052,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/diagnose-vs-denial"
    },
    {
      "slug": "diagnosing-child-adhd-vs-waiting",
      "question": "Do parents regret pursuing an ADHD diagnosis for their child — or regret not doing so?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursuing formal ADHD diagnosis and treatment (medication + behavioral therapy)",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% of parents who initiate stimulant medication discontinue within 12 months (discontinuation-as-regret proxy)",
        "population": "Parents of children with ADHD who initiated medication, primarily US self-selected community samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waiting, avoiding diagnosis, or managing without formal evaluation",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "~40% of parents who delayed ADHD medication report regret about waiting (conservative estimate; 58% is the delay-prevalence ceiling, not the regret rate)",
        "population": "Caregivers of children with ADHD (ADDitude survey, N=11,013); adults with late ADHD diagnosis (longitudinal and qualitative studies)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.1,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/diagnosing-child-adhd-vs-waiting"
    },
    {
      "slug": "dialysis-vs-conservative-care",
      "question": "Start dialysis for kidney failure vs. choosing conservative (non-dialytic) management",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Start dialysis",
        "regret_rate": 0.19,
        "regret_display": "~19% of maintenance dialysis patients regret their decision to start dialysis; regret concentrates in elderly, high-comorbidity patients where the survival benefit is most modest",
        "population": "Maintenance dialysis patients (Saeed et al. 2019, n=423); regret is highest in adults ≥75 with high comorbidity burden, the population this entry centres on"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Choose conservative (non-dialytic) management",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "Near-zero regret: in a shared-decision-making survey, 0% of patients who chose conservative care still had doubts about the decision (vs 17% of dialysis patients)",
        "population": "Older patients with advanced CKD who chose conservative care after shared decision-making (Verberne et al. 2019, n=23 conservative-care patients)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/dialysis-vs-conservative-care"
    },
    {
      "slug": "diaspora-heritage-vs-assimilate",
      "question": "Asserting your heritage identity in a diaspora vs. assimilating into the host culture",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Asserting heritage identity, maintaining strong ethnic and cultural ties",
        "regret_rate": 0.58,
        "regret_display": "~58% of Asian American adults report ever experiencing racial discrimination or unfair treatment because of their race or ethnicity (cost-of-distinctiveness proxy, not direct regret)",
        "population": "Asian American adults, nationally representative (proxy for diaspora members who remain visibly heritage-distinct)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Assimilating strongly into the host culture, suppressing heritage identity",
        "regret_rate": 0.5,
        "regret_display": "~50% heritage-identity attrition: by the fourth-or-higher generation, only 50% of US adults with Hispanic ancestry still self-identify as Hispanic (heritage-loss proxy, not direct regret)",
        "population": "US adults with Hispanic ancestry, by immigrant generation (heritage-loss attrition proxy)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.08,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/diaspora-heritage-vs-assimilate"
    },
    {
      "slug": "disability-insurance-vs-skip",
      "question": "Buying disability income insurance vs. going without",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Buying disability income insurance",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% of workers who dropped disability insurance say they weren't 'using the benefit enough to be worth it'",
        "population": "US employees who previously had workplace disability insurance and then dropped it"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Going without disability income insurance",
        "regret_rate": 0.8,
        "regret_display": "~80% of uninsured workers who experienced a disability leave report they have not fully recovered financially",
        "population": "US full-time workers who experienced a disability leave and had no disability insurance at the time"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.5,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/disability-insurance-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "disclose-addiction-to-family",
      "question": "Disclosing your addiction to close family vs keeping it hidden",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Disclosed addiction to close family",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "26% of women (and 20% of men) with unmet SUD treatment need cited stigma — including not wanting others to know — as a barrier, suggesting a comparable proportion of disclosers may experience stigmatizing family reactions (stigma-exposure proxy)",
        "population": "US adults with unmet substance use disorder treatment need who cited stigma-related reasons"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Kept addiction hidden from family",
        "regret_rate": 0.46,
        "regret_display": "46% of people with substance use disorders reported worrying about what others would say if they sought treatment — a proxy for the concealment-driven isolation that drives inaction regret",
        "population": "Adults with past-year substance use disorder (N=84 with OUD drawn from N=1,033 Pennsylvania adults)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/disclose-addiction-to-family"
    },
    {
      "slug": "dispute-auto-insurance-claim-vs-accept",
      "question": "Hiring an attorney to pursue an auto injury claim vs accepting the adjuster's offer without representation",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Hiring an attorney",
        "regret_rate": 0.55,
        "regret_display": "More than half of claimants who hired an attorney were dissatisfied with their total payment — the IRC consumer panel reported that fewer than half of represented claimants were satisfied (proxy: dissatisfaction with the payout, not a direct regret survey)",
        "population": "US auto insurance bodily injury claimants who hired an attorney (IRC 2004 consumer panel, n > 3,000)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting without representation",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "Roughly one in four claimants who did not hire an attorney were dissatisfied with their total payment — the IRC consumer panel reported that almost three-fourths of unrepresented claimants were satisfied (proxy: dissatisfaction with the payout; note that self-settlers often cannot see the counterfactual)",
        "population": "US auto insurance bodily injury claimants who self-settled without representation (IRC 2004 consumer panel, n > 3,000)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/dispute-auto-insurance-claim-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "divorce-vs-stay",
      "question": "Divorcing vs staying in an unhappy marriage",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Divorcing",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "27-39% of divorcees regret divorcing (27% women, 39% men)",
        "population": "US adults who divorced, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in an unhappy marriage",
        "regret_rate": 0.32,
        "regret_display": "~1/3 still unhappy 5 years later (outcome proxy, not a regret survey)",
        "population": "US adults in unhappy marriages, NSFH nationally representative panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/divorce-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "downsize-home-in-retirement",
      "question": "Sell the family home and downsize when you retire vs. staying put",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Sell and downsize",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "satisfaction proxy: ~35% of retirees do NOT say they live in the best home of their lives (no direct mover-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US retirees, nationally representative (Merrill Lynch/Age Wave 2015, satisfaction proxy)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Stay in the family home",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "barrier proxy: ~33% of adults 50+ say their current home would need modifications to age there safely (no direct stayer-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US adults 50+ who intend to stay in their current homes (AARP 2021, modification-need barrier proxy)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/downsize-home-in-retirement"
    },
    {
      "slug": "drink-raw-milk-vs-pasteurized",
      "question": "Drink raw (unpasteurized) milk for claimed health benefits vs. stick with pasteurized milk",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Switch to raw (unpasteurized) milk for claimed nutritional, immune, and digestive benefits",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "Realized-harm rate, not a regret survey: ~10% of habitual raw-milk drinkers suffer a raw-milk foodborne illness over a drinking lifetime (an author-reasoned order-of-magnitude estimate, not a source-stated figure). Raw-milk drinkers are 838.8x more likely than pasteurized-milk drinkers to experience a dairy-related illness (CDC EID 2017), and recurring 2025-2026 Campylobacter/STEC outbreaks plus H5N1 in raw milk keep the realized-harm signal elevated. No regret-framed survey of raw-milk drinkers exists.",
        "population": "US adults who habitually drink raw milk (~3.2% of the population per CDC/Costard 2017); regret here is proxied by realized foodborne illness, the only outcome-grounded signal available because no regret-framed survey of raw-milk drinkers exists"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Stick with pasteurized milk",
        "regret_rate": 0.02,
        "regret_display": "~2% reasoned minimum, not a measured regret rate: pasteurized-milk drinkers forgo only the claimed raw-milk benefits, which controlled evidence shows do not exist (nutrition unchanged by pasteurization; no anti-allergy, lactose, or 'good bacteria' benefit per PMC4890836), so any realized regret is limited to subjective taste preference and belief in unproven benefits. No foregone-benefit regret survey of pasteurized-milk drinkers exists; this is an author-reasoned floor.",
        "population": "US adults who drink only pasteurized milk (the ~96.8% majority); regret proxied by foregone CLAIMED benefits that evidence does not support, plus minor taste preference"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.08,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/drink-raw-milk-vs-pasteurized"
    },
    {
      "slug": "drive-after-drinks-vs-rideshare",
      "question": "Taking a rideshare or cab home after drinking vs driving yourself",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Take a rideshare, cab, or sober ride",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "~7% would not recommend rideshare as a safer way home after drinking (rough proxy — complement of a 93% recommend-rate figure; no survey directly measures rideshare regret)",
        "population": "US adults who took alternate transportation home after drinking"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Drive yourself after drinking",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "~40% (proxy) — no survey measures regret for driving after drinking; the estimate reflects the AAA 2024 TSCI danger-versus-behaviour gap (93% call it dangerous, 7% do it anyway) plus the high magnitude of the worst downstream outcomes (DUI, crash, criminal record), not a stated regret rate",
        "population": "US drivers who admit driving after drinking in past 30 days"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.33,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/drive-after-drinks-vs-rideshare"
    },
    {
      "slug": "drop-out-vs-finish-degree",
      "question": "Dropping out of university before completing a degree vs. finishing",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Dropping out before completing",
        "regret_rate": 0.59,
        "regret_display": "59% of those with some college but no degree would change at least one education decision (most commonly their major)",
        "population": "US adults who attended but did not complete college"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Finishing the degree",
        "regret_rate": 0.52,
        "regret_display": "52% of bachelor's degree holders would change at least one education decision",
        "population": "US adults who completed a 4-year college degree"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.07,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/drop-out-vs-finish-degree"
    },
    {
      "slug": "early-sex-education-vs-delayed",
      "question": "Introducing age-appropriate sexual topics to children before age 8-10 vs. waiting until adolescence",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Early age-appropriate introduction (body parts, reproduction, consent — before age 8-10)",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% estimated parental regret (proxy ceiling — no direct survey exists; AAP-endorsed practice with no documented harm across 30 years of outcomes research)",
        "population": "Parents who introduced age-appropriate sexual topics — anatomical names, reproduction basics, bodily autonomy, consent, puberty anticipation — in early childhood; rate is a conservative proxy ceiling, not a direct parental-regret survey figure"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waiting until adolescence or avoiding sexual topics in early childhood",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "~35% estimated parental regret (proxy — 70% of young adults wished for more parental information about the emotional side of relationships; about half of parents had not discussed condom use before a son's first intercourse)",
        "population": "Parents of adolescents who had not discussed sexual topics before puberty onset; proxy rate derived from young-adult-reported information gaps and parent-child timing-failure data across two independent samples — no direct parental-regret survey exists"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.25,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/early-sex-education-vs-delayed"
    },
    {
      "slug": "economic-migration-vs-stay-in-poverty",
      "question": "Migrating internationally for economic opportunity vs. staying in a low-income country",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Migrating internationally for economic opportunity",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "~35% of labour migrants report verbal abuse at work (hardship/distress proxy, not a direct regret measure)",
        "population": "International labour migrants from lower-income countries"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in a low-income country despite opportunities to migrate",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "~33% of adults in high-migration regions say they want to migrate but have not (Gallup desire-to-migrate aspiration rate, not a direct regret measure)",
        "population": "Adults in high-migration-sending countries who did not migrate"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/economic-migration-vs-stay-in-poverty"
    },
    {
      "slug": "electric-car-vs-gas",
      "question": "Switching to an electric vehicle vs keeping a gas car",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Switching to EV",
        "regret_rate": 0.46,
        "regret_display": "46% of US EV owners want to switch back (intent proxy)",
        "population": "US EV owners, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping a gas car",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "16% of US adults are likely to buy an EV next (intent proxy)",
        "population": "US adults, probability-based panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/electric-car-vs-gas"
    },
    {
      "slug": "embrace-change-vs-resist",
      "question": "Embracing major life changes vs resisting and staying in your comfort zone",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Embracing change",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% of regrets in Pink's World Regret Survey were moral regrets (smallest category) (proxy -- see caveats)",
        "population": "Adults globally, open-ended survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in comfort zone",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "~33% of all regrets were boldness regrets (Pink's World Regret Survey) (proxy -- see caveats)",
        "population": "Adults globally, open-ended survey"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.23,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/embrace-change-vs-resist"
    },
    {
      "slug": "end-friendship-over-values-vs-maintain",
      "question": "Ending a friendship over values differences vs maintaining it despite conflict",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Ending the friendship",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% of those who cut ties report moral or social regret about the decision",
        "population": "US adults who have ended a friendship over values or political differences"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Maintaining the friendship despite deep values conflict",
        "regret_rate": 0.42,
        "regret_display": "~42% of those who maintained a deeply conflicted friendship report ongoing distress or regret",
        "population": "US adults who maintained a friendship despite significant political or values differences"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.12,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/end-friendship-over-values-vs-maintain"
    },
    {
      "slug": "engage-in-local-civic-government-vs-stay-out",
      "question": "Actively engaging in local civic government (school board, HOA, town council, neighborhood org) vs staying out of community governance",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Engaging in local civic government",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "No direct survey of civic-participant regret exists; shown as the Gilovich-Medvec long-term action-regret base rate (16% of people name an action, not an inaction, as their single biggest life regret) — a general structural base rate, not a measured rate among civic participants",
        "population": "US adults who attend local public meetings (~9% of adults); estimate applies the long-term action-regret base rate from Gilovich-Medvec to this self-selected subgroup"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying out of local governance",
        "regret_rate": 0.53,
        "regret_display": "53% of workers regret not speaking up in meetings (closest analog for civic silence; direct civic regret survey not identified)",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany — used as the closest available analog for not voicing opinions in a community/governance setting"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/engage-in-local-civic-government-vs-stay-out"
    },
    {
      "slug": "estate-planning-early-vs-delay",
      "question": "Creating a will and estate plan while healthy vs. delaying until a crisis",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Creating a will and estate plan while healthy",
        "regret_rate": 0.03,
        "regret_display": "~3% of people with estate plans feel anxious about it daily; most report less worry, not regret",
        "population": "US adults with estate plans ('planners')"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Delaying estate planning until a crisis",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "35% of Americans have experienced (or know someone who experienced) family conflict from lacking an estate plan",
        "population": "US adults, on family conflict tied to absent/incomplete estate plans"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.32,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/estate-planning-early-vs-delay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "family-estrangement",
      "question": "Cutting off contact with a toxic family member vs maintaining the relationship",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Cutting off contact",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "~20% report no positive outcomes from estrangement (proxy)",
        "population": "Adults estranged from a family member, UK/US/Canada/Australia"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Maintaining the relationship",
        "regret_rate": 0.67,
        "regret_display": "~67% of estranged adults report they wished they had acted sooner (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults who reconciled after estrangement, qualitative interviews"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.47,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/family-estrangement"
    },
    {
      "slug": "family-meals-vs-eating-rush",
      "question": "Eating together as a family vs eating in a rush separately",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Regular family meals",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "9% of parents don't find family meals stress-reducing (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Eating separately/in a rush",
        "regret_rate": 0.62,
        "regret_display": "62% of parents wish they had family dinners more often (aspiration-gap proxy)",
        "population": "US parents with children under 18"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.53,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/family-meals-vs-eating-rush"
    },
    {
      "slug": "family-mediation-vs-litigation",
      "question": "Using mediation to resolve a family or divorce dispute vs going to court",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Choosing mediation",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "Mediation rates better than litigation on satisfaction (Shaw 2010 meta-analysis, d=0.36); ~15% dissatisfied is a literature-tradition estimate, not a figure Shaw reports",
        "population": "Divorcing or separating parents who used family or court-connected mediation, primarily US and Canadian samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Pursuing litigation in court",
        "regret_rate": 0.47,
        "regret_display": "~47% of family litigants dissatisfied with court outcomes (proxy for regret)",
        "population": "Parents and spouses who resolved family disputes through adversarial court proceedings, primarily US samples"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.32,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/family-mediation-vs-litigation"
    },
    {
      "slug": "family-size",
      "question": "Wishing for fewer children vs wishing for more",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having more children (wishing you had fewer)",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "14% of parents wish they had fewer children",
        "population": "US adults with children, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not having more children (wishing you had more)",
        "regret_rate": 0.37,
        "regret_display": "37% of US adults wish they had more children",
        "population": "US adults (parents and non-parents), nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.23,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/family-size"
    },
    {
      "slug": "fixed-vs-variable-mortgage-rate",
      "question": "Choosing a fixed-rate mortgage vs. an adjustable-rate mortgage",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM)",
        "regret_rate": 0.43,
        "regret_display": "43% of ARM borrowers regret choosing an adjustable-rate mortgage",
        "population": "US homeowners with an adjustable-rate mortgage, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Fixed-rate mortgage",
        "regret_rate": 0.12,
        "regret_display": "~12% of fixed-rate mortgage holders regret mortgage-rate-related aspects of their home purchase",
        "population": "US homeowners, nationally representative online sample"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.31,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/fixed-vs-variable-mortgage-rate"
    },
    {
      "slug": "flee-conflict-zone-vs-stay",
      "question": "Fleeing a conflict zone vs staying in your home country during armed conflict",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Fleeing the conflict zone",
        "regret_rate": 0.13,
        "regret_display": "~13% of conflict refugees report regretting their decision to flee (proxy; low-forcedness subgroup)",
        "population": "Arabic-speaking conflict refugees resettled in Germany"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in the conflict zone",
        "regret_rate": 0.47,
        "regret_display": "~47% of civilians who experienced direct violence after staying in a conflict zone reported wishing they had left earlier (proxy from trauma and forced migration literature)",
        "population": "Conflict-affected civilians who stayed in zones of active armed conflict (multi-country estimates)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.34,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/flee-conflict-zone-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "follow-parental-advice-vs-own-path",
      "question": "Deferring to family expectations on a major life decision vs. pursuing your own aspirations despite family pressure",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursuing your own aspirations despite family pressure",
        "regret_rate": 0.24,
        "regret_display": "Proxy (not a direct measure of this choice): across the adult population, 24% name an OUGHT-self regret — failing a duty or obligation — as their single biggest life regret (Davidai & Gilovich 2018). This is a regret-type share for everyone, not the regret rate of people who pursued their own path over family.",
        "population": "US adults, six studies (hundreds of participants total)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Deferring to family expectations",
        "regret_rate": 0.76,
        "regret_display": "Proxy (not a direct measure of this choice): across the adult population, 76% name an IDEAL-self regret — not becoming who they hoped to be — as their single biggest life regret (Davidai & Gilovich 2018). This is a regret-type share for everyone, not the regret rate of people who deferred to family expectations.",
        "population": "US adults, six studies (hundreds of participants total)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.52,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/follow-parental-advice-vs-own-path"
    },
    {
      "slug": "forgiving-vs-holding-grudge",
      "question": "Forgiving someone who wronged you vs holding a grudge",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Forgiving",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "no direct measure of regret after forgiving exists — 0.10 is an order-of-magnitude placeholder, not a source-stated rate",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Holding a grudge",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "33% regret holding grudges",
        "population": "Adults globally, online panel (2,000 per country)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.23,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/forgiving-vs-holding-grudge"
    },
    {
      "slug": "free-range-vs-helicopter-parenting",
      "question": "Giving children significant independence to roam and explore vs closely supervising their activities and whereabouts",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Close supervision / helicopter parenting",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "45% of US parents self-identify as tending to be overprotective (self-identification proxy)",
        "population": "US parents with children under 18, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Free-range / independent parenting",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "20% of US parents say they tend to give their children too much freedom (self-identification proxy)",
        "population": "US parents with children under 18, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.25,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/free-range-vs-helicopter-parenting"
    },
    {
      "slug": "freelance-b2b-vs-employment",
      "question": "Working as a freelancer or B2B contractor vs traditional employment",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Freelancing/B2B contracting",
        "regret_rate": 0.37,
        "regret_display": "Proxy (not measured regret): 37% of freelancers do not say freelancing is more rewarding than employment — the complement of the 63% who do, a relative-reward judgment rather than regret about having chosen to freelance",
        "population": "US and UK freelancers, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Traditional employment",
        "regret_rate": 0.28,
        "regret_display": "Proxy (not measured regret): 28% of current employees in the US and UK plan to do freelance work within the next five years — an intent-to-switch-away measure (a closer proxy for regretting traditional employment than satisfaction), not a direct regret rate",
        "population": "US and UK current employees, online survey"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.09,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/freelance-b2b-vs-employment"
    },
    {
      "slug": "frequent-snacking-vs-meals-only",
      "question": "Snacking between meals (modern grazing pattern) vs eating only at 2-3 defined meals with no snacks",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Snacking between meals",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "~15% of US adults set a New Year's resolution that targets cutting snacks/sugary foods (snacking-specific share of Purdue's 25% any-food-resolution figure — prospective stated intent, not retrospective regret)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Eating only at 2-3 defined meals (no snacks)",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of US adults actively working to lose weight (weight-management-intent proxy — not direct regret about meal-only pattern)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.12,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/frequent-snacking-vs-meals-only"
    },
    {
      "slug": "gaming-as-hobby-vs-skip",
      "question": "Regular gaming as an adult hobby (~5+ hours/week) vs not playing video games",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Gaming as a regular adult hobby",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% of adult gamers (proxy: ICD-11/DSM-5 gaming-disorder prevalence + the small share whose self-reported life-satisfaction trajectory is harmed by play)",
        "population": "Adult gamers — proxy from N=38,935 industry-cooperation longitudinal sample and gaming-disorder prevalence meta-analyses"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not playing video games",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "~14% of non-gamers express interest in or aspiration toward gaming participation (proxy: gap between US gaming adoption (~65%) and the share of remaining non-gamers who report curiosity or social-inclusion motivation)",
        "population": "US non-gamers (~35% of US adults); proxy estimate from Pew + ESA adoption + reported barrier surveys"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.04,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/gaming-as-hobby-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "gap-year-vs-go-straight-to-university",
      "question": "Taking a gap year before university vs. enrolling straight from secondary school",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking a gap year",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% of gap-year takers feel they lost momentum or fell behind peers",
        "population": "Gap year alumni in structured programmes, US/UK"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Going straight to university",
        "regret_rate": 0.31,
        "regret_display": "31% of graduates wish they had taken a gap year before enrolling (47% among Gen Z)",
        "population": "US adults with a college degree (USA TODAY Blueprint, Oct 2024)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.21,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/gap-year-vs-go-straight-to-university"
    },
    {
      "slug": "gender-affirming-care",
      "question": "Pursue gender-affirming care vs. living without medical treatment",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursue gender-affirming care (hormones and/or surgery)",
        "regret_rate": 0.03,
        "regret_display": "~2–4% of gender-affirming surgery recipients report regret; regret rates for hormones alone are lower",
        "population": "Transgender and non-binary adults who received gender-affirming medical care (Bustos et al. 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis; WPATH SOC v8 review of evidence)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Live without gender-affirming medical treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "proxy estimate: people who want but cannot access gender-affirming care carry a markedly higher psychological burden — those who got desired pubertal suppression had far lower lifetime suicidal ideation (aOR 0.3), and 98% of care recipients report greater life satisfaction; no direct lack-of-access regret survey exists",
        "population": "Transgender and gender diverse adults without access to or who delayed gender-affirming care (2022 U.S. Transgender Survey; Turban et al. 2020, Pediatrics)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/gender-affirming-care"
    },
    {
      "slug": "get-dna-health-ancestry-test-vs-opt-out",
      "question": "Taking a consumer DNA test (ancestry and health risks) vs. preserving genetic ignorance",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking a consumer DNA test (23andMe, AncestryDNA, or similar)",
        "regret_rate": 0.11,
        "regret_display": "~11% of those who learned new information from a relative-finder DNA test reported decisional regret",
        "population": "DTC genetic relative-finder service participants who learned new information"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Opting out of consumer DNA testing, preserving genetic ignorance",
        "regret_rate": 0.52,
        "regret_display": "~52% of US adults are interested in being genetically tested (a proxy for inaction regret, not a direct regret survey)",
        "population": "US adults (nationally representative; 17% already tested, 52% interested in testing)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.41,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/get-dna-health-ancestry-test-vs-opt-out"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-a-bbl",
      "question": "Getting a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) vs not getting one",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting a BBL",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "~14% (inverse satisfaction proxy -- no direct regret survey exists)",
        "population": "BBL patients, retrospective cohort; regret inferred from dissatisfaction"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not getting a BBL",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "~8% (chronic body-dissatisfaction proxy -- no direct inaction-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "Adults considering but not pursuing gluteal augmentation; body dissatisfaction proxy"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-a-bbl"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-a-hair-transplant",
      "question": "Getting a hair transplant vs living with hair loss",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting a hair transplant",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% dissatisfied (range 2–15% by clinic quality)",
        "population": "Male androgenetic alopecia patients undergoing FUE transplantation, clinical studies"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Living with hair loss (no transplant)",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "~25% (proxy: men with AGA experiencing moderate-to-severe psychological distress from untreated hair loss)",
        "population": "Men with androgenetic alopecia, multinational survey"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-a-hair-transplant"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-a-pet",
      "question": "Keeping a pet vs rehoming it",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Keeping the pet",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "15% of UK pet owners have regretted owning a pet at some time (RSPCA 2024)",
        "population": "UK adults who own pets, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Rehoming the pet",
        "regret_rate": 0.86,
        "regret_display": "86% of people who surrendered a pet within the past 3 years wished they did not have to (HASS 2023/2024)",
        "population": "US adults who relinquished a pet within the past 3 years, community survey across 9 US communities"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.71,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-a-pet"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-a-piercing",
      "question": "Getting a body piercing vs not getting one",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting a piercing",
        "regret_rate": 0.32,
        "regret_display": "32% of Americans with piercings report some regret",
        "population": "US adults with a body piercing, online survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not getting a piercing",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "~8% (constructed proxy -- no direct inaction-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US adults without body piercings, estimated"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.24,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-a-piercing"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-a-tattoo",
      "question": "Getting a tattoo vs not getting one",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting a tattoo",
        "regret_rate": 0.24,
        "regret_display": "24% regret at least one tattoo",
        "population": "US adults with tattoos, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not getting a tattoo",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "15% of non-tattooed adults say they are likely to get one (proxy -- see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults without tattoos"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.09,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-a-tattoo"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-a-vasectomy",
      "question": "Getting a vasectomy vs not getting one",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting a vasectomy",
        "regret_rate": 0.06,
        "regret_display": "~6% of men who have had a vasectomy report regret or seek reversal",
        "population": "Men who have undergone vasectomy, multi-study review"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not getting a vasectomy",
        "regret_rate": 0.04,
        "regret_display": "~4% (constructed proxy -- no direct inaction-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "Men without vasectomy, estimated from contraceptive burden and unintended pregnancy literature"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-a-vasectomy"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-breast-augmentation",
      "question": "Getting breast augmentation vs not getting it",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting breast augmentation",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "~7% regret the procedure (range 5.1–9.1% across studies)",
        "population": "Cosmetic breast augmentation patients, systematic review"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not getting breast augmentation",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% (proxy estimate -- no direct inaction-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US adult women considering but not pursuing cosmetic procedures"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-breast-augmentation"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-lasik",
      "question": "Getting LASIK eye surgery vs staying with glasses or contacts",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting LASIK",
        "regret_rate": 0.04,
        "regret_display": "1–4% dissatisfied with vision or surgery (PROWL studies)",
        "population": "LASIK patients, FDA-collaborated prospective observational studies"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying with glasses or contacts",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey — proxy: 40% of corrective-lens wearers say they'd consider LASIK 'at some point' (forward-looking intent, not measured regret)",
        "population": "US adults who wear corrective lenses, Gallup survey"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.21,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-lasik"
    },
    {
      "slug": "getting-tubal-ligation",
      "question": "Getting a tubal ligation vs not getting one",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Getting a tubal ligation",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "7.0% cumulative probability of regret within 5 years (CREST cohort, all ages)",
        "population": "Women who underwent tubal ligation, US CREST cohort (n=3,672)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not getting a tubal ligation",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% (constructed proxy -- no direct inaction-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "Women who chose not to undergo tubal sterilization, estimated"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/getting-tubal-ligation"
    },
    {
      "slug": "gift-adult-child-down-payment-vs-not",
      "question": "Giving an adult child money for a home down payment vs. protecting your own retirement",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Giving the down payment gift",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "15% of parents who helped buy a home accepted a lower standard of living as a result (financial-harm proxy, not measured regret)",
        "population": "US parents who helped an adult child buy a home"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not giving the down payment gift",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "35% of buyers who got down payment help say they could not have bought their home without it (housing-access-barrier proxy, not measured regret)",
        "population": "US homeowners who received down payment help on their current home"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/gift-adult-child-down-payment-vs-not"
    },
    {
      "slug": "giving-child-smartphone-early-vs-waiting",
      "question": "Giving your child a personal smartphone before age 12 vs. waiting until adolescence",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Giving a smartphone early (under age 12)",
        "regret_rate": 0.39,
        "regret_display": "39% of parents who gave their child a smartphone wish they hadn't",
        "population": "US parents aged 18+ with at least one child under 18 who had already given their child a smartphone, nationally representative online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waiting until adolescence (age 12 or older) to give a smartphone",
        "regret_rate": 0.03,
        "regret_display": "~3% of parents who delayed giving a smartphone wish they had given it sooner (proxy upper bound)",
        "population": "US parents aged 18+ with a child under 18; rate is a conservative proxy upper bound anchored on the Harris Poll Feb 2025 '1% wish they'd given earlier' figure and corroborated by Pew 2020 attitude data — no dedicated regret survey of delaying parents exists"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.36,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/giving-child-smartphone-early-vs-waiting"
    },
    {
      "slug": "go-to-college-vs-skip",
      "question": "Going to college vs entering the workforce directly",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Going to college",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "33% of graduates regret going to college",
        "population": "US college graduates, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Skipping college for work or trades",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "~27% of non-college adults wish they had more education (proxy — SHED aspiration measure)",
        "population": "US adults without post-secondary education, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/go-to-college-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "going-vegetarian-vs-meat",
      "question": "Adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet vs continuing to eat meat",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Going vegetarian/vegan",
        "regret_rate": 0.84,
        "regret_display": "84% lapsed from vegetarianism (lapse proxy — abandonment rate, not direct regret)",
        "population": "US adults who have tried vegetarianism or veganism"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continuing to eat meat",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "22% feel guilty about eating meat all the time (guilt proxy — not direct regret)",
        "population": "UK non-vegan adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.62,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/going-vegetarian-vs-meat"
    },
    {
      "slug": "gym-vs-sedentary",
      "question": "Exercising regularly vs staying sedentary",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Exercising regularly",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% (anticipated-regret proxy, inverted)",
        "population": "Canadian university students, convenience sample"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying sedentary",
        "regret_rate": 0.67,
        "regret_display": "~67% of seniors regret not taking their health seriously when younger (general health-regret proxy, not exercise-isolated)",
        "population": "US adults aged 65+"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.62,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/gym-vs-sedentary"
    },
    {
      "slug": "harsh-discipline-vs-gentle-parenting",
      "question": "Disciplining with yelling and spanking vs gentle, low-intensity parenting",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Yelling and spanking as discipline",
        "regret_rate": 0.42,
        "regret_display": "42% of US parents of young children say they do not want to yell or raise their voice as quickly as they do",
        "population": "US parents of children aged 0-5, online survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Giving in / gentle low-intensity discipline",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "35% of US parents say they tend to give in too quickly when their kids ask for things",
        "population": "US parents of children under 18, nationally representative panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.07,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/harsh-discipline-vs-gentle-parenting"
    },
    {
      "slug": "have-another-child-vs-stop",
      "question": "Having another child vs stopping at your current family size",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having another child",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "~14% of parents say they wish they had had fewer children (cumulative family-size regret, not regret about one specific additional child)",
        "population": "US adults with children, nationally representative (SABES wave 2)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Stopping at current family size",
        "regret_rate": 0.37,
        "regret_display": "~37% of US adults wish they had more children than they currently have (an aspiration measure that bundles parents and never-parents, not a direct 'I regret stopping' instrument)",
        "population": "US adults (parents and never-parents combined), nationally representative (SABES wave 2)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.23,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/have-another-child-vs-stop"
    },
    {
      "slug": "have-kids-younger-vs-delay",
      "question": "Starting a family before 30 vs waiting until your 30s or 40s",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having children young (before 30)",
        "regret_rate": 0.24,
        "regret_display": "24% of parents wish they had waited longer before starting a family",
        "population": "US parents with children, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Delaying parenthood (30s or 40s)",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "40% of women in fertility treatment 'strongly agree' they regret delaying — a fertility-clinic ceiling, not the rate among all who delay",
        "population": "Married adults seeking fertility treatment at nine Japanese clinics"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.16,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/have-kids-younger-vs-delay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "having-children",
      "question": "Having children vs not having children",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having children",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "8% of parents",
        "population": "UK adults with children, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not having children",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "~7% of childless adults report life regret comparable to parents (proxy — see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults without children, age 70+"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.01,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/having-children"
    },
    {
      "slug": "hiring-cleaning-vs-self",
      "question": "Hiring a cleaning person vs cleaning yourself",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Hiring cleaning help",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists; time-saving spending raised happiness on average across income levels, so action-regret is treated as low (nominal well-being proxy, not a surveyed rate)",
        "population": "Working adults, US/Canada/Denmark/Netherlands"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Cleaning yourself",
        "regret_rate": 0.5,
        "regret_display": "~50% of affluent households spend nothing outsourcing disliked tasks despite being able to afford it (behavioral non-use proxy, not a regret survey)",
        "population": "Dutch millionaires and working adults, 4 countries"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.41,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/hiring-cleaning-vs-self"
    },
    {
      "slug": "india-arranged-vs-love-marriage",
      "question": "Accepting an arranged marriage vs. marrying a partner you chose yourself in India",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Accepting an arranged marriage",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists; ~20% is a marital-dissatisfaction proxy (low-satisfaction tail), and the on-point comparison finds arranged-marriage satisfaction comparable to choice marriage — not elevated regret",
        "population": "Married adults/men in India; satisfaction-survey samples (not a regret cohort)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Marrying a partner you chose yourself (love marriage)",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "~26% of self-chosen marriages in India face strong family or community opposition (social-cost proxy, not direct regret rate)",
        "population": "Married adults in self-chosen (love) marriages, India; urban and intercaste marriages over-represented in opposition data"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/india-arranged-vs-love-marriage"
    },
    {
      "slug": "india-emigrate-abroad-vs-stay",
      "question": "Emigrating abroad from India for studies or career vs. building your life in India",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Emigrating from India to study or work abroad",
        "regret_rate": 0.5,
        "regret_display": "~1 in 2 (50%) of Indian Americans report experiencing discrimination abroad in the past year (proxy — not a direct regret survey)",
        "population": "Indian American adults (nationally representative online panel)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in India and building career there",
        "regret_rate": 0.62,
        "regret_display": "62% of Indian Americans, advising a hypothetical professional, recommend pursuing US work over remaining in India (revealed-preference proxy — not a direct regret survey)",
        "population": "Indian American adults advising a hypothetical Indian professional weighing a US work visa vs. staying"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.12,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/india-emigrate-abroad-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "india-medicine-career-vs-own-path",
      "question": "Choosing medicine under parental pressure vs. following your own career path in India",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Choosing MBBS under parental pressure",
        "regret_rate": 0.39,
        "regret_display": "39% of first-year MBBS students regret choosing medicine",
        "population": "First-year MBBS students in Telangana, India"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Following your own career path",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "~22% (analyst estimate): no direct regret survey exists for non-medicine choosers; proxied from career-guidance-gap and engineering-employability data",
        "population": "Indian graduates who chose non-MBBS/non-engineering paths"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.17,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/india-medicine-career-vs-own-path"
    },
    {
      "slug": "initiate-reconciliation-vs-let-lapse",
      "question": "Reaching out to repair a broken relationship vs. letting it fade",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Reaching out to reconcile",
        "regret_rate": 0.12,
        "regret_display": "~12% report negative outcomes after initiating contact (inferred proxy — not a direct regret measure)",
        "population": "Adults who reached out to an estranged friend or acquaintance; US and Canadian participants"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Letting the relationship lapse",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "~40% of friendship lapses are attributed to passive inaction (someone simply stopping their outreach); no survey directly measures how many of those people regret it (proxy — not a direct regret measure)",
        "population": "US adults; nationally representative and online panels"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.28,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/initiate-reconciliation-vs-let-lapse"
    },
    {
      "slug": "intermittent-fasting-vs-regular-meals",
      "question": "Adopting intermittent fasting (16:8, 5:2, alternate-day) vs eating on a regular 3-meals schedule",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Adopting intermittent fasting",
        "regret_rate": 0.78,
        "regret_display": "78% no longer adhering at 12 months in whole-day fasting trials (lapse proxy — long-term abandonment, not direct regret)",
        "population": "Adults enrolled in whole-day fasting trials with follow-up beyond 52 weeks"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Eating on a regular 3-meals-per-day schedule",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of US adults actively working to lose weight (weight-management-intent proxy — not direct regret about meal pattern)",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.51,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/intermittent-fasting-vs-regular-meals"
    },
    {
      "slug": "invest-early-vs-wait",
      "question": "Investing in the stock market early vs keeping money in savings accounts or term deposits",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Investing early in stocks/markets",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "~15% of investors regret an active market move (selling out)",
        "population": "US investors, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping money in savings/term deposits",
        "regret_rate": 0.48,
        "regret_display": "48% say they should have started saving/investing for retirement earlier",
        "population": "US adults, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.33,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/invest-early-vs-wait"
    },
    {
      "slug": "invest-vs-save",
      "question": "Investing in the stock market vs keeping money in savings",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Investing in the stock market",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "~15% cite investment-related financial regrets",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping money in savings",
        "regret_rate": 0.48,
        "regret_display": "~48% regret not saving/investing for retirement sooner",
        "population": "US adults, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.33,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/invest-vs-save"
    },
    {
      "slug": "ivf-vs-adopt",
      "question": "Pursue IVF to have a biological child vs. adopting",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursue IVF",
        "regret_rate": 0.19,
        "regret_display": "~1 in 5 women (≈19%) who pursued infertility treatment report moderate-to-severe decision regret — concentrated in those whose treatment did not result in a child",
        "population": "US couples experiencing infertility (Cusatis et al. 2023 longitudinal cohort, n=72 women / 48 partners; ICMART global ART success-rate context)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Adopt a child",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% of adoptive parents report significant regret (87% would 'definitely' adopt again in the national survey); placement disruption/dissolution is higher only for older-child, special-needs adoptions",
        "population": "US adoptive parents, nationally representative (2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents, ASPE/HHS); placement-stability data from Child Welfare Information Gateway"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/ivf-vs-adopt"
    },
    {
      "slug": "japan-lifetime-employment-vs-job-change",
      "question": "Committing to lifetime employment at one Japanese company vs. changing jobs mid-career",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Staying with one company for life",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "25% of Japanese workers who considered changing jobs but stayed regret not having changed",
        "population": "Japanese working adults (20-60) who considered a job change but did not change jobs"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Changing jobs mid-career",
        "regret_rate": 0.597,
        "regret_display": "59.7% of recent Japanese job-changers say they regretted or felt they failed after changing jobs",
        "population": "Japanese employees aged 22-59 who changed jobs within the past 3 years"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.347,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/japan-lifetime-employment-vs-job-change"
    },
    {
      "slug": "japan-overwork-stay-vs-leave",
      "question": "Staying in a high-overtime Japanese workplace vs. leaving for better work-life balance",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Staying in a high-overtime job",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of Japanese employees report burnout symptoms (proxy: no direct stay-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "Japanese workers in high-overtime environments"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Leaving for better work-life balance",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "26% of Japanese job-changers say their move was a failure (regret changing jobs)",
        "population": "Japanese workers (20s-40s) within 2 years of changing jobs"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.01,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/japan-overwork-stay-vs-leave"
    },
    {
      "slug": "japan-women-quit-career-at-childbirth-vs-stay",
      "question": "Japanese women leaving full employment at marriage or childbirth vs. continuing to work",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Leaving employment at childbirth",
        "regret_rate": 0.469,
        "regret_display": "47% of Japanese women who were working before childbirth left employment after their first child (departure prevalence, not a self-reported regret rate)",
        "population": "Japanese women who worked before childbirth (15th National Fertility Survey, 2010–2014 cohort)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continuing to work through childbirth",
        "regret_rate": 0.248,
        "regret_display": "25% of pregnant Japanese employees experienced maternity harassment (matahara) at work — a documented harm proxy, not a self-reported regret rate",
        "population": "Pregnant Japanese employees (women working when their pregnancy was confirmed)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.221,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/japan-women-quit-career-at-childbirth-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "korea-civil-service-vs-private-sector",
      "question": "Entering South Korean civil service vs. pursuing a private sector career",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Entering civil service",
        "regret_rate": 0.59,
        "regret_display": "Early-exit proxy: ~59% of voluntary resignations from South Korean central government are by employees with fewer than 5 years of service (early-attrition share, not a self-reported regret rate)",
        "population": "South Korean central government civil servants"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Choosing the private sector",
        "regret_rate": 0.37,
        "regret_display": "Structural-insecurity proxy: ~37% of South Korean wage and salary workers hold non-regular (bijeonggyujik) contracts (job-insecurity exposure, not a direct regret survey)",
        "population": "South Korean wage and salary workers"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.22,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/korea-civil-service-vs-private-sector"
    },
    {
      "slug": "korea-cosmetic-surgery-social-pressure",
      "question": "Having cosmetic surgery to meet South Korean appearance standards vs. declining",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having cosmetic surgery to conform to Korean appearance norms",
        "regret_rate": 0.32,
        "regret_display": "32.3% of South Korean cosmetic surgery patients said their results were unsatisfactory (outcome dissatisfaction, used as a proxy for action-side regret)",
        "population": "South Korean cosmetic surgery patients"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Declining cosmetic surgery and resisting appearance pressure",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "~8% of South Korean young adults report experiencing appearance-based discrimination (proxy for the social cost of non-conformity)",
        "population": "South Korean emerging adults (ages 18–25)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.24,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/korea-cosmetic-surgery-social-pressure"
    },
    {
      "slug": "korea-mandatory-military-service-vs-alternative",
      "question": "Serving standard South Korean mandatory military service vs. applying for alternative civilian service",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Serving standard mandatory military service (18-21 months)",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% of surveyed Korean adults say military service has more disadvantages than advantages (proxy: net-disadvantage appraisal, not a direct regret question)",
        "population": "South Korean adults aged 18+ (men and women), nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Applying for alternative civilian service (36 months)",
        "regret_rate": 0.29,
        "regret_display": "No direct survey exists; editorial proxy (~29%) for the documented burden of the alternative path — a 36-month term (twice active-duty service), confinement to correctional-facility barracks, and residual conscientious-objector stigma",
        "population": "South Korean men in the alternative civilian service system (legal since 2020; early cohort overwhelmingly Jehovah's Witnesses)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/korea-mandatory-military-service-vs-alternative"
    },
    {
      "slug": "late-career-retraining-vs-stay-put",
      "question": "Going back to school or retraining mid-career (age 40+) vs continuing in current career",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Midlife retraining or career change at 40+",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey; proxy only — this is a post-transition dissatisfaction rate, NOT regret about the decision: in the AIER survey, among older workers who were able to make a career change, 90% reported the move was successful, so ~10% did not. It is survivor-biased (workers who attempted to retrain and never landed a new role are not counted) and the survey never asked a 'would you do it again' item",
        "population": "US workers age 47+ who changed careers, AIER survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in current career, not retraining",
        "regret_rate": 0.24,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey; proxy only — this is a forward-looking job-change intention rate, NOT regret about having stayed put: ~24% of US workers age 50+ said they plan to make a job change in 2025 (up from 14% in 2024). The top stated reason was 'making more money', so much of it is opportunity/aspiration rather than retrospective regret about not retraining, and it misses dissatisfied stayers who cannot act",
        "population": "US workers age 50+ still employed, AARP 2024 wave"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/late-career-retraining-vs-stay-put"
    },
    {
      "slug": "leave-abusive-partner-vs-stay",
      "question": "Leaving an abusive relationship vs. staying",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Leaving the abusive relationship",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "~18% short-term ambivalence among permanent leavers (proxy — analyst estimate from post-separation clinical literature; no direct leaving-regret survey exists)",
        "population": "IPV survivors who permanently left abusive relationships"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in the abusive relationship",
        "regret_rate": 0.55,
        "regret_display": "~55% harm-burden proxy for staying (proxy — synthesized from IPV injury and depression/PTSD prevalence, NOT a measured 'wish I had left sooner' survey)",
        "population": "Adults with history of intimate partner violence, retrospective"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/leave-abusive-partner-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "leave-high-control-group-vs-stay",
      "question": "Leaving a high-control religious or ideological group vs. staying",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Leaving a high-control religious or ideological group",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "Leavers commonly report grief, guilt, loss and a years-long identity rebuild after exit (qualitative theme; no measured rate exists) -- shown here as a rough ~20% directional proxy for severe post-exit distress",
        "population": "Former members of high-control religious or ideological groups"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in the high-control group",
        "regret_rate": 0.65,
        "regret_display": "65% of people who left a high-demand childhood faith say they stopped believing its teachings -- doubt about the group's claims is the dominant exit reason (proxy for in-group doubt)",
        "population": "US adults who were raised in a religion and became unaffiliated (Pew Faith in Flux, 2009) -- used as a proxy for doubt within high-control groups"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.45,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/leave-high-control-group-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "leave-hometown-vs-stay",
      "question": "Leaving your hometown vs staying close to where you grew up",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Leaving your hometown",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "20% of Americans who moved regret it (1 in 5 movers within 3 years)",
        "population": "US homeowners who moved within the prior 3 years"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying close to where you grew up",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% of hometown stayers report dissatisfaction with their communities (proxy — see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults who never left their hometown community"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.1,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/leave-hometown-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "leaving-religion-vs-staying",
      "question": "Leaving your religion vs staying in the faith",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Leaving your religion",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "9% of religiously unaffiliated US adults say they are looking for a religion (proxy — see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults who are religiously unaffiliated after leaving a childhood religion"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in the faith",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "26% of self-identified Christians report ongoing unresolved spiritual doubt (proxy — see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults who self-identify as Christian"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.17,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/leaving-religion-vs-staying"
    },
    {
      "slug": "legal-guardianship-vs-supported-decisions",
      "question": "Seeking full legal guardianship over an incapacitated adult family member vs using supported decision-making or power of attorney",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Full legal guardianship / conservatorship",
        "regret_rate": 0.24,
        "regret_display": "24% of US family caregivers report regrets — the same baseline applies to guardianship families; no guardianship-specific regret survey exists (proxy)",
        "population": "US family caregivers (all types), nationally representative; used as the best available proxy for families who pursued full legal guardianship"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Supported decision-making, power of attorney, or limited guardianship",
        "regret_rate": 0.24,
        "regret_display": "24% of US family caregivers report regrets — used as a proxy for families who chose less-restrictive arrangements (AARP 2017 caregiver regret baseline)",
        "population": "US family caregivers, nationally representative; used as proxy for families who relied on supported decision-making or POA rather than full guardianship"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/legal-guardianship-vs-supported-decisions"
    },
    {
      "slug": "lend-money-vs-refuse",
      "question": "Lending money to family vs refusing to lend",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Lending money to family or friends",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "24-46% of lenders regret it",
        "population": "US adults who lent money to family or friends"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Refusing to lend money to family or friends",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "26% say refusing ended a relationship (proxy -- see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults who refused to lend money to family or friends"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.09,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/lend-money-vs-refuse"
    },
    {
      "slug": "let-ai-do-schoolwork-vs-write-yourself",
      "question": "Letting AI write your school assignment or job application vs writing it yourself",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Using AI to write the assignment",
        "regret_rate": 0.11,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists: no study asks students whether they regret using AI on an assignment. The 11% measures a concrete adverse outcome instead — ChatGPT-using job seekers denied a job once the interviewer discovered AI wrote the application (ResumeBuilder 2023). The often-cited 60% of student AI users agreeing AI harms critical thinking (RAND Dec 2025) is a belief about a general harm, not regret about a specific decision, so it is deliberately NOT used as the rate",
        "population": "US students ages 12–29 who use AI for schoolwork; separately, US adult job seekers who used ChatGPT for resumes/cover letters"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Writing it yourself",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "No source measures inaction regret: no survey asks students who wrote assignments themselves whether they regret it, and the cited studies give no percentage for it. The largest undergraduate study (SERU) only warns qualitatively that AI non-users 'may fall behind,' and RAND finds 78% of non-users believe AI is harmful — so most non-use is principled, not regretted. The ~10% shown is a disclosed conservative floor for the access-constrained minority SERU flags, derived from no source statistic; read it as 'no reliable estimate,' not an observed rate",
        "population": "US students ages 12–29 who do not use AI for schoolwork"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.01,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/let-ai-do-schoolwork-vs-write-yourself"
    },
    {
      "slug": "letting-child-quit-activity-vs-finishing",
      "question": "When a child wants to stop music lessons, a sport, or another activity mid-commitment, do parents regret making them finish — or regret letting them quit?",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Making the child finish the commitment",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "~21% of former youth athletes reported being pressured to play when they didn't want to (forced-continuation proxy)",
        "population": "Former youth athletes ages 10-17, US nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Letting the child quit when they want to stop",
        "regret_rate": 0.48,
        "regret_display": "48% of adults who quit piano as children regret it (music-regret proxy)",
        "population": "US adults who played piano and subsequently quit, subset of nationally representative sample"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.27,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/letting-child-quit-activity-vs-finishing"
    },
    {
      "slug": "litigate-vs-settle",
      "question": "Taking a civil dispute to court vs settling or walking away",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking the dispute to court",
        "regret_rate": 0.61,
        "regret_display": "61% of plaintiffs who reject settlement get a worse outcome at trial",
        "population": "Plaintiffs in California civil litigation who rejected settlement and proceeded to trial or arbitration"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Settling or not pursuing a legal claim",
        "regret_rate": 0.92,
        "regret_display": "92% of low-income Americans' substantial civil legal problems got no or inadequate legal help (access-gap proxy, not a direct regret survey)",
        "population": "Low-income US adults with at least one substantial civil legal problem in the prior year"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.31,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/litigate-vs-settle"
    },
    {
      "slug": "long-term-care-insurance-vs-self-insure",
      "question": "Buying long-term care insurance in your 50s vs. self-insuring and relying on assets or Medicaid",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Purchasing long-term care insurance",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "More than 1 in 4 buyers who purchase at age 65 let the policy lapse before death, forfeiting all premiums paid for no benefit",
        "population": "US adults who buy long-term care insurance at age 65"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Self-insuring or relying on Medicaid without LTC coverage",
        "regret_rate": 0.62,
        "regret_display": "62% of self-paying nursing home residents who stay 4+ years spend down all their assets onto Medicaid",
        "population": "US nursing home residents who entered without Medicaid and remained 4 years"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/long-term-care-insurance-vs-self-insure"
    },
    {
      "slug": "low-sodium-diet-vs-regular-salt",
      "question": "Deliberately reducing dietary sodium toward the AHA 1,500-2,300 mg target vs continuing typical US salt intake",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Adopting a low-sodium diet",
        "regret_rate": 0.7,
        "regret_display": "~70% long-term low-sodium-diet adherence failure (lapse proxy — abandonment among heart-failure patients, not direct regret)",
        "population": "US adults with heart failure on prescribed sodium-restricted diet"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continuing typical US salt intake",
        "regret_rate": 0.48,
        "regret_display": "47.7% of US adults have hypertension (downstream-risk proxy — clinical state, not direct regret about salt habits)",
        "population": "US adults aged 18+, NHANES nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.22,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/low-sodium-diet-vs-regular-salt"
    },
    {
      "slug": "maid-vs-natural-death",
      "question": "Medical aid in dying vs. comfort care for a terminal illness",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Medical aid in dying (MAID)",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% of bereaved relatives show complicated grief after an assisted death (and less traumatic grief than after a natural death)",
        "population": "Bereaved family and friends of euthanasia/assisted-dying patients (Swarte: Netherlands, gynaecological-cancer deaths; Wagner: Switzerland, relatives present at assisted suicide)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Comfort care / hospice (natural death)",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "~25% of bereaved families report unmet needs or regret about end-of-life care quality",
        "population": "Bereaved families of terminally ill patients who died without MAID in US and European hospice/hospital settings"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/maid-vs-natural-death"
    },
    {
      "slug": "maintain-friendship-vs-let-drift",
      "question": "Maintaining friendships vs letting them drift",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Actively maintaining friendships",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "No direct survey measures regret of maintaining a friendship; the ~8% shown is an inferred low-regret proxy from friend-satisfaction data (Survey Center on American Life 2021), not a measured regret rate",
        "population": "US adults who report actively maintaining close friendships"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Letting friendships drift",
        "regret_rate": 0.47,
        "regret_display": "47% of Americans report having lost touch with at least a few friends in the past year — a behavioral 'lost touch' prevalence (Survey Center on American Life 2021), not a measured regret rate; the same survey asked no regret question",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.39,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/maintain-friendship-vs-let-drift"
    },
    {
      "slug": "marry-first-relationship-vs-date-more",
      "question": "Marrying your first serious partner vs. dating more people before committing",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Committing to and marrying your first serious partner",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "30% of married adults wish they had married someone more compatible",
        "population": "Married US adults"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Dating widely before committing",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "~16% of those who dated extensively regret delayed commitment or missed early family years",
        "population": "Never-married US adults who would eventually like to marry (Pew 2014 proxy)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/marry-first-relationship-vs-date-more"
    },
    {
      "slug": "marry-young-vs-wait",
      "question": "Marrying young (before 25) vs. waiting until your late 20s or 30s",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Marrying before age 25",
        "regret_rate": 0.23,
        "regret_display": "23% of married Americans regret marrying too young",
        "population": "Married US adults"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waiting until late 20s or 30s",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists; ~15% is a proxy from marriage-barrier data, not a measured regret rate",
        "population": "Adults who married later or remained unmarried, US nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.08,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/marry-young-vs-wait"
    },
    {
      "slug": "masters-vs-stop-at-bachelors",
      "question": "Pursuing a master's degree vs stopping at a bachelor's degree",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursuing a master's degree",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "~40% of master's degree programs leave graduates with negative lifetime financial returns",
        "population": "US master's degree programs (financial-ROI proxy, not direct regret survey)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Stopping at a bachelor's degree",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "~25% of bachelor's-only holders express dissatisfaction with their education-relevance and earnings position vs postgraduate peers",
        "population": "US adults whose highest credential is a bachelor's degree"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/masters-vs-stop-at-bachelors"
    },
    {
      "slug": "maximize-vs-satisfice",
      "question": "Always seeking the best possible option in major life choices vs accepting 'good enough'",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Maximizing — searching exhaustively for the best option",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "No prevalence exists; proxy = the r = 0.45 maximizing–regret correlation (Schwartz 2002; Peng et al. 2018, N=395 valid), not a share who regret",
        "population": "Adults across seven samples (US college students, US adults, internet panels)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Satisficing — picking the first acceptable option",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "~15% inferred regret rate for satisficers (inferred from the inverse maximizing-wellbeing literature — proxy, see caveats)",
        "population": "Adults; conceptual inference from cross-sectional maximizing-wellbeing surveys"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/maximize-vs-satisfice"
    },
    {
      "slug": "move-abroad-vs-stay",
      "question": "Moving to another country vs staying in your home country",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Moving abroad",
        "regret_rate": 0.06,
        "regret_display": "6% of British expats say they regret their decision to move abroad",
        "population": "British citizens living abroad"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in your home country",
        "regret_rate": 0.34,
        "regret_display": "34% of UK adults who never lived abroad believe their career would have been better if they had (proxy -- see caveats)",
        "population": "UK adults who had not lived or studied abroad for 6+ months"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.28,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/move-abroad-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "negotiate-car-price-vs-accept",
      "question": "Negotiating a car price vs accepting the dealer's first offer",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Negotiating the price",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "~14% of car buyers who negotiate report dissatisfaction with the process or outcome (proxy from friction and buyer-remorse literature)",
        "population": "US and UK car buyers who attempted price negotiation"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting the dealer's first offer",
        "regret_rate": 0.23,
        "regret_display": "23% of car buyers say overpaying is their single worst car-buying mistake",
        "population": "US adults who purchased a car"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.09,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/negotiate-car-price-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "negotiate-medical-bill-vs-pay-full",
      "question": "Negotiating a medical bill vs paying the stated amount in full",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Negotiating the medical bill",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% of patients who negotiate medical bills regret doing so (proxy; 93% achieve at least partial success)",
        "population": "US adults who attempted to negotiate a medical bill"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Paying the stated amount in full",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "~38% of patients who paid without negotiating likely regret it, based on the false-belief gap (proxy; 86% of non-negotiators believed negotiating wouldn't help — when in fact 62–93% who try succeed)",
        "population": "US adults who received a medical bill and did not attempt to negotiate"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.33,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/negotiate-medical-bill-vs-pay-full"
    },
    {
      "slug": "negotiate-rent-vs-accept",
      "question": "Negotiating your rent vs accepting the asking price",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Negotiating rent",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "~18% of renters who attempted to negotiate report dissatisfaction with the outcome (proxy from attempt and success-rate data)",
        "population": "US renters who attempted rent negotiation at lease signing or renewal"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting the asking price",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "~35% of renters who never negotiated believe they are overpaying and wish they had asked (proxy from awareness-gap data)",
        "population": "US renters who have never negotiated their lease terms"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.17,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/negotiate-rent-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "negotiate-salary-vs-accept",
      "question": "Negotiating your salary vs accepting the initial offer",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Negotiating salary",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey; 22% of negotiators got no better offer (proxy upper bound — 78% ended up with a better one)",
        "population": "US workers who negotiated, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting without negotiating",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% didn't negotiate and now wish they had",
        "population": "US workers, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.05,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/negotiate-salary-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "new-car-vs-used",
      "question": "Buying a new car vs buying a used one",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Buying new",
        "regret_rate": 0.39,
        "regret_display": "39% of all car buyers (new and used combined) report purchase regrets — no survey isolates new-only",
        "population": "US car owners, online panel (new and used combined)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Buying used",
        "regret_rate": 0.39,
        "regret_display": "39% of all car buyers (new and used combined) report purchase regrets — no survey isolates used-only",
        "population": "US car owners, online panel (new and used combined)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/new-car-vs-used"
    },
    {
      "slug": "non-alcoholic-substitute-vs-keep-drinking",
      "question": "Swapping alcoholic drinks for non-alcoholic alternatives (0.0% beer, NA wine, mocktails) at the same social occasions vs continuing to drink alcohol",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Substituting non-alcoholic alternatives",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "~1 in 3 NA-beverage adopters did NOT report cutting back (swap-ineffective proxy — survey non-reduction share, not direct regret)",
        "population": "Japanese adults who drink heavily (>=40 g/day men, >=20 g/day women) but without alcohol dependence"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continuing to drink alcohol",
        "regret_rate": 0.7,
        "regret_display": "70% of drinkers regretted getting drunk in the past year",
        "population": "Global, 31 countries, self-selected online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.37,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/non-alcoholic-substitute-vs-keep-drinking"
    },
    {
      "slug": "nursing-home-vs-home-care",
      "question": "Placing an aging parent in a care facility vs providing care at home yourself",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Care facility placement",
        "regret_rate": 0.54,
        "regret_display": "54% of families report feeling at least somewhat guilty after nursing home placement (guilt proxy — guilt is not the same as judging the placement wrong)",
        "population": "US adults with a family member in a nursing home"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Home-based family caregiving",
        "regret_rate": 0.23,
        "regret_display": "23% of home caregivers report their health has worsened due to caregiving (burden proxy — measures caregiver harm, not direct regret about choosing home care)",
        "population": "US family caregivers, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.31,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/nursing-home-vs-home-care"
    },
    {
      "slug": "open-relationship-vs-monogamy",
      "question": "Opening a relationship to consensual non-monogamy vs staying strictly monogamous",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Opening to consensual non-monogamy",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "Proxy, not a regret rate. What Conley et al. (2018) actually measure is satisfaction parity: people in open relationships report sexual and relationship satisfaction equivalent to monogamous individuals. No survey measures regret of opening a relationship. The ~15% shown is NOT a measured or estimated regret rate; it is a display placeholder pinned to the satisfaction-parity bound so the two sides can be shown side by side. Read the bar as 'opened adults report satisfaction on par with monogamous adults' — not as '15% regret opening.'",
        "population": "US adults who have engaged in CNM, online and convenience samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying strictly monogamous",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "Prevalence proxy, not a regret rate. What Haupert et al. (2017) actually measure is lifetime CNM prevalence: 21.9% (Study 1) / 21.2% (Study 2) of single US adults report having ever engaged in consensual non-monogamy at some point in their lifetime. This is a behavioral prevalence / revealed-preference figure, NOT a measured regret-of-monogamy rate — no survey asks monogamous adults whether they regret never trying. The % who have tried CNM is shown here only as a directional floor on the regret-curious population; it is not the share who regret staying monogamous, and the two populations do not overlap (those who tried CNM are not the monogamous-and-regretful group).",
        "population": "US single adults, two nationally representative samples"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/open-relationship-vs-monogamy"
    },
    {
      "slug": "opioid-mat-vs-abstinence-only",
      "question": "Using medication-assisted treatment (buprenorphine/methadone) for opioid addiction vs abstinence-only recovery",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Medication-assisted treatment (MAT)",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "18% of MAT patients were dissatisfied with the medication itself (medication-dissatisfaction proxy, not a measure of regretting the MAT-vs-abstinence choice)",
        "population": "Adults with opioid use disorder using buprenorphine/naloxone or methadone, self-reported reviews on health-related social media"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Abstinence-only recovery (no medication)",
        "regret_rate": 0.7,
        "regret_display": "~70% of people completing opioid detoxification without ongoing medication relapse within 12–36 months (clinical relapse rate, not a measure of regretting the abstinence-only choice)",
        "population": "Adults with opioid use disorder completing inpatient or residential detoxification without ongoing pharmacotherapy"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.52,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/opioid-mat-vs-abstinence-only"
    },
    {
      "slug": "overstay-visa-vs-leave",
      "question": "Staying in a country after your visa expires vs leaving on time",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Staying after the visa expires (overstaying)",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "~44% ceiling, not a validated regret rate (NOT overstay-specific either): 56% of likely undocumented immigrants say they would still choose to move to the US if they could go back in time (down from 72% in 2023). The remaining 44% blends genuine dissent with 'not sure' answers — in this survey's full-sample breakdown, 'not sure' (21%) outnumbers actual 'would not' (9%) among the 30-point non-yes share — but no undocumented-specific would-not/not-sure split is published, so 44% is an upper bound, not a point estimate, on regret under heightened 2025 enforcement",
        "population": "Likely undocumented immigrants in the United States (includes visa overstays)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Leaving on time (complying with visa terms)",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "~9% would-not proxy (NOT leave-specific regret; no direct survey exists): among ALL immigrants surveyed (not limited to those who left), 70% say they would still choose to move to the US if they could go back in time, 9% say they would not, and 21% are not sure — the 9% figure (the survey's own directly reported would-not rate, not a complement of the 70%) is used as the best available proxy for people who left on visa expiry, since no survey measures that population directly",
        "population": "Proxy population: all immigrants surveyed by KFF/NYT, documented and undocumented combined — not people who actually left the US on visa expiry, a population no available survey measures directly"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.35,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/overstay-visa-vs-leave"
    },
    {
      "slug": "overthinking-vs-deciding",
      "question": "Deliberating extensively before a decision vs deciding quickly and moving on",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Deciding quickly (satisficing)",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "satisficers score lower on trait regret than maximizers (r = .47 with maximizing, Schwartz 2002); ~20% is a derived midpoint estimate, not a measured share who regret a decision",
        "population": "US college students and adults, seven convenience samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Overthinking (maximizing)",
        "regret_rate": 0.52,
        "regret_display": "maximizing correlates r = .47 with trait regret (Schwartz 2002); ~52% is a derived midpoint estimate, not a measured share who regret a decision",
        "population": "US college students and adults, seven convenience samples"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.32,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/overthinking-vs-deciding"
    },
    {
      "slug": "payday-loan-vs-go-without",
      "question": "Taking a payday loan vs going without the money",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking the payday loan",
        "regret_rate": 0.37,
        "regret_display": "37% of borrowers say they were so financially desperate they would take a payday loan on any terms offered",
        "population": "US payday loan borrowers, nationally representative survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Going without the loan",
        "regret_rate": 0.81,
        "regret_display": "81% of storefront payday borrowers say they would cut back on expenses such as food and clothing if payday loans were unavailable",
        "population": "US storefront payday loan borrowers reporting how they would cope if the loan were unavailable (nationally representative survey)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.44,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/payday-loan-vs-go-without"
    },
    {
      "slug": "pension-lump-sum-vs-annuity",
      "question": "Take a pension payout as a lump sum vs. as a monthly annuity",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Take the lump sum",
        "regret_rate": 0.31,
        "regret_display": "31% of lump-sum recipients who made major purchases regret the decision",
        "population": "US retirees who elected a lump-sum pension payout (MetLife Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study, Harris Poll, 2017)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Take the monthly annuity",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "Annuity regret is low and rarely surveyed directly; in a US study only ~9% of older adults regretted relying on others, and far more regret NOT having lifetime income than regret having it (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults age 50+ (Health and Retirement Study experiment, Hurwitz & Mitchell 2025); no direct survey of annuity-holder regret exists"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.22,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/pension-lump-sum-vs-annuity"
    },
    {
      "slug": "persist-through-difficulty-vs-quit-early",
      "question": "Persisting through a major difficulty (business, creative project, training) vs. quitting when it gets hard",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Persisting through major difficulty in a long-term pursuit",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "Regrets of action (things done, e.g. persisting) are about a third of long-run regret -- roughly half as common as regrets of inaction (Pink, ~2:1). No direct survey of persisters' regret exists.",
        "population": "Proxy: the action share of the action/inaction regret split (World Regret Survey, ~26,000 regrets); no direct survey of persisters' regret exists"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Quitting when a pursuit becomes difficult",
        "regret_rate": 0.67,
        "regret_display": "Regrets of inaction (roads not taken, e.g. quitting) are about two thirds of long-run regret -- roughly twice as common as regrets of action (Pink, ~2:1), and the gap widens with age.",
        "population": "Proxy: the inaction share of the action/inaction regret split (World Regret Survey, ~26,000 regrets); no prompted 'gave up too soon' survey item exists"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.34,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/persist-through-difficulty-vs-quit-early"
    },
    {
      "slug": "phd-vs-enter-industry-early",
      "question": "Pursuing a PhD vs. entering the workforce after a bachelor's degree",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursuing a PhD",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "25% of PhD students are not satisfied with their decision to do a PhD (75% are satisfied; Nature 2019 survey)",
        "population": "PhD students worldwide (Nature 2019 survey)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Entering industry after a bachelor's",
        "regret_rate": 0.32,
        "regret_display": "32% of US adults with at least a bachelor's say they would have completed more education in hindsight (Federal Reserve SHED)",
        "population": "US adults who completed at least a bachelor's degree"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.07,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/phd-vs-enter-industry-early"
    },
    {
      "slug": "philippines-ofw-work-abroad-vs-stay",
      "question": "Working abroad as an OFW vs. staying in the Philippines",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking an OFW overseas contract",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "A small Dubai sample (N=50) of OFW parents scored a mean of 16.3 on the DASS-21 depression scale (moderate band) and 18.1 on anxiety (severe band); the study reports group means and a qualitative regret theme, not a direct regret prevalence — the 38% here is a distress proxy, not a measured regret rate",
        "population": "Filipino OFW parents in Dubai"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in the Philippines",
        "regret_rate": 0.28,
        "regret_display": "~28% of non-migrants in OFW-sending communities express regret over foregone income",
        "population": "Filipino non-migrants in OFW-sending communities"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.1,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/philippines-ofw-work-abroad-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "post-sensitive-story-publicly-vs-keep-private",
      "question": "Sharing a sensitive personal story publicly (on social media, in a memoir, or to media) vs. keeping it private",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Sharing a sensitive personal story publicly (on social media, in writing, or to media)",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% of US adults regret something they shared on social media",
        "population": "US adults surveyed about their social media sharing habits"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping the sensitive story private, not sharing publicly",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "Connection regrets -- staying silent, not sharing -- are the largest regret category in Pink's World Regret Survey (26,000+ people); no survey measures how many keep a story private and regret it, so ~18% is a conservative proxy",
        "population": "Adults who experienced significant hardship or personal narrative but chose not to share it publicly (no direct-regret survey exists; rate is a modeled proxy from connection-regret data)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.26,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/post-sensitive-story-publicly-vs-keep-private"
    },
    {
      "slug": "postpone-trip-due-illness-vs-travel",
      "question": "Postpone or cancel a planned trip because of acute illness, recent surgery, or elevated health risk (pregnancy, immunocompromise, destination outbreak) vs. travel as planned",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Postpone or cancel the planned trip because of acute illness, recent surgery, pregnancy with complications, immunocompromise, or an active outbreak at the destination",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "~22% of travelers who cancelled a trip for illness or medical reasons report regret, driven mainly by non-refundable financial loss and the realization that the underlying condition turned out milder than feared; regret is much lower (~10-15%) when the cancellation prevented a hospitalization or in-flight medical event that the trip would otherwise have produced",
        "population": "US/UK/EU travelers who cancelled or postponed a planned trip within 14 days of departure because of new acute illness (URI, gastroenteritis, post-surgical complication, acute psychiatric crisis) or an aerospace-medicine contraindication (recent thoracic/abdominal/intraocular surgery, untreated pneumothorax, obstetric complication, severe immunocompromise during a destination outbreak)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Travel as planned despite acute illness, recent surgery, pregnancy complication, immunocompromise during a destination outbreak, or other aerospace-medicine warning",
        "regret_rate": 0.52,
        "regret_display": "~52% of travelers who flew while acutely ill report regret, driven by symptomatic worsening, ear and sinus barotrauma during descent, transmission to family or seatmates, and the small but vivid tail of in-flight medical diversions and post-trip hospitalization",
        "population": "US/UK/EU adult travelers who boarded a commercial flight while symptomatic with an acute URI, recent gastroenteritis, recent surgery within the CDC Yellow Book deferral window, pregnancy with a flagged obstetric complication, or active immunocompromise during a destination outbreak — extrapolated from aerospace-medicine outcome literature (barotrauma incidence, in-flight medical event rates, post-operative complication clusters) because no direct regret survey exists for the decision"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/postpone-trip-due-illness-vs-travel"
    },
    {
      "slug": "practical-major-vs-passion",
      "question": "Choosing a practical/lucrative college major vs following your passion",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Choosing a practical major",
        "regret_rate": 0.28,
        "regret_display": "~28% of engineering graduates would choose a different field of study (the lowest rate of any major measured)",
        "population": "US adults with bachelor's degrees, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Following your passion",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "45% of humanities/arts and social/behavioral-science graduates would choose a different field",
        "population": "US adults with bachelor's degrees, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.17,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/practical-major-vs-passion"
    },
    {
      "slug": "prenuptial-agreement-vs-not",
      "question": "Getting a prenuptial agreement before marriage vs. marrying without one",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Signing a prenuptial agreement",
        "regret_rate": 0.637,
        "regret_display": "64% believe a partner's prenup request signals their marriage is more likely to end in divorce",
        "population": "US general public (mall-intercept sample across six cities); perception measure, not signer regret"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Marrying without a prenuptial agreement",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "~15% (constructed proxy — no direct survey measures regret among divorced adults who lacked a prenup)",
        "population": "US married/ever-married adults; adoption + attitude proxy, not a direct regret measure"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.487,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/prenuptial-agreement-vs-not"
    },
    {
      "slug": "private-vs-public-education",
      "question": "Sending children to private school vs public school",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Private school",
        "regret_rate": 0.13,
        "regret_display": "13% of private-school parents would not choose the same school again (proxy — re-choice likelihood)",
        "population": "US parents of K-12 students, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Public school",
        "regret_rate": 0.41,
        "regret_display": "41% of public-school parents would not choose the same school again (proxy — re-choice likelihood)",
        "population": "US parents of K-12 students, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.28,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/private-vs-public-education"
    },
    {
      "slug": "private-vs-public-healthcare",
      "question": "Paying for private healthcare vs relying on the public system",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Paying for private healthcare",
        "regret_rate": 0.03,
        "regret_display": "~3% of private hospital patients would not recommend their care",
        "population": "UK private hospital inpatients (Circle Health Group, the UK's largest independent hospital group), n=86,772 patient questionnaires Jan–Dec 2025"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Relying on NHS / public healthcare only",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% of NHS inpatients would not recommend their care (FFT 2016-19)",
        "population": "NHS England inpatients, 128 non-specialist acute providers, Apr 2016 – Mar 2019 (est. 1.5M+ annual FFT responses across trusts)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.02,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/private-vs-public-healthcare"
    },
    {
      "slug": "private-vs-public-university",
      "question": "Attending a private university vs choosing a comparable public university",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Private four-year university",
        "regret_rate": 0.17,
        "regret_display": "17% of private-college graduates had not yet seen a financial payoff from their degree (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults who attended a private nonprofit four-year college, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Public four-year university",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "14% of public-college graduates had not yet seen a financial payoff from their degree (proxy)",
        "population": "US adults who attended a public four-year college, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.03,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/private-vs-public-university"
    },
    {
      "slug": "procrastination-vs-acting",
      "question": "Procrastinating vs acting on important tasks immediately",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Acting immediately",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "~20% of non-procrastinators report negative affect about rushed decisions (estimated — see caveats)",
        "population": "US college students and adults"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Procrastinating",
        "regret_rate": 0.95,
        "regret_display": "95% of procrastinators wish to reduce their procrastination (desire-to-change proxy)",
        "population": "Meta-analytic synthesis of procrastinators"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.75,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/procrastination-vs-acting"
    },
    {
      "slug": "prophylactic-mastectomy-vs-surveillance",
      "question": "Do high-risk women (e.g. BRCA carriers) regret risk-reducing mastectomy — or regret choosing surveillance instead?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having a risk-reducing (prophylactic) mastectomy",
        "regret_rate": 0.19,
        "regret_display": "19% dissatisfied with the procedure a mean 14.5 years on (Frost); in a separate cohort 7% would not choose the operation again and 33% found the cosmetic result not as expected",
        "population": "BRCA carriers / high-risk women after bilateral prophylactic mastectomy"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Choosing intensified surveillance instead of surgery",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey — proxy: cancer worry rises rather than falls under surveillance, and 14% of surveillance-choosers developed breast cancer (28/201 over a median 5.9 years; 9.9% cumulative at 5 years)",
        "population": "BRCA carriers / high-risk women choosing intensified breast surveillance"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0.05,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/prophylactic-mastectomy-vs-surveillance"
    },
    {
      "slug": "pursue-fertility-treatment-vs-not",
      "question": "Pursue fertility treatment after an infertility diagnosis vs. accept childlessness",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursue fertility treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.19,
        "regret_display": "~19% (one in five) of women in the same 6-year cohort reported moderate-to-severe regret overall — a cohort-wide rate covering all women regardless of treatment path, not isolated to treatment-pursuers who did not have a child; the source reports no discrete rate for that narrower group",
        "population": "Women in a US longitudinal infertility cohort, cohort-wide rate (not isolated to unsuccessful treatment-pursuers) — Cusatis et al. 2023 (PMC10633954)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accept childlessness without pursuing treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "~33% of infertile women who declined treatment showed elevated regret at follow-up (proxy — no-treatment subgroup had highest regret scores in cohort)",
        "population": "Infertile women who chose not to pursue any treatment — Cusatis et al. 2023 (PMC10633954) no-treatment subgroup (n=15 of 72 women)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/pursue-fertility-treatment-vs-not"
    },
    {
      "slug": "pursue-longevity-vs-accept-aging",
      "question": "Pursuing active longevity interventions (supplements, fasting, biohacking) vs accepting standard aging",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Actively pursuing longevity (fasting, supplements, biohacking)",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% inferred regret-equivalent rate (proxy: pharmaceutical geroprotection uptake + supplement abandonment — see caveats)",
        "population": "Adults across surveyed cohorts (Dutch geroprotection survey, US dietary supplement users)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting standard aging (no biohacking, conventional medical care)",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% of US adults say they WOULD want medical treatments to dramatically slow aging and extend life (Pew 2013, the complement of the 56% who decline) — preference proxy, anticipatory regret-equivalent of accepting standard aging, NOT a measured regret rate",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/pursue-longevity-vs-accept-aging"
    },
    {
      "slug": "pursue-promotion-vs-let-go",
      "question": "Actively pursuing promotion and career advancement vs accepting current role",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Actively pursuing promotion",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "~27% of workers who pursued promotion experience downstream regret (proxy: middle-management strain literature + the share who report regretting having spoken up or pursued raises in the same Resume Now panel)",
        "population": "US, UK, French, and German workers — Resume Now International Career Regrets Survey panel + middle-management research literature"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accepting current role / not actively chasing advancement",
        "regret_rate": 0.51,
        "regret_display": "51% of workers regret not asking for a promotion",
        "population": "US, UK, French, and German workers, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.24,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/pursue-promotion-vs-let-go"
    },
    {
      "slug": "pursue-romantic-interest-vs-hold-back",
      "question": "Pursuing a romantic interest vs holding back",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Confessing feelings and being rejected",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "no direct survey; action regrets fade faster than inaction (proxy ~25%)",
        "population": "US adults who disclosed romantic feelings, various samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Holding back and never confessing",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% of women (19% of men) report some romantic regret, most often the inaction theme 'the one that got away'",
        "population": "US adults ages 19-103, Northwestern University / Summerville study"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.19,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/pursue-romantic-interest-vs-hold-back"
    },
    {
      "slug": "push-through-drive-vs-pull-over",
      "question": "Pulling over to nap when feeling tired vs pushing through to finish the drive",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pull over to rest or nap",
        "regret_rate": 0.12,
        "regret_display": "No direct survey measures regret over pulling over to rest; the AAA simulator data instead shows drivers under-perceive drowsiness and decline most break opportunities (i.e. pull over too late, not too readily). ~12% is a labelled upper-bound proxy, not a measured regret rate.",
        "population": "US drivers who reported pulling over to nap or rest when feeling drowsy"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Push through and keep driving",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% of drivers who continue driving while drowsy report a near-miss, scare, or fight with a passenger (proxy; AAA TSCI + CDC BRFSS)",
        "population": "US drivers who admit to driving drowsy in the past 30 days"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.18,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/push-through-drive-vs-pull-over"
    },
    {
      "slug": "put-savings-in-crypto-vs-traditional",
      "question": "Putting savings into cryptocurrency vs staying in traditional assets",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Investing savings in cryptocurrency",
        "regret_rate": 0.46,
        "regret_display": "46% of US crypto investors said their investment did worse than expected",
        "population": "US adults who invested in cryptocurrency, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in traditional assets",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "16% of people who did not buy crypto regret not doing so",
        "population": "US adults who did not buy cryptocurrency in the past year"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/put-savings-in-crypto-vs-traditional"
    },
    {
      "slug": "quit-job-vs-stay",
      "question": "Quitting your job vs staying at a company",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Quitting the job",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "26% of job quitters regret their decision",
        "population": "US job seekers who quit in 2022, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying at the company",
        "regret_rate": 0.58,
        "regret_display": "58% name staying in a bad job too long a top career regret (vs 38% naming quitting)",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.32,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/quit-job-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "quit-smoking",
      "question": "Quitting smoking vs continuing to smoke",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Quitting smoking",
        "regret_rate": 0.01,
        "regret_display": "~1% of ex-smokers regret quitting (floor estimate — no published survey has measured a higher rate)",
        "population": "US and UK adult former smokers"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continuing to smoke",
        "regret_rate": 0.9,
        "regret_display": "90% of smokers in Western countries",
        "population": "Current smokers in US, UK, Canada, Australia (ITC-4)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.89,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/quit-smoking"
    },
    {
      "slug": "regular-masturbation-vs-abstain-completely",
      "question": "Regular masturbation vs long-term abstinence (NoFap-style 'reboot')",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Regular masturbation",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey exists; ~10% is a proxy distress floor, not a measured regret rate — the cited sources show masturbation behaviour itself does not predict negative sexual outcomes (Whelan & Brown 2021), and that self-perceived problems track moral incongruence rather than frequency (Grubbs et al. 2019)",
        "population": "US and Western adults, peer-reviewed cross-sectional samples"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Long-term abstinence (NoFap-style 'reboot')",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret survey exists; the ~30% is a measured distress prevalence, not a regret rate — in Prause & Binnie's preregistered NoFap survey (N=587), about 29% of participants reported feeling suicidal following their most recent perceived relapse",
        "population": "NoFap/Reboot forum participants, online convenience samples"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/regular-masturbation-vs-abstain-completely"
    },
    {
      "slug": "regular-porn-use-vs-abstain",
      "question": "Regular pornography consumption vs total abstinence",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Regular pornography use",
        "regret_rate": 0.09,
        "regret_display": "9% of US adults say they are currently trying to stop pornography use — a cessation-attempt proxy, not a measured regret rate (Barna 2015; no direct retrospective regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US adults 25+, general-population online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Total abstinence from pornography",
        "regret_rate": 0.03,
        "regret_display": "No reliable abstinence-regret estimate exists — pornography never appears in lifetime-regret rankings (Roese & Summerville 2005), so inaction-side regret is treated as a non-measured near-zero inference (the 3% is an order-of-magnitude placeholder, not a survey figure)",
        "population": "US adults who report never or rarely viewing pornography"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/regular-porn-use-vs-abstain"
    },
    {
      "slug": "reject-conventional-cancer-treatment-vs-accept",
      "question": "Reject conventional cancer treatment in favor of alternative medicine vs. accept standard oncology",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Reject conventional cancer treatment; pursue alternative medicine only (no surgery, chemo, radiation, or hormone therapy)",
        "regret_rate": 0.236,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists for alt-only patients (the small-N survivor interviews that do exist found 0 regret, but the higher-mortality group who died cannot self-report). As a floor proxy: ~24% of patients who chose alternative medicine alone for a curable cancer died within 5 years who would likely have survived with conventional care — a 23.6-percentage-point excess-mortality gap (54.7% vs 78.3% 5-year survival, JNCI 2018)",
        "population": "Adults with non-metastatic breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer who selected alternative medicine without conventional cancer treatment (Johnson et al. 2018 JNCI, N=280 alternative-medicine group of 840 total; survivor-regret context from Stub et al. 2023 qualitative, N=7 surviving CAM-only patients)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Accept conventional cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy as indicated by stage)",
        "regret_rate": 0.091,
        "regret_display": "~9% of conventionally treated cancer survivors regret the chemotherapy/radiation component of their treatment specifically (21.5% of the 42.5% who reported any regret). 42.5% regret some aspect of treatment overall — most commonly surgical extent or reconstruction — and among those, 59.2% of the regret was over things they did NOT do rather than the treatment they underwent, so only a small minority regret having pursued conventional treatment at all",
        "population": "449 young breast cancer survivors (≤50 at diagnosis) interviewed prospectively during treatment and again at 5 years post-diagnosis (Fernandes-Taylor & Bloom 2011 Psychooncology); 191 (42.5%) expressed any regret, of whom 21.5% named the chemotherapy/radiation component"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.145,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/reject-conventional-cancer-treatment-vs-accept"
    },
    {
      "slug": "relinquish-child-vs-raise",
      "question": "Placing a child for adoption vs choosing to raise them yourself",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Relinquishment / adoption placement",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "38% of birth mothers report substantial grief at 6 months post-placement (grief proxy)",
        "population": "Young birth mothers who placed infants for adoption through 30 maternity residences and agencies in 13 US states"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Raising the child",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "~7–8% of parents report regretting having children (general parental regret, best available proxy)",
        "population": "US and German parents, population surveys (proxy — no study has directly surveyed parents who considered relinquishment and chose to parent)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/relinquish-child-vs-raise"
    },
    {
      "slug": "remote-work-vs-office",
      "question": "Working remotely vs working in an office",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Working remotely",
        "regret_rate": 0.36,
        "regret_display": "≤36% weakly attached to remote (Pew retention proxy — no direct regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US workers who work from home at least some of the time (Pew)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Working in an office",
        "regret_rate": 0.63,
        "regret_display": "63% of office workers would prefer remote (Pew preference proxy — no direct regret survey exists)",
        "population": "US workers who rarely or never work from home (Pew)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.27,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/remote-work-vs-office"
    },
    {
      "slug": "removing-asymptomatic-wisdom-teeth-vs-monitoring",
      "question": "Do adults regret having asymptomatic wisdom teeth removed prophylactically — or regret keeping them and watching?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having asymptomatic wisdom teeth removed prophylactically",
        "regret_rate": 0.36,
        "regret_display": "~36% of prophylactically removed wisdom teeth would not have needed removal within 18 years — an operation (with its ~4% complication rate) done on a tooth that stayed trouble-free (unnecessary-surgery proxy)",
        "population": "Young adults with asymptomatic third molars; complement of the 18-year cumulative extraction rate"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping asymptomatic wisdom teeth and watching",
        "regret_rate": 0.64,
        "regret_display": "~64% of retained asymptomatic wisdom teeth are extracted anyway within 18 years — watching usually defers the operation rather than avoiding it (deferred-extraction proxy)",
        "population": "Young adults retaining asymptomatic third molars; rate anchored to Bouloux 2015's pooled seven-study cumulative figure (each study ≥50 subjects), not to any single cohort"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.28,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/removing-asymptomatic-wisdom-teeth-vs-monitoring"
    },
    {
      "slug": "removing-suspicious-mole-vs-monitoring",
      "question": "When a mole changes or looks suspicious, do adults regret having it removed — or regret watching and waiting?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Having the suspicious mole removed",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "~10% recurrence or cosmetic dissatisfaction; most excised suspicious moles prove benign (≈6 excised per melanoma found)",
        "population": "Patients undergoing excision of melanocytic nevi"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Watching and waiting",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of melanoma patients delayed presentation >3 months; 44% had not realised the change was serious (delayed-presentation proxy)",
        "population": "Melanoma patients, recalling pre-diagnosis delay"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.17,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/removing-suspicious-mole-vs-monitoring"
    },
    {
      "slug": "renovate-home-vs-leave",
      "question": "Renovating your home vs leaving it as is",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Renovating",
        "regret_rate": 0.74,
        "regret_display": "74% of renovators have regrets",
        "population": "US homeowners who renovated in last 5 years"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Leaving as is",
        "regret_rate": 0.32,
        "regret_display": "32% regret delaying home maintenance and repairs (proxy -- see caveats)",
        "population": "US homeowners, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.42,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/renovate-home-vs-leave"
    },
    {
      "slug": "rent-out-property-vs-sell-invest",
      "question": "Renting out a property you own vs selling it and investing the money",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Selling and investing the proceeds",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "25% of home sellers regret selling — they miss the home they gave up",
        "population": "US adults who sold a home in 2021–2022 (Clever Real Estate 2022 survey)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Keeping it and renting it out",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "40% of rental-property owners wish they'd never started",
        "population": "US residential real estate investors / landlords (Clever Real Estate 2024 survey)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/rent-out-property-vs-sell-invest"
    },
    {
      "slug": "rescuing-child-from-struggle-vs-letting-figure-it-out",
      "question": "Stepping in to help your child when they struggle vs holding back and letting them work through frustration independently",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Stepping in to rescue / giving in quickly",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "35% of US parents self-identify as tending to give in too quickly (vs 30% who stick to their guns too much) — a self-reported disciplinary tendency, not a measured regret",
        "population": "US parents with children under 18, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Holding back / not pushing children hard enough",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "30% of US parents self-identify as not pushing their children hard enough (vs 25% who push too hard) — a self-reported achievement-pushing tendency, not a measured regret",
        "population": "US parents with children under 18, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.05,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/rescuing-child-from-struggle-vs-letting-figure-it-out"
    },
    {
      "slug": "retire-early-vs-work",
      "question": "Retiring early vs working longer",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Retiring early",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "20% of early retirees regret the decision",
        "population": "US self-reporting retired Americans"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Working longer",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% regret retiring too late (working too long)",
        "population": "UK retired / semi-retired Which? members (proxy for working-too-long regret)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/retire-early-vs-work"
    },
    {
      "slug": "retrain-for-ai-disrupted-career-vs-wait",
      "question": "Proactively retraining for an AI-disrupted career vs. waiting to see how the market evolves",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Proactively retraining for an AI-adjacent or AI-resilient role",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "No survey measures regret among workers who proactively retrained for AI-disrupted careers. ~15% is an inferred directional placeholder (NOT a measured rate): it reflects the action-side of Gilovich & Medvec's action/inaction regret asymmetry — short-term action regrets run well below inaction regrets in career decisions — and the obsolescence risk that AI skills can become outdated within 2–4 years. The cited Pew/LinkedIn figures measure AI optimism and executive skill-gap concern, not retrainer regret.",
        "population": "Workers who have proactively pursued AI-related upskilling or retraining (US and OECD data)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waiting to see how AI disruption plays out before retraining",
        "regret_rate": 0.56,
        "regret_display": "56% of US adults are extremely or very concerned about AI-driven job loss — the primary forward-looking proxy for inaction regret in AI-disrupted careers (Pew 2025, n=5,410)",
        "population": "US adults who have not yet pursued AI-related retraining or upskilling"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.41,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/retrain-for-ai-disrupted-career-vs-wait"
    },
    {
      "slug": "right-size-vs-buy-bigger",
      "question": "Buying what fits now vs. buying bigger than you need",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Buying what fits current needs",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "~8% of homeowners wish they'd bought bigger",
        "population": "US homeowners, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Buying bigger than you need",
        "regret_rate": 0.05,
        "regret_display": "~5% of homeowners regret buying too much space",
        "population": "US homeowners, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.03,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/right-size-vs-buy-bigger"
    },
    {
      "slug": "save-retirement-early-vs-spend",
      "question": "Starting retirement savings early vs spending freely when young",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Saving early for retirement",
        "regret_rate": 0.02,
        "regret_display": "2% wish they had saved less",
        "population": "US adults aged 60–79, RAND American Life Panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Spending freely when young",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "22% cite not saving for retirement early as their biggest financial regret",
        "population": "US adults, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/save-retirement-early-vs-spend"
    },
    {
      "slug": "seek-addiction-treatment-vs-avoid",
      "question": "Seeking formal treatment for addiction vs avoiding treatment",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Sought formal addiction treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.23,
        "regret_display": "23% of SUD treatment entrants dropped out before completion (treatment dropout as regret proxy)",
        "population": "Adults discharged from US substance use disorder treatment programmes, TEDS-D 2017–2019"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Avoided or delayed formal addiction treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.34,
        "regret_display": "34% of adults with AUD in NESARC-III had persistent disorder with no recovery (persistent-AUD as regret proxy for untreated pathway)",
        "population": "US adults with past-year alcohol use disorder, NESARC-III (2012–2013); predominantly untreated sample"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.11,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/seek-addiction-treatment-vs-avoid"
    },
    {
      "slug": "seek-addiction-treatment-vs-hide",
      "question": "Seeking addiction treatment vs managing alone",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Seeking addiction treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.12,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists for treatment-seekers; ~12% is an upper-bound placeholder — only ~27% of US adults with a substance use disorder receive any treatment in a given year, and follow-up studies find treatment-seeking is rarely regretted",
        "population": "US adults who received substance use treatment, NSDUH survey respondents"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Managing addiction without treatment",
        "regret_rate": 0.52,
        "regret_display": "~52% of adults with substance use disorder who did not seek treatment report their substance use negatively affected their life in a major way",
        "population": "US people aged 12+ with substance use disorder who did not receive treatment (NSDUH 2022 estimated denominator: ~35.6 million)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.4,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/seek-addiction-treatment-vs-hide"
    },
    {
      "slug": "self-taught-vs-formal-education",
      "question": "Self-taught path (bootcamp, online courses, autodidact) vs traditional degree for a target career",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Self-taught path (no degree, bootcamp, online learning)",
        "regret_rate": 0.34,
        "regret_display": "~34% of self-taught developers face credential gaps in hiring; 66% of professional developers ultimately hold a 4-year degree, suggesting the self-taught path closes some hiring funnels",
        "population": "Professional software developers worldwide, Stack Overflow 2024"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Getting a formal degree for the target career",
        "regret_rate": 0.31,
        "regret_display": "~31% of degree-holding developers regret aspects of their formal education; Federal Reserve SHED shows 32% of bachelor's-or-higher holders feel benefits did NOT outweigh costs",
        "population": "US adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, SHED 2023"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.03,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/self-taught-vs-formal-education"
    },
    {
      "slug": "send-loved-one-to-rehab-vs-wait",
      "question": "Pushing a family member into addiction treatment vs waiting for them to seek help themselves",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Initiated or organized treatment entry",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "38% of family-initiated interventions fail to achieve treatment entry (non-engagement proxy)",
        "population": "Concerned significant others of treatment-resistant individuals with substance use disorder"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Waited for the person to seek help independently",
        "regret_rate": 0.67,
        "regret_display": "67% of families of untreated individuals reported delaying help-seeking, with 88.9% reporting emotional adjustment difficulties (burden proxy)",
        "population": "Family members of individuals with substance use disorder, largely untreated"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.29,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/send-loved-one-to-rehab-vs-wait"
    },
    {
      "slug": "set-boundaries-vs-people-please",
      "question": "Setting firm personal limits in relationships and work vs going along to please others",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Setting firm limits / saying no",
        "regret_rate": 0.17,
        "regret_display": "Not directly measured: no survey asks people who actually set firm limits whether they regret it. The bar is a placeholder set to a same-survey satisfaction figure — 17% of self-described people-pleasers say the trait made their life easier — which measures contentment with people-pleasing, NOT regret of boundary-setting. It is not inverted into an action-side regret rate; read this side as unmeasured",
        "population": "US adults who self-identify as people-pleasers, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "People-pleasing / not setting limits",
        "regret_rate": 0.48,
        "regret_display": "48% of self-described people-pleasers say being this way has made their life harder — a life-sentiment proxy (the share calling the trait a net drag), NOT a direct measure of regret over not setting limits",
        "population": "US adults who self-identify as people-pleasers, online panel"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.31,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/set-boundaries-vs-people-please"
    },
    {
      "slug": "sharenting-vs-protect-child-digital-privacy",
      "question": "Regularly posting your child's life on social media vs. protecting their digital privacy",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Regularly sharing your child's life on social media (sharenting)",
        "regret_rate": 0.52,
        "regret_display": "52% of parents are concerned their child will be embarrassed when older by what is shared (concern proxy, not measured regret)",
        "population": "US parents who post photos or videos of their child on social media"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Protecting the child's digital privacy, keeping them off social media",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "No survey measures regret among privacy-protective parents; the ~8% shown is an imputed placeholder, not a measured rate",
        "population": "US parents who actively restrict or avoid posting about their children on social media"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.44,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/sharenting-vs-protect-child-digital-privacy"
    },
    {
      "slug": "skip-adult-vaccines-vs-vaccinate",
      "question": "Skip recommended adult vaccines (flu, COVID, shingles, HPV) vs. follow CDC adult vaccine recommendations",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Skip or decline recommended adult vaccines (no annual flu shot, no COVID boosters, no shingles vaccine at 50+, no HPV catch-up)",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "No representative direct-regret survey of vaccine-skipping adults exists; the ~40% shown is a triangulated proxy, not a measured rate. The two anchoring data points measure different things: among hospitalized severely-ill unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, 64.7% said they would vaccinate 'if they could turn time back' (genuine post-outcome regret, but a severe-disease subpopulation), and among unvaccinated US adults broadly, anticipated regret about non-vaccination averaged 2.01/4 on a 1–4 agreement scale in the largest ('Reachable') cluster vs ~1.10 in the others",
        "population": "US/EU adults who declined one or more recommended adult vaccines (flu, COVID-19, shingles, HPV catch-up), with the highest-quality regret data from hospitalized unvaccinated COVID-19 cohorts (Ioannou et al. 2022 N=162 Greece; Wormser et al. 2022 N=multiple US series) plus broader NBC/KFF polling on COVID-era vaccine regret"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Follow recommended CDC adult vaccine schedule (annual flu, COVID-19 boosters per current ACIP guidance, shingles at 50+, HPV catch-up to 45)",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "~18% of US adults who received recommended adult vaccines report some regret — driven heavily by COVID-19 vaccine regret in politically conservative populations; flu, shingles, and HPV vaccine regret among recipients runs at much lower base rates (~5-10%)",
        "population": "US adults who received one or more recommended adult vaccines (CDC NIS-Adult, NBC/Generation Lab 2023, Annenberg Public Policy Center 2023)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.22,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/skip-adult-vaccines-vs-vaccinate"
    },
    {
      "slug": "skip-childhood-vaccines-vs-follow-schedule",
      "question": "Skip or delay childhood vaccines vs. follow the standard immunization schedule",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Skip, delay, or selectively decline childhood vaccines (no MMR, no DTaP, alternative schedule, or full refusal)",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "No direct survey measures regret among parents who skipped or delayed childhood vaccines. The ~30% shown is a low-confidence triangulated proxy — fusing anticipated-regret structure (Aharon 2016, Israel) with revealed-preference outbreak behavior (Oster 2018) — not a surveyed prevalence. Read it as: regret appears substantial and is most acute after a local outbreak or when the child contracts a vaccine-preventable disease, with a wide uncertainty band",
        "population": "US parents who declined or delayed one or more recommended childhood vaccines. Regret structure is anchored on Aharon et al. 2016 IJHPR (N=314, Israeli sample) and revealed-preference data (Oster 2018) showing kindergarten vaccine refusal rates drop in US counties experiencing pertussis outbreaks; no direct US skip-parent regret survey exists"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Follow the recommended CDC/AAP childhood immunization schedule (MMR, DTaP, polio, Hib, hepatitis B, varicella, etc., on schedule)",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "No direct survey measures regret among parents who vaccinated on schedule. The ~7% shown is a proxy inferred from confidence/hesitancy data (KFF: 83% keep children up to date; 84-85% confident in MMR/polio safety) — retrospective regret about the overall decision is rare and, when present, typically attaches to a specific vaccine or transient reaction rather than the schedule itself",
        "population": "US parents who completed the recommended CDC childhood immunization schedule (multiple national surveys: KFF/Washington Post 2023, CDC NIS-Child, Pew Research)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.23,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/skip-childhood-vaccines-vs-follow-schedule"
    },
    {
      "slug": "skip-travel-vaccines-vs-vaccinate",
      "question": "Skip recommended travel vaccines (hep A, typhoid, yellow fever, JE) vs. get them before travel",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Skip or decline recommended travel vaccines (no hep A or typhoid before South/Southeast Asia, no yellow fever before endemic Africa or South America, no Japanese encephalitis for rural Asia)",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "~40% of travelers who skipped recommended travel vaccines and subsequently contracted a vaccine-preventable disease report regret; among unvaccinated travelers hospitalized for travel-acquired hepatitis A, 59% required hospitalization (GeoSentinel 2008-2020) and case-series clinical regret literature for hospitalized unvaccinated infectious-disease patients runs at 64.7% (Ioannou et al. 2022 proxy)",
        "population": "US/EU adult international travelers who declined one or more recommended pre-travel vaccines per CDC/WHO destination guidance, with strongest data from GeoSentinel returned-traveler surveillance (Balogun et al. 2022 N=254 hepatitis A cases, 98% unvaccinated) supplemented by Ioannou et al. 2022 hospitalized-vaccine-skipper regret as a defensible proxy"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Get the recommended travel vaccines per CDC/WHO destination guidance before departing (hep A and typhoid for non-Western destinations, yellow fever for endemic zones, JE for ≥1-month rural Asia stays)",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "~8% of travelers who received recommended travel vaccines report regret — primarily financial/inconvenience (e.g., $300 spent on JE vaccine for a one-week urban Bangkok trip ACIP did not actually recommend) and, for first-time yellow fever vaccinees aged 60+, the elevated rate of YEL-AVD and YEL-AND (1-3 per 100,000 doses)",
        "population": "US/EU international travelers who completed one or more recommended pre-travel vaccines per CDC ACIP destination guidance; regret triangulated from CDC Yellow Book ACIP recommendations (over-vaccination of short-term urban tourists) and CDC MMWR yellow fever vaccine adverse-event surveillance for first-time vaccinees aged 60+"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.32,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/skip-travel-vaccines-vs-vaccinate"
    },
    {
      "slug": "skipping-nursery-before-holiday-vs-attending",
      "question": "Do parents regret keeping their child home from nursery the week before a family holiday — or regret not doing so?",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Keeping child home from nursery/kindergarten for the week before the holiday",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "~25% illness-proxy: parents who kept child home still faced vacation illness from household/community exposure — no direct regret survey exists for this decision",
        "population": "Parents of nursery-age children (ages 1–5) in high-income countries"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Sending child to nursery/kindergarten as usual right up to the holiday",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "~45% illness-proxy: estimated vacation-illness probability from last-week daycare attendance (Schuez-Havupalo 2017 + Lessler 2009 incubation windows) — no direct regret survey exists",
        "population": "Parents of nursery-age children (ages 1–5) in high-income countries attending full-time daycare"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/skipping-nursery-before-holiday-vs-attending"
    },
    {
      "slug": "social-media-keep-vs-delete",
      "question": "Staying on social media vs deleting your accounts",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Staying on social media",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "45% regret heavy social media use in younger years",
        "population": "Adults in Asia-Pacific, online panel (active social media users)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Deleting social media accounts",
        "regret_rate": 0.14,
        "regret_display": "~14% of Facebook deleters reported no change in happiness (0% were less happy) — a satisfaction-neutral ceiling, not measured regret",
        "population": "US adults who deleted or deactivated Facebook"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.31,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/social-media-keep-vs-delete"
    },
    {
      "slug": "speaking-up-vs-staying-silent",
      "question": "Speaking up about a problem vs staying silent to avoid conflict",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Speaking up",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "38% regret speaking up in a meeting",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying silent",
        "regret_rate": 0.53,
        "regret_display": "53% regret not speaking up in a meeting",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/speaking-up-vs-staying-silent"
    },
    {
      "slug": "sperm-egg-freeze-vs-wait",
      "question": "Freeze eggs or sperm now vs. waiting for the right circumstances",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Freeze eggs or sperm now",
        "regret_rate": 0.16,
        "regret_display": "~16% of oocyte-freezing patients express moderate-to-severe regret about the decision",
        "population": "Women who underwent elective oocyte cryopreservation 2012–2016 (Greenwood/Jaswa et al. 2018)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Wait and try to conceive naturally when ready",
        "regret_rate": 0.51,
        "regret_display": "~51% of women who considered planned egg freezing but decided NOT to pursue it report moderate-to-severe regret over that decision",
        "population": "Women who consulted for planned oocyte cryopreservation and declined treatment (Jaswa/Greenwood et al. 2023, prospective cohort, N=173)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.35,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/sperm-egg-freeze-vs-wait"
    },
    {
      "slug": "start-business-vs-employment",
      "question": "Starting your own business vs staying in traditional employment",
      "category": "career",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Starting a business",
        "regret_rate": 0.08,
        "regret_display": "8% of entrepreneurs regret starting",
        "population": "US business owners, online survey"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying employed",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% regret not making a full career change (proxy — includes but is not limited to entrepreneurship)",
        "population": "Workers in US, UK, France, Germany"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.36,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/start-business-vs-employment"
    },
    {
      "slug": "started-smoking-as-teen",
      "question": "Starting to smoke as a teenager vs never starting",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Started smoking as a teenager",
        "regret_rate": 0.72,
        "regret_display": "72% of adult smokers regret ever starting to smoke",
        "population": "US adults who currently smoke, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Never started smoking",
        "regret_rate": 0.02,
        "regret_display": "~2% of never-smokers regret not having smoked (estimated upper bound; no direct survey exists)",
        "population": "US adults who never smoked (no direct regret survey of this group exists; rate is an estimated upper bound)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.7,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/started-smoking-as-teen"
    },
    {
      "slug": "stay-at-home-vs-working-parent",
      "question": "Staying home to raise children vs continuing to work",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Staying home",
        "regret_rate": 0.64,
        "regret_display": "preference proxy, not regret: only 36% of stay-at-home mothers call not working at all their ideal, so ~64% would prefer some work (Pew ideal-situation question; many of those prefer part-time, not a return to full-time work, so this overstates regret of staying home)",
        "population": "US stay-at-home mothers, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Working while parenting",
        "regret_rate": 0.5,
        "regret_display": "preference proxy, not regret: 50% of mothers with kids under 18 say they would prefer to stay home if free to choose (Gallup forced-choice; this is all mothers with minor children, mixing stay-at-home and working mothers, not working mothers' retrospective regret)",
        "population": "US mothers with children under 18, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.14,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/stay-at-home-vs-working-parent"
    },
    {
      "slug": "stay-on-glp1-vs-stop",
      "question": "Stay on a GLP-1 weight-loss drug long-term, or stop once you reach goal weight?",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Stop the drug at goal weight",
        "regret_rate": 0.55,
        "regret_display": "55% of obesity-group stoppers gained any weight within a year (weight-regain outcome proxy — not a stated-regret survey; mean net regain was only 0.5% as many restarted or switched drugs)",
        "population": "Adults with obesity who stopped injectable semaglutide or tirzepatide 3-12 months after starting"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Stay on the drug long-term",
        "regret_rate": 0.56,
        "regret_display": "56% of GLP-1 users say the drug is difficult to afford (cost-burden attitudinal proxy — not a stated-regret survey)",
        "population": "U.S. adults currently or formerly using a GLP-1 drug"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.01,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/stay-on-glp1-vs-stop"
    },
    {
      "slug": "stop-driving-elderly-vs-keep",
      "question": "Stopping driving in old age vs. continuing as long as possible",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Stop driving (voluntary cessation)",
        "regret_rate": 0.68,
        "regret_display": "Former drivers face markedly worse health outcomes — 68% higher 5-year mortality in one cohort, almost double the depression risk, and roughly five times the long-term-care-entry risk — versus those who continued driving; no direct self-report regret survey exists for this side",
        "population": "Older adults in Chihuri et al.'s pooled systematic-review cohorts (16 studies: 12 US, 2 Australia, 1 Finland, 1 Kuwait), aged 55 and older"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Continue driving",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "~20% of older drivers who continue driving report concerns or near-miss events that suggest they question the decision",
        "population": "Older drivers aged 70+ in the US, multi-country IRTAD panels"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.48,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/stop-driving-elderly-vs-keep"
    },
    {
      "slug": "structured-activities-vs-free-play",
      "question": "Pushing kids into structured activities (sports, music, tutoring) vs letting them play freely",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Structured activities",
        "regret_rate": 0.57,
        "regret_display": "57% of parents report burnout from overscheduling pressure (proxy)",
        "population": "US parents, nationally representative online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Free play and unstructured time",
        "regret_rate": 0.22,
        "regret_display": "~22% of children wish for fewer activities / more free time (proxy)",
        "population": "US children ages 9–13 and their parents"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.35,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/structured-activities-vs-free-play"
    },
    {
      "slug": "support-adult-child-financially-vs-cut-off",
      "question": "Continue financially supporting an adult child vs. stopping support",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Continue financial support",
        "regret_rate": 0.37,
        "regret_display": "37% of parents who financially support adult children have deferred their own retirement savings to do so (proxy for the financial-goal setback that drives action-side regret)",
        "population": "US parents who provide financial support to adult children aged 18–34 (Bankrate 2024, n=~2,400)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Stop or refuse financial support",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "≈10% of US adults are estranged from a parent or child, with money disputes a leading trigger (proxy for the relational cost of refusing/withdrawing support)",
        "population": "US adults 18+ (Cornell Family Estrangement and Reconciliation Project, n=1,340) — used as a proxy because no survey measures regret specifically after stopping support to an adult child"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.27,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/support-adult-child-financially-vs-cut-off"
    },
    {
      "slug": "surrogacy-vs-childfree",
      "question": "Pursue surrogacy to have a child vs. choosing a childfree life",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Pursue surrogacy",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "No quantified intended-parent regret survey exists; ~18% is a proxy — the share of started gestational-surrogacy arrangements that do not produce a live birth, where distress concentrates",
        "population": "Intended parents who undertook gestational surrogacy arrangements; proxy uses the failed-arrangement share (Kneebone et al. 2022 systematic review; ESHRE Task Force 10 on surrogacy)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Remain involuntarily childless",
        "regret_rate": 0.38,
        "regret_display": "Involuntarily childless women — who wanted children but did not have them — carry markedly more child-related regret in later life than voluntarily childfree women; ~38% is an indicative proxy, not a figure any single survey states",
        "population": "Women who wanted children but remained childless; distinguished from voluntarily childfree women, who report much less regret (Jeffries & Konnert 2002)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.2,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/surrogacy-vs-childfree"
    },
    {
      "slug": "take-antimalarial-prophylaxis-vs-skip",
      "question": "Take antimalarial chemoprophylaxis (Malarone, doxycycline, or mefloquine) before/during travel to a malaria-endemic region vs. skip prophylaxis and rely on mosquito-bite prevention alone",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Take a CDC/WHO-recommended antimalarial chemoprophylaxis regimen (atovaquone-proguanil/Malarone, doxycycline, or mefloquine) before, during, and after travel to a malaria-endemic destination",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey of chemoprophylaxis-takers exists; ~7% is a constructed proxy estimate, not a measured regret rate. The behavioral anchor is adverse-event-driven discontinuation: Cochrane Tickell-Painter 2017 found 6% of mefloquine users vs. 2% of atovaquone-proguanil users stopped the drug mid-course due to side effects (high-certainty evidence) — a 2-6% discontinuation band. The 7% adds a small persistent-AE tail concentrated in the residual mefloquine cohort, where the FDA 2013 boxed warning notes neuropsychiatric symptoms can persist post-discontinuation (Nevin & Croft 2016: 21% of nightmare-reporters and 33% of cognitive-dysfunction-reporters report persistence >3 years). Discontinuation is a behavioral regret proxy, not subjective regret",
        "population": "US/EU adult international travelers prescribed antimalarial chemoprophylaxis at a pre-travel consultation per CDC Yellow Book destination guidance; regret triangulated from Cochrane systematic review AE-driven discontinuation rates (Tickell-Painter et al. 2017, n=11,470 in RCTs) and the Schlagenhauf et al. 2003 BMJ four-arm RCT (n=623) of atovaquone-proguanil vs. mefloquine vs. doxycycline vs. chloroquine-proguanil tolerability"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Skip antimalarial chemoprophylaxis and rely on mosquito-bite prevention alone (DEET, permethrin-treated clothing, screens, bed nets) for travel to a malaria-endemic destination",
        "regret_rate": 0.18,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey of prophylaxis-skipping travelers exists; ~18% is a triangulated proxy estimate, not a measured regret rate. It borrows the ~65% post-hospitalization regret rate Ioannou et al. 2022 measured in unvaccinated COVID-19 patients (a cross-disease transplant, not a malaria measure) as the symptomatic-skipper ceiling, then weights it down across the much larger asymptomatic-skipper population. The malaria-specific sources measure only consequence severity, not regret: Kotepui et al. 2023 found 67% of 602 traveler malaria fatalities had taken no chemoprophylaxis, and CDC surveillance shows 95% of US malaria patients did not take appropriate prevention",
        "population": "US/EU international travelers who declined or did not seek antimalarial chemoprophylaxis before travel to a CDC Yellow Book malaria-endemic destination, weighted toward the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) subpopulation that constitutes 76% of US civilian imported malaria per CDC Yellow Book; regret triangulated from the Kotepui et al. 2023 meta-analysis of chemoprophylaxis use among malaria fatalities (67% of 602 traveler deaths had no prophylaxis) and the Vliegenthart-Jongbloed et al. 2013 imported-malaria-severity study (OR 0.121 for severe malaria with compliant prophylaxis)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.11,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/take-antimalarial-prophylaxis-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "take-paternity-leave-vs-skip",
      "question": "Taking full paternity leave after a child is born vs. returning to work quickly",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking full paternity leave",
        "regret_rate": 0.13,
        "regret_display": "13% of fathers who took parental leave felt it had a negative impact on their job or career",
        "population": "US fathers who took 2 or more weeks of paternity leave"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Taking some leave but cutting it short of what was wanted",
        "regret_rate": 0.59,
        "regret_display": "59% of fathers who took time off say they took less time than they needed or wanted",
        "population": "US fathers who took time off from work after a birth/adoption (the under-leave-regret denominator)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.46,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/take-paternity-leave-vs-skip"
    },
    {
      "slug": "take-student-debt-vs-cheaper-path",
      "question": "Taking on significant student debt for a 4-year degree vs. choosing a cheaper education path",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Taking on significant student debt for a 4-year degree",
        "regret_rate": 0.44,
        "regret_display": "44% of surveyed US adults regret their college major — a proxy for debt-path regret, not a direct measure",
        "population": "US adults with college degrees"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Choosing a cheaper education path",
        "regret_rate": 0.59,
        "regret_display": "59% of US adults with some college but no degree would change at least one education decision",
        "population": "US adults with some college but no degree"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.15,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/take-student-debt-vs-cheaper-path"
    },
    {
      "slug": "telling-child-adopted-vs-concealing",
      "question": "Do adoptive parents regret telling their child they are adopted — or regret not telling them?",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Telling the child about their adoption (openly, from early age)",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "No parental-regret survey exists. Sources measure child outcomes: early, open disclosure independently predicts higher adoptee self-esteem and adjustment (Brodzinsky 2006). The ~10% is an author-set upper-bound proxy for the disclosure decision, not a measured regret rate.",
        "population": "Adoptive parents who disclosed adoption in early childhood. The sources measure adoptee outcomes (self-esteem, behavioral adjustment), not parental regret; the 10% is an unsourced author estimate (upper bound), not a survey figure"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Concealing the adoption (not telling, or telling very late)",
        "regret_rate": 0.4,
        "regret_display": "No parental-regret survey exists. The source measures adoptee distress: late-discovery adoptees (told after age 21) had a mean K10 distress score of 27.1 vs 14.7 for those told before age 3 (Baden et al. 2019) — group means, not a prevalence rate. The ~40% is an author-set lower-bound harm proxy, not a measured regret rate.",
        "population": "Adult adoptees who learned of their adoption status at age 3 or older (US/international convenience sample). The source measures adoptee distress (K10/WHOQOL-BREF group means), not parental regret and not a prevalence percentage; the 40% is an unsourced author estimate (lower bound)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.3,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/telling-child-adopted-vs-concealing"
    },
    {
      "slug": "telling-child-pet-died-vs-lying",
      "question": "Do parents regret telling their child the truth when a pet dies — or regret lying about it (saying it 'went to a farm,' 'ran away,' or 'went to live with a friend')?",
      "category": "family",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Telling the child honestly that the pet died",
        "regret_rate": 0,
        "regret_display": "0% of parents who disclosed death honestly later regretted it (best-available proxy — terminal-illness cohort)",
        "population": "Swedish parents who had lost a child to cancer, contacted 4-9 years after bereavement; subset of 147 who discussed death with the child"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Lying or deflecting (pet 'went to a farm,' 'ran away,' 'went to live with a friend')",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of parents who avoided honest death disclosure later regretted not having done so (proxy — terminal-illness cohort)",
        "population": "Swedish parents who had lost a child to cancer, contacted 4-9 years after bereavement; subset of 258 who did not discuss death with the child"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.27,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/telling-child-pet-died-vs-lying"
    },
    {
      "slug": "telling-truth-vs-white-lie",
      "question": "Telling the full truth vs telling a white lie to spare feelings",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Telling the truth",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "no direct regret rate exists; shown at parity with the white-lie proxy (~25%) — honesty studies report net relationship gain, not strain",
        "population": "US adults, experimental sample"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Telling a white lie",
        "regret_rate": 0.25,
        "regret_display": "~25% would not tell the same lie again (proxy — DePaulo diary study)",
        "population": "US college students and community adults, diary study"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/telling-truth-vs-white-lie"
    },
    {
      "slug": "term-vs-whole-life-insurance",
      "question": "Buying term life insurance vs. whole life (permanent) insurance",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Term life insurance",
        "regret_rate": 0.07,
        "regret_display": "~7% (timing-regret proxy; no direct type-regret survey for term buyers)",
        "population": "US life insurance owners, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Whole life insurance",
        "regret_rate": 0.45,
        "regret_display": "~45% (proxy: WCI physician community survey 76%; discounted for general-population applicability)",
        "population": "White Coat Investor Facebook community members who purchased whole life insurance; high-income physicians, US"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.38,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/term-vs-whole-life-insurance"
    },
    {
      "slug": "therapy-vs-no-therapy",
      "question": "Going to therapy vs not going to therapy",
      "category": "health",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Going to therapy",
        "regret_rate": 0.27,
        "regret_display": "27% of therapy-attenders did not find therapy helpful (proxy for helpfulness-based regret)",
        "population": "UK adults who have had therapy, nationally representative"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not going to therapy",
        "regret_rate": 0.33,
        "regret_display": "~33% of non-therapy-seekers among US adults express latent demand (considered but never sought — proxy for inaction regret)",
        "population": "US adults who have never sought mental health care, nationally representative"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": -0.06,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/therapy-vs-no-therapy"
    },
    {
      "slug": "travel-vs-save",
      "question": "Spending on travel vs saving the money",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Spending on travel",
        "regret_rate": 0.06,
        "regret_display": "6% regret spending on travel",
        "population": "US adults, online panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Saving the money instead of traveling",
        "regret_rate": 0.71,
        "regret_display": "71% regret missed travel opportunities",
        "population": "Global travelers, 32 countries"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.65,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/travel-vs-save"
    },
    {
      "slug": "urban-vs-suburban",
      "question": "Living in the city vs living in the suburbs",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Living in the city",
        "regret_rate": 0.43,
        "regret_display": "43% of city dwellers say they'd move elsewhere if they could (move-desire proxy, not retrospective regret -- see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults living in big cities"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Living in the suburbs",
        "regret_rate": 0.35,
        "regret_display": "35% of suburbanites say they'd move elsewhere if they could (move-desire proxy, not retrospective regret -- see caveats)",
        "population": "US adults living in suburbs of big cities"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.08,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/urban-vs-suburban"
    },
    {
      "slug": "venezuela-emigrate-vs-stay",
      "question": "Leaving Venezuela during the economic and political crisis vs. staying",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Emigrating from Venezuela",
        "regret_rate": 0.26,
        "regret_display": "~26% of Venezuelan migrants who returned could not make a living in their host country -- a hardship-abroad outcome proxy, not a self-reported regret-about-leaving rate",
        "population": "Venezuelan returnees surveyed in Colombia, Peru, and Chile (MMC 4Mi, n=269)"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in Venezuela during the crisis",
        "regret_rate": 0.533,
        "regret_display": "~53% of Venezuelans who stayed lived in extreme poverty in 2022 (income too low for a basic food basket) -- a hardship-abroad outcome proxy, not a self-reported regret rate",
        "population": "Venezuelans who remained in Venezuela during the 2016-2023 economic and political crisis"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "inaction_dominates",
      "regret_delta": -0.273,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/venezuela-emigrate-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "vietnam-rural-urban-migration-vs-stay",
      "question": "Migrating from rural Vietnam to the city for work vs. staying in your home village",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Migrating to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, or an industrial zone",
        "regret_rate": 0.64,
        "regret_display": "64% of Vietnamese rural-urban migrants wish to return home",
        "population": "Vietnamese rural-to-urban migrants tracked in longitudinal panel"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Staying in the home village",
        "regret_rate": 0.3,
        "regret_display": "~30% (estimate): no direct regret survey of rural non-migrants exists — derived from urban-rural income-gap and relative-deprivation data, not a measured regret rate",
        "population": "Vietnamese rural non-migrants in migration-sending communities"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.34,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/vietnam-rural-urban-migration-vs-stay"
    },
    {
      "slug": "volunteer-military-service-vs-not",
      "question": "Voluntarily joining the military vs not serving",
      "category": "lifestyle",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Joining the military",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "21% of veterans say they would not repeat their military service (i.e., implicit regret rate from DAV 2015 survey)",
        "population": "US veterans across all generations, WWII through post-9/11 era"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Not serving in the military",
        "regret_rate": 0.21,
        "regret_display": "No reliable estimate — no survey measures regret among non-veterans who considered but did not serve; shown level with the action side rather than as a measured rate",
        "population": "US civilian adults who considered but did not join military service (no direct survey available)"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "balanced",
      "regret_delta": 0,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/volunteer-military-service-vs-not"
    },
    {
      "slug": "waive-home-inspection-vs-hold-firm",
      "question": "Waiving a home inspection contingency to win a bid vs holding firm on inspection rights",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Waiving the inspection contingency",
        "regret_rate": 0.47,
        "regret_display": "47% of buyers who waived an inspection regret doing so",
        "population": "US home buyers who moved between 2020 and 2023"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Holding firm on inspection rights",
        "regret_rate": 0.15,
        "regret_display": "no direct survey measures this; ~15% is an author proxy bounded by the 18% who said rejected offers added difficulty and the 31% who made 3+ offers (frustration, not measured regret)",
        "population": "US home buyers in competitive markets who maintained contingencies"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.32,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/waive-home-inspection-vs-hold-firm"
    },
    {
      "slug": "work-undeclared-vs-declared",
      "question": "Working undeclared (cash-in-hand, off the books) vs working with full tax and social security declarations",
      "category": "financial",
      "action_side": {
        "label": "Working undeclared (cash-in-hand, off the books)",
        "regret_rate": 0.2,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists. Proxy: 20% of EU undeclared-work participants act for purely social-actor (distrust-driven) reasons rather than rational economic gain (Williams & Oz-Yalaman 2021); undeclared workers forgo social protection, pension and unemployment cover",
        "population": "EU workers who have worked wholly or partly undeclared"
      },
      "inaction_side": {
        "label": "Working fully declared and compliant",
        "regret_rate": 0.1,
        "regret_display": "No direct regret survey exists. Proxy for competitive pressure: 10% of EU consumers paid for goods or services in the past year that they believed involved undeclared work (Eurobarometer 498) — the undeclared market that fully declared workers and businesses compete against",
        "population": "Fully declared workers in EU member states with high undeclared work prevalence"
      },
      "gilovich_pattern": "action_dominates",
      "regret_delta": 0.1,
      "canonical_url": "https://likelier.app/decisions/work-undeclared-vs-declared"
    }
  ]
}