A very public replication of the temporal pattern to people's regrets

Used in 2 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

1. [1] Embracing change Decision · action side

   Statistic

   In the long-term condition, 51% of 1,316 respondents named an action and 49% named an inaction as their single biggest regret in a forced-choice paradigm

   “"For long-term regrets, 51% (n = 675) named an action and 49% (n = 641) named an inaction — a non-significant difference that diverges from the original 84/16 split reported by Gilovich and Medvec (1994)."”

   Calculation notes

   Richardson & Gilovich (2023), n = 2,600 total. The forced-choice paradigm found near-parity (51/49) but this format constrains respondents to pick one type regardless of magnitude. Pink's open-ended methodology, which allows for more nuanced categorization, found a stronger inaction skew. We retain this as context but use Pink's domain-specific data as primary.
   

   Source date: 2023-06-21 · Accessed: 2026-04-26

2. [2] Let child quit vs. finish Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   Replication of Gilovich & Medvec (1994) with 2,600 museum visitors: 58% found their most regrettable action more troubling than their most regrettable inaction in the short term (replicating the original), but only 51% did so in the long-term condition (vs 16% in the 1994 original finding of 84% regretting inaction more) -- a partial replication in which the short-term action-regret effect held but the long-term inaction-dominance effect attenuated sharply

   “"2600 in all" museum visitors at a psychological-science museum (Mindworks, Chicago), July 2021-July 2022. "58% said they were more troubled by their most regrettable action than their most regrettable inaction" in the short term, replicating the original. In the long-term condition, "only 51% said they were more troubled by their most regrettable action, a percentage not significantly different from the null" -- a much smaller gap than Gilovich & Medvec's (1994) original finding. The authors characterize this as "a successful replication in the sense that action regrets loom larger in people's minds in the short term" but note the "precise pattern of results differ[s]" from the original, calling it "a partial replication."”

   Calculation notes

   Added to ground the body-prose claim "Richardson and Gilovich (2023), in a replication with n=2,600 museum visitors, confirmed that short-term regret favors actions, but the long-term asymmetry in the original finding attenuated," which was previously stated without a supporting frontmatter source (only named in the caveats field). Does not itself supply this entry's regret rates; used as the theoretical-framework citation underpinning the entry's gilovich_pattern classification and the caveat that the long-term inaction-dominance effect, while directionally real, is smaller and less certain than the original 1994 finding implied.
   

   Source date: 2023-06-01 · Accessed: 2026-07-03