Anticipated Regret and Precautionary Sexual Behavior1

This study investigated the impact of anticipated regret on precautionary sexual behavior. Results show that anticipated regret predicts a significant and independent proportion of variance in expectations about future contraceptive behavior. A simple model combining attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and anticipated regret explained 65% of the variance in behavioral expectations. Behavioral expectations explained 34% of the variance in contraceptive behavior of respondents who had casual sex in the 4 weeks following the first session of the study. Implications for our understanding of precautionary sexual behavior and for campaigns aiming to increase safer sexual practices are discussed.     

The Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in the Relationship Between Anticipated Feelings of Regret and Condom Use1

This prospective study examined how the feelings of regret and self-blame one anticipates after engaging in unsafe sex affect condom use in new sexual relationships. The central theoretical question is whether self-efficacy perceptions can moderate the relationship between anticipated feelings and actual condom use. Consistent with theories of anticipated regret and social cognitive learning, participants were most likely to use condoms between the first and second waves of data collection when they anticipated negative feelings as a result of not using condoms (and positive feelings after having used condoms), particularly when they also believed that they had the power to exercise control over the sexual situation (high self-efficacy). The implications for interventions aimed at promoting safer sex are discussed.     

Reactance, Compliance, and Anticipated Regret

The current work explored the relations among reactance, regret, and behavioral choice. A possible mechanism for reactance in opposition to persuasion attempts involves people anticipating greater regret for negative outcomes after complying with an agent of persuasion than for negative outcomes after reacting against an agent of persuasion. Some participants were asked to anticipate regret prior to making a behavioral choice in the face of an influence attempt. These participants anticipated greater regret for negative outcomes that would be experienced after reacting against rather than complying with the influence attempt. Accordingly, these participants subsequently exhibited behavioral compliance. On the other hand, participants who made choices without explicitly being asked to anticipate possible future regret showed far greater reactance. Interestingly, in all cases compliance led to significantly greater regret than did reactance once a negative outcome actually occurred. These data indicate that people do not spontaneously anticipate the regret that they may experience in an influence situation. Furthermore, when asked to anticipate such regret, they misanticipate their future feelings. The implications of complying with and reacting against the demands of others are discussed.     

Perceptions of Sexual Orientation: A Hierarchically Restrictive Trait

Categorizing a person according to group membership (sexual orientation) attaches group stereotypes and behavioral expectations to that individual. For Study 1, students from New Mexico, United States (N?=?127) were asked to indicate the number of inconsistent behaviors it would take to change expectations about a categorized person. Study 1 revealed that sexual orientation is a hierarchically restrictive trait: for heterosexual targets, only a few inconsistent behaviors changed expectations, and for homosexual targets, many inconsistent behaviors did not change expectations. For Study 2, survey research (N?=?163) and path analyses revealed different patterns between male and female respondents for relationships between religiosity, attitudes toward homosexuals, attitudes toward sexuality, and the degree of hierarchical restrictiveness of sexual orientation.     

College Students Use Implicit Personality Theory Instead of Safer Sex1

Many college students engage in high levels of unsafe sexual behavior that puts them at risk for HIV infection. To better understand the dynamics underlying college students' unsafe behavior, focus group discussions were conducted with 308 students (146 men and 162 women). The results showed that, instead of consistently using condoms, many college students use implicit personality theories to judge the riskiness of potential sexual partners. Specifically, partners whom college students know and like are not perceived to be risky, even if what students know about these individuals is irrelevant to HIV status. The students determine the riskiness of partners they do not know well based on superficial characteristics that are also generally unrelated to HIV status. Therefore, AIDS prevention interventions for college students must expose the ineffectiveness of the students' use of implicit personality theories to determine potential partners' riskiness, and the “know your partner” safer sex guideline should be abandoned.     

Conformism moderates the relations between values, anticipated regret, and behavior

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the moderating effect of Conformism values on the relations between other values and behavior. The authors expected people low, but not high, in Conformism to behave in a manner that is consistent with their personal values related to self-transcendence versus self-enhancement. In Study 1 (N = 199), such values predicted actual altruistic behavior, as estimated by other-reports, but only if Conformism values were low. In Study 2 (N = 189), only people who considered Conformism values to be relatively unimportant showed expected connections between self-transcendence values and anticipated regret in hypothetical scenarios having negative consequences. The data are interpreted as supporting the view that (a) anticipated regret motivates value-consistent behavior, (b) self-transcendence values in particular are connected to altruistic behavior and to anticipated regret, but (c) conformity to social norms moderates these connections.     

Risk Taking for Sexual Versus Monetary Outcomes using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

The present study examined risk-taking behavior in relation to sexual and monetary outcomes using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Adult men (n = 61) completed two modified BART tasks (one with monetary outcomes and one with sexual outcomes) and a battery of self-report measures concerning sexual and nonsexual constructs. Several findings are reported. First, risk-taking behavior concerning sexual outcomes can be evoked and quantified using the modified BART task reported here. Second, risk-taking for money was associated with latent factors associated with criminal behavior, drug use, and gambling. Third, risk taking for sexual outcomes was associated with the latent factors of sexual excitability and criminal behavior. Results suggest that stimulus-specific measures of risk taking are better associated with some outcomes. Study findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to laboratory research on the behavioral processes that underlie risky decision making.

     

Anticipated emotions and personal experience for predicting behavioral intentions and behavioral expectations

We tested how anticipated emotions interact with personal experience in risk behavior to improve predictions from TPB on behavioral intention (BI) and behavioral expectation (BE) for sex without condom (Study 1) and excessive drinking (Study 2). In the moderate-high experience group, anticipated emotional profiles (AEPs) improve TPB prediction from 28% to 45% in the case of BI and from 19% to 40% in that of BE in relation to sexual risk behavior (Study 1), and from 23% to 36% in the case of BI and from 17% to 31% in that of BE in relation to binge drinking (Study 2). However, in the low-experience group (Study 2) AEPs improve TPB predictions for BI (12% to 34%) but not for BE, showing that in less experienced people BI and BE are not equivalent: anticipated emotions have different relevance in their prediction. These results were replicated using a general negative anticipated emotion index (averaging emotional categories).     

Conceptual overlap between moral norms and anticipated regret in the prediction of intention: Implications for theory of planned behaviour research

Moral norms and anticipated regret are widely used extensions to the theory of planned behaviour, yet there is some evidence to suggest that these constructs may conceptually overlap as predictors of intention. Two health-related behaviours with distinct moral implications (Study 1: organ donation registration, N?=?352 and Study 2: condom usage, N?=?1815) were therefore examined to ascertain whether moral norms and anticipated regret are indeed conceptually distinct. While evidence consistent with conceptual overlap was identified in Study 1, the evidence for such overlap in Study 2 was more ambiguous. In Study 3, a meta-analysis of existing literature revealed that the relationship between moral norms and anticipated regret was moderated by the extent of the moral implications arising from the behaviour under examination. Taken together, these findings suggest that conceptual overlap between moral norms and anticipated regret is more likely to occur among behaviours with obvious moral implications. Researchers wishing to examine the predictive utility of moral norms and anticipated regret among such behaviours would therefore be advised to aggregate these measures to form a composite variable (personal norms).     

University students' support for heterosexual women with AIDS

Support for a woman heterosexual AIDS victim was examined among 237 university students, 54% female and 54% upper division, with a mean age of 23.7 yr. A questionnaire containing one of four scenarios (AIDS resulting from unsafe sex, unsafe drug use, sex with an unfaithful husband, or a blood transfusion) measured support by people's willingness to sign or circulate a petition supporting the victim's right to attend college classes. A five-way mixed-design analysis of variance showed that victims who took risks received less support, that respondents were more willing to sign than to circulate a petition, and, while men did not discriminate among the four scenarios, women were most likely to offer support to "innocent" victims who contracted AIDS without sexual behavior. In addition, respondents who knew someone with AIDS were more likely to sign the petition. AIDS, particularly when contracted through risky behavior, is a disease with social ramifications beyond its threat to public health.     

拿破仑情结的进化：相对身高劣势和求偶动机对男性冒险行为的影响

研究以性选择理论为基础, 探讨了与同性竞争者的相对身高劣势和求偶动机对男性冒险行为的影响。4个研究一致显示, 与同性竞争者存在的身高劣势会导致男性提高自身冒险性; 且高求偶动机水平的男性, 会更多地表现出这种补偿性行为。这些结果提示, 拿破仑情结具有进化的基础, 男性在自身身高与竞争者相比处于劣势时, 采用冒险行为进行补偿是男性用以解决性内竞争和性间竞争问题的一种适应器。     

Loneliness and the sexual behavior of sexual minority men in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian provincial governments instituted a variety of public health measures that included social distancing and isolation, which may have had unintended consequeses. According to the Loneliness and Sexual Risk Model, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) often cope with loneliness through risky sexual behaviors. Previous studies have demonstrated that COVID-19 measures such as social distancing and isolation led to increases in loneliness; thus, these measures may also have led to elevated sexual risk-taking among some GBM. Participants were recruited from an ongoing cohort study on GBM health and well-being, and were included in the current analysis if they had completed relevant study questions (n = 1134). GBM who reported lower levels of social support pre-COVID-19, were younger, and lived alone each reported greater loneliness during the first year of COVID-19. Although feelings of loneliness did not predict sexual risk-taking within the first year of COVID-19, loneliness did predict greater sexual risk-taking 6 months later. Additionally, younger GBM and those living alone were more likely to engage in sexual risk-taking at both COVID-19 data collection points. These findings offer some support of the Loneliness and Sexual Risk Model; however, it is possible that the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a temporary suspension of this association, as many GBM took steps to protect themselves and partners in the context of COVID-19.     

Self-regulation and protective health behaviour: How regulatory focus and anticipated regret are related to vaccination decisions

Objective: We examined how individual motivational orientations and anticipated regret are related to the protective health decision of vaccination behaviour.

Design: The proposed relations were examined in a large-scale sample (N = 3168) and three medium-sized samples (N = 151, N = 194, N = 208). Questionnaires were applied to assess regulatory focus, anticipated regret and vaccination behaviour.

Results: Increased prevention-focused self-regulation – which is represented by concerns about security-related goals, responsibilities and obligations – was related to a greater likelihood of vaccination. Prevention-focused individuals’ higher likelihood of getting vaccinated seems at least in part to be a consequence of anticipated regret for not vaccinating. Study 3 suggests that regulatory focus is less related to vaccination decisions when regret is increased by the decision-making context; that is, when information highlighting vaccination effectiveness and a low likelihood of adverse responses is provided.

Conclusion: Prevention-focused self-regulation is related to a greater likelihood of engaging in health-protective behaviour. This can be explained by prevention-focused individuals’ greater tendency to anticipate regret about getting ill as a consequence of not adopting protective measures. If people perceive a protective measure such as a vaccination as highly effective, anticipated regret for not adopting it is generally increased, and individual differences in regulatory focus no longer predict the decision.     

Risk perceptions: assessment and relationship to influenza vaccination.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate measurement of beliefs about risk probability is essential to determine what role these beliefs have in health behavior. This study investigated the ability of several types of risk perception measures and of other constructs from health behavior theories to predict influenza vaccination. DESIGN: Prospective study in which students, faculty, and staff at 3 universities (N = 428) were interviewed in the fall, before influenza vaccine was available, and again early in the next calendar year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Self-reported influenza vaccination. RESULTS: Two interview questions that asked about feeling at risk and feeling vulnerable predicted subsequent behavior better (r = .44, p = .001) than 2 questions that asked for agreement or disagreement with statements about risk probability (r = .25, p = .001) or 4 questions that asked respondents to estimate the magnitude of the risk probability (r = .30, p = .001). Of the 4 perceived risk magnitude scales, a 7-point verbal scale was the best predictor of behavior. Anticipated regret was the strongest predictor of vaccination (r = .45, p = .001) of all constructs studied, including risk perceptions, worry, and perceived vaccine effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Risk perceptions predicted subsequent vaccination. However, perceived risk phrased in terms of feelings rather than as a purely cognitive probability judgment predicted better. Because neither feeling at risk nor anticipated regret is represented in the most commonly used theories of health behavior, the data suggest that these theories are missing important constructs.     

Before escalation: behavioral and affective forecasting in escalation of commitment

This research examines preinvestment forecasting processes in escalation of commitment, considering two questions: whether individuals are able to accurately predict their behavior and affect in escalation situations and how forecasting processes may be linked to actual escalation. Three experiments demonstrated that individuals underpredicted their escalation and overpredicted their postescalation regret. Two of the experiments also indicated that the less individuals predicted being entrapped, the more they escalated. Counter to expectations, anticipated regret did not predict escalation. The discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical importance of forecasting on escalation and on the importance of understanding both behavioral and affective forecasting effects simultaneously.     

Consequences of regret aversion in real life: The case of the Dutch postcode lottery

Although ample research has shown that decisions may cause regret and that the anticipation of regret may influence decision-making, this previous research was largely limited to hypothetical choices with student participants. The current research replicates and extends these findings for real life lottery participation decisions in non-student samples. Four studies are reported in which two lotteries in the Netherlands, the Postcode Lottery and the National State Lottery, were compared. The State Lottery is a traditional lottery in which one has to buy a ticket with a number printed on it. In the Postcode Lottery, one’s postcode is the ticket number, and hence even if not participating one may still find out that one would have won had one played. As our research shows, this particular feedback that is present in the Postcode Lottery but absent in the State Lottery influences the level of anticipated post-decisional regret, and moderates the influence that anticipated regret has on lottery participation. Study 1, 100 street interviews, confirmed our expectations that the Postcode Lottery may elicit regret. Study 2 found under controlled conditions, that people anticipate more regret over not playing when there is feedback about the neighbors winning a prize in the Postcode Lottery than in the State Lottery. However, when this feedback is absent they anticipate equal amounts of regret over not playing. Study 3 replicated these findings for regret, while showing that the two lotteries do not differ with respect to envy and jealousy, emotions that might also be invoked in this context. Study 4 validated that, as we predicted, anticipations of post-decisional regret influence decisions to play the Postcode lottery, but not the State Lottery. These findings demonstrate the external and discriminant validity of anticipated regret for decision-making, and indicate its pragmatic relevance. The implications or recent developments in regret research are discussed.     

The affective shift hypothesis: The functions of emotional changes following sexual intercourse

This article develops the Affective Ship Hypothesis, which suggests that women experience positive affective shifts following first‐time intercourse as a means to facilitate a longer‐term, more committed relationship. The hypothesis predicts a negative affective shift in men who pursue a short‐term mating strategy; this shift is hypothesized to function to curtail commitment by motivating the man to terminate the relationship. Study 1 (N= 177) documented sex differences predicted by the affective shift hypothesis. Study 2 (N= 203), using a somewhat different methodology involving reports of presex and postsex feelings, found that men with high numbers of sex partners, but not men with low numbers of partners, experienced a decrease in their partner's physical and sexual attractiveness following first‐time sexual intercourse. In contrast, women, more than men, experienced increases in feelings of love and commitment following first‐time sex.     

Physical activity: the relative associations with cognitive and affective risk beliefs

Abstract

Objective: The role of affectively oriented risk beliefs in explaining health behaviors has not been examined in the context of physical activity or in diverse study populations. We evaluated whether affective risk beliefs account for unique variance in physical activity intentions and behavior above and beyond that accounted for by cognitive risk beliefs.

Design: A cross-sectional survey of socio-demographically diverse US residents (N?=?835; 46.4% no college training; 46.7% minority racial/ethnic ancestry; 42.6% men).

Main outcome measures: Physical activity intentions and behavior.

Results: Hierarchical linear regressions showed that affective risk beliefs accounted for variance in physical activity intentions beyond that predicted by socio-demographics and cognitive risk beliefs (F-change ps<.001). Specifically, intentions were higher among people with higher anticipated regret (ps<.001) and with higher absolute feelings of risk (ps<.05) or worry (ps<.05). There was an indirect relationship between perceived absolute likelihood and intentions through anticipated regret and feelings of risk. Neither cognitive nor affective risk beliefs accounted for variance in physical activity behavior (F-change ps>.05), but unsurprisingly, behavior was positively associated with physical activity intentions (p<.001).

Conclusion: Future interventions could target affective risk beliefs—particularly anticipated regret—to increase intentions, and then add other intervention components to bridge the intention–behavior gap.     

预期性思考、自我调节导向与非计划购买

当消费者对非计划购买产生犹豫时,营销者应如何引导他们的购买行为？本文通过准实验与控制实验的方法探究该问题。研究结果显示：（1）营销者可以通过设计预期欣喜和预期后悔信息提高其非计划购买意向;（2）但是预期性思考的有效性还受到消费者自我调节导向的影响：预期欣喜对提高趋利导向消费者的非计划购买意向较有效,预期后悔对提高避害导向消费者的非计划购买意向较有效;（3）预期欣喜和预期后悔通过影响消费者对购买合理性的判断而影响他们的非计划购买意向。