School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2012 Jan;111(1):120-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.07.002. Epub 2011 Aug 17.
In two experiments, 4- to 9-year-olds played a game in which they selected one of two boxes to win a prize. On regret trials the unchosen box contained a better prize than the prize children actually won, and on baseline trials the other box contained a prize of the same value. Children rated their feelings about their prize before and after seeing what they could have won if they had chosen the other box and were asked to provide an explanation if their feelings had changed. Patterns of responding suggested that regret was experienced by 6 or 7 years of age; children of this age could also explain why they felt worse in regret trials by referring to the counterfactual situation in which the prize was better. No evidence of regret was found in 4- and 5-year-olds. Additional findings suggested that by 6 or 7 years, children's emotions were determined by a consideration of two different counterfactual scenarios.
在两项实验中，4 至 9 岁的儿童玩了一个游戏，他们从中选择一个盒子来赢得奖品。在后悔试验中，未选中的盒子里装着比孩子们实际赢得的奖品更好的奖品，而在基线试验中，另一个盒子里装着同样价值的奖品。孩子们在看到如果选择另一个盒子可以赢得什么奖品之前和之后对自己的奖品进行了评价，并被要求在感觉发生变化时提供一个解释。反应模式表明，6 或 7 岁的儿童就已经体验到了后悔；这个年龄段的孩子还可以通过参考奖品更好的反事实情况来解释为什么在后悔试验中感觉更糟糕。在 4 岁和 5 岁的儿童中没有发现后悔的证据。其他发现表明，到 6 或 7 岁时，孩子们的情绪取决于对两种不同反事实情况的考虑。
