Psychology apa format paper.

Circumstances leading to Downward Counterfactual thinking
Human beings go through various experiences throughout their lives. Some of these experiences are good and some are bad. They cherish good experiences and develop ways to cope with bad experiences. Coping with bad experiences helps them to reduce or avoid pain and discomfort. This coping is done in different ways. One of these ways is counterfactual thinking. Humans go into counterfactual mode in order to counter the undesirable experience that they have gone through essentially counter the fact by imagining something else and hence the name (Mandel, Hilton & Catellani, 2005).
The study of counterfactual thinking was spear-headed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1982. Counterfactual thinking is developed by an individual when they start contemplating that the outcome of some event or action might have been another, had the course of action been altered earlier. Counterfactual thinking is built on important questions like “What if” and “if only” and is only a thought process far removed from reality. However it provides various psychological responses to the
ain that can be both positive and negative (Mandel, Hilton & Catellani, 2005).
Studies show that counterfactual thinking makes individuals more receptive to surprising information and helps them adapt more easily. Counterfactuals also facilitate more considered decisions in teams. It also helps them cope with situations by looking at a problem from different angles. In addition, counter factual thinking enables an individual to learn from their experiences and enables them to deal with similar situations in the future, in a better and more prepared manner. It also helps them to feel better by imagining worse situations (Roese, & Mo
ison, 2009).
There are several dimensions to counterfactual thinking. Primarily these are classified into upward counterfactual thinking and downward counterfactual thinking. Upward counterfactual thinking occurs when an individual considers how an unfortunate event could have turned out better had the individual done things differently. Upwards thinking inspires regret and distu
ed feelings. However, in the longer term it tends to improve an individuals reaction to similar situations and directs him towards improvement (Roese, & Mo
ison, 2009). For example, if a student gets D grades in his exams, he might think that if he had studied better, he could have scored a B or C. Hence for his future exams, he will study better.
Downward counterfactual thinking occurs when an individual, after undergoing an unfortunate event, consider how things could have been worse than they were. In this manner, they consider themselves fortunate and feel better. Downward counterfactuals improve a person’s mood and give him/her a kind of psychological satisfaction. On the other hand, this satisfaction results in repetition of mistakes and reduces chances of improvement and learning (White & Lehman, 2005). For example, if a student gets D grades in his exams, he might think that at least he didn’t get an F. He will feel that his cu
ent way of studying is satisfactory and he can continue the same way resulting in getting similar or worse grades in the future.
Studies have shown that people are more likely to develop upward rather than downward counterfactual thinking in response to difficult events (Roese, & Hur, 1997). This is because the human mind wants to adapt to different situations and wants to learn from each experience it lives. So upward thinking is more common than downward thinking.
Downward thinking can have both positive and negative implications for an individual. The positive implications of downward thinking are many. Downward thinking helps individuals grow confident. It also helps them to not have negative thoughts or fall into depression. The most important asset of downward thinking is that of mood congruency which suggests positive moods and events being associated with downward counterfactual thinking (Medvec, Madey, & Gilovich, 1995).
Downward...