Counterfactual thinking and facial expressions among Olympic medalists: A conceptual replication of Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich's (1995) findings.

Counterfactual thinking, or contemplation of "what could have been," influences facial expressions of Olympic medalists. Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich (1995) revealed that bronze medalists appeared happier than silver medalists after competition in Olympic events. Two prominent explanations for this phenomenon exist: the formation of (a) category-based counterfactuals and (b) expectation-based counterfactuals. First, Medvec et al. (1995) demonstrated that silver medalists formed an upward comparison to the gold medalist with thoughts of "I almost won Gold" while bronze medalists formed a downward comparison to a fourth place finisher with thoughts of "at least I won a medal." A second explanation suggests that medalists form expectation-based counterfactuals in which silver medalists are more disappointed since their prior expectations for performance were higher than bronze medalists (McGraw, Mellers, & Tetlock, 2005). To test these 2 explanations, we compiled a large dataset of medal stand photographs from the Olympic Multimedia Library and Getty Images for the 2000-2016 Olympic games as well as Sports Illustrated's predictions. Using automated facial expression encoding, we conducted a conceptual replication of prior work and found evidence supporting both category-based and expectation-based counterfactual accounts of Olympic medalists' expressions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Relative Effects of Forward and Backward Planning on Goal Pursuit.

Considerable research has shown that planning plays an important role in goal pursuit. But how does the way people plan affect goal pursuit? Research on this question is scarce. In the current research, we examined how planning the steps required for goal attainment in chronological order (i.e., forward planning) and reverse chronological order (i.e., backward planning) influences individuals' motivation for and perceptions of goal pursuit. Compared with forward planning, backward planning not only led to greater motivation, higher goal expectancy, and less time pressure but also resulted in better goal-relevant performance. We further demonstrated that this motivational effect occurred because backward planning allowed people to think of tasks required to reach their goals more clearly, especially when goals were complex to plan. These findings suggest that the way people plan matters just as much as whether or not they plan.

A magnetoencephalography study of choice bias.

Many factors can influence, or bias, human decision making. A considerable amount of research has investigated the neural correlates of such biases, mostly correlating hemodynamic responses in brain areas with some aspect of the decision. These studies, typically done using functional magnetic resonance imaging or positron emission tomography, have provided useful information about the location of processing in the brain. However, comparatively little research has examined when these processes occur. The present experiment addressed this question by using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to record brain activity while subjects chose preferred options from decision sets. We found that MEG signal deviations for biased decisions occurred as early as 250-750 ms following stimulus onset. Such deviations occurred earliest in sensors over the right anterior cortex. These findings improve our understanding of temporal dynamics of decision biases and suggest ways that existing explanations for this bias could be refined.