The development of children's regret and relief.

Previous research found that children first experience regret at 5 years and relief at 7. In two experiments, we explored three possibilities for this lag: (1) relief genuinely develops later than regret; (2) tests of relief have previously been artefactually difficult; or (3) evidence for regret resulted from false positives. In Experiment 1 (N=162 4- to 7-year-olds) children chose one of two cards that led to winning or losing tokens. Children rated their happiness then saw a better (regret) or worse (relief) alternative. Children re-rated their happiness. Regret after winning was first experienced at 4, regret after losing and relief after winning were experienced at 5 years and relief after losing at 7 years. Experiment 2 (N=297 5- to 8-year-olds) used a similar task but manipulated children's responsibility for the outcome. Greater responsibility for the outcome resulted in a greater likelihood of an experience of regret and relief. Results support that previous tests of relief were artefactually difficult and regret and relief are experienced earlier than previously thought.

Children's thinking about their own and others' regret and relief.

In two experiments using a decision-making game, we investigated children's thinking about regret and relief. In Experiment 1 (N=43, 31 children [5 years 4 months to 8 years 2 months of age] and 12 adults), participants chose between two boxes containing different numbers of stickers. They rated their happiness before learning that the other box contained more (regret) or fewer (relief) stickers. They rerated their chosen box with the counterfactual knowledge. The experience of regret was evident at 5 years of age, and the experience of relief was evident at 7 years of age. In Experiment 2 (N=69, 53 children [5 years 3 months to 6 years 11 months of age] and 16 adults), participants either played the game (self condition) or watched another play the game (other condition). Children in the self condition confirmed the results from Experiment 1. We found no evidence that children up to 7 years of age were able to predict others' regret and relief, a finding that suggests differing developmental trajectories between experiencing and understanding others' regret and relief.