Counterfactual thinking and the perception of criminal behaviour

Bibliographic Data

ID5268364
AuthorsC Neil Macrae (0000-0002-8659-6778, University of Wales), Alan B Milne (University of Wales), Riana J Griffiths (University of Wales)
Year1993
Volume84
Issue2
Pages221-226
Publication date1993-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1269 • E-ISSN: 2044-8295
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.2044-8295.1993.tb02475.x
OpenAlexW1990856145
LanguageEN
Citations received9

The present research investigated the effects of counterfactual thinking on the interpretation of criminal behaviour. It was predicted that the availability of counterfactual alternatives for a crime would affect a range of incident-related judgements. The results of two studies strongly supported this prediction. When counterfactual alternatives to an outcome were readily available, subjects: (i) punished the perpetrators more severely; (ii) considered the incident to be more serious; and (iii) felt greater sympathy toward the victims. In addition, the results confirmed earlier research in this domain and demonstrated that counterfactual effects on judgemental processes are mediated by subjects' affective reaction towards events. The wider implications of these findings and their potential implications for judicial decision making are considered

Affect (linguistics) · Cognitive psychology · Counterfactual conditional · Counterfactual thinking · Economics · Interpretation (philosophy) · Outcome (game theory) · Perception · Sympathy · Communication · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology

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