Counterfactual thinking, the process by which individuals mentally simulate alternative outcomes to past events, is a ubiquitous cognitive phenomenon with far‐reaching psychological implications. This ...

The human brain is not a passive recorder of events, it is an active simulator that constantly rehearses futures, rewrites ...

In a way, it seems like there's no point wondering what could have been — if you hadn't screwed up that job interview, if you'd worked up the nerve to text that girl, if you'd trusted your gut a ...

You always want creativity to come naturally but sometimes you need to give it a push. Thoughts and ideas blog the 99u suggests that counterfactual thinking can help give you a boost when you need it.

Counterfactual thinking -- considering a "turning point" moment in the past and alternate universes had it not occurred -- heightens one's perception of the moment as significant, and even fated, ...

What if the great events in history had turned out differently? How would the world today be changed? Niall Ferguson wonders about this a lot. He's a well-known economic historian at Harvard, and a ...

Emotions like regret and envy share a common origin: they are motivated by the counterfactual thinking of what would have happened had we made a different choice. When we contemplate the outcome of a ...

Last weekend, we hosted a large party to celebrate a big family birthday. Ever the optimists, we assumed that spring weather would be on our side. We invited 60 guests to join outdoor celebrations in ...