It is common in individuals that when something goes wrong or right, people habitually mull over how an outcome could have been altered if they acted otherwise. Such notions are also known as counterfactual thinking (Mandel & Lehman, 1996). These thoughts encompasses visualising options of various aspects of a supposed event. They are restrictive and emphasizes on actions that did not take place, coupled with the hinging of “if-then” where “if” denotes a particular act and “then” indicates a goal (Smallman & Roese, 2009). Past researchers tend to focus more on the formulation of counterfactual thoughts. An underexplored area of how self-esteem influences counterfactual thoughts and behavioural intention serves as a basis for further investigation. …show more content…
In a situation where an individual lingers over how a consequence would have been different if they did things contrarily, is also known as upward counterfactual. It is where there is a higher intent to prepare, higher determination and overall enhanced performance. More so, this is a result of dissatisfaction with current performance and a motivation to improve outcome (Markman & McMullen, 2003), by coming up with new ways. It is often linked with an increment in self-efficacy through individual experiences that are usually tied with emotions of regret or disappointment. Contrariwise, downward counterfactual recognizes how a consequence may possibly be unpleasant and adverse than the actual outcome. It is where individuals identifies and are satisfied with what they have, knowing that it could have been otherwise (McCrea, 2008). This gives rise to emotions shifting from happiness to being at ease (Galinsky & Moskowitz, …show more content…
The detrimental consequences of cigarette smoking are widely known across smokers. Yet they still engage in such unhealthy activities. Over the years, studies have looked into the use of counterfactual thinking and the intention of quitting cigarette smoking on youths (Eavers, Berry & Rodriguez, 2015). It is believed that when individuals mentally put together different outcomes to an undesirable smoking-affiliated circumstance, such as unhealthy teeth, premature death or occurrence of cancer, there is an increased resistance towards the negative circumstance. This in turn shape their later behaviour and intention – the ‘want’ to quit smoking (Page & Colby, 2003). A study by Gavanski and Wells 1989) hypothesized that upward counterfactual thoughts will reinforced behavioural intentions (quit smoking). Findings from the study suggest that youths with upward counterfactual thought tend to express guilt and regret with regards to their smoking behaviour as compared to their counterparts. Behavioural intention of quitting smoking can be attributed to the negativity of the consequences. In light of the negativity, a greater motivation drives individuals to think about actions they could have taken to prevent a negative consequence. With the increased in motivation, individuals begin to form relevant behaviour intention to stay away from smoking and take actions to
Skinner, Ellen A. Perceived Control, Motivation, & Coping. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 1995.
(p 73). Imagining one’s self in an event does not have a big impact compared
The self-serving bias is the tendency for an athlete to accommodate to factors that paint the athlete in a favorable light. In the athletic realm, individuals portray the self-serving bias to foster future, effective performance in a sport. Whereas an athlete will attribute positive events to the doing of themselves, an athlete will attribute negative events to the doing of others. Although an individual may be inaccurate when imputing a factor, the self-serving bias is a method by which an individual safeguards esteem. It is this protection of esteem that is paralleled in the attribution theory. For instance, an athlete uses the self-serving bias to attribute success as a byproduct of the team. On the other hand, the athlete uses the self-serving
The first topic of discussion is the self-imposed, or self-inflicted, self-fulfilling prophecy. This idea follows that if one has a preconception or notion of an outcome, then chances are that person will raise the possibility of making it so. Take for example these cases-in-hand that Channing Grigsby, teacher of self-esteem speaks of:
Smoking is a lifestyle, a habit, and a trend. Smoking has become a social activity among teens, connecting them through the craving of a smoke. Smoking is seen as seductive and cool in the media and movies which influences teenagers to smoke even more. The World Health Organization has stated that “Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” As of April 2016, only 7% of teenagers in the U.S. smoke, but it is said that tobacco use will kill 8 million people annually by 2030. 99% of adult smokers start in their years as teenagers. Smoking is an epidemic that has taken control of people’s lives since 1881 and the media since the early 1900s. Smoking currently kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S. I feel that it is an issue because it is the #1 most preventable way to die, but people still continue to smoke because of how it looks and how they are perceived as a person if they do. The fact that people become addicted to a trend that will attribute to their death for the sake of being thought of as cooler, is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Before beginning my analysis of my smoking habits, I recorded the number of cigarettes smoked on a daily basis. On an average day I smoked 4-5 cigarettes. By establishing my baseline performance on a typical week, I set out to find the positive reinforcements, which coerced me into smoking. The days that were most prolific in smoking were Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The primary reason for the increase in smoking was due to the social events of that particular evening, which included the occasional alcohol consumption, and companionship of fellow smokers/friends. “Partying” dramatically affected my smoking habit. Undoubtedly my gregarious antics affected my smoking, but the post-sex cigarette also added to the count. By pinpointing these factors, I was able to invent a fixed negative reinforcement schedule to lead me away from smoking and steer me towards a healthier lifestyle.
To explain this, as we learn from our “what if” moments we make better decisions for the future. For example, a student may question themselves what if I had studied two weeks before the test, maybe I would have passed. Counterfactual thoughts are emotional based situations, where people think about what could have been done differently in a situation whether they are happy, sad, or nervous. Counterfactual thinking requires the human mind to create alternatives to moments in life that have already happened. Our thoughts are counter to the fact, which often leads us into questioning our own actions to try to make previous situations better for future occurrences. (BOOK) According to _____, Our attributions influence our emotional reactions to events and therefore our counterfactual thoughts do as well. If we know better, we will do better. For example, If Andrea failed her big exam because she decided to go out the weekend before the test and got arrested for drunk driving, Andrea wouldn’t have much time to study because she spent the night in jail. She then may come up with counterfactual scenarios (e.g., if only I had called an Uber to drive me
Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
Cognitive dissonance protects one’s self-esteem and as people, one does not like to admit their mistakes. In addition, it reduces regret and embarrassment which gives people an optimistic outlook. Although there are benefits, unfortunately there are also costs. For instance, once someone has
An example of this is when he is kicked out of the school he was attending, Pencey. This was because he failing his classes and even though he knew this he didn’t try to bring up his grades. He states calmly and without any regret “I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself...they gave me frequent warnings…” (Page 6) This decision to let himself get kicked out of school was a poor one because he does not know how this will affect him in the future, including what kind of job he will be able to get.
Self-improvement initiates both happiness and an increased ability to succeed in things over which we have some but not complete control. Because we cannot control them, the greatest thing we can do is to internalize the goals we form about the things over which we lack complete control. Irvine’s example depicts a person who wants to win a tennis match. This person does not have control over their opponent or how they play, but they do have control over how much they prepare for the match and how they perform during it. If they set goals to train and play to their best ability, then they increase their chances of winning compared to if they did not play as well as they
Consequentialist Theory. INTRODUCTION. This essay is a brief discussion on one of the types of Ethics which is referred to as Consequentialist Theory. The theory considered an action to be morally right if the end results is more favorable than unfavorable.
In the article “Smoking”, people who consider smoking as a habit is also one of the reasons that lead to addiction with “serious health consequence” (Boughton 2090). Every addiction only starts with just one puff to another until it became one stick to one pack. Most of the people today, they said that they only smoke occasionally, saying that they use it for instant stress reliever and moderate using only. But, what they don’t know is that one day they will be craving it and slowly they will realize that they can’t stand a minute of not smoking a stick of a
One of the biggest problems that people are faced with on a day-to-day basis is cigarette smoke. The sole cause for 480,000 deaths each year just in the United States is accredit to cigarettes(CDC). For a lot of the smokers the habit of smoking happens to assist them when under stress and dealing with issues that are unmanageable. Some smoke to appeal to their peers or simply because it “feels good.” Smoking one cigarette can lead to a major addiction. The effects of smoking hurt oneself and those amongst us. Smoking Kills as the ad portrays this revolver and cigarettes as the bullets, and also lists the side effects of smoking. Cigarettes causes cancer, increases the risk of you getting a stroke, highly addictive and causes a lot of health problems. Nearly 16
Smoking is one of the dangerous habits that people perform in their lives. This habit affects the health and causes several diseases, such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary disease (Institute of Medicine, 2012). In the family I visited, the father is a smoker. He strongly approves with the idea of smoking while the mother strongly disapproves the idea of smoking. Both of them know that smoking is harmful to the smoker, but the father does not know that smoking is harmful for other people who are called: second hand smokers. In addition, the father was at the age of 15 when he started smoking cigarettes. There is more than one reason that pushed the father to start smoking when he was a teenager. One of these reasons is copying the behavior of his father. He believes it would be difficult for him to give up smoking. I agree that quit of smoking is difficult since cigarettes contain nicotine, which is more addictive than heroin and also smoking becomes part of his daily routine (Giovanni, 2012).