So generating downward counterfactuals might engender not only a sense of satisfaction, but a sense of gratitude that things didn’t turn out worse. What studies have shown, however, is that people rarely produce downward counterfactuals unless asked specifically to do so. There is an important lesson to be taken from this research on counterfactual thinking, and it’s not that we should stop doing it; counterfactual thinking is a powerful intellectual tool. The lesson is that we should try to do more downward counterfactual thinking. While upward counterfactual thinking may inspire us to do
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