Functions of Counterfactual Thinking

What if . . . ? With these words human beings achieve the capacity to catapult them­selves beyond the muck and malignancy of the actual into the liberating realm of the possible. What if you had invested more in mutual funds last year? What if you had learned to speak French as a child? Or, what if you had bought the winning million-dollar lottery ticket last week? Such articulations of a possible yet untrue past are called counterfactual thoughts, and an increasing number of researchers are recognizing the significance of their pervasive presence in people's mental lives. The above examples capture something of the range of counterfactual possi­ bilities, from the mundane to the fantastic, that can easily be generated on demand.