Student A and Student B give an entrance exam
Student A scores 93%
Student B scores 96%
The cutoff of the exam is 98%
Who do you think will feel worse at not making it?
Most of us will say Student B
When “technically” both should feel worse equally
Both didn’t make it
But Student B will feel “if only I had worked just a little bit more – I might have cleared it. What if?”
Now what if the cutoff was not shared with either
Now who would feel more regret?
Perhaps this time – it will be equal
This fascinates me
One’s regret increases if they are made aware of how close they were to the finish line
The distance between where you are and where you wanted to be – is inversely correlated to your regret
Closer the distance by which you missed it – more is the regret
Regret seems to have levels to it. Should it be so?