A study by Paul Fromson, associate professor of psychology, has been accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, which convenes March 22-25 in Philadelphia. The title of the study is “The Emotions of Regret: The Role of Regulatory Focus and Counterfactual Thinking.” Fromson compared the regrets people have over not achieving something they wished for with their regrets over not having avoided something they didn’t desire. Though both types of regrets evoked comparable levels of sadness and anxiety, avoidance ones seem to evoke a heightened sense of shame and guilt as well. This greater range of negative emotions suggests that the regret over failing to avoid undesired outcomes is psychologically costlier than that of failing to achieve desired ends.