An experimental investigation of the effects of anticipating regret and relief on intentions and decisions to get the influenza vaccination

Objective Recent studies of decision-related emotions and health decision-making show that, in addition to anticipated regret, anticipated counterfactual relief (relief for choosing one option over an alternative) predicts vaccination intentions and behaviors, but this is not so for anticipated temporal relief (relief that an unpleasant experience is over). However, these studies did not explore the effects of prompting different decision-related emotions on intentions and behavior. In this experimental study, we explored the effects of prompting participants to anticipate counterfactual relief, temporal relief, or regret on influenza vaccination intentions and behavior. Methods Unvaccinated participants (N = 736) were assigned to one of three anticipated emotion conditions or to one of two control conditions. Those in the anticipated emotion conditions completed measures of anticipated regret, counterfactual relief or temporal relief, and measures of the Theory of Planned Behavior constructs (attitudes, norms, perceived control, and intentions). Controls completed Theory of Planned Behavior measures or only reported intentions. Participants reported their vaccination status one month later. Results All three anticipated emotions had indirect effects on vaccination status at Time 2 via intentions. These indirect effects were more pronounced for anticipated regret and anticipated counterfactual relief than anticipated temporal relief. Prompting counterfactual relief significantly increased vaccination intentions compared to controls, but did not affect vaccination status. Conclusions The results provide the first evidence that prompting participants to anticipate counterfactual relief increases intentions to be vaccinated compared to controls. These findings reinforce claims that the anticipation of both negative and positive decision-related counterfactual emotions may improve health-related decision-making.