Avoiding Regret and its Relationship to Status Quo Bias among Divorced People

Abstract

The present study set out to determine whether or not divorced people tend to avoid feeling regret, whether or not they are biased toward maintaining the status quo, whether or not there is a correlation between the two, and finally, how much of an impact the status quo bias has on divorced people's tendency to avoid feeling regret. Research goals could not have been met without instruments to gauge present-situation bias as well as the avoidance of shame. The researcher needed to go beyond the tools that were currently available in the literature in order to build a tool that could evaluate the avoidance of regret. Twenty-three items were included in the initial version of the scale, which was based on the theory of regret proposed by Bell, Loomes, and Sugden (1982). However, following an examination of the validity and reliability psychometric features of the scale, the number of items was decreased to twenty-two, and four alternatives were taken into consideration. In regards to the status quo bias variable, the researcher also developed a tool to measure this bias. The tool was initially 28 items long, but after its psychometric properties were extracted, it was reduced to 23 items with four alternatives, all based on the theory of status quo bias proposed by Samuelson and Zeckhauser (1988). People in Diwaniyah Governorate who have gone through a divorce in the year 2023 might make up the current research population, and the researcher has selected Dissolved spouses from Diwaniyah Governorate made up the 400-person sample. The study's findings indicate that those who have gone through a divorce are more likely to favor the status quo and to avoid feeling regret. A statistically significant association between avoiding regret and leaning toward the status quo was also demonstrated by the data. Another factor that helps people avoid feeling regret is the present bias.