Counterfactual Thinking

This study is to investigate counterfactual thinking and if a taxi driver is to blame in an automobile accident. We hypothesized that the taxi driver in the changeable condition was more negligence, and responsible than the taxi driver in the unchangeable condition. We investigated this by, distributing questionnaires. Out of the 246 participants that completed one of the four questionnaires, 66 was male and 180 was female. There was 222 Caucasians, 5 Hispanics, 3 Native Americans, 12 African-Americans, and 4 others. English was the first language of 243 of these individuals. English was not the first language of three of these individuals. 21 of these individuals spoke Spanish. 225 of the participants did not speak Spanish. There were 241 US citizens. There were 5 non-US citizens. There was 6 that consider themselves as immigrants and there was 240 that did not. The results of this study did support our hypothesis. In the future, we need to investigate if age can play a factor and if where the participant lives can play a role in this situation.
Keywords: blame, negligence, responsible, automobile accident, taxi driver
How Negligence, Responsibility, and Counterfactual Thinking plays a …show more content…
In the Changeable English scenario, the taxi driver decided not to take a paraplegic couple downtown. Because of this, the couple had to drive themselves and was involved in a car accident. This happened by driving off a collapsed bridge. This scenario could have been different. Which is why this is called the Changeable condition. The scenario could have been avoided if the taxi driver drove the couple across the bridge. The taxi driver did go over the bridge and made it safely across moments later. If the taxi driver drove the couple, the car accident could have been avoided. This scenario looked at how the taxi driver could have changed the